Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
All Shock and Spectacle Make Jack a Dull Boy:
Towards a Cinema of Play
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA Thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 18-08-2008
1
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
CONTENTS:
- Introduction
p. 3
Chapter 1: Interactive film
p. 11
-Cinema as matrix
p. 11
-Interactive film in single linear form
p. 11
-Interactive film in multilinear form
p. 13
Chapter 2: Interactive cinema and intertextual marketing
p.17
- A multimedial approach
p.17
-Intertextual marketing
p. 20
-Cinema of Attractions
p. 23
-Case Study: Mission Impossible 3: The film
p. 27
-Case Study: Mission Impossible 3: Interactive features
p. 43
-Case Study: Mission Impossible: The game
p. 44
Chapter 3: Interactive cinema and audience activity
p. 51
- Fan communities
p. 51
-Collective intelligence/ shared knowledge spaces
p. 53
-Bloggers
p. 54
-Spectators, artists, critics, and vanguard criticism
p. 55
-Play
p. 57
-The relevance of play
p. 57
-The concept of play
p. 60
-Case Study: Imagining Ourselves
p. 65
- Conclusion
p. 70
Appendix: extended notes
p. 72
Bibliography
p. 82
Audiovisual sources
p. 84
Internet sources
p. 85
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Introduction
Living in a world in which working hours are expanding, in which leisure time is on the
decline, and in our only free time we are run over by the media ready and able to conquer us with one
push on a button with entertainment beyond our wildest dreams. At the end of the day, when we find
ourselves crushed and beat on our couch, do we want anything else? Probably not. Is there anything
we might have forgotten to do? We would all be delighted to say ‘No’ to that question. And yet, if
there is any energy left, I would like to talk about an issue which seems to have been cornered into a
somewhat marginalized position in our day and which maybe even seems to have been falling on the
waste-side of our lives, and wonder, do we have any time left for play?
As in these times media as film, television, new media, and more, are playing such an
important part in our leisure time and culture, these would make for a natural place to start looking for
means to play, especially as this development is likely to only increase in the future and therefore any
future of the media would be intimately tied together with the future of play. In this paper I therefore
want to discuss the relationship between interactivity, cinema, and play. And as in our present
aesthetic spectacle-oriented forms are a predominant element, I will use these as a counterexample in
my discussion, which I will start by giving my understanding of the concept of interactivity, since this
is a rather broad one, but which I hope to illuminate by a series of other art works as for instance from
the field of architecture, painting, and literature. For this I will rely in part on the work of Mark
Stephen Meadows, and Umberto Eco.
After establishing this concept I would like to shortly discuss interactive film, firstly in single
linear form, and secondly in multi-linear works. But as interactive film is a relatively minor part of
interactive cinema which I perceive to be a broader concept than just film, as I will explain in this
chapter, my main focus will be on interactive cinema. Yet some of the principles that work for
interactive film will also apply to interactive cinema. For this I will make use of the work of Söke
Dinkla, Martin Rieser, David Rokeby, and Peter Lunenfeld, mainly coming from the field of new
media.
In the second chapter, as interactive cinema can best be described by a process named
hypercontextualisation (Lunenfeld, 2002: 149) I will start by discussing one side of this concept,
which is the way that interactive cinema is given structure and fuel mainly by the industries and
permission-based marketing. For this I will make use of the work of David Marshall, Dan Harries, and
Henry Jenkins. I will then use this chapter together with Tom Gunning’s perspective on early cinema,
using his idea of the ‘cinema of attractions’ and Andrew Darley’s work on neo-spectacle forms to
relate them to a case study of the film MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 (J.J. Abrams, 2006), which I take to be
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
exemplary of the present-day aesthetic which is oriented towards neo-spectacle forms. In this study I
will discuss the film, as well as the cinematic matrix constructed of extra-textual features related to the
film, such as DVD extra’s, a website, games, and more. In this analysis I will focus on two questions,
namely: what relations and values are making up this work?; and secondly, how does this work solicit
the spectator? And I will try to make apparent in what ways these two questions are interrelated.
