Abstract
“This [tendency towards] codifying anthropomorphic characters as race stereotypes comes off as close-minded … sometimes you just appreciate the characters for what they are.” This declaration is a complex example of a response from a correspondent in my digital ethnographic research on identity representation in video game contexts. In the game series Sonic the Hedgehog (1991; StH), soundtracks have been vital tools for establishing character identities and creating evocative relationships with particular settings. However, these effects come with a cost, as they also reinforce pre-existing biases and stereotypes on facets like race. Through a mixed methodology of auto-ethnography and insider-ethnography, I investigate different forums and servers where fans discuss favored games. From there, I engage their insights in dialogue with studies on aural-visual codification of identity, close listening, and musical identity lines. When abstract ideas become more uncritically accepted over time, reification occurs. I contend that StH’s soundtracks have drawn upon and reified ideas and stereotypes about geography, race, and identity. Drawing upon ludomusicologist Tim Summer’s study of the Legend of Zelda (1986; hereafter, LoZ) and his advocacy for deconstructing critically acclaimed games, I discuss how the StH series has utilized different aural identity techniques to provide recognizable symbols for players. These symbols strategically invoke recognizable identity traits for player interpretation and influence. Scholars of connections between identity and sonic communities like Nina Sun Eidsheim or Jennifer Lynn Stoever demonstrate how sound affects the visual and uses tools like genre categorization to aurally codify facets like race and ethnicity. Through interplaying these thinkers’ findings with my own research, I will illustrate how considering StH music as a reification tool can introduce new complex methods of conceptualizing identity and projecting future impacts of game music more broadly.