The Illusion of Darkness

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Spec Ops: The Line works on the fascinating principle of the Russian dolls. All you need to do is open one

matriochka to find a second one, and then to repeat the operation until you find the newborn. This is how the

theme of war allowed the discovery of the game’s pacifist dimension, that the 60s emphasized the importance

of its ties with Apocalypse Now and the Vietnamese conflict. Evidently, there are other dolls. For example, Spec Ops

draws from two major works: the short story Heart of Darkness (1899) by Joseph Conrad and Adrian Lyne’s

movie Jacob’s Ladder (1990), two outstanding creations respectively belonging to the anti-colonialist literature

and to the horror movie genre. However, if these works are indissociable from Spec Ops, it is because they

unravel its narrative construction model and underline its deeper meaning altogether. Thus it makes no

doubt that what is experienced during the adventure is false.

Made up. Yes, nothing you see in Spec Ops is real.

Nothing.

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Going upstream

Spec Ops shares another essential element with Apocalypse Now, that of inspiration. Indeed, both proclaim to come from Heart of Darkness,

a short story by Joseph Conrad, an English-speaking Polish author. As if responding to each other, the three works develop a crescendo in barbarism, a dive into the madness of men and, basically, the idea of the ruin of civilization. Heart of Darkness will have paved the way taken by its followers, that of heroes devoured by their environment, their mission, their Nemesis. In the same way, Spec Ops claims its explicit literary references through the character of John Konrad. He borrows the name of the author but also the painting occupation of the original Kurtz, but without taking it much further. For the specopsian Nemesis doesn’t draw its origin or its specificities (universal genius) from a book, and even less the idea of a deified man. Only vanity will allow us to link the literary and game sides together. Furthermore, we can note that Walker, unlike his cinematographic (Willard) and literary (Marlow) references, personifies even more that theme and limits, by doing so, the contrast between the two versions.Beyond that, it is interesting to look closely at the structure to discover other borrowings, this time through the use of a similar narrative scheme. Thus we find, in the three works, a shattered, progressive and fantasized description through which the Nemesis can finally reveal itself. With a slight difference, however, since the game and the novella use sparingly the surprise effect that is madness whereas Apocalypse Now embraces it immediately. The three works then join in the shattering of the heroic figure, that ends up resonating with his Nemesis (Walker like Willard and Marlow draws from it.) Among the major differences, Colonel Konrad justifies torture to find his true enemies while the paranoiac mind of the Kurtzes makes them up. Madness accompanies their slaughters. On the opposite, the game character, lucid, admits he has been overwhelmed by those particular events. Here, the paradigm shift shows how many liberties were taken with the borrowed themes. It also shows how Walker monopolizes the themes of madness and vanity, stripping Konrad of his substance. This is what explains the absence of balance between the character. As for symbols, we regret that his last words don’t echo with those of his referents: The horror, the horror. All we will find is a trophy reminding us of it. Therefore, we will have to focus on the use of the fantastic to find a point of convergence, like in the short story:

“ We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. We could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance, to besubdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive toil.»«[...] it seemed unnatural, like a state of trance. Not the faintest sound of any kind could be heard. You looked on amazed, and began to suspect yourself of being deaf—then the night came suddenly, and struck you blind as well. About three in the morning some large fish leaped, and the loud splash made me jump as though a gun had been fired.”

This extract proves essential as its symbolizes the common points between Spec Ops, Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, as well as their differences. Indeed, even if Spec Ops takes on a fantastic dimension, it will never recreate this damp, almost mystical atmosphere where the

jungle and the river become a character of their own. Bereft of this link, it can only walk away from the original work:

“[...] I brought up in the middle of the stream. The reach was narrow, straight, with high sides like a railway cutting. The dusk came gliding into it long before the sun had set. The current ran smooth and swift, [...] When the sun rose there was a white fog, very warm and clammy, and more blinding than the night. It did not shift or drive; it was just there, standing all round you like something solid.”

