Woah, sorry for the bump. And all I did was rant.
You clearly have no appreciation or understanding for that sort of writing. Besides being very tongue in cheek in places, a lot of the metaphors do work. A lot of the humour in that game was very subtle, but you can be sure that it was there. A game as dark as Max Payne needed that humour.
You’re trying to make it seem more inconsequential than it is. They aren’t drawn randomly from Greek mythology, nor is that trivial. I can’t really see anything wrong with that specific quote, unless you really wish to take everything literally and seriously. The dockyard was like a labyrinth. In Greek mythology, the labyrinth housed the Minotaur. He says that no Minotaur lurks at the centre, but it is implied that the skipper of the Charon was waiting in his stead. The Charon is the name of the cargo ship, as well as the name of the ferryman who ferries people to Hades (see comparison of skipper to the ferryman of Styx). Hades, Charon and the Minotaur are all elements of Greek mythology, thus you have your connection and the metaphor comes full circle. MP is also filled with elements of mythology and connections with the devil and the underworld, so the theme of Greek mythology and its underworld is highly pertinent and beneficial. If you can’t understand that or did understand that but weren’t capable of extending your thought capabilities beyond the literal, then it’s clearly not a style that you will enjoy.
But surely you can imagine it? You don’t need to understand how everything feels in order to fully appreciate a similie. I’ve never been shot, but I can imagine that it would be damn painful to say the least. I’ve never been shot with a diamond bullet right through the forehead either, but it worked for Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now and no one complained. There are many things that I haven’t experienced, but that doesn’t lessen my appreciation of similies.
Guns are metal. Metal is usually cold. It’s a simple connection. Admittedly this isn’t one of the best similies - it’s overdramatic, tongue-in-cheek and almost trying too hard, but it’s far more over the top to try and describe Max Payne’s writing as a lesson in how ‘not to write.’ If that’s how you feel, I definitely wouldn’t read Raymond Chandler or ever watch Apocalypse Now or any film noir or indeed any good film with a good script and narration.
Sorry for the rant, but that really grated me. If I was cruel, I’d push the point too far by pointing out that grating is a metaphor and then describe the connection in an over-simplified manner, but I won’t. Sorry Phil, bad day.
Here are some awesome ones instead:
[b]- Collecting evidence had gotten old a few hundred bullets back. I was already so far past the point-of-no-return I couldn’t remember what it had looked like when I had passed it.
-
Sure thing, Jim. Me and the boys been talking, and everyone’s real sorry. They’ll never do it again.
-
I didn’t like the way the show started, but they had given me the best seat in the house, front row center.
-
I felt like the chair I had broken to get free.[/b]