The Philosophy of Norco: Southern Gothicism and the Stain of Place

[@epochphilosophy]

Hey, friends! Wanted to prop up the Patreon here. This is a niche channel around niche content, and viewer funding is always much more important to the channel staying alive! Consider pledging a few dollars a month to keep this channel rolling! patreon.com/epochphilosophy

[@PhantamSam]

There are no where near enough good videos about Norco, so I was so glad to see Geography of Robots post this one. Norco was tied with Citizen Sleeper for my game of the year last year. I loved your analysis of the game, and you editing is really slick as well.

[@epochphilosophy]

Thanks a ton!

[@Beastw1ck]

I’m excited to hear that because Norco blew me away and now I’m playing Citizen Sleeper!

[@T_Dot94]

The music and artwork create a beautiful melancholic vibe.

[@Personal_Chizo]

As someone who has never lived in a town like Norco, I have to say I connected with this game immediately. There's something to this game that makes it feel like such a particular and local narrative, and impossibly universal at the same time... Thank you so much for putting those thoughts into words. ❤️

[@charleshoyle]

I feel the same and I’m from the same parish. I grew up about 10 min away from Norco. Family members worked at refineries there etc.

[@tubamaestro55]

Such is the way of Southern Gothicism in general. Just like Agee's "A Death in The Family" takes the commonplace occurrence of a loved one's passing and transposes it on the backdrop of family dynamics, politics, religiosity, and morality, so too do games like "Norco" create a sense of being without ever having been. The Devil lies in what is unsaid rather than what is said, and the facade under which he lies is thick yet easily piercable upon further analysis. This is why I love the Southern Gothic writers and the Southern Gothic aesthetic. It is a commentary on humanity as much as it is a commentary on the Southern United States.

[@SometimesCompitent]

Love this game so much. I'm from New Orleans and used to live In Baton Rouge. So I've driven past Norco many times at night. The refinery is so bright it honestly looks like the sun is still low in the sky.

[@faeriecrypt]

I used to ask my parents if we could visit the "bright cities" (the refineries) because I thought they were so beautiful at night.

[@faeriecrypt]

I live about 45 minutes away from NORCO. I have passed through it/by it so many times en route to New Orleans. Thank you so much for taking time and care with this video. The game is brilliant, and the themes hit me hard as a Louisiana resident.

[@charleshoyle]

What’s up fellow local?! I’m from St Charles Parish. Both here on Epoch for Norco, I love it.

[@charleshoyle]

Whoa. I’m from the same parish as Norco and think you did an amazing job. I’ve had multiple family members who worked at Shell in Norco. I’ve always been a fan of your work but this hits different. Very strange and surreal hearing about my hometown from Epoch. I’d love to see a deep dive into Cancer Alley from you. I grew up in the backyard of Monsanto, and have so many feelings about my hometown, but can never quite put it them into words. You’d be great at that, haha.

[@epochphilosophy]

Hey thanks a ton, dude. I've actually always been fascinated by the history of New Orleans as a whole. Would love to make it down to that area some day.

[@mylesjeffers6148]

My dream is to be destroyed by something I love and not by capital

[@livingdeadgirl888]

An honorable dream.

[@Beastw1ck]

I’m so glad this video was made. I have a lot of adoration and respect for Norco and I’m thankful it’s getting a proper treatment here. Fantastic work.

[@bleepbloopbloop-h5y]

This is wonderful, I’m currently writing about Norco and the anthropology of place, will definitely be giving your video in Fisher a watch

