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Taboo–Transgression–Transcendence in Art & Science
  • ISSN: 1477-965X
  • E-ISSN: 1758-9533

Abstract

‘Aesthetics and the semblance of the real in terroristic gameplay’ explores the recreation of terrorism and terrorist role-playing in gaming in a post 9/11 context. Drawing examples from contemporary games like and , games provide for surprisingly subjective explorations of terrorist role-playing and image-making. What does it mean to recreate these images of terrorism, so closely associated with propaganda from the War on Terror? This article looks at the phenomenon through the Lacanian notion of the real; that which cannot be reduced to the symbolic or semiotic. In particular, it looks at the aesthetic appeal of terroristic images and how these lead to their recreation. The article suggests that the virtual world of gaming provides a risk-free space to explore the taboo of terrorism while participating in the recreation of aesthetic media tropes. It further explores the idea of terrorism as the return of the Lacanian real and how terrorist gameplay can be understood as the re-enactment of the semblance of the real. This article draws from the author’s 2019 short film, .

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/content/journals/10.1386/tear_00041_1
2020-10-01
2024-09-17
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/content/journals/10.1386/tear_00041_1
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Aesthetics and the semblance of the real in terroristic gameplay
Technoetic Arts 18, 239 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1386/tear_00041_1
/content/journals/10.1386/tear_00041_1
/content/journals/10.1386/tear_00041_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): gaming; iconography; immersion; Lacan; role-playing; terrorism; visual media

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