In my third chapter I will describe the other side of the process of hypercontextualisation,
namely the ways that the audience engages on its own in activities related to cinema. For this I will use
the work of David Marshall, Henry Jenkins, and Greg Taylor. I will then discuss the relevance and the
concept of play using as a key influence the writings of psychologist and sociologist Erich Fromm,
which includes his insights on stimulus theory. In this part I will try to argue why there is a
relationship between play, interactivity and the development of our human faculties. Finally I will
relate these two parts to a smaller second case study of the media platform Imagining Ourselves. As in
the previous study I shall be focussing on relations and values structuring the work, and on how this
work appeals to the spectator. And as in the previous example I hope to make clear in what ways they
are linked to each other.
As in this paper the convergence of media obviously plays a role it seems a logical fact that it
uses information from different disciplines; in terms of paradigms I will rely therefore in the main on
work from a new media perspective, using more of a film historical analysis in the chapters on
spectacle forms, and in the chapters on play my approach will be more psychological and coming from
a sociological perspective. As interactivity always concerns a dialogue with a spectator this is
necessary in order to discuss interactivity in a meaningful way. 1
My aim is to show, by analyzing the difference in approach between one example that
promotes a spectacle-oriented experience and another which appears to enable more play on the part of
the participant, what the effects are with regards to interactivity and our development. As I intend to
argue the latter two could benefit greatly if cinema would open up its possibilities for play while this
in turn could play a major role in helping move cinema forward and more in line with its potential.
But first let me introduce the concept of interactivity a little bit further. For what exactly is
interactive cinema? Let’s first of all start by taking the first part of the term; “interactivity,” because
interactivity is something that is not entirely new to media. All throughout history we can find ample
examples of the notion of some kind of active relationship between a work of art and a spectator or
reader. Let’s consider for example a few instances from Pause and Effect – The Art of Interactive
Narrative by Mark Stephen Meadows and let’s take a look at the ancient Egyptian Tablet of Isis. This
1
See appendix
4
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
famous bronze tablet2 (roughly 50” by 30”) is usually seen as a sort of manual for rites of sacrifice and
with its characteristics of Hermetic philosophy is also often recognized as a key to Chaldean,
Egyptian, and Greek theologies. It also gives the twelve houses of heaven as twelve figures and
divided into four seasons and shows the relationship between the fixed and mobile zodiacs and an
elaborate key to The Scroll of Thoth. While this is a much discussed tablet by experts with an immense
complexity, what is of particular interest here is that it can be read from multiple directions; one might
choose any of the twelve entry points around the perimeter to start a reading. By a combination of
image and text3 it provided both a visual instructional narrative, as well as an interaction with the
priests who were using it, for the way it was read was related to the required actions that were in turn
based on its reading. (Meadows, 2002: 96, 97)
For another instance we may look at the Church of San Francesco in Assisi. In this church in
which Giotto did much of the paintings, the arched ceiling is constructed in such a manner that it
seems to physically divide spaces. By the way the bays of each nave are set up it creates a triple
division in the wall that gives the illusion that different spaces unfold depending on where you are
standing. This position for standing is a very specific one indeed and this illusion is created in great
part by the paintings of Giotto. When one is looking at it from the wrong angle the paintings look as if
they are distorted, but when one takes up a certain standpoint one can see it all falling into place; the
paintings are aligning with the church, and one gets the impression that it is somehow generating
virtual spaces that appear to be lifted up from it. Its workings thus require a physically active
involvement of the spectator to create this sort of interaction. (Meadows, 2002: 11)
In the field of painting we also find plenty of interesting examples attesting to the
acknowledgement of the awareness of the spectator; in Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez (1656) the
painter depicts himself at work while he is facing us. Princess Margarita is also facing us in the centre
with her maids of honour. The king and queen appear to be in our standpoint of view and watching the
scene while we see their reflection in a window on one of the walls in the back, although it is not clear
whether this is actually a mirror of the couple or just a painting. Then there is also a man in a doorway
in the background looking at us, and two people in the foreground also facing us. While this painting
is remarkable for its use of direct and reflected lighting it is interesting here for its extraordinary use of
perspective. For it is not exactly clear from which perspective we are supposed to look into the
painting; Through whose eyes are we looking?; through the eyes of the painter, or the princess, the
maids of honour, the man in the doorway, the king and the queen? The painting seems to take place on
2
We know The Tablet of Isis only through the reproduction that was made in 1559 by Aeneas Vicus of Parma
Italy
3
which is included in some phonetic signs
