Abstract: The present paper reflects on the divisive memories in the Italian video game production. Three specific cases have been selected for the contribution. Each of these three video games is linked to a different historical and geographical context. Furthermore, each one offers different ways of viewing, linked to the rhetorical strategies of representation of the event.
DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1515/phw-2023-21325
Languages: Italian, English
Parlare di memorie divisive significa toccare il cuore dello scenario contemporaneo, caratterizzato da diverse opacità e buchi neri sulla storia recente (il secondo Novecento, grosso modo), dalla sfiducia verso le istituzioni statali e le ricostruzioni percepite come legate al potere, dalla crisi epistemologica del postmoderno riguardante i rapporti tra verità, linguaggio e realtà. Tutto ciò tocca dal vivo anche il racconto storico, soprattutto quando ci si trova ad avere a che fare con le sue declinazioni nei media. Anche il videogioco, pertanto, si inserisce come attore di rilievo in questo scenario, con le sue sempre più presenti e differenziate modalità con cui poter “giocare con la storia”.
Un attore di rilievo
Di seguito vengono presentati tre esempi attraverso cui indagare le memorie divisive della storia italiana andando oltre il caso più evidente e diffuso: il periodo del nazifascismo. Sono, ovviamente, presenti anche videogiochi esplicitamente dedicati a quel periodo. Un esempio è Venti Mesi (2015) dei We Are Müesli, ispirato a fatti reali accaduti a Sesto San Giovanni (Milano) durante la Resistenza.[1] Al suo fianco ci sono anche alcuni piccoli progetti. Un esempio è The Law (2021) di Thisisnotafunnygame: breve visual novel, realizzata durante la Global Game Jam 2019, dedicata alle scelte dei politici italiani durante l’avvento del fascismo.[2]
L’argomento è già stato trattato spesso; per questo sono stati scelti degli esempi di videogame sempre legati alla storia italiana, ma che si allontanano progressivamente dal periodo fascista. Il primo dei tre mostra eventi avvenuti durante il regime, ma non legati direttamente al suo operato. Il secondo è ambientato pochi anni dopo la caduta del regime ed è legato alle scelte fatte in quel periodo. Il terzo ha a che fare con eventi successivi.
Le testimonianze filmate degli eventi traumatici e della sofferenza sono un fatto sociale, hanno un impatto sulla sfera pubblica e presentano particolari strategie di rappresentazione e declinazioni emotive differenti in base al contesto. Ci si appella talvolta all’immagine fotografata e filmata in nome della sua oggettività, ma anch’essa è sempre frutto di una scelta retorica e può anche portare a esplicite falsificazioni, nei casi più evidenti. We Become What We Behold (2016), un videogioco di Nicky Case, riflette proprio su questo, mostrando come le notizie vadano a manipolare la realtà, nonostante l’immagine “oggettiva” che vanno volta per volta a mostrare, scattata dal giocatore. Il medium videoludico tocca la questione dei regimi scopici partendo proprio da qui. Essendo un’immagine ricostruita, la presenza di una mediazione dello sguardo è maggiormente esplicita e dichiarata.
The Town of Light
Il primo caso è The Town of Light (2016) di LKA Studio.[3] È la storia di una ragazza che, fin da bambina, soffre di disturbi dissociativi e che a 17 anni viene ricoverata nel manicomio di Volterra. Ripercorrendo la sua storia si scopre cosa significasse vivere in un manicomio, perdendo la propria identità e la propria memoria. Il videogioco, suddiviso tra il presente e il 1938, è legato a una memoria controversa, divisiva, sulla storia della medicina e delle pratiche mediche. Un passato che richiede estrema attenzione nell’essere approcciato. Luca Dalcò e gli altri sviluppatori hanno ribadito in più occasioni le sfide del parlare di temi di rilevanza sociale – specialmente se legati a memorie che si vogliono nascondere – utilizzando il videogioco. È stata, infatti, comprensibile l’iniziale diffidenza delle istituzioni.[4] Dopo una prima fase, però, la collaborazione istituzionale si è rivelata fondamentale per una ricostruzione funzionale degli eventi; come la descrizione realistica dell’ex manicomio, che parte dalla ricostruzione fisica della struttura e si sposta poi sul periodo storico e la cultura che hanno prodotto certe atrocità. Le persone che lavoravano nel manicomio di Volterra non erano dei sadici, erano – e forse è anche più inquietante – il prodotto del pensiero del loro tempo. La scelta della prima persona, per The Town of Light, è coerente con le scelte fatte: l’obiettivo è avvicinare il più possibile i giocatori agli eventi direttamente vissuti dalla ragazza della storia, con uno sguardo interno.
