Were the devs inspired by Modernist Literature when writing Archive entries ?
I am currently studying English Literature in University, we recently discussed about Modernist Literature (20's to the 50's) and how authors were using interior monologues and free indirect speech to tell their stories. Basically, the narrator tells the story of a character, but using its vocabulary and describing its thoughts, without necessarily being the character speaking itself.
It sounded very, very similar to the entries I have been reading in the Archives of Dead by Daylight, and I have been wondering if the devs were actually inspired by Modernist Literature, in order to show their world through the characters' perceptions and feelings.
What do you think ?
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I am not a fan of the writing or the man who is reading the text in the archives because it has been created in an annoying way.
"Jane wants a job, she needs a job, she has a job". Or however they are written.
Maybe they can talk about your question in a stream?
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Yeah, I wonder if I could get an answer from them about this.
I actually agree with you, but mostly about the fact characters seem to be quite one-dimensional, but otherwise, the way they were writing, the fact the narrator explains the character's feelings, using its tone and vocabulary (for instance, in Doctor's story, it is very visible), I was wondering if they weren't inspired by it a bit.
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I can't read/listen to the lore things because of how badly they're written and voiced. It's like it was done by a couple of enthusiastic, creative writing students.
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I have not listened to janes as soon as they called her a sjw I was like..yea I can’t haha I don’t like Jane to begin with never have but now that I know she’s a sjw I actively tunnel her in game 😂
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The best explanation I've seen is that the entries are like someone quickly taking notes on the memories. So in a way, I'd say there's definitely some influence of modernism since we're reading about someone else's memories as viewed by the Observer.
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I don't know if I'd say they were inspired by modernist literature so much as that the person they hired to write the lore happens to have a modernist writing style. What I mean by that is I suspect it's more a matter of the author being influenced by modernism in their general practice, rather than looking for inspiration for this project and finding it in Virginia Woolf or whoever else. Modernism is becoming increasingly popular nowadays, not only in writing but in other art forms as well, so it's not too surprising that writers are being affected by that and starting to mimic it in their own work.
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Hey there, I'm an English student myself and...to be honest, I've never paid any attention to DbD's textual productions. However, since you've got me quite invested now, I think I'm going to give it a try! :)
As for whether they made a conscious decision to use free indirect discourse, I somehow doubt that's the case. That being said, I still do think that their writing is heavily influenced by precedent literature as is often the case!
I would adore to have someone from BHVR reply to this!
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That was my thought exactly! :)
When you say that modernist aesthetics are becoming increasingly popular nowadays, what do you mean by that? Because, I feel that modernist aesthetics are bound to come up in postmodern discourse because not only does the term "postmodern" refers itself to its predecessor, but also because what modernists "tried" to achieve with their narration perspective-wise is now being developed further by characteristics and ideas such as intertextuality, meta-fictionality and meta-narration, auto-reflexivity and so on...
But then again, who really knows what postmodern means anyway? :D
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What I mean by that is that I've noticed a resurgence in recent years of general admiration for and imitation of modernist techniques and ideals across various arts. Brutalist architecture, grotesque and minimalist elements in visual arts and design, philosophies like Nihilism and the literary work of writers like Eliot and Woolf being a few examples.
Modernism and postmodernism tend to overlap, and mean different things at different times depending on which field you're talking about (a lot of what one might call postmodern philosophies, for example, are also prominently featured in what are typically considered modernist works of art and literature). Postmodernism is both a natural progression from and simultaneously an utter rejection of modernism, and the fact that the terms are used differently depending on the context makes it very hard to define either absolutely. So yes, I definitely agree that it's impossible to talk about one without discussing the other, especially if you're doing so in a broader historical sense.
I'll admit I haven't made a study of English Literature in about 4-5 years at this point, so I'm a little rusty there, and not too familiar with the distinction between modernism and postmodernism in that particular context. But what you're saying sounds accurate to me, because of course one characteristic of postmodernism is the deliberate subversion of modernist ideas, often using recognisably similar techniques (such as the ones you mentioned, which can be found in the work of influential modernist as well as postmodernist authors) to create that juxtaposition.
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Perfectly put!
