Wolfenstein 2 is My New Favorite Self-Care
Warning: Spoilers for Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus abound past this point.
I love the combat in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Not because it’s exemplary for the genre (I’m really not the person to judge that). No, I love it because every moment feels right. In the wake of the recent public resurgence of alt-right, Nazi bullshit, Wolf II is an excellent vehicle for my anger and frustration at the state of things.
When the music starts and I can start blasting through enemies, the helplessness I’ve felt recently ebbs for that moment. Posting on social media, protesting, and donating just don’t feel like enough a lot of the time. Usually, it seems like no matter what we do, things just keep getting worse. After a while, slamming your head into the same wall over and over again gets maddening when nothing appears to change. But these seem to be the only acts of resistance we can participate in without paradoxically becoming the villains ourselves. Violence on our part is tricky when anyone brave enough to punch a Nazi is met with centrists loudly clasping their pearls in horror. We’re handcuffed by the perception that committing violence against genocidal assholes is somehow hypocritical.
In The New Colossus, none of that matters. No one in your crew is questioning the morality of killing Nazis because that fact shouldn’t be up for debate, even if they haven’t succeeded in world domination. They’ve seen what these ideologies are capable of and know that there’s no time for fucking around with false equivalencies. The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi, end of story. When I heard two Nazis discussing how violence against someone for their beliefs is disgraceful, I actually laughed, knowing the fate I had in store for them. It felt good to see the ridiculousness of that logic shown so blatantly in that scene.
What’s more, racial anger isn’t silenced. Grace forces BJ to see the failures of white America by pointing out how quickly it became full on AmeriKKKa once the Reich showed up. While his belief that the resistance can change that is naive, and emblematic of his disconnect from the reality of American culture, BJ still has to admit that Grace is right and that they have to be the ones to do something about it. Her rage becomes the fuel for the resistance, filling the void Caroline’s death left behind, and elevating them to a level they hadn’t dreamed of before. Grace’s leadership of the resistance is an indicator of what can be done when women of color are brought to the table, and most of her inspiration comes from the anger and hurt she has experienced before and after the Nazis took over.
Yes, ultimately Wolf II is a power fantasy, but it’s one I’m far more comfortable with than the usual fare. While I’m playing as a Big Strong White Dude™, the fantasy doesn’t have him inflicting violence on black and brown bodies, doesn’t have him murder indigenous people by the thousands while still coming out as the White Savior. While they play similarly, BJ is not Jason Brody from Far Cry 3. He’s not actively becoming more invested in the killing while simultaneously becoming more distanced from his loved ones. He’s not putting on the the religious rites of another culture to then save them when they apparently can’t save themselves. No, BJ just uses his Big Strong Whiteness to slaughter Nazis, and that’s something I can more than live with.
The power fantasy of BJ goes beyond the mayhem and killing, however. Wolfenstein in its most recent incarnations has focused on a certain fatalism; you are fighting a war you’ve already lost, and everyone has sacrificed it all in the process. By the time we get into the sequel, BJ is a battered man who actively talks about being on death’s doorstep. However, despite BJ’s conviction surrounding his mortality, when I go into an encounter, I know I’m going to win. With axes, grenades, and guns aplenty, I will go into a level and know that no Nazis will be left by the end. He’s survived all kinds of impossible situations and this game is no different. Even when the world has already fallen apart, BJ and the resistance fight, and that’s incredibly reassuring in a world where day to day life reminds us that not only was America never the place it pretended to be, but also that there is still more we stand to lose.
Wolfenstein II is by no means perfect in its representation, or its politics. Its indigenous representation is questionable at best, and the issue of presenting the Nazi party as hyper-competent is ever present. But one thing it definitely does right is its depiction of violence as not only a tool to fight fascism, but also one to relieve the feelings of helplessness that can emerge when it rears its ugly head. BJ has to “keep going, no matter what” because to stand still is to succumb to that hopelessness. The same is true for those of us trying to fight off the looming hopelessness of this administration, especially those who were fighting white supremacy long before that with little to no help (POC, especially women & trans people).
When the curtain closed on The New Colossus, a little bit of the stress I had been holding went with the credits. Not only had I butchered my way through most of my frustration, I had seen a situation where people fighting had finally resulted in a huge pay out. Thanks to Grace and BJ, the resistance had dragged itself to a position of strength, and it’s only going up from here. Sometimes, we need art to remind us of what can be reality. I may not be able to burn oppressors down with laser weapons, but I can keep devoting the resources I have towards our collective liberation, especially when it feels like it’s not making a difference. To stand still is to succumb. If you’re ready to do the same, you’re one of us.
