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Halo - A Literary Analysis

Games As Literature

55,677 views

The game that defined a console generation certainly has influence, but how does it hold up as a work of narrative art? We take a look at Halo's plot, interactive devices, and themes to find out.

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Silent Cartographer Article:
http://kotaku.com/the-unusual-excelle...

Music:
Arcade Academy, by Pixel Head -
SoundCloud: arcade-acadmey

Art:
Jimi Bonogofsky-Gronseth - jimidoodle.blogspot.com

Gameplay Footage:
www.longplays.org

Website: www.gamesasliterature.com
Facebook: Facebook: gamesasliterature

If you want to know which games we'll be talking about in the future, take a look at the episode schedule: http://gamesasliterature.com/?page_id=58

If you're inexperienced with video games and don't know some of the terminology in these videos, check out our Gamer's Glossary: http://gamesasliterature.com/?page_id=56

20 Comments

@demilembias2527 10 years ago

Your wife is blue-haired piece of clip art that looks like the human version of Cortana?
Its okay, man, I'm lonely too.

@soopakoopa6461 8 years ago

A small detail I love that you forgot to mention about the elevator ride is that all the while, you're trapped on a very small platform with nowhere to run or hide while your motion sensor goes absolutely crazy, hinting at just how outnumbered you are in this place.

@Mayeur000Donz 10 years ago

Tho it doesn't make up for Chief's shallow characterization, an interesting observation across the series is that while Cortana steadily becomes more sociable, patient and generally more "human" as it goes along, Chief becomes less so. He's more reserved by the end, speaks much more to-the-point, and feels to me like one of those veterans who, while not the kind of men who enjoy war, do find the field of battle is where they feel sure of themselves, as opposed to in peacetime, where they are lost.

@tSp289 8 years ago

One thing Bungie does really well is implied heritage: the names fo everything suggest references to things, especially poetry and mythology, that doesn't actually exist. E.g. 'In Amber Clad'; 'Pillar of Autumn'; 'Forward Unto Dawn' all sound like they come from poems you should know. It's a trick Tolkien used to imply a much richer and more ancient setting than the events themselves can cover.

@OddJob117 11 years ago

hoping for you to eventually finishing the halo series!

@TheWorldBroadcast 10 years ago

Don't forget the flood, especially in the library has infinitely spawning enemies. The flood is literally that! Fighting them is like wading through flood water and you can't run, the only thing you can do is fight and hope to survive.

@Harry_S._Plinkett 10 years ago (edited)

This was a really interesting video. I can't wait for a Halo 2 analysis. Easily my favorite of the franchise.

@HUNKxTofu 5 years ago

Suggested timestamp chapter index:

0:00 Intro
1:05 Significance
2:38 Plot Summary Part 1
3:20 2552: The Larger Story
5:02 Plot Summary Part 2
8:52 Storytelling Mechanics
9:39 Plot Summary Part 3
10:55 A Mystery Story
11:25 The Game’s Music (Martin O’Donnell)
14:40 Plot Summary Part 4
16:36 343 Guilty Spark (The Level)
22:25 Plot Summary Part 5
29:50 Story Well Told
32:32 Themes
— 33:00 Savior
— 35:29 Ignorance vs Knowledge
36:26 Conclusion & Previews
37:20 Credits

@cephalopoid 11 years ago

Not a bad job. But there seems to be a lot of summarizing going on with a few nuggets of actual analysis.
A suggestion I might have is to aim for an audience who has played the game (why else would they want to watch an analysis) and focus on analysis of elements of literature.

Also, instead of going through the story chronologically, which sort of forces you to rely on plot summary, you might break your analysis up according to those elements: character, setting, imagery, symbolism.

This is a great idea, though. I've been meaning to ask my dean (I teach scifi and American literature) to give me a budget to buy several consoles so that I could teach a similar course.

@friendlyneighborhoodspider7145 5 years ago

I played though all the halo game with my older brother when I was a kid. But I never really grasped the story too well, so these literature analysis are great.

@ThadCastled117 3 years ago

RIP Foehammer, such a likable character in the books

@lepunkdigitale1 10 years ago

You deserve so many more subscribers and views than you're getting. Millions of views for play through videos where somebody somebody makes furtive comments and has a catchphrase, but only thousands for researched, intelligent and structured videos about video games as literature. It's a tragedy, it really is. Hats off to you, sir!

@danielsimmonds4913 10 years ago

I think the library also helps you hate guilty spark, he is absolutely useless throughout, and you have to drag through an entire level with him while he belittles you, he constantly leaves you behind and doesn't help whatsoever. So when it is revealed that the ring destroys all life in the galaxy, it's that much more satisfying when he's revealed to be 'evil'.

@Makkovar 11 years ago

Dang, now I'm curious to see the analysis of the second one.

So, why DID Halo resemble Earth?

@samyb1234 11 years ago

As a Halo story nerd, this was a great watch! It was great to hear you articulate things I'd thought but had never heard discussed. The part discussing the New vs Old Testament allegory was especially interesting. I'd never seen it as the new overcoming the old.

@jameseqbonner 11 years ago

So somebody linked to this video over at /r/games and I just want to say you did a GREAT job on it! Halo is my all time favorite game. I feel like people don't really talk about the first Halo as much any more which is a shame. Halo 1 and 2 had so much literary depth to them that people have seem to forgotten. So I'm looking forward to your Halo 2 video! I'm off to go watch your Bioshock video now!

I think you're on to something with this channel!

@Poet_Lorien 10 years ago

Been devouring your videos of late, and I'd just like to put it out there how much I appreciate actual analysis of Halo. There's a weird blind spot with these games among people who actually do this stuff well, and it's always irked me. Frustrating that people don't see these games, especially THIS game for being as extremely well made as they are.

@conorpyle3295 3 years ago

The deep literary analysis videos you do are as rewatchable as the games are replayable. You are a master at what you do as far as I can tell. This is probably the 8th time I’ve watched this.