Comparing the use of films by video games and the use of video games by films

Since the early 1980s, video games have been adapted into films along with fiction, non-fiction, theatre, television and radio. Although it is noted that video game adaptation began in the eighties, films closely related to the computer and video game industry, such as Tron and The Wizard. It was only after the release of several films based on video games that the genre really became recognised.

Although it is suggested by Kinder in The new media book that ‘game adaptations of films have fared somewhat better because they usually have richer characters and more elaborate narratives to draw on’ (2002, p.119), films such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Resident Evil (2002) were rather successful with audiences where as generally, films based on video games tend to carry a reputation of being lower budget B movies and rarely receive much appreciation.

Video game adaptations are usually seen as mainly commercial vehicles that are often too faithful to cinema and do not look to assist the expansion of the gaming franchise and industry. In a survey in Edge Magazine (2000), there were only two film adaptations in the list of ‘100 best video games ever’. It is often cited that the main cause of failure among video game adaptations is that films based on the genre tend to drastically differ from its source material.

Many define narrative as a spoken or written account of connected events, where as Kinder (2002) sees narrative more broadly as a ‘discursive mode of patterning and interpretating the meaning of perceptions, an operation crucial to culture’ (p.121). The earliest narrative approaches to video game to film adaptation focuses on players’ active role in the game and the story. There are often notions of ‘interactive fiction’ and theatre due to the approach often being stuck in particular existing fields. This can be due to the approach being dependent on games of the time and the notion of ‘interactive fiction’ more often than not fits early text based games such as Adventure (1976) and Zork (1981), while the concept of ‘interactive cinema and theatre’ fits the nineties awkward puzzle games.

Narrative approaches have developed over the years, one prime example being the ‘spatial’ narrative approach, which addresses games via operation and representation. Jenkins uses the Super Mario games as a case study to explain the ‘spatial’ narrative approach; he states that these games stress interactivity and atmospheres over characterization and story. The player of the game only cares about the character of Princess Peach, as she represents the end of the game, and development occurs through the protagonist mastering different skills throughout.

There are many links between film and video game, and as Dunlop states in Production Pipeline (2014) ‘in todays film and game industry, art production is a communal enterprise’ (p.1). As well as similar textual and graphical properties, there are many shared commercial strategies, for example; film adaptation helps the game industry with development, production and promotion, with the video game industry helping the film industry with merchandising. The video game industry however, is still dependent on interplay with the cinema industry, with blockbuster films regularly being made into commercially success games, a prime example being the 1997 Nintendo 64 game, 007: GoldenEye.

Nonetheless, there are copious differences as well as similarities between the two industries. ‘Unlike a game, the viewer has no say in how the context of a film unfolds… The end result is a linear sequence of images and audio, short of making popcorn, there is no user interaction’ (Dunlop, 2014, p.5). This is where the argument of narrative versus spectacle comes into play. More often than not, film blockbusters are likened to video games regarding waning narrative. Howbeit, some do make the thematic use of video games with characters inhabiting virtual reality worlds, for instance, War Games (1983) and The Last Starfighter (1984). Jenkins, Kelly and Papazian (2013) argue for this point by articulating that adaptations that not only emphasis story but theme as well are notably ‘world making’ (Hollywood Gamers, p.452). Gorgan (2003) gives much criticism of the fact that a blockbuster’s de-emphasis of narratives in favor of spectacle should be directed more at the film industry’s use of digital effects, rather than being directed at the video game industry.

There are frequent debates between narratologists and ludologists over the use of film in video game and video game in film. Narratologists such as Janet Murray, Ken Perlin and Michael Maleas in Game on Hollywood! (2013) argue rather persuasively that video games stand-alone as a new form of storytelling, which highlights the ‘increasingly game-like and role orientated modes of everyday experiences in the postmodern world’ (p.9). Ludologists, such as Marhka Eskelmein, Espen Aarseth and Stuart Mouthorp argue on the other hand that video games belong to the realms of games and not narratives because of the way they function in strategy, skill, logic and experiment, which are all interactive. It is worth noting that there is also a third strand to the argument which involves ontologists, such as Henry Jenkins and Marie-Laure Ryan who contend that video games operate neither in the realms of narrative or interactivity exclusively as they believe some can be hybrid to both genres.

It cannot be ignored that the video game industry is now one of the most profitable forms of entertainment around the world. Yet it is still viewed by many as an inferior art form to that of film and theatre, a point that the late Roger Ebert argued aggressively by forcing that ‘video games can never be art’.

Bibliography

Cotter, P. (2015). The Hitman: Agent 47 Trailer & the videogame movie problem. Retrieved from denofgeek.com

Dunlop, R. (2014). Production Pipeline: Fundamentals for Film and Games. United States: Focal Press.

Kinder, M. (2002). Narrative equivocations between movies and games. In D. Harries (Ed.), The new media book. (pp. 119-132). London: BFI.

Papazian, G. (2013). Game on, Hollywood!: Essays on the Intersection of Video Games and Cinema. Edited by Gretchen Papazian and Joseph Michael Sommers. United States: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers.

Shaw-Williams, H. (2014). Will Video Game Movies Be The Next Big Thing? Retrieved from screenrant.com