THE CULTURAL IMPACT OF BATTLE ROYALE
The Japanese cult classic film Battle Royale [based on the novel of the same name] became a worldwide success, inspiring movies, videos games, and establishing its very own genre of deathmatch-centered media.
From PUBG to Fortnite, The Hunger Games, and even Squid Game, the footprint it has left is immeasurable. A movie that follows a class of middle school students participating in a brutal game, forcing them to take the lives of their friends to save their own, continues to be a cultural phenomenon for the generations that follow.
The Republic of Greater East Asia, middle school students、a deserted island and one challenge: “only one will survive.”
This is the plot of `Battle Royale バトルロワイアル` the bestseller， that gave birth to the ominous genre later. Behind the scenes after the popularity of the novel written by Koushun Takami which reached a million sold copies only in Japan, began a cycle of reverberating actions. Only a year after the serialization of the published manga in Japan it soon became a feature film with a rare R15+rating.
The novel portrays a large dictator-like governmental agency that selects a class of middle schoolers for their so-called ‘Program’. A ruthless and bloody battle on a deserted island that will see only one winner.
Every student is provided with a random weapon or utility tool however, at the same time each student finds him/herself with a metal collar on their neck. It provides the agency with a constant GPS location and is ready to explode if there is even the slightest attempt of breaking the rules of the game.
Girls and boys with completely different social backgrounds and personalities have to face this grim destiny and see themselves cornered by the most violent and survivalist situations humanly thinkable. All this in order to preserve their own lives. They will have to fight! Fight to the death!
What started after a short career as a reporter, 30yo Takami would leave his job in pursuit of his inner vocation: writing novels.
In 1997 he presented his work to the literary competition “Japan Grand Prix Horror Novel”. During the final round, he succumbed to defeat; arguing that the story should have won the competition. However, controversies surfaced surrounding the plot of middle schoolers forced to kill each other. In turn this made many people and some of the judges of a horror literary competition shake in disapproval, resulting in a prize refusal.
In the same year of 1999, the novel would be published gaining great esteem in Japan, initiating an irreversible cultural movement…
The Battle Royale genre
A brute totalitarian organization that can do anything. A defined amount of participants, weapons, and usually an island, where over time the explorable area becomes smaller and smaller, facilitating encounters between individuals.
This is the perfect mix that makes, us the readers, ponder about human nature, violence, and extreme survival circumstances.
Thanks to these thrilling emotions and feelings, Battle Royale has quickly become a staple, in the entertainment world of movies, novels, manga, and videogames, and so forth gaining great success in each respective industry.
This plot has received many alterations during the course of time, and the reinterpretation from some other authors. Of which led to the storyline changing shape: thanks to Suzanne Collins, author of the novel `The Hunger Games`. People could see a new dress for Battle Royale in 2008, ushering in a dystopian world where an authoritarian government chooses not middle schoolers this time, but young individuals from different suburbs to fight until death. Merely for broadcasting entertainment; as its predecessor and mentor, this story was meant to be a mirror depicting our society`s own brutality.
The Hunger Games obtained incredible acclaim, mainly after its content was brought to a more mainstream audience thanks to its film, whose earnings reached the ones of colossuses like Harry Potter or The Dark Knight[BATMAN], who were releasing their respective sequels in movie theaters during the same year.
Another great milestone was set, for the growth of this new genre; which could be thanks to Brendan Greene: better known for his online nickname `PlayerUnknown`.
Following his instinct as a DayZ and Arma 3 player as well as freelance web designer, he developed on his own a Mod for such game that later on would become the `DayZ: Battle Royale` Mod, inspired by the Japanese `Battle Royale` movie from the year 2000.
Through this important achievement, Brandon’s career kept rolling until an offer from Korea brought him to work for the videogame company ‘Krafton’. There as creative director, he was able to give birth to PUBG (Player Unknown Battlegrounds). A game defined by its large-scale conflict where players fight to be the last one standing in a constantly shrinking arena.
In 2017 after a few days after its release, it became an international phenomenon setting records off the ‘Steam’ online videogame platform, counting up to 3 million users connected playing online.
From then on every other ‘Battle Royale’ game would have these similar features. Undeniably, we can say that PUBG set the foundation for this new genre within the gaming world.
Not too long after this important accomplishment, a mightier figure quickly came in, under the brand `Epic Games`.
The bigger the company, the bigger the investment and as a result an unprecedented shake in the videogame industry: it was ‘Fortnite’.
For the first time, a company was able to create a game with a very colorful and simple but yet detailed design. "Which was and still is today, its strongest point. Thanks to this unprecedented aesthetic the free-to-play game was able to attract millions of users of the most wide ages.
The crazy skins that oftentimes were connected to real-life events/films/culture and the `Epic Games` work in collaborating with famous influencers of the video gaming industry. But also huge artists and musicians, raised the bar so high, for a videogame whose playability and fun was already excellent.
Fortnite is nowadays a colossus company able to generate a gross worth of 9Billion USD and has become one of the most popular and played videogames of all time.