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
different planes and the painter is inviting us into different standpoints, which has in turn an effect on
how we perceive and stand in the narrative. (Meadows, 2002: 107 en Janson, 2004: 583/ 584)
For other examples we could also turn to music where we can see that serious endeavours
have been made to make music more interactive at least between the composer and the artist who is
executing the piece. Especially in the fifties of the previous century there were very strong tendencies
in European music to create more open musical forms as opposed to the ‘closed’ musical works of
traditional Western music. Both theories of integral serialism (a constructivist, calculated approach to
musical form) and indeterminacy (a more intuitive approach that is trying to be as non-systematic as
possible), sometimes in their combination, contributed to musical works that were intended as
autonomous impersonal objects in which the composer’s personal expression was limited to a
minimum. The works existed often of complex systems in which fixed elements interacted with less
determined - or undetermined elements. While the overall part often remained relatively stable an
element of choice was integrated into the structure by variable elements. In terms of articles by the
composer Stockhausen, the compositions created an interplay between relative ‘order’ and ‘disorder’;
two notions which we will encounter again later in this paper with regards to interactive media use.4 5
(Morgan, 1991: 370)
We can see the following work as a good example, namely Pierre Boulez’s Zyklus (1959). 6
Zyklus, a piece for a solo percussionist has a score that is constructed in a manner that one can read it
both forwards as well as backwards and the performer has the choice to start at any point in the page.
When one has fixed a starting point and a direction the rest of the order is determined, but one still has
a considerable freedom in playing the individual events.7 8(Morgan, 1991: 370 - 374)
Looking at writing and literature for interactivity another interesting example stands out,
namely Stéphane Mallarmé’s Livre. In this utopian book, which Mallarmé was actually never able to
complete, and so which indeed was ‘a work in movement (or progress),’ part of the chapters and
passages are mobile and interchangeable. After reading certain passages one can choose to either stay
in the same chapter and to keep reading or to skip to another place either backwards or further on to
4
These kind of compositions would in one direction develop into aleatory methods (the term referring to a throw
of a dice).
5
See appendix
6
Ofcourse many other composers can be mentioned who have been engaged in similar projects, like Brown or
Stockhausen.
7
See appendix
8
See appendix
6
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
another chapter or passage, and thus it works as a sort of continuously mobile apparatus stimulating
the reader to constantly discover different pathways in one single work of art. Set out to be an
idealistic work created by the poetic principle ‘Un livre ne commence ni finit, tout au plus fait-il
semblent,’ Livre has become the embodiment of an interactive function.9 (Eco, 1989: 12-13)
Now these examples are ofcourse by no means exhaustive, nor could we say that they could
not easily be replaced by other works. They however serve a twofold purpose here. They first of all
may help us to gain insight in the continuities that are to be found in the presence of interactive
features in the history of media, but, secondly and even more importantly, they will come in handy to
establish some differences and difficulties in deciding upon which definition to use for assessing
interactivity. For example, some questions may come to mind when reading about these examples: if
we take a look at the Wikipedia (free encyclopedia)10 on the Internet and search for a definition of
interactive art, we find a quote that says: “Interactive art is a form of art that involves the spectator in
some way. Some sculptures achieve this by letting the observer walk in, on, and around the piece.”
Still, if we consider the Church of San Francesco by Giotto for instance then we might wonder as to
how far this type of interactivity – walking through an architectural design in order to get a good
perspective - is not comparable to, for example, flipping through the pages of a picture book trying to
look at a certain page, or dropping the needle on a certain spot on a phonograph, or picking a chapter
on a DVD? In all these instances one could argue that the interactive feature takes place mostly on a
physical level and concerns the handling of the physical object. Now eventhough form and content are
hard to separate in art, this however doesn’t say much about the perception of the work on another
level. For instance if we would see the painting Las Meninas as interactive because our choice of point
of view may affect our perception of the painting then it is, for one, at least a different kind of
interactivity; we do not move physically in front of the painting, and it is an interactive feature that
works more on an intellectual or perhaps even emotional level. So this means that we can start by
discerning differences in the levels of interactivity. While appreciating an architectural design may ask
for a physical activity, the musical works may invite a more emotional or perhaps intellectual input,
while in turn a work like the Tablet of Isis may stimulate a dialogue on a more spiritual level. These
levels ofcourse will often be intertwined with one another, or combined, and they are not marked by
any strict boundaries, yet they do provide a significant dimension of interactivity and may help us in
our analysis of interactivity later, because certain artworks will lay more emphasis on one level in
comparison with another.
