Round Robin: Benjamin Thevenin, Jess Baird, Jase Van Meeteren, & Graham Walker







The various narratives created in our project do well at preserving the initial topics

addressed but vary widely in the thematic approach applied to the story. These themes or

emotional perspectives morph from playful, to sorrowful, to serious, and right back to playful

again. Each writer and illustrator took his own reading of the tale and redirected the narrative

according to his personality, preference, and initial impressions. No single writer approached

every work the same way. There wasn’t one of us who always made a story funny or always

made it moody and dark, each and everyone us took a fresh approach to each piece and added or

emphasized the emotional ideas we found most compelling or appropriate.

Writer Paul D. Miller commented upon these characteristics of collaborations by stating

that such practices make “the creative act a symbolic exchange between players.” A game of will

and control only to be exercised in specific parameters according to the provided material. The

Exquisite Corpse, or practice of finishing one another’s work to create a greater whole, is the

artistic example of human interaction. The piecemeal amalgam of ideas and inspirations show

both artist and viewer the lens by which they perceive and create. The fruit of our project is not

always the actual pieces, but the personal realization every artist comes to concerning their own

habits of synthesis and adaptation.

It was interesting to see that even though it was created by several minds. Some of the

stories actually flowed into a complete narrative. Some of the other round robins we saw turned

into something completely different than what they started with, so what is the difference? We

think topic is very heavily related, the more interesting the topic the more interesting it was to

contribute to the initial narrative. What was most surprising to us, was how the overall visual

style changed throughout. We think this comes back to the fact that when a topic for a narrative

becomes broad, it is more open to interpretation, and is altered by the different minds that

contribute.

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Ryan Hinkson is an online graphic designer. He loves to do a simplistic illustrator style

for online graphics. The lack of faces or other details is typical of Hinkson’s work. This distinct

style created an internet phenomenon and reminded us of the round robin. Others would use his

style to create something with a different theme or expression, similar to how the round robin

assignment worked. This created a new development for both the narrative and the drawings in

the assignment. The story and drawing would evolve as it progressed.

Music Mosaic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKzWLUQizz8

Genesis begins with the dawn, heavy reverberating blasts herald the coming of a cosmic event; the birth of a new world. In my mind’s eye I could see the magma riddled planet emerge from the darkness of space. Similar thematic connections were popularized by Kubrick’s use of Also Sprach Zarathusstra in the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like Kubrick’s film I wanted to establish a sense of reality to my narrative and thus employed the use of photography and fabricated miniatures to root my story in the realm of quasi-feasibility. With both the medium and stage for my narrative set I waited for my next musical cue.  

                The trumpeting planetary introduction of Genesis is short lived. Humming arcs and static sounds intermittently sweep through the drum beats and horn blasts, unsettling the quiet between notes. As the intro draws its last deep sound the audio dives into a screaming base. Now we are plummeting toward the red scarred planet. The music writhes and sparks with wriggling synthetic noise. I tried to evoke this idea by simulating, the best I could, the volcanic turmoil of the charred world. Bright reds and searing whites fill the spaces where only darkness used to be.

                The music retains this violent flavor as the song progresses almost as if the whole score is on its way to beat the crap out of someone. Shrill jabs quicken in rhythm and skewed electrical cuts rise and drop to create a further sense of discord. Something new is making the world violent; some other force is wielding the flame that forged the planet. Man has emerged; skipping the millennia of oceans and undisturbed woodlands, our tale follows violence and fire. Though the world has now cooled to the deep blacks and browns of night, the Cro-Magnon man wields a troch in his hunt for prey. Innovation has made man the new force of chaos, and as the music rises with the tine like hum of steel, we see him swallowed in his creations of wire and gears.

                Tension is starting to build as the music pushes toward its climax. We experience the same unsettling feeling that Annie Dillard described in her experience in the Virginia river bottoms when the dusk came and she began to realize some of the spectral horrors of night. Genesis’ dawn is over and dusk has come. The hissing whir of saw can almost be heard as the song spins into hysteria. Electric strikes transform the theme from its original bass to an alternating twist of shrill overtones and haunting gasps. War has come to man.

                The flames of early man have died and smoke fills the skies behind armed soldiers. The muddied landscape speaks of death and a ravaged world. Genesis closes as the music regresses to pounding piano keys and horn blasts, a funeral procession for a violent era. Colorless gravestones mark the burial of a chaotic life and as Genesis rolls into the next song in its album Let there be light, a sign of new life springs up between fallen snow and yellowed decay. 

Thinking & Writing

Alien Gods:

Does Dead Space Demonize Scientology?

                If you want to approach this question as strictly as possible, the answer is “No”. Nowhere in the Dead Space franchise is the Church of Scientology mentioned let alone accused of unleashing an alien menace that corrupts and reanimates necrotic flesh. However, the fictional Church of Unitology plays a huge antagonistic role in the Dead Space narrative, and fans and critics alike have acknowledged some stunning similarities between the suffix sharing organizations.

                Aside from the glaringly obvious “-ology”; roots of an extraterrestrial human origin, ascending levels of Church rank, and great sums of money required from members are widely recognized characteristics shared by the actual Church of Scientology and the quite fictional Church of Unitology (Kuchera). Keeping in mind that the aforementioned characteristics may be rumors or exaggerations of actual church practices, it remains a publically held perception that such similarities are indicative of Scientological beliefs. So is Dead Space demonizing the Church of Scientology through parody? MTV journalist Russ Frushtick had the same question.