After these two big milestones in the videogame industry reinventing a Battle Royale game, it would be a great challenge for others to take on. Especially after many technical aspects of the game have been already developed and discovered throughout the years.
If the direction is correct, sometimes it’s good to step back and see what you could do from back there or even improve.
Taking away the violence from a Battle Royale game, things wouldn`t be the same because the emotions and feelings that make us excited, are the staples of this genre. Still, someone like `Mediatonic` was able to resize these feelings and transform the whole thing into a non-violent-competition, but still with progressive elimination.
Influenced by TV game shows and Battle Royale, `Fall Guys` published on the 4th of August 2020, has rewritten the modality of the genre.
Violence can be replaced by competition dictated by skill and also fun: in a game where up to 60 players, impersonating a bean-like avatar, face different stages and challenges that require different abilities, the winner will be only one receiving an in-game money prize.
Not like its predecessor, but still with great numbers the game was one of the top downloaded and purchased of the year. Bringing a new interpretation to the Battle Royale genre was a big deal in the industry, especially because of the important influence that this change of view could have brought to the next futures.
Every single stage of this metamorphosis has created a different nuance to this genre and brought new imaginary scenarios to life.
If in the videogame industry the main focus of a Battle Royale game is set on the map, weapons, and playability, in the movie industry a major focus can be shifted on characters and psychology. Creating an exciting story that can reflect different aspects of our modern society.
You and other persons are held against their will, in a deadly competition where one’s life is put on the edge of a blade every minute: if able to endure everything and reach the end, the prize will be immense.
(황동혁)Hwang Dong-hyuk`s Squid Game is what we all were waiting for.
Thanks to the Korean film director, producer, and screenwriter we had a new and incredible setting for a revisited Battle Royale survival TV series.
Set in a parallel version of nowadays South Korea, a number of people were promised a mountain of money as the winning prize. They are lured and kidnapped into a deadly and sadistic competition that will see only one winner.
We don`t see people directly fighting each other in an open map, but rather compete in different sets, reminding us of 80`s/90`s Japanese game shows featuring physical and skill challenges.
With this new focus, we are able to empathize with every character of the story and live with them like a real nightmare.
Since the beginning of September 2021 `Squid Game` has become a real shock and revelation for millions of people also thanks to Netflix. Now one of the top streaming platforms worldwide.
The TV series has gained a large following very quickly, in an escalation of a broken record grossing profits generated.
While the green tracksuit and black masks with white triangle shapes on them still are spotted around our everyday life, another chapter of the Battle Royale genre is influencing our culture and slowly becoming a staple in our imagination.
Besides the incredible success of this genre, it`s fascinating to reflect on how this mix of primordial feelings and society mirror-like storyline is able to thrill its audience in every single one of its shapes. On one side the society is drawn to the plot because of the lunacy yet rich emotional situations that are created. On the other hand, it's able to put itself in such situations or just wonder what it would or could do in a critical circumstance.
It is true that the survival instinct is within us and even though we don`t use it anymore in today’s society, it’s still a part of our obsolete instincts that tap into our darkest side. The overflow, where we can still relate to how powerful these feelings still, are.
Battle Royale: Movie & Manga
The action/thriller movie published around the year 2000, was directed by (深作 欣二) Kinji Fukasaku, better known for his movies about Yakuza such as Battles Without Honor and Humanity, and based on Koushun`s novel `Battle Royale`.
It was so controversial that at the beginning was banned from international distribution, and when screened in Japan for the first time it was advised as an R+15 years of age which was unusual for the time. This didn`t stop the audience from wanting to witness this new gem, making it become the highest-grossing film for six weeks in a row at that time.
The film follows truthfully to the original novel from Koushun only with small changes. During the storyline, the audience is able to notice that the character development of every single student is not made with the same depth as in the novel. Which might result in a flattened version of our favorite student characters.
That said, in the movie we will still find plenty of blood as well as a well-built set, able to evoke our fantasies of sceneries and encounters from the book.
Battle Royale became a cultural phenomenon and is considered one of the most influential films in recent decades. It has been highly influential in global popular culture, so viewing the film is surely a must.
MANGA
In the 2000s the serializing of this manga based on the novel `Battle Royale` started along with the movie of the same work.
Thanks to the illustrator Masayuki Taguchi, Koushun was able to give graphical life to his previous work: a 15 tankobon (volumes) series was published over approximately 5 years.
Oddly despite the novel being rejected because of the thought of its controversy, the manga resulted in the ultimate form of the ‘Battle Royale’ gore and violence: it’s not strange to see very detailed scenes of dismembered bodies, rape, and other sorts of abuse in mangas in general.
An added value to this series is the deep background that Koushun was able to give for many of the characters that compose the storyline: here we don`t find many differences with the novel, but rather through the movie adaptation.
Still, to this day Battle Royal remains an amazing work that clearly shows us, human hate and boundaries of violence, as well as true and positive feelings. Battle Royale is for sure a gripping narrative, fulfilled in actuality. It is a benchmark monolith, and its influence will be there forever.
About The Author:
Alessandro Nobile`s life started with a Super Nintendo.
Now he`s in Japan studying the language and exploring local culture.
