“The Pac-Man’s insatiable hunger for the dots and Power Pills that fill the corridors of his maze-worlds suggest weighty parallels, such as the ravenous hunger for More Life that Darwin saw in all species, any one of which would overpopulate and overrun the earth if not for the predatory ghosts of natural selection. Also, we are reminded of Marx’s “need of a constantly expanding market” that “chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe” ( Communist Manifesto ) with the “vocation to approach, by quantitative increase, as near as possible to absolute wealth.” ( Capital ), casting the Pac-Man in the role of corporate antihero in a utopian fantasy where the agents protesting his unfettered domination of the maze-world actually defeat him in the end. Obvious metaphors, lurking just beneath the surface of the game.”
3 Likes