Are Dr. Wiley’s castles (a feature of the Megaman video game franchise)…
Gothic?
Post your opinion as a comment!
Check back tomorrow for my own interpretation.
5 thoughts on ““Is This Gothic?” #5”
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As a disclaimer, I’m ignoring the interiors of these castles (except to bring in information which any Megaman player would already know), and I have only played Megaman X so I don’t have a grasp on all the data.
Are Dr Wiley’s castles’ *exteriors* gothic? I think they are, albeit moderately so. Not because they’re menacing (fear/aggression by itself is not gothic) but because there’s a sense of isolation, of loneliness. Wiley is the only biological resident of this castle/lab/dungeon. There’s no activity or gardening; just the cold metal laboratories and the bleached white of giant bones. Thus the edifice itself represents both Wiley’s passions/achievements in the fields of science and engineering and a giant memento mori, a reminder that for all his success in robotics Wiley cannot escape the one thing that we fleshbags have in common: mortality. I think that bit of moody rumination is at least somewhat gothic, especially when paired with the word ‘castle’ (which is superficially a poor choice to describe Wiley’s complexes)
I disagree with Mr Williams… I don’t see the castles of Wiley as fortresses of solitude. Perhaps the artist Wiley is bringing Megaman to his museum, for one more night of dance, with the final destination a skull.
At the end of the night, just before Megaman reaches the skull, he and Wiley share a moment of nostalgia. Wiley’s portfolio of 8 robots dance around Megaman one more time. But this time, Megaman leads, there is less art, more tools, and the challenge is gone. The robot masters’ dances are not as memorable as the first time. And what could be more Gothic than revisited memories that have lost their sweetness?
Perhaps the next work of art that awaits Megaman: a fabrication of Dr Wiley himself. TThe artist doctor has failed to create a version of himself that is a match for Megaman, and must retreat once more. Where does he retreat to? What remains on the map, after that ultimate lair? What is beyond on the skull?
The answer: another skull. Only death remains. The castle is not a fortress of solitude. It is not a museum to hold Wiley’s art. It is his greatest work of art: his own pyramid.
Insofar as the gothic movement reveals the negative space of enlightenment rationalism, uncovering the concealed passions and buried history that continue to shape the present, the image of a futuristic fortress built around a momentous memento mori could hardly be a better fit. It doesn’t hurt that our old friend Dr. Wily spends his time producing artificial beings, an occupation that places him in the same genealogy as Victor Frankenstein (whose dwelling appears in James Whale’s films as the inverse of Wily’s fortress, moldering ruins on the outside and buzzing machinery within).
Besides, the image of an oversize cranium peaking out from a castle courtyard should be familiar to any self-respecting reader of gothic novels. The question shouldn’t be whether this picture is gothic, but whether it should be on the cover of an extremely nerdy edition of The Castle of Otranto. Skull, helmet, whatever.
Hi! Sorry it’s taken me so long to post on this one, but between baby and book, I haven’t had a chance to blog. As shame, too, because this is actually one I feel pretty strongly about.
Dan is thoroughly right; the castle is *emphatically* Gothic, and Megaman 2 in general is a great example of the versatility of the genre in general… in fact, I should write a whole post about this. Maybe that’s what I’ll do next.
You have all already pointed out the best evidence of Gothicism here.
I am equally intrigued by the manifestation of the Gothic. Compare with another castle/edifice from a contemporary series of games: Dracula’s castle in Castlevania and Castlevania III. Castlevania from its name inward was designed as the quintessential “Gothic” video game, so we see what we expect: a moldering, castle, ancient, brown and gray and dull-red, and seemingly ready to fall apart.
But while Wily’s — compound? — is Gothic for all the reasons you’ve outlined, the mood is profoundly different. This structure is a rendering of technological prowess; sleek walls of solid metal, and the skull imagery offset by bright blues and reds. The exaggerated features of the (literally) trademarked skull and the questionable point of having smokestacks shapes like bones; this is all conspicuously, even comically, self-conscious.
But I feel like this conversation, both from your comments and my own thoughts, has to grow beyond the actual appearance of the castle. I really want to take a fuller look at the game in general. Because I think that in most meaningful ways — from the schematic plot to the development of stock characters like the mad scientist — Megaman may be *more* Gothic than Castlevania.
At the very least, the Megaman games represent a more powerful formative experience in the lives of videogamers our age. In terms of gameplay, nothing in the original Castlevania series could match the experience of arriving at a boss gate with one spare life and a couple new ideas about how to crack Whatever Man’s pattern. It seems significant that the Megaman games have thrived (except when they haven’t) on the same basic gameplay concepts that were in place from the outset while the Castlevania series has gone through one reinvention after another in search of a formula that will sustain the series. Why the success of Symphony of the Night prompted the turn to the abominable 3D version that followed may be one of the great mysteries in game design.