The Ghost of Orientalism : Case Study of Historical Representations, History Culture and Orientalism in the Video Game Ghost of Tsushima

Abstract: This thesis explores how history is represented in the video game Ghost of Tsushima from 2020. The game is set on the island of Tsushima off the coast of Japan during the Mongol invasion of 1274. Players are placed into this world as the fictive samurai Jin Sakai, fighting to free the island from the Mongol yoke. At the same time the samurai is torn between following his family's code of honour or doing whatever necessary to succeed in his task of freeing the island. It is one of the most sold games for the game system Playstation 4 and has thus had a large reach. The game is of special interest as it is a Western produced product that treats a different culture’s history, but also because it has been marketed successfully within that culture as well as that of the developers. My study uses theories of history culture, use of history, orientalism, self-orientalism, and game analysis in order to interpret the historical representations. The study also takes a specific look at what role the Japanese concept of bushidō takes in the representations within the game. The primary conclusions of this study is that there are three primary components that construct historical representations in a video game. These being a structural, an economical, and a cultural component. The first one is reliant on the video game medium, the second one on the commercial interests of the developers, and the third one on the history cultural context of the video game.