{"id":445,"date":"2017-04-12T18:50:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T18:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/?p=445"},"modified":"2017-04-12T18:50:39","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T18:50:39","slug":"the-fork-in-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/?p=445","title":{"rendered":"The fork in the road"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wolfenstein_New_Order_Screenshot_opt_3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1941 Deputy F\u00fchrer Rudolf Hess set off from Germany in a Bf 110 aircraft. His mission was to negotiate peace with Britain. He flew alone and without Hitler\u2019s acknowledgement under the false identity of \u201cAlfred Horn.\u201d He eventually parachuted out from his plane, landing with a broken foot in a farm in Scotland. Still tangled in his chute, he was found, captured and imprisoned. It\u2019s a bizarre true story\u2014one you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking was completely made up.<\/p>\n

In Christopher Priest\u2019s alternate history novel The Separation<\/em>, the story of Hitler\u2019s Deputy is used to confuse and misdirect the reader, blurring the lines between real, recorded history and a fictional narrative involving fake identities, doppelg\u00e4ngers and doubles. In the novel, it seems likely that the crash-landed Hess is an imposter. Written in a first-person perspective, the book follows the eventful lives of twin brothers and culminates in a fictional armistice between Britain and Germany. It reads like a set of historical extracts; blurred snippets that leave you wondering what\u2019s really genuine or authentic. It\u2019s also filled with alternate identities\u2014even Winston Churchill, fabled for his mix of alcohol and orating, is in part a fake due to his use of doubles as actors and decoys.<\/p>\n

Alternate histories often draw on World War 2 as a diverging point in history. The trend goes as far back as Katherine Burdekin\u2019s dystopian Swastika Night<\/em>, a prescient feminist novel written in 1937 and set in the seventh century of the \u201cHitlerian era.\u201d In Philip K. Dick\u2019s The Man in the High Castle<\/em>, Nazi Germany dominates Europe while the Japanese Empire has made a puppet-state out of North America\u2019s Pacific coast. But it\u2019s not just novels that explore these themes. The pulpy sci-fi video game series Wolfenstein<\/em> is another text that imagines a world in which Hitler won.<\/p>\n

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood<\/em> and last year\u2019s The New Order<\/em> have you play American spy B.J. Blazkowicz. Between wielding an assault rifle in each hand and snapping the necks of countless cyborg Alsatians, it\u2019s easy to forget that B.J. is a spy at all. A prequel expansion to The New Order, The Old Blood<\/em> is set in a version of 1946 where Nazi technology has advanced considerably and the Allies are almost defeated. As B.J. you must infiltrate Castle Wolfenstein to steal secret documents. This is one of several undercover segments featured in the latest Wolfenstein<\/em> games, and it\u2019s interesting how well these slower and more thoughtful sections play out alongside the alternate history narrative.<\/p>\n

Undercover missions in World War 2 games aren\u2019t new. In the level \u201cScuttling the U-529\u201d from Medal of Honor: Allied Assault<\/em>, you had to steal a Nazi uniform in order to bluff your way past guards and plant a bomb aboard a submarine. Instead of shooting soldiers you had the option to flash your counterfeit passport and waltz by. The Old Blood<\/em> begins with you driving up to a front gate in a similarly stolen uniform, along with the identity of an SS officer from Frankfurt. \u201cPapers, please,\u201d the guard at the checkpoint asks. There\u2019s an infiltration level in Medal of Honor<\/em> that plays out identically.<\/p>\n

Wolfenstein<\/em>\u2019s disguises, fake German language and forged passports neatly parallel the series\u2019 larger interest in alternate history. In his The History of Science Fiction<\/em>, novelist and critic Adam Roberts makes a point about the postmodern uncertainty we now have in regards to history and the future. Roberts briefly considers Isaac Asimov\u2019s novel Foundation<\/em>, in which the future can be accurately predicted and planned through the science of \u201cpsychohistory.\u201d This positivist, pre-chaos theory conception of history, although interesting, conflicts with the premise of alternate histories. \u201cWe just can\u2019t know for sure\u201d is the jumping off point of so much science fiction. Just as important to fiction exploring postmodern conditions\u2014of \u201cwhat if\u201d and radical alternatives\u2014is fragmentation and playfulness around identity and character. These are themes which videogames and Wolfenstein<\/em> in particular continually broach.<\/p>\n