A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950
Il secondo caso è A Painter’s Tale: Curon, 1950 (2021)[5], un videogioco in cui un pittore viaggia nel tempo e si ritrova nella Curon del 1950, prima che il paese venisse allagato per la realizzazione di una diga. Una storia che porta con sé diverse memorie divisive, legate innanzi tutto all’operato del regime fascista nell’area, in cui esso aveva cercato di imporre la lingua italiana a parlanti germanofoni. Il periodo fascista generò contrasti e tensioni nella zona, ma anche dopo la fine della guerra emersero altri problemi, quando lo stato italiano portò avanti il progetto di costruzione della diga, imponendo agli abitanti di Curon di abbandonare le loro case e la loro terra.
Come detto da Andrea Dresseno e Matteo Lollini, due degli autori di A Painter’s Tale, in più occasioni, la scelta di avere un pittore come protagonista non è casuale.[6] Il loro obiettivo non era gettare uno sguardo oggettivo sugli eventi, ma proporre un approccio più empatico, legato a una rielaborazione soggettiva del vissuto. Anche per questo hanno scelto come protagonista un pittore. Se l’immagine fotografica ha una (almeno ideale) pretesa di oggettività, un pittore è un osservatore che guarda la realtà intorno a lui per rappresentarla con uno sguardo differente, con un filtro rielaborativo dichiarato.
Ci si trova divisi tra tedesco e italiano, tra natura e progresso, tra centro (lo stato italiano) e periferia (un piccolo borgo). È una piccola storia di confine, con una specificità locale ma una ricerca dell’universale, come paradigma di tutte le storie di oppressione che hanno generato memorie divisive.
Il punto di vista è esterno, è quello di un individuo del presente, chiamato a esplorare uno spazio non più visitabile nella realtà. L’esplorazione si presenta come opportunità per un occhio estraneo. La scelta della terza persona per A Painter’s Tale è in linea con questo punto. Si guarda Curon dall’esterno degli occhi del protagonista e, al tempo stesso, la si guarda dall’esterno delle sue conflittualità divisive. La terza persona videoludica sottolinea ulteriormente l’estraneità agli eventi, sottolineando la lontananza del protagonista (e di chi sta giocando) dalle vicende che coinvolsero gli abitanti di Curon.
Progetto Ustica
Il terzo e ultimo caso qui presentato ha due caratteristiche peculiari. La prima è il completo allontanamento dal periodo fascista, infatti ci si sofferma su un evento della storia italiana recente, sempre caratterizzato da una memoria divisiva. La seconda è l’approccio “documentaristico” che è stato seguito. A esso si lega, anche in questo caso, il regime scopico in esame, con la scelta di adottare numerosi punti di vista differenti sullo stesso evento, per confrontarli.
Il videogioco è Progetto Ustica (2018) di IV Productions, nato da un’idea dello sviluppatore e produttore italiano Ivan Venturi. Un serious game pensato per mantenere viva la memoria della strage di Ustica del 1980, in cui morirono 81 persone. Il gioco ricrea i cinquanta minuti di volo del DC9 Itavia, abbattuto sul Mar Tirreno alle 20:58 del 27 giugno 1980. Come per molti altri progetti di questo genere, il videogioco è stato realizzato con il coinvolgimento delle associazioni legate all’evento; in questo caso Daria Bonfietti e Andrea Benetti dell’Associazione parenti delle vittime della strage di Ustica.[7]
È un’esperienza in prima persona, giocabile anche in Virtual Reality. La moltiplicazione dei punti di vista consente di osservare l’evento da diverse prospettive (dall’aereo civile, dagli aerei militari coinvolti, dallo schermo di un radar, dal peschereccio di un pescatore nelle acque sottostanti, ecc.).
