Abstract
Through its interactive representation of the Second World War, the Call of Duty series is emblematic of a contemporary form of historical remembrance. This article analyzes the ways in which the series' cut scenes and game play interrelate and represent history, warfare, and traumatic violence. Using Marita Sturken’s discussion of screen memories as sites of negotiation between differing conceptions of the past, the essay positions Call of Duty as a digital screen memory that actively produces multiple, competing understandings of historical warfare.
Highlights
In a recent episode of The Simpsons (31 January 2010), the crotchety, aged Mr Burns stands in front of a Nintendo Wii display at the Springfield Mall
Games such as Wolfenstein and Battlefield 1942 (Digital Illusions 2002), in contrast, situate game play within war torn European countries during the mid-twentieth century, differentiating themselves as a distinct sub-genre through their evocation of the past. Historical shooters such as the Call of Duty franchise (Infinity Ward and Treyarch 2003-2009) have attained widespread popularity among game players and a cultural visibility expansive enough that the genre can be the subject of an insular joke on television
The Call of Duty franchise has experienced a privileged longevity within the videogame market, having sold over fifteen million units since the release of the original Call of Duty (Infinity Ward and Treyarch) in 2003.3 There are eight major entries in the series, and the franchise as a whole spans all six contemporary sixth and seventh generation videogame console systems, as well as personal computers and numerous mobile devices
Summary
In a recent episode of The Simpsons (31 January 2010), the crotchety, aged Mr Burns stands in front of a Nintendo Wii display at the Springfield Mall. In the eighteen years since Wolfenstein’s release, numerous iterations of the first-person shooter have appeared, many set in dystopian futuristic worlds such as the decimated cityscapes of Half-Life 2 (Valve 2004) and the alien planet of Halo (Bungie 2001) Games such as Wolfenstein and Battlefield 1942 (Digital Illusions 2002), in contrast, situate game play within war torn European countries during the mid-twentieth century, differentiating themselves as a distinct sub-genre through their evocation of the past. While countless modern-day videogames erect fantastical universes that exist apart from contemporary histories as spaces of play, the historical first-person shooter continually and uniquely raids and re-appropriates cultural and international history in the interest of providing foundational narrative structures for individual games In so doing, these videogames engage contemporary understandings of history and manifestations of nationalized collective memory (as the recent Simpsons episode implies). As both a cultural text and a suite of digital games, the Call of Duty series functions as what Marita Sturken (1997, p.44) has defined as a screen memory, “a contested form of remembrance in which cultural memories slide through and into each other, creating a narrative tangle.” The franchise's interactive depiction of a traumatic national past opens the Second World War to considerations of history’s constructed nature and the meaning of violence therein
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