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stressfulsloth · 10 months

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I've seen a couple of takes about Disco Elysium being copaganda going around recently, and beyond the fact that DE is relentlessly critical of the police force in general and makes explicit reference to the failures of the system that allow the officers in game to abuse their power, I also think it's important to note that there very literally is an in-world version of copaganda that the writers of the game use to parody that romanticised view of the brutality of policing. The RCM at their inception were structurally inspired by in-world copaganda- their culture, their "fashions, even weapon preferences, borrow heavily from classic Vespertine cop shows." Every investigation is it's own little drama, every officer imagining themselves to be the bad-ass hero of their own crime serial. Detectives name their cases like they're naming episodes of a TV series in a "robust but literary system"; a title that "draws inspiration from snoop fiction and Vespertine cop show staples". They give themselves nicknames to sound like cool, suave fictional officers- Ace, Dick Mullen, etc.- from the cool, suave world of copaganda.

The legend of the RCM's inception, the "point of contention" over its uncertain origins, is even an extention of that; the whole organisation is shrouded in this self-fictionalising mythos that allows for distance that in turn obfuscates much of its violence to the officers that participate in it. They get to convince themselves that they're not abusing their power; they're the hero of the story! The dichotomy of "good guy" taking out the "baddies," a manifestation of the libertarian fantasy of the "good guy with a gun" who does what it takes, just like in Annette's detective novels, and at the same time who rails against oversight bodies like Internal Affairs/'the rat squad' because due process slows down the immediate satisfaction of Swift Justice, despite Internal Affairs existing to protect the citizens from overreach on behalf of the police. "Wanton brutality" from police in their real world is a cold bitter reality but Dick Mullen was "made to crack skulls," "bend the rules and solve cases no one else can," and which version of that story is more comforting to the overworked, underfunded officers of the RCM?

The level of fantasy and detachment required for the cops to still see themselves as the good guys after everything that they do in the line of duty mimics The Pigs and her breakdown too; she parallels Harry so clearly. Both "did right by the kids" in the past, hoping for a better future- Marianne (The Pigs) by looking out for Titus and the Hardy boys when they were young, Harry in his role as a gym teacher. Both abandoned and left behind by the system that the RCM uphold- a brutal capitalist landscape with no safety nets. Both turning the source of their trauma into a costume, a performance, a shield, shaped by "radio waves and cop shows." The Pigs uses RCM items scavenged from the Esperance where they'd been thrown away, while Harry uses the Dick Mullen hat that Annette gives him but both are essentially in costume.

Harry identifies himself with the fictional detective as a kind of wish fulfilment; Dick Mullen is "wicked smart." He doesn't fuck up his cases and when he's sad it's not pathetic; it's effortlessly cool brooding and everyone sympathises. Everyone loves him. His violence- "skull crack[ing]"- is justified because he's a "good guy" enacting that violence against the victims of police brutality sorry "bad guys". He doesn't ever face repercussions; "Dick Mullen won't be sent to the clink for the sake of some legal niceties!" So if Harry is Dick Mullen then his failures, his breakdown, they're all just a part of being a "bad-ass, on-the-edge disco cop." He's not wrong, he's a hero! This idealised fictionalised idea of the police force, this "new, sadly better, reality" that both Harry and The Pigs cling to is "escapist stuff," "receed[ing] into a ludicrous fantasy world," so far removed from the brutal material reality that they're in.

My point is, idk. Disco Elysium is so far from being copaganda. It is a multi-million word long dissection of it, of the purpose of policing, of state sanctioned violence and its interaction with capital and the fallout experienced within the wider community as well as the trauma cycle created for individual officers. A dissection of how copaganda interacts with RCM culture and perception, and by extension how we interact with irl perceptions of police through that lens.