Before you can get the cable car up to Castle Wolfenstein you have to have your papers inspected at the front desk. Here there\u2019s an awkwardly tense exchange between yourself and the superiorly muscled lieutenant Rudi J\u00e4ger. Asking whether you\u2019re a Frankfurter, B.J. mumbles \u201cJa\u2026 Ah\u2026Ein\u2026 Hot Dog.\u201d Laughter between you ensues, and Rudi, thinking that you were impersonating a \u201cstupid American,\u201d lets you pass. The joke is that you\u2019re an imposter bullshitting your way by and that your German imitation has been mistaken for a sharp and authentic sense of humour. The moment is symbolic of another kind of game: a language game. Leaps of faith are often required in order for one subject to convey meaning to another. It just so happens that on this occasion an impersonator blowing his cover has been read in an alternative context. Or perhaps hotdog is just an amusing word.<\/p>\n

Infiltrating Castle Wolfenstein isn\u2019t the only time you play a double in The Old Blood<\/em>. After your cover has been inevitably blown and you\u2019ve dealt with Rudi J\u00e4ger, you escape the castle via a re-enactment of the cable car set-piece from Where Eagles Dare<\/em>. It\u2019s then that you travel to a nearby village in search of the game\u2019s primary antagonist, the Nazi archaeologist Helga Von Schabbs, who\u2019s in possession of those secret documents mentioned earlier. In order to get close to Von Schabbs you must once again pretend to be someone you\u2019re not\u2014an act that all game players will be accustomed to. This time B.J. dresses up as a German waiter in order to infiltrate the nearby Tavern\/\u201dGasthaus\u201d where Von Schabbs is staying.<\/p>\n

With your apron tied tightly, you carry wine past drunk and jovial soldiers and up to Helga\u2019s room. It\u2019s another deceptive encounter where you\u2019re unsure whether or not you\u2019ll be caught out or exposed. B.J.\u2019s doubling is, throughout the Wolfenstein<\/em> series, an interesting aside to all of the violence and shooting. Subterfuge may not be his strong point, but he nevertheless continues to play the pretender. In last year\u2019s The New Order<\/em> there were several more levels and sections that involved deception and alternate identities. These include the infiltration of a concentration camp by posing as a vulnerable prisoner, as well as bluffing your way through customs at the Nazi Lunar Base.<\/p>\n

These are all memorable events that not only build up to the explosions of violence and shoot-outs with Nazis, but effectively construct thematic context. Just as history diverges and fractures, identity does too. Wolfenstein<\/em> is interesting for its use of the double. Blazkowicz seems intent on the idea of donning someone else\u2019s uniform and speaking another language (as players of games, who are we to judge?). The effects range from the surreal and uncanny to, in the case of \u201chotdog,\u201d the absurd. Christopher Priest is a novelist known for more than just his alternate realities. The Prestige<\/em> (adapted into a film by Christopher Nolan) is focused almost entirely on theater and pretense. In the same way, Wolfenstein<\/em>\u2019s protagonist is more of a bundle of confused effects as opposed to a well-rounded character.<\/p>\n

Blazkowicz hasn\u2019t really got a stable identity; he swaps between masks and dips in and out of character. That\u2019s not dissimilar from the way in which we explore Wolfenstein<\/em>\u2019s imagined world and are fascinated by its strange spaces and jumbled narrative. Alternate history isn\u2019t just \u201cwhat if\u201d scenarios either; it\u2019s also about possibilities and recasting history as potentially inauthentic and untrustworthy\u2014like the SS officer with the funny accent. History branches, identity multiplies. One moment B.J. Blazkowicz is in a coma and unable to speak\u2014the next he\u2019s a vengeful doppelg\u00e4nger with a double-barrelled shotgun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1941 Deputy F\u00fchrer Rudolf Hess set off from Germany in a Bf 110 aircraft. His mission was to negotiate peace with Britain. He flew alone and without Hitler\u2019s acknowledgement under the false identity of \u201cAlfred Horn.\u201d He eventually parachuted out from his plane, landing with a broken foot in a farm in Scotland. Still […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ewanwilson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}