However, it doesn’t end here, as more questions arise if we would agree a work such as Las
Meninas to be interactive because if a work like this with its play of perspective, would be valid as an
9
See appendix
10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_art on 02-02-2008
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
interactive piece of work, how about paintings that require even more activity from the viewer, like
paintings by Duchamp or a cubist painting by Picasso? Doesn’t a work from Picasso in his cubist
period create a need for a new interpretation each time that you look at it? With its lack of perspective
and its deliberate breakdown of syntax or narrative it tries to create an equality of value of its
elements. This makes it harder to emphasize one single perspective and opens up the image, making it
susceptible for multiple subjective interpretations.
And this is even more a problem because when we think of it, doesn’t every work of art
inspire a new interpretation each time we perceive it? And doesn’t that modify the look of the art
work? Do we not make a new version of it every time? Umberto Eco reminds us that the artistic value
of an artwork is actually very much determined by the amount of possible interpretations and
perspectives from which it can be regarded. Every artwork is valid in itself as an artwork because of its
resonance; the more it resonates the greater its artistic worth. (Eco, 1989: 3) But if in this way every
artwork would be interactive, doesn’t this ultimately render the term interactivity meaningless? It
does, unless we make some distinctions and categorizations, and separate certain matters within the
examples. Umberto Eco in his article ‘The poetics of the open work’ makes an arrangement in these
features of open artworks that is very useful here, as there were different artworks in different times,
and which in some ways attest to the prevailing awareness of the degree of integration of free
interpretation on the receptive side.11 Yet literary criticism has subsequently been more and more in
consensus with Valéry’s belief that “Il n’y a pas de vrai sens d’un texte” (“there is no true meaning of
a text”) and that every artwork sets up its own set of rules and principles and is therefore not only to a
large extent free in itself, but gives in turn a considerable amount of freedom to the interpreter. (Eco,
1989: 7-9) And with this new sense of the openness of a text one can also better appreciate a work
like, for example, James Joyce’s Ulysses, a literary work that was deliberately written to be read from
different perspectives, that uses time and space in a non-consistent manner and creates a story so
intertextual and ingenious that it almost works as a perpetual mobile in constantly presenting itself in a
new manner to the reader. (Eco, 1989:10) Now if we compare this example to Mallarmé’s book then
we can see how these are both very interactive in terms of meaning. One might even say that Joyce’s
work requires more contemplation and interpretative collaboration than Livre. However there is still a
significant difference. Whereas Ulysses as an example might have been written in a very open mode, it
does remain a whole, a finished product, unchangeable in itself in a tangible sense, as a work of art.
We cannot alter its structure. However, a book like Livre, or a composition like Boulez’s Zyklus, needs
the interpreter to make it come into existence as a composition. The addressee of the artwork
participates in the organisation of the work. The work is on its own “unfinished”, and although there
11
See appendix
8
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
may be some pre-organizing structure, its actual composition is not made unless made together with
the performer. Umberto Eco proposes to define these works ‘as “works in movement,” because they
characteristically consist of unplanned or physically incomplete structural units.’ (Eco, 1989: 12) It
may however be clear that we can best think of interactivity (and ‘openness’) in a wider sense, as a
continuum. It is a matter of degree. And so now coming back to my example of Picasso; we can
indeed discern a difference between a work like Las Meninas and a Picasso that may be more than a
nuance; because a cubist painting breaks down perspective and syntax its strategy and its artistic
composition may be more advanced when trying to locate it on the polarised axis of interactive
qualities in comparison with a more conventional painting as Las Meninas which still uses
perspective, even though using it playfully, but gives considerably more rules for appreciating the
work.
So if we want to know how we can think about interactivity, and how to analyse and
understand it, we can distinguish at least three axes along which we can analyse interactivity, namely
one vertical axis of the sense level of interactivity; in what sense does it speak to us? - like for
instance, in a physical, emotional, intellectual, or perhaps even in a spiritual sense; and two horizontal
axes: one being the axis of the ‘open work’ that we can use to decide to what extent a work is opened
up by means as, for example intertextuality, or other approaches that might stimulate multiple
perspectives; and finally a third horizontal continuum which we could term the axis of the ‘work in
movement’ after Eco’s definition, indicating to what extent we can perform or play a role ourselves in
its creation and completion.