Colonialism

Joseph Conrad’s short story owes its timelessness to the denunciation of colonialism, to the contrast between the colonists’ progressive

speech wishing to «clear the darkness blinding an entire population» and the subjection of said population. This denunciation, pointing at Belgium as well as England and France (the story takes place in Congo, Kurtz is of Anglo-french origin) will by the way be used again in the Redux version of Apocalypse Now, in the plantation scene. If this scene has been quite justifiably cut out of the theatrical version, it benefits from its lapidary view of the conflict through the eyes of a French colonist, Hubert de Marais. Owner of a rubber plantation, he aspires to maintain his lifestyle, his traditions, and opposes his everyday actual reality to the artifical presence of the United States: you Americans, you are fighting for the biggest nothing in history. At this exact moment, the harshness of the scene shows the American view and the henceforth anachronic French colonialism as equally guilty. In a structural way, this denunciation gives the Redux version the means to be considered a true adaptation of Heart of Darkness, the movie remaining much closer to its literary model (double narration, identical scenes, etc). Unfortunately, Spec Ops doesn’t carry this critical dimension, focusing more on a vague representation of American imperialism. We can suppose that the developers didn’t want to raise that question, given the nationality of their publisher and the targeted market. However, we can see this man with an animal head, wrapped in the American flag, wielding an AK47 in one hand and a skull-shaped scepter in the other, wearing a crown on his head (see page 38). A mix of symbols. Nontheless, the pure denunciation of the United States’ colonialism seems absent.Yet, it would have been interesting to notice their cultural colonization (particularly present in Dubai) and to point out the establishment of protectorates under the cover of foreign politics (a protectorate being a form of colonial subjugation). Now you take the French place, says Gaston de Marais in Apocalypse Now Redux. A master chasing another away. More to the point, according to François Cusset in Questions for Dubai’s Comeback, colonialism is part of the city. It would have been pertinent to slide in a few colonial hints, at least through the prism of artistic direction:

“Dubai, Arab version of The Truman Show, displays a world bent on hiding all truth [...] A world resolute to make a vast company out of the whole existence, to the greatest dread of the market’s adversaries. A world treating everything that gives meaning to free spirits, artists or literary figures like more or less cost-effective «atmospheric services». A world where you not only consume goods and services but also sociability and leisure, impressions and feelings through which the best-selling,

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most touristically effective emotion is undoubtedly this sort of colonial nostalgia that impregnates every ornamental pattern, every historical hint, every human interaction marked by the decree of the inequality of beings. This slightly overacted colonial nostalgia brings together, weirdly, the Indian butler to the European hotel customer just like it does the Yemenite taxi driver to the Saudi passenger or the Chinese entrepeneur to the Libanese subcontractor. There, colonialism isn’t not anymore a specific, datable and localizable form of domination but the general style of the social interactions. It is the obsequious form that service takes in Dubai, the form of a certain intrinsic excess of service over the service(s), equally felt by the little white tourist, ill-at-ease to be pampered everywhere like a sultan and the young semi-veiled heiress turned into a worldwide brand tree, carrying her idle nonchalance and her Manolo Blanik pumps along the shopping malls’ ventilated alleys.”

Platonician

Evidently, we find a platonician inspiration in the novella as well as in its video game heir. It pervades essentially through the figure of

the sun, symbol of truth, and the theme of light pulling away the veil of illusion, clearing out the lies. For instance, the sun appears to be omnipresent in Spec Ops where light is used to signify passage, transition. Regarding Heart of Darkness, we know that Joseph Conrad has a taste for platonician philosophy, one proof of that being his meeting and epistolary relationship with Polish philosopher Wincenty Lutoslawski (1863-1954), a Plato (427-348/347 BC ) specialist. Besides, the preface of the recent translation of Heart of Darkness by Claudine Lesage invites us to think about the references found in Conrad’s novella and she doesn’t hesitate to speak of an echo of The Republic, one major work of the Athenian philosopher. If it weren’t for this misunderstanding on the role of light in his philosophy, the following extract would be exemplary:

“Reading Heart of Darkness with the eyes of Plato allows one to discover an easily identifiable vocabulary : the soul, faith, restraint, mystery, knowledge and ignorance, education, madness, vertue, truth, reminiscence that has been borrowed from Plato the Philosopher whereas darkness and light [...] the shadows are much more relevant to Plato the Writer.”