Nelle parole dei loro creatori, Progetto Ustica non si propone come una ricostruzione “scientifica” dei fatti, ma come un videogioco per la memoria, in cui sono stati inseriti dettagli veri e verificati al fianco di altri che sono verosimili, in mancanza – tutt’ora – di certezze definite sullo svolgimento di certi eventi. Il compito di “approfondire” e di “non dimenticare” è affidato a chi gioca. Un gioco che sia impegnato civicamente come questo mette in discussione la capacità assegnata al giocatore. I giocatori non possono cambiare il corso storico degli eventi. Devono invece osservare e interpretare da un punto di vista personale i fatti presentati.
Questo si lega alla scelta appena indicata, dei differenti punti di vista. Calarsi concretamente, all’interno del videogioco, in differenti prospettive è un invito ad avere una visione d’insieme, il più possibile approfondita.
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Per approfondire
- Joe Donnelly, Checkpoint. How Video Games Power Up Minds, Kick Ass and Save Lives, (Edinburgh: 404 Ink, 2020).
- Andrea Dresseno, Matteo Lollini, “A Painter’s Tale. Storia (videoludica) di un paese sommerso,” in La storia è in gioco. Prospettive e limiti del racconto storico in forma ludica, edited by Stefano Caselli (Milan: Biblion, 2022), 173-187.
- Gabriele Ferri, Mauro Salvador, Ben Schouten, Ivan Venturi, “Memory Must Not Be Lost. ‘Progetto Ustica’ and Civically-Engaged Games,” CHI PLAY’17 Extended Abstracts (New York: ACM, 2017), 87-97.
Siti web
- A Painter’s Tale: https://www.apainterstale.com/ (ultimo accesso 11 Aprile 2023)
- The Town of Light: http://www.thetownoflight.com/ (ultimo accesso 11 Aprile 2023)
- Progetto Ustica: https://www.ivproductions.it/progetto-ustica/ (ultimo accesso 11 Aprile 2023)
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[1] https://wearemuesli.it/our-games/venti-mesi/ (last accessed 14 April 2023).
[2] https://thisisnotafunnygame.itch.io/the-law (last accessed 14 April 2023).
[3] http://www.thetownoflight.com/ (last accessed 14 April 2023).
[4] L. Dalcò, Volterra in un videogioco, in S. Pescarin (edited by), Videogames, ricerca, patrimonio culturale, FrancoAngeli, Milan 2020, pp. 51-54.
[5] https://www.apainterstale.com/ (last accessed 14 April 2023).
[6] A. Dresseno, M. Lollini, A Painter’s Tale. Storia videoludica di un paese sommerso, in S. Caselli (edited by), La storia in gioco. Prospettive e limiti del racconto storico in forma ludica, Biblion, Milan 2022, pp. 173-188.
[7] http://www.ivproductions.it/progetto-ustica/ (last accessed 14 April 2023).
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Image Credits
“Washed Out Memories” © 2018 Jesse Väisänen CC BY-NC-2.0 via flickr.
Recommended Citation
Toniolo, Francesco: Memorie divisive in tre videogiochi italiani. In: Public History Weekly 11 (2023) , DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1515/phw-2023-21325.
Editorial Responsibility
Talking about divisive memories means touching the core of the contemporary society, which is characterized by various opacities and gaps in recent history (the second half of the twentieth century), by distrust of official institutions and reconstructions of events perceived as linked to power, by the epistemological crisis of postmodernism regarding the relationships between truth, language and reality. Historical narrative, especially as it is presented in the media, is also affected by all these elements. The video game medium, with its increasingly differentiated ways of “playing with history”, is thus inserted as a major actor in this scenario.
A Major Actor
Three examples will be presented below in order to examine the divisive memories of Italian history beyond its most obvious and widespread case: the period of Nazi-Fascist rule. Of course, there are also video games explicitly dedicated to this period: an example is Venti Mesi (2015) by We Are Müesli, inspired by real events that took place in Sesto San Giovanni (Milan) during the Resistance.[1] There are also some smaller projects, such as The Law (2021) by Thisisnotafunnygame, a short visual novel created during the Global Game Jam 2019, dedicated to the choices made by Italian politicians during the rise of fascism.[2]
This topic has been discussed many times before, so the chosen examples of Italian history gradually move away from the Fascist period. The first of the three shows events that took place during the regime, but are not directly related to its influence. The second takes place a few years after the fall of the regime and is linked to the choices made during that period. The third deals with subsequent events.
