Search results

1

Communality and the Individual in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

100%

Tazbir J., University of Łódź, Jędrzej Tazbir has defended his BA and MA theses at the University of Łódź. The broadly considered English-language prose represents his main field of interest and scholarly work w. t. e. o. t. A. n. b. f. t. m. e. I. r. a. a. l. t. h. i. i. t. s. f. p. a. p. t. A. i. i. t.

Analyses/Rereadings/Theories: A Journal Devoted to Literature, Film and Theatre

|

2016

|

vol. 4

|

issue 1

EN

The subject of the article is the analysis of the notion of communality in the relation between the two protagonists of The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Traversing the post-apocalyptic landscape populated mostly by wretched savages harbouring ill intent towards other human beings, the heroes ostensibly seek a place where establishing a sustainable society composed of the “good guys” can still be possible. However, while for the young son this goal implies the necessity of maintaining a sense of openness and hospitality towards the other, for the father it is the matter of day-to-day survival that takes precedence, which leads to repeated instances of withdrawing help from destitute survivors and avoiding human contact. The boy objects to this behavior, despite being wholly dependent on his father, as his sense of responsibility seems innate and unconditional. The man, on the other hand, gradually recognizes that he was so profoundly afflicted by the experience of losing his world that he cannot overcome his radical pessimism and distrust of the other. Therefore, when the man arrives at the end of his life, he comes to understand that it is only without him at his side that the son can enter a larger community.

2

Jak przeżyć traumę apokalipsy i odzyskać wiarę w ludzi (w grze "The Last of Us")

86%

Szleszyński B.

Napis. Pismo poświęcone literaturze okolicznościowej i użytkowej

|

2013

|

issue 19

364-376

EN

The article analyses the title text of culture, created by Naughty Dog studio. The most important topic is a personal trauma experienced by the main character, and caused by the loss of his daughter. This issue is directly related to the moral collapse that after a catastrophe affected the whole humanity. The key reference and literary inspiration for the work discussed is provided by "The road" of Cormac McCarthy, and especially by the most significant for this novel topic of morality in times after the disaster, and preservation of humanity in a post-apocalyptic world. In the presented interpretation also "The Last of Us" tells the story of redemption the sins of the “time of postapocalypse” by the hero and regaining faith in another human. The road of the main characters, as for a father and son from the American book, is principally directed toward a moral transformation: to understand that one should return to morality before the catastrophe, and establish relationships with other people based on cooperation, not brutal rivalry. The most important reason for the transformation of the main character is a relationship with a fourteen-year-girl, developing while wandering, which a final moment is to establish between them a father-daughter relationship, whereby the man can be liberated from the original trauma. An important issue raised in the text is to reflect on different levels of a player's extremely intense experience of the story being told, stemming from the overall specificity of the medium and a breakthrough construction of "The Last of Us".

3

Jak rządzić w czasach wiktoriańskiej postapokalipsy? Problem władzy w grze Frostpunk

86%

Zielonka K.

Facta Ficta. Journal of Theory, Narrative & Media

|

2019

|

vol. 4

|

issue 2

67-82

EN

The paper entitled How to rule in times of Victorian postapocalypse? Issue of power in the „Frostpunk” video game attempts to characterize power in a fictitious world of Victorian postapocalypse. The text has been divided into four thematic sub-chapters. Part one, a Victorian postapocalypse, explains the use of the term Victorian postapo in modern fantasy, and the short genesis of the post-apocalyptic convention. It was derived from classic horror novels such as Marry Shelley's The Last Man, Herbert's G. Wells's The war of the Worlds. These novels can be called the first works of the Victorian postapocalypse. The next subsection, Frostpunk, is an introduction to the world of the game, its mechanics and the presented story. The next part entitled „The government of souls” contains the characteristics of the Polish video game „Frostpunk”. This game is one of the latest steampunk convention works. It has been discussed in the context of the issue of power. The presented characteristics of the system, the prevailing rules and communication at the level of the overseer-society bear the marks of the „state of emergency” (Agamben). Existing force in the game is one of the most powerful weapons in the arsenal of the overseer, and that gives him full control. The reference to Foucalt's term of biopolitics is important the context of postapocaliptic society (Nijakowski). The survival of humanity is the priority of the survivors. Deprived of rules, power and self-organization, people strive to create a new system, even if it brings with it the necessity of getting rid of one's own personality. Frostpunk, which is a steampunk game, appeals not only to the stylistics, but also to the ideological assumptions characteristic of its first wave of this convention. It appeals primarily to „punk” rebellion. The old model of power proves unable to function in postsociety and falls, replaced by a new one, still imperfect but flexible and constantly evolving, which is described in the postapocalyptic reflection part. Frostpunk read in this way is a reflection on the possible development of events in times after extermination, as well as on the methods and means that human beings can reach in order to survive.

Refine search results

1 Analyses/Rereadings/Theories: A Journal Devoted to Literature, Film and Theatre

1 Facta Ficta. Journal of Theory, Narrative & Media

1 Napis. Pismo poświęcone literaturze okolicznościowej i użytkowej

1 Jędrzej Tazbir has defended his BA and MA theses at the University of Łódź. The broadly considered English-language prose represents his main field of interest and scholarly work w. t. e. o. t. A. n. b. f. t. m. e. I. r. a. a. l. t. h. i. i. t. s. f. p. a. p. t. A. i. i. t.

1 Szleszyński B.

1 Tazbir J.

1 University of Łódź

1 Zielonka K.

1 2019

1 2016

1 2013

Communality and the Individual in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

Jak przeżyć traumę apokalipsy i odzyskać wiarę w ludzi (w grze "The Last of Us")

Jak rządzić w czasach wiktoriańskiej postapokalipsy? Problem władzy w grze Frostpunk