Now other parameters of assessment could be made and have been made (often in relation
with computer-based works).12 However, while we could discern all kinds of other categories, I shall
here use these three axes of sense level, open work, and work in movement, because I think that they
will cover much of the basic qualities as well as many of the other categorical distinctions that could
play a role in our assessment, and will give us a good tool in helping us understand how interactivity
in general may be structured within a certain work. While the other qualifications13 have their
relevance with regards to the term interactivity, they specify in a way that may go beyond the scope of
this paper and which are in addition not necessarily relevant here in this context. I have therefore opted
for a more general approach that will cover most of its characteristics, that will not necessarily be
mutually exclusive with other specifications, and also that may better allow me to talk about certain
linked aspects of interactivity further on in this paper. But nevertheless this thesis could serve as a
12
See appendix
13
See note 12
9
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
good starting point and the analysis in this paper may be further specified when using certain insights
of these above-mentioned categories.
But for now we could say that an interactive work is a combination of factors which we could
locate somewhere in the field created by these mentioned continua and for which we could see the
axes as a sort of grid for navigation. In general it is important to mention with regards to these
distinctions and the other categories mentioned above that they are of course not mutually exclusive in
general and that they may overlap and integrate with other categories within a work. Like for instance
a subject may be solicited on more than one sense level by the same work. Sometimes it is not so easy
to determine what response is being generated within the subject, because ofcourse true interaction is a
dialogue that involves a human subject. To quote Jonassen on the quality of interactivity: “Generally,
the quality of the interaction in microcomputer courseware is a function of the nature of the learner’s
response and the computer’s feedback. If the response is consistent with the learner’s information
processing needs, then it is meaningful.” (Sims, 1997: 2) Interactivity is a conversation, a dialogue; it
is communication. And as in most acts of communication, Sperber and Wilson remind us that
relevance is always relevance to an individual and always involves a particular person14 at a particular
time and place (Forceville, 1996: 89). It takes a person to create the meaning in an interactive design.
In my paper I would just like to emphasize on the structure of the work itself but ofcourse I shall
address some issues with regards to the relation between an interactive work and the subject in
general. Still an in-depth research of this would ofcourse ask for a range of cultural studies and further
study and tests would therefore be required to bring it into practice.
There is one more important difference between the open work and the work in movement that
will play a great role in this paper and that is the feeling of effectiveness that is very much attached to
the work in movement. So more in specific this paper will therefore be concentrating predominantly
on the work in movement. While an open work could be very stimulating to a subject, the feature of
the ‘unfinished work’ that gives the subject the chance to make a difference and actually lets
him/herself act in the process of creating or playing is of immense importance and is also one of the
great characteristics of play.
14
Sperber and Wilson ofcourse note that it could also be a machine or a group of persons (Forceville, 1996: 98)
10
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Chapter 1: Interactive Film
Cinema as matrix
Now after having established the concept of interactivity I would like to turn to the second
term; ‘cinema.’ In his article “A Cinema of Contemplation, A Cinema of Discernment: Spectatorship,
Intertextuality and Attractions in the 1890s” Charles Musser, in writing about early cinema, uses a
distinction between filmic and cinematic form to remind us that ‘individual films were merely raw
material for the exhibitor’s programs and were inevitably transformed in the course of their cinematic
presentation (the making of cinema).’ (Musser, 2006: 159) Here I would like to use the same
distinction with regards to film and cinema. The term ‘film’ will refer to the actual film itself while
‘cinema’ will indicate film in a very broad sense, referring to film as imbricated in a complex whole of
interlinked references to other cultural forms. This intertextual15 matrix of film, television, music,
video, games, text, advertising, etc. has throughout the history of film ofcourse always been there
except that its role is now becoming present in a much greater degree as cinema is becoming much
more multimedial, intermedial and intertextual. And these structures are being constructed both by the
audience and the media industries; stimulating the audience by providing and guiding the audience in
the material the industries are creating networks of associations, but on the other hand audiences are
also making their own structures and patterns of meaning. This way there is a continuous exchange of
cultural knowledge and so we could see it as a dialectic between the audience and the commodity.
