Disclaimer:
The audio discussed in this article is merely for analytical and discussion purposes. This is not a composer, developer, publisher or audience bashing post.
I am Chinese-Thai, born and bred in London so my focus and knowledge lie mostly on East Asian topics.
This is a part write up of my research into the topic, part document of a panel session and part post write up.
Panelists included Jade ‘JDWasabi’ Leamcharaskul (composer / indie developer), Chris White (composer) and Claudia Haberburg (host)
Check out #vgmusicalappropriation on Twitter for pics and tweets about the panel!
Thanks Nemo Martin for proof reading!
Nine Worlds 2016
Earlier last month (August 2016) I had the pleasure of being invited to be part of the Nine Worlds 2016’s ‘Cultural Appropriation in Game Music’ panel; an open discussion on what it is, examples of it in Game Music and the affects it has on the game, the player and social impact. Socials issues within gaming and game music interest me, so I jumped at the opportunity to be on the panel. The lack of a diversity in the game industry is statistically awful and it is something I personally strive to change.
First, to cover a few points to get everyone up to speed:
WHAT IS GAME MUSIC?
Photo by Jade ‘JDWasabi’ Leamcharaskul
Music that works with several game design elements to enhance user experience
Sets the narrative tone of the game and helps world building
Communicates to the player the relative emotions that a player should experience in a specific time/event within the game.
Adds to the narrative flow.
Creates emotional investment and a relationship between game and player.
A lot of people that I’ve come across, particularly those who are new to game composition, seem to forget that game music is a design principle. The priority of game music is always the game, and in turn player experience. It is the job of the game composer to problem-solve and work with the developers to ensure that the game narrative is communicated effectively to the audience through the music.
I could rant all day about this, but I’ll leave that to another post. Moving on.
WHAT IS CULTURAL APPROPRIATION?
To define:
“It is the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of another culture.”
But this is a very basic explanation of what Cultural Appropriation (CA) is. There are other aspects to it which makes it problematic:
The ‘adoption’ is often done without any kind of permission…
…and that element is morphed, stripped off its original meaning. This is insensitive to the original culture.
The power dynamic between the dominant culture taking from an already oppressed subservient culture.
Examples of CA:
“Cultural” halloween costumes like dressing up as ‘geisha dolls’ pretty much promotes East Asian fetishes and sexualises an aspect of that culture. (Why do some people insist on wearing chopsticks in their hair? Do you put forks in your hair? I think not.)
Wearing Christian crosses on a shirt or wearing an Aum accessory because it’s hip and cool. Not because you’re a practicing religious person.
My co-panelist also chimed in on this: Picasso became famous after being ‘inspired’ by African art. Despite being part of African culture for hundreds of, if not thousands of, years, African art styles suddenly became ‘new’ and ‘inspiring’ through this new medium, without being recognised as such.
Similarly, Elvis Presley was dubbed the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ despite the genre’s roots in Rhythm and Blues, Gospel, Jazz and more, completely undermining POC (Person Of Colour) artists and originators, who get swept under the rug of pop culture. Jazz music itself, while great, has very problematic and historical roots, originating from African American communities during the slave trade and the colonisation of West Africa. Now its demographic is strangely elitist; generally enjoyed by the white upper-middle class. (https://infogr.am/has_blues_and_jazz_been_whitewashed)
To quote a meme I read somewhere: “CA is like researching for a project, only for the teacher to grade you an F and grade the person who copied you an A.”
WHY IS CA BAD?
I will not dive into this one because there are a plethora of articles on this so I will link to a few instead. Mainly here and here and anywhere else Google suggests. CA is harmful, insensitive and perpetuates negative stereotypes. In a creative field, this makes the stories we tell increasingly bland and boring. Heroes look and sound the same. Archetypal tropes remain the same and the same kind of story continuously repeats.
Surely if you want to be successful in the games industry, you’d want to work on delivering a fresh and amazing game narrative and experience?
WHERE DOES GAME MUSIC COME IN?
Now that we’re all up to speed, I can focus on documenting my journey on researching into this topic and anecdotes taken from the panel session.
USES OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC
Introducing “The Other”
A common game narrative is the subject of “The Other”. The player is often thrown into new worlds and universal lores to explore, and a multitude of characters and/or things to emotionally invest in. The use of traditional cultural music helps embody that alien, other worldly feeling a player experiences. The sense of wonder and exploration is part of the magic of discovery.
Instant history* lessons
*And by history, it really means stereotypical tropes that everyone knows from pop culture.
As a game music composer, using traditional cultural music elements can communicate a subconscious layer of history. A cultural ‘weight’ is carried within the music which a player instantly understands from conformed archetypal tropes in storytelling.
