The following is from a paper written for my senior level Pop Culture Theory class. Knowledge of Thomas Schatz’s genre theory is recommended in order to get the most of this application of the theory.

The Schatz Genre Theory Within Nier:Automata

Pop culture surrounds us everywhere we go; in the books we read, the movies we watch, the music we tap our feet to, and the art we observe. A relatively new form of pop culture that has only been around for about 50 years, is video games. Video games, unlike most other forms of pop culture, directly involves the participation of the viewer (or in this case, the player). The variety in video games is stark, from first-person shooters, to role-playing games, to visuals novels and games that are primarily narrative focused (almost like an interactive movie). Nier:Automata is an action role-playing game that released in early 2017, and has moved over 3 million copies as of earlier this year (Sato, 2018). The game plays into the sci-fi film genre, placing players in the year 11945 AD, millenniums following numerous wars with alien-created machines that forced humanity to seek refuge on the Moon whilst advanced combat androids fought to reclaim the planet from the invaders. In the 20th century, a man named Thomas Schatz put films under his magnifying glass; creating his theory of genres within films. Although Nier:Automata isn’t a film, many aspects of Schatz’s genre theory appears within it, such as the evolution of a genre, as well as Schatz’s 2 super genres: rite of order and rite of integration.

Let us start off with Schatz’s evolution of a genre and how this applies to Nier:Automata. There are several genres that you could attach to the game, such as: sci-fi, role-playing, or hack and slash, with role-playing games (RPG) being the game’s main label. RPGs are usually centered around character leveling/progression, as well as open-world exploration. Over the years, while many elements of the classical RPG have carried through to modern games within the genre, time has also saw evolutions to the original formula. Back in 1981, we had role-playing games like Ultima, that while very basic in visual presentation (obviously due to the limited computational power of the time), it and games like it had laid down the foundation for the RPGs to come, featuring features like character progression and an open world for the player to explore. We also saw another big evolution when RPGs got taken into the 3rd dimension with games like Dungeon Master later that same decade in 1987. This era of RPG games could be compared to what Schatz calls the “experimental stage”, giving birth to something new, and seeing how it is received by audiences. Players catch wind of this new kind of game, a genre that once lived as tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons; a “cultural ritual” takes place that lifts the role-playing genre out from being something that is just experimental, leading to a surge of new role-playing games that borrow from the experimental stage games before them. With the foundation laid for the genre, titles within the “classic stage” of role-playing games contained many of the mechanics that games like Ultima and Dungeon Master before it had established. Now coming back to Nier:Automata, how does the game represent an evolution in the RPG genre of video games? The answer is quite simple, genre-blending. Nier:Automata is the epitome of being a “genre stew”, where various other video game genres get thrown into the pot in order to serve up a game that challenges the conventional role-playing game. Just to name a few of the genres that Nier:Automata blends together, there is: hack and slash games, “bullet-hell” games, side scrolling games, top-down aerial fighter games, among several others. The classic elements of a RPG are still present; you can level up your character to make them more powerful, and you are also given an open-world that you are free to explore at your heart’s content. Another way in which the game breaks from the classic RPG formula is in the hero archetype. The protagonists presented with the game might be “hero” characters, but they are far from your ideal kind of hero. For example, the secondary protagonist, 9S, in the beginning wants to fight for the glory of mankind, but story circumstances send him off the deep end into a path of self-destruction. Heroes are usually portrayed as strong, with a strong temperament who can keep a cool head when faced with difficult situations or decisions; but 9S is given a boy-like appearance, a personality that reeks of innate good and innocence, but deep down he battles with the same demons that many have to face (which is particularly interesting being that he is an android and not a human). It is games like Nier:Automata that represent an “age of refinement” within the RPG genre, challenging game developers to think outside the box on how they can take the genre forward and evolve it. Just like how Alfred Hitchcock helped evolve the classic horror film, so does Yoko Taro (the game’s director) with his games. Hayden Dingman in his article entitled “The Best PC Games of 2017 (so far)” wrote, “It’s an RPG that breaks all genre conventions

from the get-go, with lengthy bullet-hell sequences interspersed between the fast-paced and fluid combat Platinum’s games are known for” (Dingman 27).

Next we explore one of the 2 super genres under Schatz’s theory, rite of order, and how the narrative of Nier:Automata could fit under this genre. With rite of order films, the first main aspect of these films is this dominant, macho, and male, protagonist. Nier:Automata does kind of flip this one on its head by having a dominant and “macho” female protagonist, 2B. While she may be female, still carries the characteristics for the rite of order hero; 2B is extremely skilled at combat, and takes the lead in difficult situations, motivated to take down the enemy threat at all costs. There is also the over-arching struggle for acquiring order, in westerns that might be defeating anarchy in the name of civilization, in this case it is eliminating the alien threats so that humanity can return home. For thousands of years the androids are thrust into battle against the machine invaders, a battle that becomes a stalemate, a tug of war that does not move in one direction or the other. Thousands and thousands of androids lose their lives while trying to complete their mission, but they were created with the singular purpose to restore order for the Earth and mankind, and that is what they set out to do even if it means loss of life. How is a resolution reached for the heroes in the end? Common to rite of order films, a resolution is met with a violent battle, of which in this case leads to the elimination of countless machine lifeforms, as well as our protagonists. Even when order is ultimately achieved by the end, there is the promise of a “utopia”, another aspect for rite of order films. Of course, we know this “utopia” is not exactly reality, or else there would be no need for the hero since “contrasting ideologies [would] exist side-by-side” (Stanley, 3). Once you reach the end of the game’s story, you feel like peace and order has finally been restored, although not without great sacrifices on the part of the game’s protagonists. Did they reach the “utopia” they strived for? Was the war actually over? At the end you are witness to the protagonist’s “pods” (basically little floating AI that assist the android units with various tasks such as combat or data analysis) having a 1 on 1 conversation as they carry replacement parts towards where 2B and 9S’s bodies are located, and this is what was said between them, “[Pod 153 to Pod 042]…won’t this lead us to the same conclusion as before?” followed up by “[Pod 042 to Pod 153] I cannot deny the possibility”. The conversation between the pods suggests that utopia has not been truly met, that what happened before could happen all over again. The end of Nier:Automata presents an achievement of order, but the promise of a utopia can’t be fulfilled, at least not yet.

