The Italian poem Inferno and the computer game Dante's Inferno
The Italian poem Inferno from the fourteenth century was adapted into the computer game Dante's Inferno, which was promoted during the Super Bowl. On January 31, 2010, a television advertisement that featured it was broadcast.
The Commercial and Game Description
The game was released right away after Electronic Arts (EA), one of the biggest video game companies, paid for 30 seconds of commercial time to promote it.
Since Dante is the game's protagonist and goes on a mission for the knight, the game distorts Dante's well-known epic.
This made the commercial quite memorable, particularly the opening scene, which was reminiscent of scene one from Dante's Inferno and featured a big-bosomed blond woman showing a lot of cleavage. In the game, she holds her hand pleading for help but unfortunately, the smoke of Satan consumes her taking her into hell through a big hole in the field. The woman's name is Beatrice, Dante's lover.
Dante wants to save her and he jumps into the huge hole, which seems to be hundreds of feet deep where he meets with monsters that try killing him. Dante hacks away hundreds of ghouls and demons with a scythe as the commercial ends showing the slogan "Hell Awaits" on the screen (Dante's Inferno scene 3). The commercial uses Bill Withers' 1971 laments song "Aint No Sunshine" which flavors the gothic violence of the images (Servitje 368). The game advertised on Super Bowl Commercial is one of the popular presentations of Dante in modern American popular culture.
The videogame, The Dante's Inferno
The videogame, The Dante's Inferno features the first part of a comedy by Dante Alighieri in which game players take Dante's role.
The video is quite appropriate for comparison with the 14th century epic poem as it features the description of occurrences in action. The videogame is gotten from Dante Alighieri's, The Devine Comedy. The videogame features Dante's nine circles of hell namely lust, limb, greed, gluttony, greed, anger, violence, heresy, treachery, and fraud (Servitje 372).
It gives the vision of hell as described in the 14th century epic poem although in the game Dante is not a pet but the protagonist. The audience witnesses every sin that Dante commits as he fights in the holy land to defend his girlfriend.
The game resembles the poem thus the two are very similar although each takes a different path. The game gives a visual representation of events described in the poem thus; it transfers the poet into a crusader although there is a lot of violence.
Contrast between the game and Dante's work
Some contrast between the game and Dante's work exist especially the manner in which the main character is constructed. The contrast is meant to cater for the needs of the modern generation by modifying characters, their roles, and scenes to appear modern.
Current generation engages in computer games and has great interest in scenes that show action thus making the characters engage in action in the video is quite necessary.
In the poem, the protagonist can be argued to be the fictional incarnation of the poet Dante in exile due to civil war in Florence. However, in the visceral game, Inferno, the protagonist is a crusader engaging in fighting the Third Crusade.
He thus changes his role and persona throughout the game. In the poem, it is very clear that the poet is weak, sensitive, and compassionate and Virgil argues that Dante is a coward and reluctant in acceptance of divine justice (Margolis 12).
However, in the game Dante is powerful, strong, and ferocious thus there is a big distinction of masculine virtues. The role of Dante is constructed around hyper-masculine stereotyping, which is common in many cultures and video games.
Beatrice is portrayed as the distressed and hyper-sexualized individual completely opposite of Dante. There is high hyper-femininity emphasizing on dependence and submissiveness as portrayed by Beatrice.
The two main characters fit well in the constructions since Beatrice is depicted as a sexual object for the devil while Dante is the player who must save her. The game mutates characteristics such as masculinity, femininity, militarism, and strength from the medieval poetry to suit today's audience.
The new roles played by Dante and others such as Beatrice in the game give it a modern taste as it involves a lot of action instead of being a narrative.
Comparison and Understanding
The video game promotes interest in the audience to read the medieval comedy to understand the relationship between the two pieces of work.
One wants to see whether the story line has been followed in the videogame, whether the character's role has changed, or whether the themes are different. By comparing various characters, occurrences, and happenings in the two pieces, one understands better.
For instance, in the fictional, Dante Alighieri paints the protagonist as wearing a laurel crown, which symbolizes victory. However, in the Inferno video, Dante's crown has been militarized for protection since it forms a partial helmet for protection.
The mutation of the laurel was to give it a military touch and show that the character bears great strength. The character Dante in the game does not need to wear much protective clothing since he is strong enough to fight any enemies.
