Production 7: Cultural Studies Analysis

Introduction

In November 2018, two years after the game's release, journalists reported that Mafia III developer Hangar 13 originally planned a radically different opening sequence than the one that shipped with the title. According to a Eurogamer (2018) report, the scene in question depicted the game's protagonist, Lincoln Clay, killing a police officer and murdering numerous others. "We went back at the eleventh hour and added a cold-open to the game that was a really violent prologue which basically shows Lincoln and a couple of his friends getting ambushed by the mob," the game's director, Haden Blackman, said. "It's super-violent and Lincoln has to resort to violence to escape. However, Blackman said, "it felt exploitative...so we ended up cutting it," despite having championed its "sensitive" subject matter: race, police brutality, and crime. The section was so violent, so "controversial" and "shocking", that Hangar 13 even erased it from its servers. It no longer exists.

This last-minute change to the game adds yet another layer to Mafia IIIs intriguing depiction of racism and American history. Mafia III places players in the shoes of Clay, a biracial, Black-presenting Vietnam veteran, as he builds a mafia empire in late-1960s New Bordeaux, a recreation of New Orleans, all the while tackling racism and the legacy of colonialism and slavery. Mafia IIIs honest and detailed representation of a racist, postcolonial or colonial society opens it to many angles of cultural analysis. Following Brock's (2011) treatise on race in games and Mukherjee's (2016) writings on postcolonial games, this production will examine how Mafia III interacts with these theories. It will argue that, although the game's narrative and diegesis does encourage players to confront racism and see the world as a subaltern subject, its design positions Black men as violent criminals and complies with commonly held stereotypes, all the while reinforcing colonial attitudes towards land and domination.

Perspectives Stereotypes

Mafia III remains highly unique. Situating players in the Deep South at the height of the civil rights movement, New Bordeaux is remarkably detailed and, by extension, flush with inequalities. White and Black areas of the map are highly segregated, with Black families mostly living in the poorer neighborhood and swamps of the city's south-side, while White elites dominate the pristine downtown and the mansions of the north-end. The police are complicit in this issue. As a Black man, Lincoln is continually harassed by the police: if spotted when driving a car, the police will suspect him of a crime, and sometimes can be called if he steps foot in a Whites-only area. Likewise, the game's mechanics reinforce this dichotomy. When someone calls the police to a White area, they respond immediately. But when they one summons them to a Black area, they respond sluggishly or do not appear at all. Put differently, Mafia III is flush with reflections on the legacy of racism and segregation.

To that end, the game's perspective is constructive. When playing as Clay, one comes to "empathize" with what it is like to live as a racialized subject in a racist society. For example, in many of the game's missions, Clay must enter the turf of the Dixie mafia. Here, he overhears numerous conversations of its members, who often refer to Blacks as "niggers" and "animals". When listening to the radio, one can hear Remy Duvall, a local construction magnate, decry Blacks for their predisposition to violence. Even when he walks on the street, Whites will insult Clay with racial slurs. By placing players, regardless of race or gender, in the position of a Black person, players must endure racism in the game world just as he does. The game's process of identification earned it significant attention from critics. The game was widely praised by media on its release for its blunt portrayal of race and inequality. Tauriq Moosa (2016) posits that the game's treatment of history, one that exposes prejudice and encourages players to empathize with victims of race issues, is "cathartic" for Black players like him. Correspondingly, The Washington Post (2016) called it a "cultural milestone" for its well-rounded cast of Black characters, and critic Yusuf Cole (2018) praised the game for its nuanced understanding of radical Black politics. Mafia IIIs painstaking led one critic to call it a "simulation" of racism. Thus, one can say that Mafia IIIs treatment of intolerance is highly constructive, and educates users about the subjeItalic textct.

Conversely, and as Brock notes, video game representations of race go beyond the surface and into the mechanics of play themselves (431). And these representations, "[trade] upon stereotypes and these stereotypes are essential to players’ understanding of the game," stereotypes that are made believable by mechanics, interfaces, and narrative (430). Although Mafia IIIs narrative seem to counter racist notions, the game's mechanics paint Clay as a . The game's mission structure is the same across its entire runtime: Clay must infiltrate the criminal territory of a rival mob boss, kill the enemies in said territory, destroy some kind of contraband, or interrogate a capo. Granted, it is possible to play some of these levels non-violently by sneaking out of sight, but more often than not, enemies will spot Clay and gun-battles ensue, with Clay shooting, stabbing, impaling and running over a multitude of opponents. In one particularly violent level, Clay must assault a mob lieutenant in his base, a railroad roundhouse. After sneaking up to the lieutenant's office with out firing a shot, my Clay was spotted, killed five or six men in quick succession, and accosted the lieutenant. Clay subdued him, made a quick joke, and slit the man's throat. Furthermore, this mission type is extremely repetitive, occurring dozens of times throughout the game's 30 hour story. Mafia IIIs mechanics and design, where Clay must commit heinous acts to secure resources and power in the game world, positions him firmly as a Black male criminal. Its design tells the player that Clay cannot take power just by his intellect, his charm, or his ability to manipulate people, but rather his bare strength and ability to kill and destroy. And as Brock states, appearances matter, too: Sheva's design in Resident Evil 5, for instance, objectifies her as a purely sexual being. Similarly, Clay's appearance as hyper-masculine, muscular and broad affirms his brutish likeness.

The stereotype of the angry Black criminal is a common one in American media. As Kelly Welch (2007) notes, "throughout American history, Blacks have been consistently stereotyped as criminals... the evolving criminal image of Blacks appears to be of a more threatening nature." Ronald Jackson (2004) agrees, positing, "racialized images of Black men presented by the media are synonymous with poverty, crime, and a number of other social ills." This is not a new phenomenon in video games, either. Melinda Burgess et. al (2011) explain that Black men in games are, "overrepresented as thugs, using extreme guns," and that this representation can, "[confirm] the culturally held stereotype of the Black male criminal." (91) By implementing narrative and gameplay design that features a brutish Black man murdering men and women over and over again, often without remorse, mercy or self-reflection, Mafia III becomes complicit with this trend of representation.

Moreover, echoing Brock's analysis, Mafia III routinely denies players non-conflicting engagements with enemies (434): its fluid and responsive controls make the player feel strong and tough. These factors, along with the game's artificial intelligence characters, who are easy to manipulate and trick, situate Clay as a powerful predator who preys on his unsuspecting and hapless foes. In all, then, though Mafia IIIs use of simulation and perspective that confront racist ideas is commendable, its design plays into stereotypes about Black men, much like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Brock, 433). One critic,The Verges Chris Plante (2016), agrees with this interpretation, postulating that, "the game makes a number of points about the indignity and brutality of policing in black communities, but asks you to play as a man who steals cars to travel a couple blocks — and when someone spots you, you’re directed to choke the witness out, or just run them over."

Postcolonialism, alternate histories and space

Per Mukherjee, games that respond to colonialism in its multitude of forms are postcolonial texts (518). Taking place in a location with a rich history of colonialism and slavery, Mafia III fits this mold. Its world is a colonial world. In the bayou area of the map, the player can explore abandoned colonial plantations. Clay even uses one of these plantations as a safehouse for him and his underlings. New Bordeaux contains a French Quarter akin to New Orleans', chock-full of colonial-era architecture and signs. Additionally, as discussed earlier, colonial ideas of race and class persist into the game's current day. These attitudes lend themselves to subalternity. Clay and his Black allies are intrinsically subaltern characters. The subaltern, Mukherjee says, is