On the heels of the topical and satirical So You Think You Can Drive, Mel, the Game Show Network has published a new game lampooning the sex scandal surrounding former Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL), Foley's Follies. I blogged earlier on the inevitability of Mark Foley games, and Amanda correctly speculated that many early attempts would play up the queer angle and simply recycle Michael Jackson jokes with Foley taking Jackson's place as the weird pedophile. This latest effort by GSN, however, appears to be something more sophisticated and at least offers some more involved game play.
From the press release:
The format of the game is simple. Players guide the former Congressman through a maze while trying to out-run the Pages. However, when the Foley head hits a message bubble he then pursues the Pages and actual Foley quotes from the transcripts appear at the bottom of the screen.
And that's pretty much it. What might not be clear from that is that it's a Pac-Man clone (Foley is Pac-Man, pages are ghosts), and there are some nuances that come out in the way the content is presented. First of all, it's nice to see a news-based game that isn't a whack-a-mole or space invaders clone, and the imagery of the floor of Congress as a maze seems kind of fitting as pages scurry up and down it's corridors. If you've ever watched C-Span, that's pretty much what the pages do, so adding the former Congressman pursuing them connects his impropriety with what little idea most people have of what a Congressional page actually does.
On to the analysis:
Here's a screenshot of the basic playing field:
Basic playing field for Foley's Follies. Obviously a Pac-Man clone. Note the red and blue spectators on both sides of the aisle.
When the game starts, Foley has three "lives" which he can increase by capturing the intermittent emoticons that appear throughout the field. The pages are all business at first, marching back and forth with papers in their hands:
An unsuspecting page. Note the business-like posture and cheerful expression.
If Foley runs into a page in this mode, he loses a life. If however, the former Congressman first acquires an IM symbol, the pages undergo a transformation:
A receptive page. Note the look of fear.
The newly receptive pages glow pink (or are they nude?), move much more slowly and cautiously, and definitely look worried. They're pretty easy to catch as they shuffle around, and they stay vulnerable for long enough that the first two levels can be completed with the pages pink almost the entire time. I'm a little confused about what the page sprites signify in terms of the game's broader critique. I don't know if they're turned on or simply vulnerable, but their in-game status is clear. Upon consuming a page, a genuine quote from Foley's IMs appears at the bottom of the screen:
A genuine excerpt from Mr. Foley's (R-FL) communications with a page.
Acquiring an IM symbol seems to signifying opening an IM chat with the pages, and "consuming" them corresponds to delivering one of the sexually explicit messages. The juxtaposition of this in-game act of consumption and the "payoff" of the explicit message gets to the heart of the whole predatory incident by exposing the advances as not simply romantic gestures, but acts of predation by a powerful party upon a weaker party. I think this line of critique is pretty clear, but Foley's Follies does consider other angles of the story as well.
Now that the dust has settled somewhat, there are at least two competing media narratives of what the scandal was about. Either it's about a deviant, alcoholic Congressman with a personal problem resulting from his own abuse who is now being rehabilitated, or it's about a culture of corruption so entrenched that it would ignore warnings about a predator in its midst to maintain it's own power.
The latter message seems reinforced by the message displayed between levels:
Congratulations! Allegations have not yet surfaced and those who do know have done nothing. To continue chasing pages hit the 'space bar' on your keyboard or click on the 'next' button below.
And the image of the playing field includes members of Congress looking on in silence. (I've only made it to level 4, so I don't know if allegations ever do surface or if the Representatives ever intervene).
What complicates this game's depiction of that particular narrative, however, is the inclusion of both parties (red and blue) passively looking on. And the "Game Over" screen lampoons Foley's drinking problem, further reinforcing his "the alcohol made me do it" defense.
I'm not sure if we should read this ambiguity as ambivalence or simply an error, but maybe we should consider the audience. Along with the Mel Gibson game, the ultimate target of this game's satire is the hypocrisy of an individual in power. Ultimately, I don't think that either is necessary a political commentary, except perhaps to the extent that both Foley and Mel have both used their authority to lecture others about moral issues in the past. I'm still not sure what to make of the status of the page sprites in this representation, so perhaps someone more versed in Queer Theory can comment?
What do you think? Does this game simply play on homophobic fears, or does it rightfully criticize a sexual predator and the system that enabled him?
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