Hideo Kojima’s love for film portrayed in MGS series (Jodorowsky’s El Topo and Snake Eater)
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo (1970) resembles some memorable symbols from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
El topo (The Mole), Dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky — US/Mexico (1970)
“A two-part film that’s acquired a cult following. The way the boss characters appear one-by-one and reveal their beliefs had quite an influence on MGS.” — Hideo Kojima
It is well known that Japanese, video game developer Hideo Kojima is very fond of cinema and his favorite films took a role in designing the MGS series. This is shown appreciably in almost every single game he has helped develop, all of which contain great narrative design as well as many hefty cut-scenes for players to enjoy along some popcorn.
The entire series has been adopted as a cult classic of the video game world due to its abundant philosophical discussion about politics, war, slavery and its awkward yet hilarious pink-panther-like moments. That was accomplished by assimilating narrative aspects from Kojima’s favorite films like: The Great Escape, the James Bond series, Blade Runner, Escape From New York, Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Dead, Kanal, the Pink Panther series, Django, The Towering Inferno, Bad Taste, … among many others.
The MGS series is rich of Sci-Fi scenery, gadgets and characters; Solid Snake and his clone brothers being one of the best examples of this. Genetically modified clones of Big Boss sounds a lot like the antagonist from Blade Runner, Roy Batty, the blond, tall and strong genetically-modified android that seems to be the perfect soldier (who also suffers from a hand pain very similar to the one Revolver Ocelot lives while using Liquid Snake’s arm as a prosthetic [the blond clone]). Kojima keeps Blade Runner in his Top 10 movies of all time, being a movie that probably inspired specific events in the series like genetically modified soldiers, FOXDIE and a thing for clones killing their “father”.
After the first two innovatively, Metal Gear Solid games made the player live through similar events in a sci-fi ambient, confused tons of fans by replacing the main character and made everyone think their consoles were broken through psychic activity, Hideo Kojima knew his story had become a cult game and decided to give the players a deeper look at the origins of it all; with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater showing the origin of Big Boss in a western-like classic, a greener and wilder scenery depicts one of his favorite cult-following film: El Topo.
At the beginning of the film, El Topo (the black-clad gunfighter) goes through a massacred village that sounds like seagulls constantly being stabbed. This same atmosphere is depicted in the series first game, when Solid Snake is about to reach the boss fight with Gray Fox, the cyborg ninja, who also does a similar sound every time he gets attacked by the player.
Flashing with various landscapes, Jodorowsky set one of his most original movies in the sierras and desert bordering Mexico and the US, allowing suspenseful and hideous scenes to transition into clownish and erotic acts in a parallel way the MGS series does.
In the similar manner to Big Boss, el Topo shoots down his enemies, leaving one surviving victim who can answer his interrogations. These guards were working for El Coronel, who is curiously similar to Colonel Volgin in the way he wears red shorts and treats women.
Same men who have captive the women responsible for both heroes’ journeys to be full of dramatic and erotic moments. Marah could have been the main inspiration for EVA.
Both of these women seemed to be fragile captives of war criminals, but as both heroes save them, their true identities start to flourish only to reveal EVA is a double agent and Marah a sadist woman who asks el Topo to fight the four masters of the revolver around the desert to gain her love. EVA guided Snake to his first boss fight against Revolver Ocelot like Marah pursued el Topo to fight the four masters of the revolver.
Jodorowsky’s way of giving his character a succession of versatile adversaries influenced Hideo Kojima into giving each boss in the series a rich lore to explore and discuss their varied beliefs. Like the four masters of the revolver, Naked Snake had to fight the Cobra Unit before getting near the end of the story.
And just as Snake agonizingly walked his spiritual duel with the Sorrow along a murky river, el Topo also stepped into a muddy-sticky river (one that makes you think about death in every step) prior to one of his “boss fights” against a very strong, yet delicate Revolver Master.
Like Snake, el Topo had to come back from a near-death experience in order for him to continue his journey.
Not only are the landscapes and background music alike in the game and the movie, but both artworks contain a vast amount of diverse characters wearing all sorts of elaborated costumes, knowledgeable perspectives of their philosophical point of view and humorist faces.
The impact this film had on Hideo Kojima goes deeper than what this article can say. One could even argue that the character of el Topo at some point portrays imagery that would allude a mix of Big Boss and Sam Bridges from Hideo Kojima’s last game Death Stranding; a fighter carrying on his child through fields full of blood and crime.
If you’re interested in watching the full list of recommended movies, check Hideo Kojima’s article My Favorite Films, translated by Marc Laidlaw.