The filmed testimonies of traumatic events and suffering are a social fact, they have an impact on the public sphere and present particular strategies of representation and different emotional declinations based on the context. Sometimes we try to identify the objectivity of the photographed and filmed image, but this too is always the result of a rhetorical choice and can even lead to explicit falsifications. We Become What We Behold (2016), a video game by Nicky Case, reflects precisely on this, showing how the news manipulates reality, despite the “objective” image they show from time to time, taken by the player. The video game medium addresses the issue of scopic regimes from this very point. Being a reconstructed image, the presence of a mediation of the gaze is more explicit and declared.
The Town of Light
The first case is The Town of Light (2016) by LKA Studio.[3] It is the story of a girl who, since childhood, suffers from dissociative disorders and is admitted to the Volterra asylum at the age of seventeen. By retracing her story, one discovers what it was like to live in an asylum, losing one’s identity and memory. The video game, divided between the present and 1938, is linked to a controversial, divisive memory about the history of medicine and medical practices. A past that requires extreme care in being approached. Luca Dalcò and the other developers have repeatedly emphasised the challenges of talking about socially relevant topics – especially when linked to memories that one wants to hide – using the video game. Indeed, the initial mistrust of the institutions was understandable.[4] After an initial phase, however, institutional collaboration proved to be fundamental for a functional reconstruction of events. The realistic description of the former asylum starts with the physical reconstruction of the structure and then moves on to the historical period and culture that produced certain atrocities. The people who worked in the Volterra asylum were not sadists, they were – and this is perhaps even more disturbing – the product of the thinking of their time. The choice of the first person, for The Town of Light, is consistent with the choices made. It is intended to bring the players as close as possible to the events directly experienced by the girl in the story, with an inside look.
A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950
The second case is A Painter’s Tale: Curon, 1950 (2021), a video game in which a painter travels through time and finds himself in 1950’s Curon, before the village was flooded due to the construction of a dam.[5] It is a story that carries with it several divisive memories, linked first and foremost to the actions of the fascist regime in the area, in which the regime tried to impose the Italian language on German-speaking people. The Fascist period generated contrasts and tensions in the area, but even after the end of the war other problems emerged, when the Italian state went ahead with the dam construction project, forcing the inhabitants of Curon to abandon their homes and land.
As Andrea Dresseno and Matteo Lollini, two of the authors of A Painter’s Tale, have said on several occasions, the choice to have a painter as protagonist is not accidental.[6] Their aim was not to cast an objective gaze on events, but to propose a more empathetic approach, linked to a subjective reworking of experience. This is also why they chose a painter as the protagonist. If the photographic image has an (at least ideal) claim to objectivity, a painter is an observer who looks at the reality around him in order to represent it with a different gaze, with a declared reworking filter.
We find ourselves torn between German and Italian, between nature and progress, between the centre (the Italian state) and the periphery (a small village). It is a small border story, with a local specificity but a search for the universal, as a paradigm of all histories of oppression, which have generated divisive memories.
The point of view is external, that of an individual from the present, called upon to explore a space that can no longer be visited in reality. Exploration presents itself as an opportunity for an outside eye. The choice of the third person for A Painter’s Tale is in line with this point: one looks at Curon from the outside of the protagonist’s eyes and, at the same time, one looks at it from the outside of its divisive conflicts. The video game third person further emphasises the extraneousness of the events, underlining the remoteness of the protagonist (and those who are playing the game) from the events that involved the inhabitants of Curon.
Progetto Ustica
The third and last case presented here has two peculiar features. The first is the complete distancing from the fascist period: it focuses on an event in recent Italian history, always characterised by a divisive memory. The second is the ‘documentary’ approach that has been followed. Linked to this is the scopic regime adopted, with the choice of adopting numerous different points of view on the same event, in order to compare them.
