All of this paints a uniquely disturbing portrait of the American Self, which Frank West, as observer, is unable to alter. The major players in this tale, Carlito, the government agents sent to stop him and the scientist who holds the key to solving the mystery, are not playable characters, and are not influenced by Frank's actions. Frank, and therefore the player, is merely a witness, the action undertaken in the playable portion of the game merely serving as interactive placeholders, busywork, while the story tells itself. West, the eponymous avatar of the American audience, is helpless to affect the outcome of this story, or make amends. The only thing we can do is survive, but even then it's not clear what reprieve that grants us, if any. In one version of the game's ending, the player survives but misses his chance to escape, and the credits roll over Frank standing alone, surrounded by a growing mob of zombies.
***
"I recognize terror as the finest emotion." - Stephen King
If the apocalypse is a revelation, Dead Rising's apocalypse reveals an America immediately identifiable, but through a distorted mirror. It isn't our America, and its characters aren't us, merely funhouse recreations, but it's an America we can easily recognize if not identify with. But perhaps all of this is digging too deeply into what, by all respects, is merely popcorn entertainment. Perhaps a game sometimes is just a game, fiction just fiction. If so, what lesson do we learn from Dead Rising? That a shower head is an entertaining and effective way to stave off the zombie horde? Perhaps that's a valuable lesson in any case. But if there is a deeper cultural message in Dead Rising perhaps it's that, even though America is an unrivaled world power, our actions still have consequences, and that we should learn to tread lightly, out of respect if not deference. For although our fears are of mindless zombie hordes, some cultures are clearly afraid of Americans, and if it entertains us to spend hours on end mutilating the objects of our terror, imagine what they would do given the same chance at one of us.
Russ Pitts is an Associate Editor for The Escapist. He has written and produced for television, theatre and film, has been writing on the web since it was invented and claims to have played every console ever made. His blog can be found at www.falsegravity.com.