For example, you’re in a desert level and Indian Raag-inspired music is playing. The audience immediately pictures bazaars, peddlers, thieving children and lots of sand- without the game having to do any work. The cherry on the top of the conjured imagery would be that a rich overlord has been financially exploiting the townsfolk; with just one piece of music and you already feel comfortable in the plot.
Another example would be being in a jungle level. Cue “jungle” type music featuring drums, drums and more ethnic drums. You bump into a “native” NPC (non player character) who takes you to their tribal village and very often the music will be ‘exotic’ to show how ‘different’ this level and its inhabitants are. Away from ‘civilisation’, this other culture is primitive, but if western classical orchestral music started to play, the player would instantly be ‘taken out’ of the believability of the level.
Humans are naturally hard wired to form meaning from something. The same goes in game design where players can form their own experiences based on nuggets of narrative information. As an audience, they’d have their own way of reading medium code, which is built from Hollywood, films, games, comics, pop culture and more. Game music is one of the many elements that help achieve (or break) this.
AUDIO ANALYSIS 1 by Jade
Possible mis-appropriate/inappropriate cultural elements in Game Music
Finding good examples to analyse was actually pretty difficult. So in the next section I will focus on doing an audio analysis of specific games tracks.
MAIN THEME — Aaron Miller
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China (2015, Ubisoft)
Dat Flute
(Excerpt at 1:47)
Assassin’s Creed is known to be historically accurate but strangely enough, has questionably historically inaccurate music. Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China takes place in the Ming Dynasty (specifically 1526 AD) which made it easy to figure out the contextual specification of the setting. I am not a traditional Chinese music expert, but I know enough of what to expect from this period of history.
The first thing I noticed about the main theme was the performance technique used in the flute samples. It sounds very much like how the NohKanflute is performed in Japanese Noh theatre. Compare the playing style of Noh flute performed by Fujita-san, the 11th generation Master of the Fujita School of Noh Flute and the Assassin’s Creed track. Quite similar right?
This creates a disconnect between the discerning listener (myself, who could tell the difference) as an audience, and the game. My experience didn’t make sense. My eyes say that I am in the Ming Dynasty, yet my ears tell me that I’m more in a classic Japanese theatre performance which potentially predates the Ming Dynasty. Noh / Nohgaku theatre often tells supernatural tales, with iconic masks representing ghosts, demons, women, children and old people. This image had nothing to do Shao Jun running around rooftops and stabbing people in the face with her foot.
[If you really want to get into it, Nohgaku comes from Sarugaku which came from China to Japan in the 8th century. However, Chinese theatre has developed since, whereas classical Japanese theatre has remained unchanged since the 14th century. More on my other post here where I go in depth of how Nohgaku is supposed to be perceived as an audience and how ‘anti music’ it is from a Western music perspective.]
Out of curiousity, I Youtube’d Ming Dynasty court music and found it to be utterly different. The instrumentation was different, the feel and mood was different, the scale and sound quality was different. Oh and we could look at Kunqu Chinese opera too! Just before the panel I had managed to do a week introductory course as SOAS University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies, a world leading institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East) and we specifically worked on this song. Looking back at it, this particular type of Chinese theatre developed during the Ming Dynasty too.
Yes! This was the kind of thing I was expecting to hear for the soundtrack to be influenced by. I know that I’m comparing Youtube videos to the Main Theme which is incomparable, and a very narrow slice of traditional Chinese music, but I’m also referencing audioscapes I’ve encountered in other mediums: old kung fu films, Chinese opera shows, Chinese New Year Lion dances, my mum, etc. As a player, I was disappointed in the audio. I was wanting a semi-historically accurate audioscape to go alongside my semi-historically accurate adventure and instead I got disjointed mishmash of East Asian history.
I dug deeper in Youtube finding the similarities between traditional Chineseand Japanese music. It’s definitely getting more difficult to differentiate between the two and how easy it can be to interchange between China and Japan (tip: please don’t do this anyway for historical reasons). I looked up the composer of Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, half hoping to see an Asian composer and instead I read a white sounding name and see a white person in the picture. I am a little disappointed, yet not surprised and I begin to ask myself: can a white person write Chinese music?
Before you pick up the torches and pitchforks, I am super aware that I’m assuming a lot of things about this composer. I have not contacted them, I have not verified the compositional intent behind the soundtrack, I am assuming this person is white and has no knowledge of traditional Chinese music based on their looks. I am being unfair and judgemental. However, the question still remains, and I needed something I have knowledge about to compare. This leads me to my next audio analysis.
