The story of the Heart of Darkness was about an expedition, a mission to find a genius named Kurtz that secluded himself out in nature and that when people are out in nature without civilization to restrain them then they become depraved. In the Hearts of Men there are evils, a conflict has to take place between the good and evil in a man's heart, and when the evil wins a man develops a Heart of Darkness. This theme is explored in the story when the men sent to find Kurtz slowly fall prey to the evils of the natural world just as Kurtz himself had, they faced the horror and were overcome by it.
Why do certain stories make reference to Heart of Darkness when it really doesn't deal with the deeper implications of the themes in that story? For example Uncharted 2 has a level called Heart of Ice that only has a vague comparison to Heart of Darkness in that there was a lost Nazi expedition that went bad, but it went bad because of monsters that killed them not because of their own actions. Bad Company 2 has a level called Heart of Darkness when the 4 main characters are literally only on a boat going down a river for all of 4 minutes and then they get back on land, and given the light-hearted nature of the story none of these characters have to face any personal evils. Just Cause 2 implies that Rico will have to face this situation with Tom Sheldon but is quickly abandoned by a more light hearted story where Sheldon was only pretending to go rogue.
Stories like Apocalypse Now, Spec Ops: The Line, and Far Cry 2 deal with these themes in a far more meaningful way then just a silly shout out to the Heart of Darkness. Shouldn't we desire more from a story then just references with none of the heart of what they were referencing?
The story of the Heart of Darkness was about an expedition, a mission to find a genius named Kurtz that secluded himself out in nature and that when people are out in nature without civilization to restrain them then they become depraved. In the Hearts of Men there are evils, a conflict has to take place between the good and evil in a man's heart, and when the evil wins a man develops a Heart of Darkness. This theme is explored in the story when the men sent to find Kurtz slowly fall prey to the evils of the natural world just as Kurtz himself had, they faced the horror and were overcome by it.
Why do certain stories make reference to Heart of Darkness when it really doesn't deal with the deeper implications of the themes in that story? For example Uncharted 2 has a level called Heart of Ice that only has a vague comparison to Heart of Darkness in that there was a lost Nazi expedition that went bad, but it went bad because of monsters that killed them not because of their own actions. Bad Company 2 has a level called Heart of Darkness when the 4 main characters are literally only on a boat going down a river for all of 4 minutes and then they get back on land, and given the light-hearted nature of the story none of these characters have to face any personal evils. Just Cause 2 implies that Rico will have to face this situation with Tom Sheldon but is quickly abandoned by a more light hearted story where Sheldon was only pretending to go rogue.
Stories like Apocalypse Now, Spec Ops: The Line, and Far Cry 2 deal with these themes in a far more meaningful way then just a silly shout out to the Heart of Darkness. Shouldn't we desire more from a story then just references with none of the heart of what they were referencing?