Der er en særlig plads i Helvede for dovne børn

Abstract

This article takes a closer look at the educational computer game Life Calculator (2010) and its attempts to inform young people about health risks and it argues that the game becomes a biopolitical and disciplinary tool. Drawing on the work of Foucault, the article claims that specific bodies are made (im)possible through the game’s strong narrative about Hell, death and health. The article will show how this narrative helps create ’healthy’ and ’liveable’ subject positions (for some) while understandings (of what health is or could be) that differ from the game’s view are stigmatized in the process. Inspired also by Sara Ahmed and her claim that emotions are cultural practices that hold affective power and organize our modes of life, this article is interested in the ways the ‘healthy’ body is understood as tied to life and therefore gets to count as life. The article concludes that health logics are organized and negotiated through a fearsome narrative about the ‘fat’ and ‘unhealthy’ body.