                In an interview with the creative director of Dead Space 2 Wright Bagwell, Frushtick inquired about the assumed connections between Scientology and Dead Space’s Untiology. “For us, Unitology’s purpose in the story represents people’s illogical thinking about things they don’t understand. It was never really intended to be a jab at any particular religion.” There you have it, no harm done, but this doesn’t explain the uncanny resemblances between Scientology and Unitology. Frushtick pressed the question once more, this time specifically asking if these “similarities” were purposeful. Bagwell responded by saying no similarities were intended and that much of the inspiration behind Unitology derived from a book written in 1995 by Carl Sagan called The Demon-Haunted World (Frushtick). For the layman, Sagan’s book focuses on explaining critical and skeptical thinking to the average man and woman, very much along the lines of Bagwell’s first statement concerning “people’s illogical thinking about things they don’t understand”(Demon).

                So Unitology doesn’t draw its inspiration from Scientology directly, but the rather popular notion that some religious peoples often substitute hard answers for fluffy ambiguities? That’s fair, but Bagwell’s dodge doesn’t address the heart of the question, these presumed similarities are too close to dispel by the merit of generalities. Anyone having played these games with even peripheral knowledge of Scientology could see the resemblance.   It appears Dead Space uses a church modeled after Scientology to relate an idea popular amongst most religions, but calling Unitology an imitation of Scientology alone is far from the truth. Three or four characteristics connecting Scientology and Unitology don’t exactly make a watertight case, in fact, a further study of Dead Space’s new religion reveal inspiration drawn from several different faiths.  

                Take for example The Marker. The Marker is alien artifact resembling a tightly bound helix of stone culminating to pincer like points at one end. This Marker, first found on earth, is evidence of extraterrestrial contact in Earth’s history. Oh yeah, and it also drives people insane and forces evolutionary processes like the necromorph epidemic (Black). In the Dead Space universe, Unitologists worship and revere this artifact as a conduit of the creative powers that bring about rebirth and eternal life (Unitology). Take as an example the basic concept of worshiping religiously significant artifacts, does your mind jump to Scientology before — let’s say —Catholicism? How about the Unitological practice of adorning rooms and shrines with symbols resembling the helix shape of The Marker, a tradition very similar to how many Christians treat the Cross. Unitology may dress a little like Scientology but it really draws inspiration from many traditions and faiths.

                It is all well and good that Unitology is more of an amalgam of religious concepts than a direct parody of any one faith in particular, but can any individual really claim the right to say who can be offended and who can’t? After all, it’s ultimately up to Scientologists to decide if they want to be upset. But here’s the kicker, no one got angry. There’s maybe an article or two online addressing this topic, but no statements from the Church of Scientology, no picketing, and no protests (Kuchera). Either Scientologists are unaware of their assumed relation to Unitology or perhaps the Church isn’t acknowledging the “similarities” because there aren’t any. Maybe Scientologists are keenly aware of the uncanny resemblance but refuse to make a fuss over something they view as trivial, in that case, wouldn’t their Church further distance themselves from Unitology by acting less like the religious order that unleashes alien viruses on people?

                L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology and chief author of most of the religion’s canonical texts, once wrote about what he called the First Dynamic Principle of Existence. This first principle of SELF and the seven principles that followed would become the fundamental structure of Scientology. The principle of SELF or perhaps better understood as the principle of survival, outlines the basic human instinct to preserve one’s own life, identity, and sanity (Hubbard). In a weird sort of respect, Dead Space; a text book model of the survival-horror genre pays homage to this principle by creating a game with the sole intent of delivering the protagonist from mortal danger and spectral hallucinations. It’s an odd parallel that unites Dead Space and Scientology in a way that seems far less condemning and perhaps even commending.

                Dead Space isn’t demonizing Scientology or Christianity or any other faith for that matter. The designers simply organized Unitology from existing religious concepts and throughout the course of the game’s narrative the church demonizes itself. Unitology becomes a separate entity from any faith including those from which it drew principle inspiration. It remains to be seen whether or not clerics and pastors will be calling for the discontinuation of the Dead Space franchise, but if you ask this writer, there are more important things to do when an alien outbreak threatens the very survival of mankind.      

Works Cited

"Black Marker." Dead Space Wiki. Wikia, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.                <http://deadspace.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Marker>.

Frushtick, Russ. "Dead Space 2′ Creative Director On The Unitology Vs. Scientology Debate." MTV NEWS.              MTV, n.d. Web. <http://www.mtv.com/news/2462602/dead-space-2-creative-director-on-the-   unitology-vs-scientology-debate/>.

Hubbard, L. Ron. "Eight Dynamics of Life, Dianetics, Improving Life Harmony: Official Church of   Scientology Video." Eight Dynamics of Life, Dianetics, Improving Life Harmony: Official Church of Scientology Video. Scientology, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. <http://www.scientology.org/what-is-      scientology/basic-principles-of-scientology/eight-dynamics.html>.

Kuchera, Ben. "L. Ron Altman: Why Dead Space 2 Is a Direct Attack on Scientology." L. Ron Altman: Why                Dead Space 2 Is a Direct Attack on Scientology. Arstechnica, 3 Feb. 2011. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. <http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/02/l-ron-altman-why-dead-space-2-is-a-direct-attack-on-     scientology/>.

"The Demon-Haunted World." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.                 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World>.

"Unitology." Dead Space Wiki. Wikia, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.       <http://deadspace.wikia.com/wiki/Unitology>.