Media Representations

Assassin's Creed I + II

There are several groups of people who are represented in Assassin's Creed I and II.

The most obvious would be religious groups, who appear in the games as the antaganists 'The Templars,' who are Christian fanatics who use violence to seize power.

Another group who are respresented within the games are the Assassin's Guild, who are to put it simply an extremist cult. However, as the player-controlled player is a prominant member of this group, we are naturally inclined to side with them. There is also a bias in the narrative; as we see events through the eyes of the Assassins, the Tempars are demonised and made to appear immoral, while the Assassins are respresented as morally-grey killers who have a warped sense of justice.

Yet another representation is that of historical societies; at several points within the games we see a rather negative portrayal of Arabian and then Renaissance society in which everyone reacts to violence with submission and are essentially 'sheeps' to oppression.

And finally, we see a brief respresentation of mobs and gangs as in the opening of Assassin's Creed II we see our protaganist hunted and see his entire family murdered as a result of mob violence.

As for who is representing these groups, it can be difficult to tell as this media text is interactive. Some would argue that the designers of the game are the ones who represent the various groups of people within the text, however one could also say that because we control the protaginist throughout events, we are the ones who represent the groups. This is also an example of self-representation, as the player can make moral choices and influence the outcome of the narrative based on their choices.

Because of the historical settings, and with the element of science-fiction, it can be difficult to tell whether these representations are accurate or justified, but the text succeeds in making a bold statement about how religion can be used with malign intent.