AUDIO ANALYSIS 2 by Jade
Possible appropriate use of cultural elements in Game Music
The next track I’ll analyse is one of my own tracks I’ve written. I can verify the intent behind each note and I know that I’ve written it in a way in which I’m hopefully as respectful as I can be to its original culture.
PINKYWOOD FOREST — JDWasabi (Jade Leamcharaskul)
Dragon Fin Soup (2015, Grimm Bros.)
Compositional Goal: be Pan Asian
I was tasked with writing a track for the sakura-esque/Asian dungeon level and it was obviously inspired by East Asia / Japan. I wanted to be specific with my writing so I asked questions on what kind of Asian music the developer wanted. After some discussion, they said that they didn’t want the music to be specifically Japanese. “So…Asian neutral?” “Yep.” Gotcha. Pan-Asian it shall be.
Right, this is my speciality. I’ve been playing Javanese gamelan since 2007-ish and Japanese taiko (specifically hokuriku style) drums fully for the last three, maybe four years. Of course I’m going to incorporate a lot of elements from that, and more!
The beginning of the track was mucking about with some Chinese guzheng and erhu samples alongside Gamelan gongs. The strings are meant to imitate the Chinese sheng instruments (reed instrument used in imperial courts/folk music) for tonal bedding. A Japanese shakuhachi flute adds to the bedding and plays the main melody at 0:40. I have to admit that at the the point of writing this, I had no previous knowledge of a shakuhachi and the melody itself was based purely on instinct by then. Don’t ask if this is musically accurate!
[To the person who asked about the flute sample, it was definitely a shakuhachi! I totally forgot the instrument during the panel but I’ve now managed to dig out my old project file to confirm.]
At 1:09, I introduce a gamelan compositional technique; ‘mipil’ with interlocking pairs of notes on the strong and off-beat played on alternating gamelan samples. The guzheng and Japanese koto instruments have a little melody and counter-melody happening. The taiko jiuchi (underlying base rhythm in traditional folk music) build towards 2:00 and in 2:30 onwards, the guzheng and koto play in the style of mipil. Of course, I had to end this atmospheric piece with Tibetan singing bowls and a big gong before it loops back to the beginning.
Oh God! Now that I’ve analysed my own music, am I culturally appropriating myself and others still? Is it really okay that I’ve mixed and matched all these Asian cultures? After voicing this concern about myself, an audience member praised me for at least properly researching the instruments and for me knowing the culture behind each. So, to the person who chimed in at that time…thank you! I highly appreciate your comment again.
At this point the panel moved to Chris’ audio analysis of his own work on a project inspired by Slavic mythology.
[Hopefully Chris will be able to write a more in-depth audio analysis on his work and experience to expand on. Once Chris isn’t busy and able to contribute, I shall update this article at a later date!]
Reaction Guys / Gaijin 4Koma , a game’s success ultimately lives in the hands of the audience
HISTORICAL ACCURACY VS PANDERING TO THE MASSES VS FUNDING
A developer dilemma
After some discussion, the panel shifted to being about the audience themselves. Through comparing an audio sample of Slavic singing, Chris’s work (researched and closer to Slavic inspirations), The Witcher 3 (Hollywood version of Slavic music which sounds very different from sample) we encounter an interesting issue that the audioscape in The Witcher 3 is already been deemed ‘historically accurate’ by a member of audience (who is of Polish descent if I remember correctly).
So far we have explored views as a composer and developer, but we’ve yet to discuss the audience, who plays a key role in this conversation. Our combined efforts of developer/composer mean nothing if we don’t deliver a product or gaming experience which is expected by the player. Uncovering this aspect adds another layer relating to the issue of CA in game music.
As developers and composers we make games for specific user experiences which as an audience, that comes with a certain level of expectation.
The moment we include something like what is perceived as the ‘wrong’ type of music, we break the gameplay immersion. This is bad game design and therefore a bad game product. The audience wouldn’t want to play anymore, they’re less interested in supporting the developer and some of us would rage over the internet about it. Does this mean we should we sacrifice a culturally accurate creation to mass appeal to an audience who has culturally inaccurate expectations?
Not only that, as a composer there are usually severe creative limitations. We’d need to problem solve and have work arounds if/when the original source music does not suit the game. There is lack of time, lack of research and lack of funding. Very rarely will a composer get to immerse themselves in a new musical culture and become a professional in it for every game project. Or, have the necessary funds to involve a professional performer to work with us. We’d work with the resources and knowledge that we have, and if it does boil down to Wikipedia, Youtube and pop culture, then it has to do.
In terms of CA in game music and how to be as respectful as possible, we have so many different types of people, elements and logistics to cater to to make a game successfully work.