[@stewbie_]

i was born and raised in baton rouge. my mom's side of the family were the only italians in the city of lutcher. i'd drive through towns like norco, vacherie, laplace, destrehan, and donaldsonville regularly as a kid, the familiar landmarks etched like stone in the tabula rasa of my memory. the smell of the burning sugar cane. airline highway. i-10 and the spillway to get to new orleans, that when looking at pontchartrain from the interstate, you'd swear it was the ocean. the sunshine bridge, and how, when you were at the highpoint you could see the refineries as they meet the horizon. i hated my home. i still do, in a sense. i felt disjoint, alienated from the world around me from a very young age. it didn't make sense how i could have lived 19 years continuously in a land so provincial, so backwards. the cycle of life where i'm from-graduate high school, go to LSU, get a decently paying job in the chemical industry, meeting your wife, having two kids, and dying-is, to me, a nightmare, a life spent in the bliss of ignorance and comfort. i chose an elite university over a full ride at LSU or bama without so much as thinking twice. yet when i come back i feel a lingering guilt for hating this place. now that my rose tinted glasses pointed at the rest of the world are gone and having a rough experience going to college during COVID, i wonder sometimes about the merits of giving up my dreams and resigning to being as content as i can be in baton rouge, especially as my mother gets older and i want to spend more time with her. but i'm still not giving up. i swore to myself when i was five i'd find a new place to be from. that search continues, and it will take its sweet time until i finally fulfill my potential in life. i knew (and know) my life doesn't end in southern louisiana. yet i am indelibly connected to it in ways i can never change. but i will die anywhere but my hometown. NORCO evoked all these feelings for me in a way no other piece of media ever has-and for that, it is a masterpiece

[@epochphilosophy]

Thanks a ton for this comment. I enjoyed sifting through this.

[@charlieh9973]

I feel like Chex2Cash encapsulates the Norco experience. Great video!

[@epochphilosophy]

Dude, such a wonderful track. Probably my favorite in the OST. It's so simple in composition but really gives you the feeling of heavy nostalgia. Big reason why it was the music during the section around place.

[@AA-gl1dr]

Excellent analysis. One of my favorite games of all time and the cyberpunk southern gothic swamp punk genre is my favorite. Thank you.

[@lawson4865]

Any other forms of media in this genre? I loved NORCO to death, and have found very little that overlaps southern gothic with cyberpunk or anything close. True Detective/Neuromancer is such an amazing concept.

[@EntonDelMonte]

Great video. I noticed that the soundtrack really carries the theme well. Listening to it on Spotify now. Looking forward to playing this after Disco Elysium.

[@epochphilosophy]

Right? It's a wonderful OST. I bought their record as to support. Very much worthy of it.

[@bluesnail9263]

@@epochphilosophy Can't seem to find this music anywhere tho. Could you help us out ?

[@Guruc13]

Thank you again. You've spotlighted an excellent narrative horror game! That said, I'm not quite ready to watch this yet. I think that's because it hits a little close to home, having just graduated college and being unemployed. But thank you for putting it on my radar. I hope this comment finds you well, and boosts this in the algorithm

[@epochphilosophy]

Hey, totally understandable. Best of luck to you, friend.

[@Guruc13]

@@epochphilosophy Thanks Epoch Philosophy. You keep doing you!

[@LucaSiempelkamp]

I love norco so much. I watched a lot of video essays on this game and yours is one of my favourites. All the books you mentioned went right on my tbr list.

[@Megaghost_]

I'm not used to play point & click videogames but this time I'll make an exception, it sounds really good!

[@slumberbunny66]

Your presentation style and voice remind me a lot of Aaron Mahnke in his Lore series. Thanks for making this! excited to watch more of your stuff.

[@junoinbloom]

i just wanted to comment as a games journalist and say THIS IS INCREDIBLE and i love seeing this at all, but especially on a channel as lovely as yours. I love all of your videos and this one was such a wonderful surprise. I'm going to share it with every writer and editor i know

[@epochphilosophy]

Thanks so much. That is so very kind.

[@PervitinEnjoyer]

Hi! I really love this. Honestly I think you're one of the most insightful youtube channel out there! By the way, have you ever thought about making a video on Fatal Strategies by Baudrillard?

[@epochphilosophy]

Late comment, but man would I like to do a video over Fatal Strategies!