The laurel crown has been modified from the original poetic connotations to the mechanics of the game revealing that the game has invested a lot in militarism (Margolis 21).
The game also transforms the quill of Dante into death's scythe and the laurel in the poem becomes a weapon of destruction. This tends to create some tension between the Dante of the game and that of the poem.
Such comparisons help the game player or any other viewer appreciate the work of Dante Alighieri and the message he wanted to pass to the reader. Knowing that the game was adapted from an ancient piece of work heightens the new generation's interest to seek the narrative and try to relate it to the visceral game.
Modern Adaptation and Transformation
The contemporary video speaks back to the medieval one by changing elements of its representation to suit the needs of a 21st-century culture. In the modern era, people have been influenced by technology and animation videos and games have become very important in their lives.
The video has changed several elements to suit the needs of the modern generation. Dante's cross is a prominent visual sign that identifies Dante in the game and is a sign of mortification of the flesh.
For instance, the red Templar cross has been modified in the game and plays four roles in the video that include the reminder of his sins, acts as an intersection between religion and militarism, and signifies a remediation of the fourteenth-century Inferno poem.
It also connects the game and its player by functioning as the player's self-mortification and ethical dilemma. The cross acts as a reminder for any ungodly acts he engages in during the crusades (Servitje 384).
It also acts as a symbol of records of scenes or stations, which were inscribed on the cross in the Devine Comedy. Dante stitches the cross on his chest, which acts as mortification of the flesh.
The cross also can be associated with remediation and hyper-media of Inferno (epic poem) and Inferno (the game). Through Dante's flashback about his sins, the poem becomes the game.
The game paints militarism while the story itself is visual rhetoric as supported by the crusaders, the laurel wreath, and the Templar cross. The narrative does not support war but the game involves war activities due to its military nature.
Contrast in Character Traits and Role
The modern example finds various values in Dante, some of which are in contrast with the epic poem, which are communicated through changes in his persona. The game narrative depicts Dante as an icon ready for military action since he is strong and courageous.
He is ready to dive into hell just to save Beatrice unlike the protagonist in the poem who finds himself lost in the dark forest (Margolis 6).
The protagonist in the game plays the role of a crusader revealing a big contrast, with the poet in the medieval text.
Through many flashbacks, Dante is seen killing many Muslims at once which acts as a foreshadow of the multiple demons he fights simultaneously in Hell.
However, in the game Dante is trying to rescue Beatrice and everything he does is meant to ensure her safety and rather than elimination of a discriminated group such as Muslims. Dante cannot allow death to take him or his friend and fights with all his strength.
This reworks the medieval way of challenging death, and Dante's role is to fight the devil.
Understanding Dante's Work through Modern Productions
The modern example helps me understand Dante's text since it makes it easy to see the happenings in the poem.
A reader can interpret the piece better after watching the video game since Dante's work requires one to be excellent in the interpretation of poetry.
Modern works can help individuals that are not very good at poem analysis since it helps in understanding the plot and the story line.
The Divine Comedy, which carries the poem, Inferno is full of history, allegory, religious practices, and comedy (Margolis 10).
Modern works such as video games make it easier to understand the themes, persona, and other aspects of Dante's work. After watching the video, one gets more interest to dig deeper into the original story and compare whether the happenings are similar or not.
The original story is based on hope as finally, Dante ends up in heaven, yet some modern works such as the video game seems haunting.
Watching the video incites the reader to look for Dante's text for the actual story. It becomes easier to comprehend the text when one has read or watched some piece of modern works adapted from Dante's texts.
Heightening Interest in Dante's Texts
Dante's work focuses on the soul after death and is quite interesting. However, few people have read it but modern productions such as video games are heightening people's desire to read the text.
The video game, Dante's Inferno is one such example of modern works that adapt the epic poem by Dante Alighieri in a dramatic way.
The characters engage in actual action and although some differences exist, the game brings out the poem's themes very clearly.
Watching or reading modern works makes it quite easy to comprehend the original texts of Dante in a clear manner.
Works Cited
Electronic Arts. "Dante's Inferno." (2010).
Margolis, Maxine L. The Inferno of Dante. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Servitje, Lorenzo. "Digital Mortification of Literary Flesh: Computational Logistics and Violences of Remediation in Visceral Games' Dante's Inferno." Games and Culture 9.5 (2014): 368-388.
