BA3: Contextual Studies

Resident Evil 1’s Roots

I covered the influential history of Resident Evil in my previous post. Now I want to dive in deeper. Resident Evil is, unbeknown to most, has its roots based firmly in Japan. The game was created by Capcom Japan and was named “BIOHAZARD”. 

The franchise to this day is still called Biohazard in Japan, however, it was aptly point out by Capcom America that the name Biohazard was being so widely used in America that they would never be able to get the rights to the domain name. This is why the game was re named “Resident Evil” in America, the name was picked by an internal Capcom competition run by staff. 

 Examples of the American “Resident Evil 1” and Japanese “BIOHAZARD 1” box art from http://www.biohaze.com/games/re1.html

As I have grown up knowing the game as Resident Evil, I will continue to refer to the game as Resident Evil throughout my research and presentation. I am now looking into release dates and times to further my knowledge on when and where the game was released 1st. Here are my findings:

• According to this website, http://www.biohaze.com/games/re1.html, dedicated to Resident Evil, the game was originally released in Japan (of course, why not?!) under the name Biohazard.

•The same website states that “The North American version was the second to be released anywhere in the world, and is the original version.”

• Needing more evidence and firm release dates, I came across this website, http://www.residentevilfan.com/releasedates.asp, claiming that the Japanese version, BIOHAZARD, was released in Japan first, before anywhere in the world, March 22nd, 1996. 

• It then goes on to say that the “United States” got the newly named “Resident Evil” March 30th, 1996,  mere days after the Japanese release. This suggests that despite the game coming out in Japan first, it wasn’t a Japanese exclusive game. Capcom had intended to release it in other countries.

•The website then claims that a PAL version was then made and distributed to the rest of the world August 1st, 1996. (PAL is the type of video system used in many countries outside of the U.S.)

• IMDB has lists of people who were involved in the making of Resident Evil and the majority of them are Japanese names. This confirms that the game came from purely Japanese minds, the creative director is also Japanese, Shinji Mikami.

H.P Lovecraft & the sub genre “Lovecraftian”

This deserved a section all to itself as it is a crucial link between mine and Stacey's research AND presentation parts. It’s what we will use to link our research together so that the presentation flows smoothly. H.P Lovecraft is an American horror writer and his influences can clearly be seen in throughout the Resident Evil games. 

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian_horror) describes Lovecraftian horror as “a sub-genre of horror fiction which emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown (in some cases, unknowable) over gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937).” 

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Sub Note: One of our key group findings is that horror has 2 different sub genres, 1 is horror. This is the psychological “gets in your head” type of horror and is typically associated with the Japanese’s types of horror media and is definitely evident in Resident Evil 1. It uses less gore and in your face scares to inflict the sense of fear.

The other sub genre of horror is “terror”. We have found this is typically what American made media uses to inflict scares into its audience and typically uses more “real” factors, such as violence, blood and gore. This of course makes the overall genre of “horror” easier to distinguish between the two countries.

Obviously the 2 can cross over, this just backs up our theories that sometimes Japanese horror influences America and vice versa. However when there is need to distinguish between the two I will use the terms my groups has been using. To refer to horror that is psychological when it is in Japanese media (and applies) I will use the term “J-Horror”, the same goes for America only I will use the term “A-Horror”.

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The IGN article I referenced in my last post about the history of Resident Evil made the observation (as well as my group) that Resident Evil shows clear influences from the AMERICAN writer H.P Lovecraft and can be described as having very “lovecraftian” themes throughout the game despite there being no comment about this from the creative director of the game. 

What are these lovecraftian themes? Well, lovecraftian suggests super natural and spooky themes, here are some images from Resident Evil that suggest the lovecraftian elements. 

  http://residentevil.wikia.com/File:Resident-evil-1-chris-and-zombie.jpg

 

http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2009/03/12/resident-evil-1-gamecube-remake-review-re-reinvents-itself-with-near-photorealism-in-this-classic-reborn.htm

Conclusion

This covers my first bullet point section of my part of the presentation, the brief history/story behind Resident Evil and the lovecraftian link from Stacey’s part of the presentation.

The fact that the creative director and majority of the Capcom Japan team were Japanese is enough evidence to call the game Japanese despite its obviously scheduled releases in America/worldwide. The key factor to remember is that the game, gameplay, story and other elements are Japanese, not American although there is room to assume there is American influences from H.P Lovecraft.

Possible Introductions to my Part of the Presentation

Based on research that I have just written about I have created this opening section to my part of the presentation that links beautifully from Stacey’s opening section about H.P Lovecraft.

"Lovecraftian is a term used to describe something influenced by American writer H.P Lovecraft. The term is often used when describing something that has themes such as supernatural horror and spooky fantasy tones.  Resident Evil is a prime example of a Japanese product taking influence from an American media. 

Resident Evil 1 is an old Japanese developed survival horror game released in  1996. It is often described as having Lovecraftian horror elements and this  is evident just by describing the game. The game tells a story about a group of elite police officers who enter an abandoned mansion to solve a mystery, the story has dark mixtures of zombies, infections and monsters, all very "lovecraftian".