(Marshall, 2002: 69-70)
Interactive film in single linear form
15
Intertextuality is a term coined by Julia Kristeva who discerned two axes with regards to the reading of a text;
one horizontal axis connecting the author and reader of a text, and a vertical axis connecting a text to other texts,
referring to the way that any text contains shared codes or elements belonging to already existing discourses. In
this case the word ‘text’ will refer to a broad range of media texts, such as film, images, sound, etc. (Chandler,
2008: 1)
11
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
And so we could understand film and interactivity in relation with each other as interaction
that will find its way mostly on a narrative or linear level. This way for instance creating the
interactive narratives in which the viewer has a degree of control over the narrative most directly by
means of the techniques of montage, for instance in narratives in which one is able to affect the line
and order of the actions of the events and characters and thereby to have an effect on the outcome of
the narrative, thus changing the work and its possible interpretations. (Lunenfeld, 2002: 146) But one
may also interact in the story by choosing between protagonists as different subject positions, and by
being able to change perspectives. This will in turn have a powerful effect on the meaning it will
generate for emotionally a story might have a radically different impact when viewed from the first or
the third person. ‘Subjective’ and ‘objective’ perspectives thus make up an important part of the
meaning; for example, by changing perspectives we might move from an individual message to a
social one in a much more direct manner, or by changing to first person view we may perhaps identify
much more with a certain character. In short we could, literally, take up a completely different view.
(Meadows, 2002: 5-7)
Furthermore by changing perspectives we might also change another important part of the
story which is the composition of the image; framing can be of key importance in telling a story when
it comes to making statements or letting the viewer discover information at certain nodal points in a
storyline. These are elements that will undergo a transformation in the hands of the interactive subject
which will have to be reconsidered by authors of this sort of interactive films. One may shift emphasis
in many ways, for example by ellipses or making different connections as in montage or using
different images. Now for the use of metaphor this will have huge implications. Many visual designs
are based on metaphoric qualities, either by conventional association but as often by their filmic
construction as well. Changing these views will strongly affect these alignments. So perspective plays
a part in our understanding of the story, and an important one. (Meadows, 2002, 73-81)
In addition other functions might affect our understanding too ofcourse, like for example a
change of speed. And while it may not be so much a matter of consideration yet there might be options
in the near future that will give the subject a greater say on the choice of the soundtrack, a relationship
which plays a role in the story’s meaning that is often underestimated and perhaps applications will
arise that will allow the subject to have more to say on the relationship between the image and the
choice of words, allowing the viewer to bring more into the story by choosing the intertitles or having
an influence on the voice-over or the use of text otherwise. Either way with a range from subtle to
more effective influences the subject might play with the narrative and while this may take place at
least at the moment on a predominantly linear or syntactic level as in choosing the order of actions and
events and other montage related approaches one may also easily move beyond it and envision more
paradigmatic choices. While certain options like a choice of camera movement might not be practical
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
options yet, especially with regards to small budget films in which a very limited amount of camera’s
is being used, it might be a more common option in the future to change camera angles and
perspectives, especially as postproduction effects become more and more accessible for a larger
public. These interactive narratives, needless to say, do share features as well with videogames in
which some of these options are already being explored.16
Interactive film in multilinear form
Now so far I have considered interactive film as a single narrative line, but one could also take
into account the multi-linear options to present a story as, for instance, in video-installations. This
brings to mind issues of montage as well, for are the montage formal structures not the means to make
a chain of events into a narrative, into a work of art? Afterall, what otherwise makes up a narrative?