#ouaghhhhhhh disclaimer; i am bad with words and im not sure that i've properly expressed what i'm trying to say but this is getting so long #the cops are not meant to be the good guys #if you think i've missed something here pls let me know!!#disco elysium #harry du bois #DE rambling #marianne leplante #the pigs #actually just one last note- this isnt in response to any one particular thing ive seen but a few different posts comments and articles

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novemango · 2 years

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8, 14, and 22 for the DE asks?

8: What is your favourite line from the game?

"After the world, the pale. After the pale, the world again."

Paired with "After life, death. After death, life again", this line *really* immersed me into the worldbuilding of Disco Elysium. I kind of fell in love with Dolores Dei for a bit there, it was such a beautiful sentiment. And it's completely grounded in the specific mechanics of DE's world; we don't have a real-life equivalent for the pale, or isolas (I mean, I guess there's the ocean and outer space, but the existential horror of the pale is *something else*). When I saw that line...I could see how Dolorianism became a whole-ass religion. It's so goddamn hopeful (and in the context of DE's world, it's *real*, it's *true*, there is something beyond the pale).

Plus, it's not tinged with the sinister aspects of the Moralintern/Moralism. Though...hm, I guess you could say it's linked to colonialism? Going to other isolas, imposing the Occidental's hegemony on them...I think there's a difference between exploration/scientific discovery and imperialism, though. Whatever connotations it has, religious/imperialist or not, I remember sitting there for a few minutes in silence after seeing that line on my screen. Raw-ass line! Makes me better understand Kim's attachment to Moralism.

14: What was the moment that touched you most while playing?

Honestly, when Kim and Harry disarm The Pigs/Marianne LePlante peacefully (and learn about her more from the Hardy Boys). I have a relative who...has similar symptoms, a similar background. I'm glad that the game treated her sympathetically. I...I'd like to imagine that if my relative got into a situation with the police, that they'd also recognize that she's troubled, not evil, not deserving of violence. That's a lot to expect out of the real-life police, but...yeah.

22:

HOO BOY this one is hard. I feel I don't completely know myself, that my self-perception is several degrees off from reality. But I'll try!

I guess first off my FSY stats are trash, I've always known I'm slow, have low stamina, have low tolerance for pain, not strong at all, definitely on the sickly side. I was picked last every time in P.E. in high school and in middle school! This never changed no matter how hard I tried! My MOT isn't that much better...I'm not sure whether I'm best in PSY or INT. Maybe equal?

If I had to give a full breakdown of my DE stats...I used this link https://copomatic.vercel.app/#stats as a guide, though I deviated a bit:

INT: Good

Logic — 5

Encyclopedia — 5

Rhetoric — 6

Drama — 3

Conceptualization — 7

Visual Calculus — 1

I can see, but I can't interpret what I see for shit. All the footstep analysis and crime scene reconstruction that Harry does in-game is completely beyond me. I like to think I can talk good and that I have a healthy artistic sensibility (I mean, I want to do creative writing in some capacity after I graduate, so I better have some understanding of art and literature).

PSY: Good

Volition — 3

Inland Empire — 7

Empathy — 5

Authority — 2

Esprit de Corps — 1

Suggestion — 4

If I remember the game correctly, Inland Empire is the intuition/imagination skill? Definitely my "signature skill" in real life, then.

I have little interest in bossing people around and I don't understand cops, so those would be my worst skills.

FSY: Poor

Endurance — 2

Pain Threshold — 1

Physical Instrument — 1

Electrochemistry — 3

Shivers — 2

Half-Light — 4

Half-Light is the skill that makes you paranoid, yeah? I find myself often in a constant state of anxiety, so my Half-Light should be pretty "good" (it's honestly one of the skills that fucks you up the most if you raise it too high).

MOT: Poor

Hand-Eye Coordination — 1 if we're talking real-life catching objects, 4 if we're talking viddy games

Perception — 2

Reaction Speed — again, 1 if real life, 4 if in video games

Savoir Faire — 2

Interfacing — 3

Composure — 3

does playing piano well help my interfacing score?

Thanks so much for the ask! I had fun answering these!

#disco elysium #ask games

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