Unfortunately, it feels wrong to assign darkness or light to Plato the writer only, to dissociate the literary form from the intellectual content. Indeed, the thinking of the Athenian philosopher is first and foremost an intellectual construction in which form and content are one. The allegory is not only a figure of speech, it is the vivid representation of concepts. However, images are often more striking than words, to the point that Spec Ops itself should be seen as an allegory. Be that as it may, the platonician philospophy remains indissociable from ancient literary and mythological culture, which are often forged by the greatest authors. The Greek, particularly, attached essential importance to the luminous dimension, which would bear a religious and philosophical thought. Said thought, however, fuels Spec Ops, as it relies on the sun but also on mythological figures involved in illumination: Icarus, Helios (graffiti on the walls) and Hyperion (name of a ship). While on the subject, we wish to underline the typically Hellenic nuance regarding

fire (Prometheus/ Hephaestus), light (Apollo), and the sun (Helios/Hyperion), the first symbolizing knowledge while the second stands for beauty and the third for truth. Thus the Greeks used to end their sentences by swearing to Helios to ensure their veracity, Helios being called by Homer he who sees and hears all things (The Oddyssey, XI, 109). Also, the Homeric Hymn (see table above) shows the reach of his power, providing light to the mortal men and the immortal gods. Finally, we need to say a word about the statue of Icarus displayed at the end of Chapter 8, as an echo to his fall after he tried to fly up to the sun. To the truth. It is, regardless, this interpretation of the myth that will be remembered as a conclusion to the movie I as in Icarus (1979), by Henri Verneuil:

«If we consider the sun as the symbol of truth then Icarus burns his wings because he gets too close to the greater truth.»

Of course, it is to the sun that Plato binds truth in his famous allegory of the cave, in the opening of the book VII of The Republic. It is thus no surprise to discover that the Dubai refugee camp is called, itself, «Camp Truth»? In echo, if the Greek philosopher uses the concept of Good, which contains Truth or Beauty, it is once again because the Greek thinking is fundamentally aesthetic:

Homeric Hymn to Helios

And now, O Muse Calliope, daughter of Zeus, begin to sing of glowing Helios whom mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one, bare to the Son of Earth and starry Heaven.

For Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos and rich-tressed Selene and tireless Helios who is like the deathless gods.

As he rides in his chariot, he shines upon men and deathless gods, and piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden helmet. Bright rays beam dazzlingly from him, and his bright locks streaming from the temples of his head gracefully enclose his far-seen face: a rich, fine-spun garment glows upon his body and flutters in the wind: and stallions carry him. Then, when he has stayed his golden-yoked chariot and horses, he rests there upon the highest point of heaven, until he marvelously drives them down again through heaven to Ocean.

Hail to you, lord! Freely bestow on me substance that cheers the heart. And now that I have begun with you, I will celebrate the race of mortal men half-divine whose deeds the Muses have showed to mankind.

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At all events, this is the way the phenomena look to me: in the knowable the last thing to be seen, and that with considerable effort, is the idea of the good; but once seen, it must be concluded that is it in fact the cause of all that is right and fair in everything - in the visible it gave birth to light and its sovereign; in the intelligible, itself sovereign, it provided truth and intelligence. (Ed. Allan Bloom / 1991).

