Meaningful grunts and radical “Blehs”: polysemic identities through nonhuman noise in video games

Abstract

This article studies the radical identity-making potential of noise and nonhuman sound in video games. To do so, this article focuses on the oral production of the rabbid protagonists—mischievous humanoid rabbits easily identifiable by their constant and cacophonic sound making—in the Mario þ Rabbids series. The rabbids’ constant shouts, grunts, and cries serve as great examples of the potential of nonhuman noise and sound to not only reproduce identities that escape from human-centric conceptions of being, but, more importantly, to invite players to see all identities—including their own—as polysemic and sometimes contradictory assemblages. This article converses with existing research on the ability of human voice and silence to manage identities in video games, with studies on nonhuman material excess in video games where players control nonhuman characters, and with work on how the way animal main characters sound in video games. This dialogue brings forth reflections on what being and becoming mean. The cacophonic nature of noise does not necessarily invoke the absence of all meaning, but an opportunity to embrace its many potential meanings and reflect on an equally polysemic world.