As for the disctinction between modernism and postmodernism, as you said, the one can't barely go without the other. And although a clean and clear cut between literary movements is hardly ever possible, it is much more noticable between Romanticism (and all of its sub-movements) and the general ideas of Modernism than between Modernism and Postmodernism. I've already given some examples of postmodernist traits in literary production in my first post (meta-fictionality, intertextuality, ...). However, as is always the case with literary movements, literary production at a given time is heavily connected to general, philosophical views and ideas on life itself.
So, as for postmodernist ideas and paradigms, the following questions or considerations seem to be somewhat 'dominant':
- Questions about one's subjectivity. What is subjectivity? The relationship between subjects and objects are being re-negotiated.
- What is objectivity? Is there something like an 'objective reality'? What is truth? Is there truth at all? Is their knowledge? This goes hand in hand with ideas on deconstruction, power structures and discourses, logic, reason, ...
- Ideas of humanity's place in a continously connected and accelerated world.
- Self-reflexive processes of thought such as social constructivism and thus social determinism and many more (race, gender, social status, ...)
- Postcolonialist and post-war philosophical ideas and considerations ...
I've missed out on at least a bazillion other ideas. :D
One last idea I'd like to bring up here though comes from Peter V. Zima, an Austrian literary scholar. In his view, the relationship between modernism and postmodernism is nothing but the transition from ambiguity and ambivalence towards indifference. By indifference, however, he doesn't want to say that nobody cares about anything anymore. It's more of an indifference towards aesthetic values: everything becomes interchangeable and everything can be considered 'art': ". . .from a novel to a collage, from a portrait to shoes painted in red exhibited in a museum . . . aesthetic categories become unnecessary/indifferent" (1997: 359).
I'm glad to have the chance to discuss something like this instead of those "GG survs op" discussions. :-)
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I am really glad it ended up as a very interesting conversation! I do hope we will get an answer from the devs about it, because truly we are going to go through tons and tons of tomes and challenges to get all this lore. All these answers have been very interesting to read indeed!
I have not studied post-modernism yet though so I can't really tell if it's more post-modernist or modernist, but I guess we'll eventually figure out.
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Ah yes their writing style is very.....banana taped to a wall. Mmhmm.
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Modernist writing style would make sense, since how continually on the rise is. I’ve read (or at least I believe) a few postmodernist books and it would make sense.
The writing is cohesive, and flows smoothly— which, when thinking about the audience it caters to, makes sense. The ideas themselves are identifiable when you read the text, different compared to other post-modernist texts.
But also, this argument can be held to one of my personal favorite topics; fashion. Post-Modernism has been subtly on the rise as well; with a previous pre-dominant modernist industry.
This is mostly shown through designers like Louis Vuitton, which again have been making more simple, clothing, which also brings me to my next point. Judging by the cosmetics themselves, I would like to say that the cosmetics have modernist aesthetics as well. This is namely due to, how odd the post-modernist fashion can be.
Post-Modernist Fashion itself, is a mix of concepts, or patterns— in this case, think of literally anything David Bowie, Lady Gaga, have worn— or anything designed by Alexander Mcqueen. In addition, it could be argued that the style of androgyny is postmodernist could fall into that as well, with Nea being able to fall into that example. Base-Nea, with a saggy tank and even saggier pants.
Anyway: my point is, postmodernism, in terms of cosmetics, varies from person to person. I think that the memories, or tomes themselves, when put in context of this game, is more so modernist due to the summary-like nature of the entries. But, this ignores the other part of the entries I found interesting: how they tied to a realistic, and well-talked of struggle. Claudette (in my opinion) has signs of living with some sort of social/mental disability, which I myself too live with. Jane’s entries talk about the acting industries odd-racial fixation, especially with Latin-American characters. My point is; many of the entries to me, feel open to interpretation, which, judging by a little reading I’ve done may fit the postmodernist writing style.
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I can't wait for the Feng Min archive.
"Min was a focused esports athlete. Her focused skills lead her to focused victories over her opponents, who lacked the proper focus. She sometimes focused on supporting her teammates which helped them focus on her focus more intensely, leading to a sharp uptick in team focus."
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In a way, this fits the theme of the Entity pretty well. It feeds upon such feelings and on struggle and pain.
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Wanting to be seen as more than "the Mexican girl" is not being a SJW. She just doesn't wanna do an accent.
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I agree, it reminds me a bit of James Joyce in some parts.
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