The video game is Progetto Ustica (2018) by IV Productions, the brainchild of Italian developer and producer Ivan Venturi. A serious game designed to keep alive the memory of the 1980 Ustica massacre, in which 81 people died. The game recreates the fifty-minute flight of the DC9 Itavia, which was shot down over the Tyrrhenian Sea at 20:58 on 27 June 1980. As with many other projects of this kind, the video game was made with the involvement of associations linked to the event. In this case, Daria Bonfietti and Andrea Benetti of the Association of relatives of the victims of the Ustica massacre.[7]
It is a first-person experience that can also be played in Virtual Reality. The multiplication of viewpoints makes it possible to observe the event from different perspectives (from the civil aircraft, from the military aircraft involved, from a radar screen, from a fisherman’s boat in the waters below, etc.).
In the words of their creators, Progetto Ustica is not proposed as a ‘scientific’ reconstruction of the facts, but as a memory game, in which true and verified details have been included alongside others that are verisimilar, in the absence – even now – of definite certainties about the unfolding of certain events. The task of ‘deepening’ and ‘not forgetting’ is left to the player. A civically-engaged game like this calls into question the agency assigned to the player. The players aren’t allowed to change the historically course of the events. Instead, they should observe and interpret from a personal point of view the facts presented.
This ties in with the choice just mentioned, of different points of view; to concretely immerse oneself, within the video game, in different perspectives is an invitation to have an overview, as in-depth as possible.
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Further Reading
- Joe Donnelly, Checkpoint. How Video Games Power Up Minds, Kick Ass and Save Lives, (Edinburgh: 404 Ink, 2020).
- Andrea Dresseno, Matteo Lollini, “A Painter’s Tale. Storia (videoludica) di un paese sommerso,” in La storia è in gioco. Prospettive e limiti del racconto storico in forma ludica, edited by Stefano Caselli (Milan: Biblion, 2022), 173-187.
- Gabriele Ferri, Mauro Salvador, Ben Schouten, Ivan Venturi, “Memory Must Not Be Lost. ‘Progetto Ustica’ and Civically-Engaged Games,” CHI PLAY’17 Extended Abstracts (New York: ACM, 2017), 87-97.
Web Resources
- A Painter’s Tale: https://www.apainterstale.com/ (last accessed 11 April 2023)
- The Town of Light: http://www.thetownoflight.com/ (last accessed 11 April 2023)
- Progetto Ustica: https://www.ivproductions.it/progetto-ustica/ (last accessed 11 April 2023)
_____________________
[1] https://wearemuesli.it/our-games/venti-mesi/ (last accessed 14 April 2023).
[2] https://thisisnotafunnygame.itch.io/the-law (last accessed 14 April 2023).
[3] http://www.thetownoflight.com/ (last accessed 14 April 2023).
[4] L. Dalcò, Volterra in un videogioco, in S. Pescarin (edited by), Videogames, ricerca, patrimonio culturale, FrancoAngeli, Milan 2020, pp. 51-54.
[5] https://www.apainterstale.com/ (last accessed 14 April 2023).
[6] A. Dresseno, M. Lollini, A Painter’s Tale. Storia videoludica di un paese sommerso, in S. Caselli (edited by), La storia in gioco. Prospettive e limiti del racconto storico in forma ludica, Biblion, Milan 2022, pp. 173-188.
[7] http://www.ivproductions.it/progetto-ustica/ (last accessed 14 April 2023).
_____________________
Image Credits
“Washed Out Memories” © 2018 Jesse Väisänen CC BY-NC-2.0 via flickr.
Recommended Citation
Toniolo, Francesco: Divisive Memories in Three Italian Videogames. In: Public History Weekly 11 (2023) , DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1515/phw-2023-21325.
Editorial Responsibility
Copyright © 2023 by De Gruyter Oldenbourg and the author, all rights reserved. This work may be copied and redistributed for non-commercial, educational purposes, if permission is granted by the author and usage right holders. For permission please contact the editor-in-chief (see here). All articles are reliably referenced via a DOI, which includes all comments that are considered an integral part of the publication.
The assessments in this article reflect only the perspective of the author. PHW considers itself as a pluralistic debate journal, contributions to discussions are very welcome. Please note our commentary guidelines (https://public-history-weekly.degruyter.com/contribute/).