The Audience
The Publisher / Investor
The Developer
The Composer
There are probably many other groups, but it’s already difficult to see where the Minority Culture can fit in this vicious ‘audience vs viable commercial product’ cycle. What we have are games teaching audiences about what to expect from cultures, producing audiences who expect games to give them certain versions of cultures because of previous games… and composers stuck repeating the same mistakes.
In reality, the game in which we developers and composers work so hard for truly is at the end of the day, in the hands of the consumer.
TO WHAT EXTENT IS IT HARMFUL?
Perhaps I’m being picky and being that person. I know games aren’t meant to 100% realistic. I know why people play games: to be a hero, win and achieve all sorts of fantastic feats. It’s a form of escapism which is what makes the world of gaming so magical. But on the other hand, why can’t games educate, raise awareness and help others in the real world? Even if it’s at a subconscious level? Games like Grand Theft Auto, which are meant to tell stories based on gang culture reinforce harmful stereotypes, which leaks into real life. These games trivialise and dehumanise many different groups of people, which makes it harder to empathise with and see them as human.
We don’t give audiences enough credit to criticize a product, yet the stakes are very often too high. Release a ‘bad game’ and the studio can go bust over night, which is why many publishers and developers play it safe and release another shoot ’em up featuring a middle aged, brown haired, white male clone. There will always be groups furiously typing on the internet that “GAMES ARE ART, WHY DON’T YOU TREAT IT SO”, yet also rage at critics to “LEAVE POLITICS OUT OF OUR GAMES.” This is exactly what this whole discussion is about. I am treating games as an art and questioning what it really represents in many different social, economic and creative angles. CA in game music may be a very specific problem, but it adds to an already damaging weight towards minorities.
Yes, we can be certainly be light hearted and make memes about the initial problem, but I certainly feel that we should be doing much more in supporting diversity in games by creating more diverse games.
Closing down the session, there were still many unanswered questions:
Who do we ask for permission if the originator isn’t remembered or if the originator is a community from history?
Is “Pan-Asian” less bad when writing culturally specific Fantasy / Scifi games that aren’t set on Earth?
What if the developer doesn’t know and cultural bias is already in place at the development stage?
I can’t really answer those questions, but I do know that not providing the opportunity or a voice for a minority group at all can be harmful. By continuing to allow our games to be saturated in stereotypes, we are being told to stop seeing people of colour as people, but as NPCs in a world where a white protagonist may interact with, and potentially be on good terms with them, but who is ultimately superior to and, ironically, individual compared to them.
AAA games often feature brown haired, 30-something white males leads in a narrative. How often do they feature female, POC, LGBT+ or a combination to lead the narrative?
FINAL THOUGHTS
“Can a white person write Chinese music?”
I realised I never did answer this question. The answer is “yes”.
This question was never implying that a composer is not allowed to write music based off another culture. We briefly discussed the negative effects of CA and how it can be such a grey area to deal in game music and within the game industry. It is by no means an easy problem to solve.
In an ideal world and situation, we would want to create an opportunity of true cultural exchange. This means approaching cultural topics in a sensitive way and with no sense of entitlement or established power systems. It means giving the cultural minority a voice, more opportunities and actively working with them to ensure that they a represented in a positive/correct way that they see fit.
As a game music composer, we can certainly help provide more opportunities for cultural exchange and create a more diverse industry. There are approximately 10,300 people currently making games in the UK. 19% are female yet only 4% are BAME (Black/Asian/Minority-Ethnic) which is down from last year. Obviously there is room for lots of improvement and potential cultural exchange.
To quote a developer friend, he spent ages trying to get actual Native American music for his game and found a record company who specialises in licensing out music from Native American artists. They act like a liason for artists and asked around if several artists were interested on working on the game. Unfortunately nothing came about from that point of contact, so he bought some Native American music from a general music library as an alternative.
On the other hand, I’ve had a few hilarious, less-positive responses when raising the topic of CA in game music in different composer groups. In one particular group, I was being described in a range of derogatory terms, had instant dismissals and elevated displays of entitlement. It was just sad to see people readily turning a blind eye to the issue and not wanting to create an open industry.
So there are developers out there who are willing to reach out and create opportunities, and composers who are adamant about not caring.
Perhaps a solution would be to compile an easy to access and developer friendly music library that features cultural/traditional music as well as providing a database of musicians, artists and consultants who specialises in it. The more dialogue that happens with composers and artists, the more opportunities are created to diversify the industry.
In reality, this comes to a similar conclusion another panel I attended at Nine Worlds: #GamesSoWhite. Make the games industry more accessible to diversify it. Make diversity matter, otherwise kids start to see racial stereotypes as the norm. Call out things and openly support diverse projects as an audience participant. Even if it’s satire, change the fact that the stereotype is still there in your head.