Far Cry 3: Deconstructing the Power Fantasy - Cagey Videos

Channel:

Kevin Kennedy

Subscribers:

5,180

Published on December 7, 2016 12:28:45 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtihBnFZ6gQ

Game:

Far Cry 3 (2012)

Duration: 6:30

3,897 views

277

Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/CageyVideos
Twitter: www.twitter.com/cagey_videos

Alternate intro:

"Much has already been written about the story of Far Cry 3 and much of it has been negative, whether from a colonial, sexist or racist point of view. And while the game's writer, Jeffrey Yohalem, said that this was intentional in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, I can't help but somewhat agree with these criticisms, however that is not what this video is going to be about, I only bring it up because I felt that not mentioning it would make it the elephant in the room and would detract from an aspect of Far Cry's story that I felt was an unqualified success, how it Deconstructs the Power Fantasy."

I cut this out because at the end of the day, it really had nothing to do with the video and it became something of a sticking point. The rest of the video was working quite well (at least from my perspective) but I was having trouble with the intro and the old addage from Joss Whedon that I mentioned in my Uncharted 4 video kept coming to mind. So I changed it and made it simpler. I did still worry about the Elephant in the room but figured "fuck it". Maybe this rambling you're reading right now will make up for it.

While we're at it, lets include some other cuts I made:

People like to talk about how great Vaas is, with good reason, but what made him such a compelling villain (much more so than Hoyt), is that he complimented Jason so much. Jason was essentially turning into Vaas. In some way you could say that, at his highest aspiration, Jason wanted to be Vaas, just without all the evil stuff attached (though maybe even that would change).

Far Cry 4, while also a great game, tried to recapture the magic of Far Cry 3, by taking their favourite parts and shoving them in. A charismatic villain, non-diegetic pop music, a main character with no military background becoming a killing machine. But in Far Cry 4 it fell a little flat. Pagin Min is fun, but he doesn't compliment Ajay the way that Vaas bounced off Jason. Ajay's lack of explanation for his combative prowess didn't help form the narrative of a messed up power fantasy but rather just brought up questions as to why he is so good at killing (CORRECTION: Apparently he has a criminal background, my bad). And I have no idea what purpose the pop music served other than "hey this is cool", which I suppose is maybe enough for some.

I stopped with the script for a bit when I started thinking "there MUST be another game with a similar story right?". So I went to twitter with some questions and the closest comparison we could come up with is Tomb Raider (2013). But the major difference is that Tomb Raider is about her becoming this sort of badass that is capable in a fight, whereas Jason Brody goes on to enjoy the killing. If you can think of similar examples, I'd love to hear them, been wrecking my brain for about a week now and can't think of anything similar.

Other Statistics