The comparisons with Schatz’s super genres do not end with rite of order, because there are also elements that fit the game’s story alongside rite of integration films. The first big element for rite of integration films are the coupled pairs, one being the conformed, and the other being the deviant character. The pair of 2B and 9S are the biggest example within the story. 2B is the conformist, commonly getting on 9S’s case when he shows human emotion, “[9S to 2B] I don’t usually get a partner. It’s kind of fun!” “[2B to 9S] Emotions are prohibited”. The protagonists, 9S and 2B, are a part of an android organization called “YoRHa” who’s main priority it is to take back Earth from the machines, and one rule is that androids are not to display emotions (most likely due to believe that emotions can lead to failure). 9S is one of the most human-like androids you see in the game, showing thoughts and behaviors similar to humans even when told that such emotions are prohibited. For 2B, she has an understanding as to how human emotions could get in the way of their mission, therefore she willingly conforms and suppresses her own deep-down emotions, while trying to get 9S to do the same for the betterment of the mission. The game’s narrative does not necessarily treat this conformity as the right choice, at the same time making it painfully clear the consequences that come from not conforming, evident when 9S lets the human emotions take control of him and his judgement, sending him into a state of madness until it becomes his downfall. This is not the only case of deviants within the narrative though, because, there are instances of deviants among the enemy side. The game suggests that the machines operate under a sort of hive mind called “the network” and disconnecting from the network leads to quite a few interesting results. The earliest machine deviants you come upon are Pascal and a village of non-aggressive machines who disconnected from the network. Unlike many of the other machines you come upon throughout the game, these machines do not desire to wipe out androids, instead wishing to live in peace amongst them; Pascal says to 9S and 2B upon their arrival to the village, “Those who reside here desire nothing more than to live a peaceful existence”. The machines within the village did not wish to conform to what the rest of the machines desired (to eliminate androids), and instead wished to act independently to the others and serve their own self-purposes. What is Nier:Automata trying to say about conformity, is it good to conform or not? The game’s narrative suggests a double-edged sword to this binary opposition, to conform means to lose their individuality, but not conforming would mean going against the purpose for their existence; choosing to conform or not conform will both be met with a different set of consequences. Reaching the resolution strategy for rite of integration films, these films usually end with some kind of big production number. So what is Nier:Automata’s big production number? This is where what Thomas Schatz calls a “strange mutation”, comes into play. The big production number itself could be attributed to the machine tower in the city, collapsing when the protagonists (the ones who are still alive that is by this point) infiltrate the structure and shut it down. What makes this a strange mutation is that the protagonists do not survive through to see the end, representing a break from the convention of having the hero live to witness the outcome of their actions on the world. What does this mutation say about the genre or world that gave birth to the game? Perhaps, we have moved away from the years of having fairy tale endings in our films and even video games, even in a fictional world, realism from the real-world bleeds through. The heroes are still heroes when the screen fades to black, but not in the same way that participants come to expect from a game like this. In contrast to the rite of order genre, if you look at the ending under the magnifying glass of rite of integration, perhaps utopia had already been met. There is always the possibility that history will repeat itself, but what is important is that utopia is now, in that moment where the fighting has ceased, and the world is at peace, even if it only lasts a moment.

Yoko Taro’s Nier:Automata has been one of the most influential pieces of pop culture that I have ever been a participant of, in a very long time. The narrative is gripping, the characters are very well written, and by the end you are left remembering this game for one reason or another. Video games and films share many aspects with each other today, especially in the way stories are told, so what you get is essentially a movie that you are the star of. Due to the close comparisons between film and games, Thomas Schatz’s theory of genres can be stretched to apply this game. The game represents a clear evolution for the role-playing genre of games, still holding on its classical roots, while also finding ways to make an interesting spin on the genre.

Work Cited

Birch, A. (2014, November 19). The evolution of the RPG. Retrieved from https://www.denofgeek.com/games/dragon-age-inquisition/32947/the-evolution-of-the-rpg

Dingman, H. (2017). The best PC games of 2017 (so far). PCWorld, 35(8), 25–36. Retrieved from https://libproxy.lamar.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=124444498&site=ehost-live

Nier:Automata. (2017). Platinum Games [PS4]. Shinjuku, Tokyo: Square Enix.

(2018, June 06). NieR: Automata Reaches 3 Million In Worldwide Shipments And Downloads On PS4 & PC. Retrieved from http://www.siliconera.com/2018/06/06/nier-automata-reaches-3-million-worldwide-shipments-downloads-ps4-pc/

Stanley, B. (2018). COMM3378: Pop Culture Theory, genre studies notes [Print].