Patricide
So I just watched the Metal Gear Solid 4 preorder disk, which gives a brief history of the metal gear series, and I was struck by how many times the word patricide was used. I've also been playing through Odin Sphere, and patricide plays a major role in one of the story lines. It seems like this is a common theme in some Japanese games, and it's always spoken of as if it was the worst crime imaginable (I almost imagine a mass-murderer being sent home with a fine while someone accused of patricide is burned at the stake).
In my experience with western media (and I have a lot of experience with western media) I can't think of a single time when I've heard that term thrown around with such gravity. So my question is this, is patricide a serious sort of cultural touchstone for the Japanese. Is it just assumed that throwing in this concept with make people respond with revulsion? If not, why does it seem to be so prevalent in games coming out of Japan?
Discuss.
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Japan has Daddy Issues.
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Duoae wrote:
merphle wrote:
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This is pretty truthful actually. From what I was able to gather in my short time there and from Japanese friends, it's a rather repressed culture where and the father is viewed as the head of the household. In terms of cultural norms I find much of their practices backwards. Keep in mind I'm generalizing and haven't had much contact with the country or its people in about four years.
McChuck wrote:
It's not unheard of in western literature, either. In Schiller's Räuber, patricide is described as the one irredemable sin. Of course, Schiller wrote that play under the influence of a highly authoritarian patriarchic culture, so...
And if I haven't seen further, it's because those bloody giants blocked my sight.
Filial piety is generally more important in asian cultures than western, so it's no strange that they view patricide a lot more harshly. And like Vector said, the man is concidered the head of the household to the point that families without a father (ie single mothers) can get all sorts of sh*t when dealing with government agencies, schools and whatnot.
Of course, in practise the woman is the one running the home, because the man is working his ass off all day or stationed in another town. (And also because he usually considers bringing home the bacon the sum total of his responsibilites and won't lift a finger when it comes to household chores. Progressive, Japan is not.)
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There are the smoking, sh*t throwing chimps, men with dysentery in barrels, and you notice a few daddy issues as "off?"