Fundamentally, the Allegory of the Cave, the main pillar of the platonician thought, is about truth and the way to reach it by progressing though fundamental stages from the opinion (the sensible world/ reality as we see it) up to the thought (the intelligible reality, the world as it is seen from a scientific view and then, ultimately, by the soul’s intuition). These stages are not only a way to know the truth and to escape the world of illusions (the cave) but also to become a philosopher and govern the city. To sum it up briefly, the allegory expresses the end of the illusion through the finding of truth and the understanding of the cave by the revelation of the sun. However Spec Ops, just like Plato, calls upon the flame as well as the light in its relation to illusions. This is why the game is built on false pretenses, and won’t hesitate to highlight the mythological figures of illumination. Besides, if the novella The Heart of Darkness uses the words “sun” and “light” 24 times each, “fire” and “truth” 15 times respectively (cf extract below), it is up to the game to turn them into images, by multiplying their presence (see the video “ platonic lights” on the Icaremag YouTube channel). A real bridge:

We had a glimpse of the towering multitude of trees, of the immense matted jungle, with the blazing little ball of the sun hanging over it[...] I almost envied him the possession of this modest and clear flame. [...]Light came out of this river since.

The construction of illusion

Cette question de l’illumination nous amène naturellement à envisager Spec Ops sous un angle nouveau. En effet, si le jeu laisse imaginer le personnage de Walker rendu fou par le bombardement d’innocents (8ème chapitre), cette rupture s’avoue purement et simplement fabriquée. À dire vrai, l’artifice ne peut être découvert sur le moment puisque l’élément révélateur apparaît plus tard, à la fin du 12ème chapitre, dans la répétition de la scène d’ouverture, ce fameux combat d’hélicoptères. S’il y a une légère variation avec la nécessité de détruire des missiles, le reste se trouve absolument identique. Walker lui-même le remarquera : « Attends, y’a un truc qui va pas. C’est qu’on l’a déjà fait ça ! »Tandis qu’Adams répondra : «Comment ça ?». Ce court dialogue, ainsi que la répétition du combat, met le joueur sur la piste de l’illusion. Comment est-il possible de refaire une même scène à un endroit différent ? Pourquoi Walker s’en fait-il l’écho ? Ici non seulement le héros souligne la répétition ludo-narrative mais le joueur ne peut l’ignorer, malgré le leurre représenté par les missiles. Bien sûr, la séquence pourrait être comprise, a posteriori, comme l’un des signes de la folie de Walker. Seulement elle offre le décalage suffisant pour s’interroger et choisir de refaire le jeu. C’est seulement à cette occasion que l’étendue de l’illusion se dévoile, que l’on finit par relever les références discrètes à Alice au Pays des Merveilles (rabbit hole, le trophée qui présente la montre du lapin),

les décalages du gameplay (les ralentis, l’évaporation des corbeaux que vous tirez à vue). Mieux, c’est le personnage de John Konrad qui confirme l’intuition. En effet, alors que son visage nous apparaissait pour la première fois à la fin de l’aventure (la rencontre au chapitre 15), celui-ci s’affichait en réalité partout depuis notre arrivée (voir ci-dessus). On le croisait aussi bien sur la remorque d’un camion (chapitre 1) que sur la façade d’un immeuble (chapitre 5) ou en famille sur des publicités de ski (chapitre 7). Konrad pose dans des représentations absurdes, éloignées de sa fonction de colonel, de sa figure d’autorité. Or la rupture de Walker (chapitre 8) ou même son obsession pour sa Némésis, ne saurait expliquer cette omniprésence sauf à accepter que celui-ci soit fou dès le début. Ou bien qu’il hallucine. Il semble par ailleurs que les développeurs aient voulu souligner le mirage au coeur de leur jeu. C’est en tout cas l’une des interprétation de l’inscription LIARS LAIR - «le repère des menteurs» - sur un mur du chapitre 5. Au premier degré, les mots soulignent le mensonge de l’armée américaine à l’adresse des réfugiés. Au second, elle indique le repaire des développeurs. Après tout, ne trompent-ils pas le joueur en lui faisant