Disco Elysium’s Approach To Racism Is Incredibly Cynical
In one Disco Elysium scene, Harry can invite Kim to an impromptu dance-off at the Dolorian church-turned-nightclub. Fuelled by the thumping beats of the anodic music blasting at full, ear-piercing volume around him, he can holler at Kim to dance alongside him, citing an “emergency on the dance floor”, but doing so successfully means having to pass an Authority skill check. Conversely, his failure to do so has a grave price; he’ll end up yelling a particularly searing racial slur that would leave Kim reeling with anger, and the player possibly feeling like the biggest sack of shit in the world. Afterwards, Harry can apologise to Kim, but the damage has already been done; there’s really no way to walk back from a mistake this monumental.
This moment, however, feels like an odd inclusion in Disco Elysium; it reminds me of the so-called “heated gaming moments” that white YouTubers and streamers are sometimes wont to do when they get so consumed by emotions that they resort to using slurs to express their exuberance, indignation or rage. Similarly, Harry seemed so buoyed by the hypnotic pulse of the music that he can’t help but blurt that offending phrase in a moment of desperation. In a game that is usually deliberate about its use of language, and its discussion of politics and heavier themes, this scene felt almost out of place—even unfair, since most players probably would not anticipate these words being uttered in the first place. But perhaps it’s one evidence of Harry’s personality as a shitty, drunk, and definitely very white cop—that such racist epithets linger so dangerously at the tip of his tongue, that they can spill out of his mouth at times when his self-control is waning.
Related: What is The Pale in Disco
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