Categories: 11 (2023) 3
DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1515/phw-2023-21325
Tags: Conflict of Memory, Games (Spiele), Italy (Italien), Language: Italian, World War II (Zweiter Weltkrieg)
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OPEN PEER REVIEW
Disturbing Emotions
The article discusses a few indie video games that are worth attention due to the themes they address. The games in question are “The Town of Light”, “A Painter’s Tale: Curon, 1950”, and “Ustica”. Unlike most video games, these titles feature stories inspired by events that are not in the general public eye. The author aims to shed light on these games and show how Italians deal with controversial events in their recent history through video games. These titles offer a unique perspective on the history of psychiatry, German-speaking populations in Italy, and the Ustica massacre. Author’s writings and reflections are valuable in promoting these games beyond the gaming community, especially at a time when video games are becoming recognized as a cultural product. Although violent blockbusters tend to receive the most attention from the media, video games are increasingly being used as a means of social storytelling, as exemplified by the “Ustica” game, which is available for free download to anyone interested in understanding the various reconstructions of the Itavia flight incident. The author fully agrees with the interest given to these titles, particularly “The Town of Light”, which is a horror game that aims to scare the player through a different approach than most similar games. Instead of crazy killers or supernatural entities, the enemies in this game are the doctors at the Volterra asylum who believe they can cure the player. As Author suggests, it is this premise that creates disturbing emotions in players.
On the other hand, “Curon” chooses to narrate a lesser-known story that intertwines several crucial themes. The game depicts the inevitable progression of technology, the sacrifice of a small community for the benefit of a larger city, forced migration, and the history of the integration of German-speaking communities in Italy. In contrast, “Ustica” presents a novel approach to the different theories surrounding the Itavia flight incident. Rather than solely recounting the tragedy, the game covers the entire flight, along with other possibly related events like the Libyan MIG incident and the Ramstein air collision. This game deviates from conventional gaming by not having any protagonists to embody or a linear plot to follow. The player does not empathize with any particular character since the passengers are depersonalized. The gameplay involves moving freely in a 3D space, allowing the player to observe scenes like a ghost. In some instances, the game presents also air force radar and conversations between pilots and control towers.
These are certain titles that deal with controversial themes and deserve more visibility. However, Author’s article lacks clarity and presents some critical issues. The games are presented within the context of “divisive memories” of Italian history, but given the European scope of the magazine, the titles are superficially presented for those who are not familiar with Italian history. There is no framing of the divisive memories that are dealt with in the various titles, and it is unclear how the games attempt to address them. For instance, it is not specified whether the games offer a single point of view on the stories or strive to maintain an impartial approach to deal with the historical complexities in their entirety.
In the case of “Curon”, there is no specific mention of the conflicts and divisive memories of the game. While the fascist period is briefly mentioned, it is not explained how it affected the local populations who were treated as foreigners and how the situation remained tense even after the republic was established. It would be helpful to provide a more detailed account of how the game portrays the various points of view on the dam, the deceptions of institutions, and the fears of residents.
To be clearer, the article needs to expand on periods such as “It is a small border story, with a local specificity but a search for the universal, as a paradigm of all histories of oppression, which have generated divisive memories.”
Furthermore, the passage discussing the point of view should be made clearer. At first, it is said that:“Their aim was not to cast an objective gaze on events but to propose a more empathetic approach, linked to a subjective reworking of experience”
However, a few paragraphs later, it is stated that the
An observation worth making is that the paragraph which deliberates on the absence of objectivity in photography is detached and disassociated from its contextual framework.
In my opinion, the article on Italian games dealing with divisive memories would benefit from clearer definitions of the specific events in Italian history that these games are addressing. It would also be helpful to make the text more cohesive. For instance, the section on the claim of objectivity in photos could be better integrated into the larger argument. Additionally, the connection between fascism and the various games should be more fully explained. For example, with “A Painter’s Tale: Curon, 1950” it would be important to discuss how fascism contributed to the construction of the dam. With “The Town of Light”, it would be useful to examine the relationship between fascism and asylums, as well as the therapies endorsed by the scientific community during that era.
The article covers a broad range of topics and might be more effective if it delved more deeply into each game individually or at least approached the subject matter with a wider lens. Since the article is published online, adding hyperlinks to interviews with the creators, gameplay, and commented game images would help readers who are not familiar with the video game industry to understand the text more easily. With these additions, the article would be more valuable to readers. As it currently stands, the article touches on the existence of Italian games that address divisive memories, but fails to provide any in-depth analysis of any of the three games mentioned.