TY - CHAP
T1 - Cybernetic irony
T2 - racial humour from mecha-Hitler to nuclear Gandhi
AU - Jayemanne, Darshana
AU - Kunzelman, Cameron
PY - 2022/3/29
Y1 - 2022/3/29
N2 - This chapter investigates relations between race and humour in digital games. Registering these complexities, we then focus on irony with particular focus on ‘Nuclear Gandhi’: the widespread gamer meme that an overflow error in Civilization caused Gandhi to appear as a hyper-aggressive character which, ironically, clashed with the historical record from which the game drew design and aesthetic legitimacy. However, Civilization eminence Sid Meier has recently stated that this is false: the humorous Nuclear Gandhi is in fact a complex entanglement of technical, social, and cultural factors. Drawing on Bhabha’s discussion of ‘sly civility’, we theorise Nuclear Gandhi as ‘cybernetic irony’ in which the collective element of humour is mediated by techno-racial claims to objectivity.
AB - This chapter investigates relations between race and humour in digital games. Registering these complexities, we then focus on irony with particular focus on ‘Nuclear Gandhi’: the widespread gamer meme that an overflow error in Civilization caused Gandhi to appear as a hyper-aggressive character which, ironically, clashed with the historical record from which the game drew design and aesthetic legitimacy. However, Civilization eminence Sid Meier has recently stated that this is false: the humorous Nuclear Gandhi is in fact a complex entanglement of technical, social, and cultural factors. Drawing on Bhabha’s discussion of ‘sly civility’, we theorise Nuclear Gandhi as ‘cybernetic irony’ in which the collective element of humour is mediated by techno-racial claims to objectivity.
UR - https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030883379#aboutBook
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-88338-6_13
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-88338-6_13
M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)
SN - 9783030883379
SN - 9783030883409
SN - 9783030883393
T3 - Palgrave Studies in Comedy
SP - 253
EP - 270
BT - Video games and comedy
A2 - Bonello Rutter Giappone, Krista
A2 - Majkowski, Tomasz Z.
A2 - Švelch, Jaroslav
PB - Palgrave Macmillan
CY - Cham
ER -