[@jvh9642]

Great video as always! You deserve so much more exposure... Greetings from the Netherlands

[@Tieangleflip]

Jesus, your videos are on the mark, original and supremely entertaining.

[@ace6820]

loved this, thanks

[@zhyveabstro6435]

this game is outstanding and nice video out there, really appreciate it

[@Stevie-J]

I don't really play video games but this video makes me want to try this game

[@MoltenPlastic]

This is creepy: I was just listening to another video of yours, and for some reason thought about Norco again. Lo and behold, not moments later I discovered you'd made a video about it 😮

[@vauchomarx6733]

I'm currently reading Beyond the Pleasure Principle and struggling with what "death drive" actually meas, and this video made something click. Beautifully made!

[@epochphilosophy]

Ah, for a video around applied art. That's awesome. Thanks so much.

[@jamaljaber666]

Great content ❤

[@aurelius1360]

If you choose to do more video game reviews, I think a metal gear solid 2 video would fit right in with your channel

[@epochphilosophy]

I fucking love MGS. I'd love to do something around that. I have no doubt, at SOME POINT, I will do something with MGS. It might just be quite some time.

[@Guruc13]

@@epochphilosophy If you haven't seen it already, Steak Bently has a great love letter to MGS4 on his channel. Highly recommend!

[@stino9635]

great video love your shit

[@epochphilosophy]

Thanks a ton.

[@collintaylor5702]

Where is that speech from in the beginning

[@epochphilosophy]

William Faulkner's Nobel Prize speech!

[@stino9635]

you should show off your books

[@tonatiuhl.8433]

Great vido sir!

[@MechanicWolf85]

The Deep South, or Gothic South, was always fascinating to me for the the things that makes this place awful, it's horror in a quite, hot, dirty, and malicious way From Resident Evil 7 the family and the house, to Huntshowdown decaying structures housing Lovecraftian entities. Unlike the western cowboy frontier or the north hopeful community, or the empty lands of the north west, the deep south is a (sorry for the language) shthole place that has been destroyed by a combination of Capitalism and Racism.

[@BernicePanders]

Well, I doubt my only computer, an HP Pavilion 2016/17 laptop I barely was able to upgrade to 8gb RAM on last year, would even be able to tolerate the game. Plus I just had to sell my PS4 to pay bills, so I got nothing left to try cool games on now. 😣

[@epochphilosophy]

Almost positive you can run this game. It's point and click! Very, very easy to run.

[@Guruc13]

There's a bunch of old great games to check out! There's plenty of Classics on V*mm's La*r almost any computer can run! (Replace * with "i")

[@-lollipopsunder-7044]

People really need to develop an idea of what we live in now beyond the term "capitalism." While it is not a good thing, if thats all we really lived under then we would be able to change it. You should read James Burnhams "The Managerial Revolution: What is Happening in the World?"

[@epochphilosophy]

It’s sort of down to language at this point and convenience. I largely agree with someone like Varoufakis when he says we’ve surpassed (or recessed) capitalism and we’re much more akin to Technofuedalism.

[@massgeneral9873]

i thought this was going to be about hydrocodone

[@joaquincabrerapetrone1452]

Hello algorithm

[@ThoughtPoliceChief]

So much mumbo-jumbo. Cool game though

[@nullgator8073]

Obtuse video. Explains obvious things but then leaves little sentence stubs to interpret what the author was thinking or referring to

[@patrickmcpartland1398]

Obtuse and vague comment, what's your point?

[@Benjj99413]

I wish there were more modern games like this with action mixed in. I don't understand why games have to be one or the other. These open world action based games with checklist activities that are too big and convoluted and wated down for their own good. Or you have these throw back point and click adventures. Why can't they make a game like this with modern graphics and driving from local to local and interacting and talkng to different people where action situations unfold and shootouts etc. Themes and writing aside too. This game has good writing and atmospher. I'm not sure how appealing it is to me though. Or if it's even a masterpiece. It has something going for it. I feel like writing and atmosphere could be even better. But this is at least on the right track in ways in that regard.