The Travis Touchdown Conundrum

Art by immortalSHI over at DeviantArt

As I pursue my writing career I’ve hit somewhat of an impasse which I’ve touched upon a blog post a year or so ago but it has arisen again and continues to vex me.  What I’m so curious about are protagonists from popular stories that hold no connection or pathos to them and thus should not be good characters…but they are.

Pathos (pronounced /ˈpeɪθɒs/; Greek: πάθος, for ‘suffering’ or ‘experience’) is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric (where it is considered one of the three modes of persuasion, alongside ethos and logos), and in literature, film and other narrative art. Pathos represents an appeal to the audience’s emotions.

The character I want to touch on in particular is Travis Touchdown of the Wii game No More Heroes.  It’s a Japanese game that’s garnered enough attention to come to the west and be somewhat successful.  This should make it a good game right?  Well no…the gameplay is rather poor, frustrating, and tedious.  In other words it has nothing going for it.  Very recently the sequel came out entitled No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggles.  Has the gameplay gotten better?  Marginally so but it’s still pretty abysmal.  So why do I even bother talking about the game?  Because there’s something about it that allures loads of people (myself among them) to it even though it’s terrible.  And the part that sticks out is the writing and presentation.

The game serves as a satire that makes fun of both Japanese and American culture while also pointing out various tropes of gaming (though it does this somewhat poorly, falling under its own satirical trap).  It’s also absurd, referential, and breaks the 4th wall, something that isn’t done in gaming enough.  The main character Travis Touchdown has no redeeming qualities to him.  He’s cocky, a jerk, and I would almost say he’s a sociopath to some degree.  In the first game the reason you killed all the enemy bosses was to become the #1 assassin.

You end up killing your half sister and twin brother (he might be half too…not sure).  Now while I understand that there is humor within the satirical writing of the cliches of action movies and games, satires must be able to stand of their own merit.  Even Alice in Wonderland (a satire on the British monarchy and parliament) with some of the most ridiculous characters, still has a plot to it and there is pathos for Alice as she is lost in a land by her curiosity and learns several lessons on manners throughout the book.

But why does Travis work?  It’s absolutely maddening trying to work out the logic of why as a character he is likable protagonist.  The same can be said of Alucard from the anime show Hellsing.  He’s invincible, all powerful, has no redeemable qualities other than killing Nazis, yet he’s strangely intriguing.  Don’t mistake this post as a complaint, it is more an earnest wondering of logistically why these characters work and so far I haven’t met anybody whose been able to explain it to me.

As I was writing this however Chasmang over at Boldstate offered me this:

“Video games are so full abused stereotypes that any deviation from the norm is a breath of fresh air. I may not be able to pin down exactly why I find Travis to be a good character, but I know I like him, and I know it has something to do with how I’ve never met anyone like him before.”

Perhaps Travis only works for those of us who are very familiar with the tropes and conventions of video games, with their often lazy cliches.  Or perhaps its something else.  If you think you’ve got the answer or even a piece of the puzzle feel free to comment as it would be a great burden off my mind.

***UPDATE***

Michael over at The Brainy Gamer offered this insight about Travis Touchdown:

I’m a big fan of Travis Touchdown, and I think he’s one of the most indelible video game characters of this generation.

I think the NMH games create a distinctive relationship between game/Travis and player/Travis. The game (and Suda) has an odd adulation/ridicule thing going with Travis that very few games do. He’s simultaneously baddass and inept; heroic and ridiculous; confident and awkward. Suda pours all his personal predilections and hobbies into the character, and then sort of stands back and laughs at his creation.

The player’s relationship to Travis is equally disjointed. He’s not really my avatar, even though I control his actions. I don’t really like him, but I want him to succeed. My perspective on him is purposely distanced 3rd-person. He’s a hyper-distorted construction, and I think the game never wants me to forget that.

Plus, visually, I just love his look. In the generic world of thick, impossibly muscular, military-style male protagonists, Travis sticks out like a sore thumb…which is exactly what he is.

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