Social commentary by Mega Man

Clear evidence that video games have penetrated our cultural consciousness can be found everywhere. TV commercials for soft drinks, sneakers, and cars are shot to look like video games. Middle-aged adults can be found playing games to improve their brain power. Schools are using games to teach children. My father-in-law is a computer baseball simulator, and my mother-in-law is hooked on Wii Bowling. Our cultural awareness of video games has never been more pervasive.

So it should come as no surprise that video games are also being used as a vehicle for social commentary.

Robert Dziekanski was a Polish immigrant who died after being Tasered by police at the Vancouver International Airport last October. The incident, which was captured on video, sparked debate over police tactics and resulted in several investigations into the use of force by Mounties and the behavior of airport officials.

Spurred by the controversy, Vancouver resident Mike Greenway created a video depicting the incident and posted it on YouTube. Entitled "Megaman vs. Polish Immigrant," the video borrows visual and sound assets from Megaman for the NES, and superimposes Dziekanski's face onto a character that is eventually shot by Megaman. This is preceded by a menu screen that offers three options: 1)USE RESTRAINT; 2) CALL A TRANSLATOR; 3) TASER MERCILESSLY. The video depicts the player choosing option 3, and the Dziekanski character is shot with Mega Man's "Mega Buster" gun. After the victim is down, Mega Man pauses for approximately 15 seconds and then proceeds to shoot him several more times.

Greenway's video has been viewed over 100,00 times on YouTube and has sparked controversy in the Canadian media. Some, including a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, have called the video offensive and asked for its removal. Greenway says he has received several threatening emails.

In my view, Greenway should be commended for using his best civic voice to express outrage over the use of excessive force by the RCMP. Greenway's voice--his toolset in this case-- is the medium of video games, and he has chosen to leverage his facility with that medium to voice a concern he has every right to express. If Greenway was a cartoonist or a novelist or a stand-up comedian, it's likely he would have chosen one of those forms of communication. Greenway is a modder. He expressed his view by creating a game mod.

Those who have misinterpreted Greenway's video as a trivialization of Dziekanski's death are correct only if we agree that video games are a trivial medium. If we reject that characterization, then we can see Greenway's work for what it is: a biting piece of social commentary, an artful satirical swipe at a powerful institution. At issue here (among many other concerns raised by this incident) is the viability of video games (or in this case, modified video game footage) as a legitimate mode of communication.

Greenway's video and the original airport video are both included below. Please note that the airport video contains some violent images. You can read more about the Dziekanski case and the controversy surrounding Greenway's video here and here.