Portal 2, Frankenstien and Galatea 2.2: A short Comparison

Dear Interwebz,

Today I should be writing an essay, so I'm going to cheat a little for this blog-post, and give you guys another one of my on-going mini-analyses of sci-fi literarture. There is a tonne more I could say in this particular piece, but my word limit for the assignment was 300, and its already close to 400 words long, I believe. (Stupid Prof. attempting to teach us discipline in writing and concision.)This sort of relates to my last post on Old Metaphors, but that is completley coincidental:

Science fiction imitates Greek mythology. The reason for this imitation of mythology is that in the same way mythology offered an explanation of the natural world, reapplied mythology offers an explanation of the workings of the man-made world. The difference is that while Greek mythology focuses on a lack of agency for humanity, and is designed to offer a coping mechanism for this lack of agency, the new myths presented by science fiction reflect an increased human agency in the world. Or at least a perceived increase in human agency. In both of the cases listed above mythology and modern science fiction, the focus is placed on creation. In all cases creation seems imperfect – here I would like to mention a contemporary example in the form of Portal 2, which is based on the myth of Prometheus in the same way that Frankenstein was – this inability to perfect creation is illustrated by GlaDOS’ malevolence in portal, Frankenstein’s inability to control his creation, and Helen’s eventual shutdown in Galatea 2.2. The similarities between the three are astounding: each, GlaDOS, Frankenstein’s Monster and especially Helen, are unable to cope with human realities, such as malevolence or lost love. GlaDOS deletes her humanity, Helen is shut down and Frankenstein’s monster is driven to violence. In both literary examples given above, the human element is unable to deal with the power which it has exerted. It is forced to concede that its efforts towards creation are misguided. Each of the narratives mentioned above is about doubt of human agency and these examples represent a shifting paradigm in fictional narratives. Each work speaks to increased human agency in the creation of technology, and ultimately, life. On top of this repurposing of metaphors, each example listed above represents a chronologically ordered advance in the comfort by which humanity approaches the act of creation. Where Frankenstein espouses romance values that teach that playing God is wrong, and Galatea 2.2 offers a mid-ground of ending the process of creation, Portal 2 speaks to the developing sense within society that creating life is not only permissible, but desirable. Portal 2 is not tragic, life is created and the comedic narrative is preserved: neither Galatea 2.2 nor Frankenstein can rightly be considered a comedic narrative. Video games are the myths of contemporary society and these myths are being written with greater human agency and a more positive outlook on this agency, especially regarding creation.

 I may talk more extensively about video games as an art form later in the week. (I know, I know, this is a cop-out post, but I really do have work to get done!)