But every structure contains within itself alternative choices and alternative structures, “for every path
taken, there is the path not taken.”17 And strategies that make one aware of a multiplicity of options
branching out in rhizome-like manner may have already been experimented with in literary works as
James Joyce’s Ulysses which I already mentioned earlier. In Ulysses he creates realities and events
that on some level seem to take place on parallel planes; he creates not a narrative developing along a
single narrative line, but instead he finds a way to construct ‘networks’ or ‘constellations’ as Söke
Dinkla describes it and the text keeps creating these for they exist in a dynamic relationship with the
reader who has to navigate through them and connect the parts within them. Joyce finds a way instead
of representing reality to generate reality, or, realities. (Dinkla, 2002: 30-32) One may navigate
through them by actively networking oneself through the text. Thus he is able to create a nonsequential unity. He achieves this by using some textual strategies that have left their mark on both
experimental film and interactive media and one of which may be described as the dissolution of the
boundaries of the subject; by connecting separate spheres of experience, for instance, internal and
external, and thus he turns the ‘stage’ into a transitional space with a narrative drive being created here
by a need for a transformation to another state. (Dinkla, 2002: 30) In extension of this technique is his
‘perspectivisation of the person.’ The many perspectives, or ‘the multiple refraction of perspective’ as
Dinkla writes, a subject can take on, can change a subject accordingly (Dinkla, 2002: 30-31).18 This
16
See appendix
17
From ‘Multimedia feature: Interactive fiction. But is it storytelling?’ The Economist 11 Nov. 1995, US edition
quoted in Rieser, 2002: 148
18
Such alternative ways to arrange time and space have later influenced many avant-garde and experimental
filmmakers as for instance Maya Deren.
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
makes for a dynamic relationship to exist between subject and object and by creating this dynamic
relationship in perspectives the subject can constantly rediscover, reinterpret and reinvent itself by
seeing through new eyes.
Now in his review of the role of narrative at certain significant historical moments, Söke
Dinkla suggests a concept of a ‘floating work of art’ which uses strategies of a ‘recombinant
poetics’19, meaning that where text, images, sound and movement, etc, are coming together it will
create a ‘field of meaning’ and working as a discursive field it, needless to say, does not function in a
linear manner, but more as a network of associations.20 (Dinkla, 2002: 36-37) Working in a twofold
manner these fields are on one hand based on the awareness that there exists such a thing as ‘a
collective memory of images’21 which has ‘to be reformulated in order to enable a new understanding
of (hi)story,’ and which in addition requires a space where conventional symbols can be questioned
and criticized; and on the other hand they provide the possibility to create a new ‘vocabulary of forms’
as in these spaces new arrangements of elements can be made to break with culturally encoded
audiovisual conventions and this way new metaphors might be created. Importantly, in these new
spaces ‘it is the user, not so much the artist, who is required to perform the imaginative act.’ (Dinkla,
2002: 37) Also instead of the user surrendering to strict rules there is a responsibility that comes with
it for even though he might be one of many users, in case it is connected to the Internet, he will still
feel the effect of his actions because it will be his own perspective, his vision that will fully or partially
be generating the reality.
Now multilinearity in itself does not make up a narrative and therefore Martin Rieser argues
that we need a degree of compression and precision; a work is a selection of elements otherwise it
would not be a work. But instead of in a singular linear narrative an artist will have to use other
techniques if he wants to bring an overall structure to the work. One of the techniques he may use to
keep a certain unity is the use of language to provide a deep structure (Rieser, 2002: 146-147) by
setting an often unconsciously perceived mood with its ability to combine precision with ambiguity. In
a similar vein one could of course also see film style as a mood setter. But in anyway there is a need to
bridge the discontinuities that occur in interactive narratives by a deep structure and language may be
one way of providing this. A second technique for keeping audience engagement within the work is
the use of framing. (Rieser, 2002: 147) One might think of narrative frames like the locking into
viewpoints, but one can also create a framing of the work by its spatial mappings to set up the
19
A concept used by Bill Seaman, quoted in Dinkla, 2002: 36 (see for reference of Seaman bibliography)
20
Thereby foregoing on logic which the floating work of art as Dinkla imagines it is set out to be, namely a
critique that the interactive work in relation with the computer has to be a work of logic. Instead it might
deconstruct logic or recreate it; and better, the user may do so.
21
A concept used by Jeffrey Shaw, quoted in Dinkla, 2002: 37 (see for reference of Shaw bibliography)
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
boundaries of a work. Creating a specific visual field will be a useful way for keeping the audience
focussed within the diegetic world.
Martin Rieser who has been involved in projects with interactive relations has experimented
with open structures and a good example is his project Screening the virus22, a website based on a
theme, in this case the virus, and issues surrounding the virus, of HIV/AIDS. The project’s site is able
to respond to an active and responsive audience and is able to pick up on added narratives concerning
the disease. In addition its shape and appearance (as its colour) react and respond in reaction to the
interaction with the audience. By basing it on a larger theme with smaller themes attached to it in a
loose narrative trajectory, keeping it somewhere in the middle between database and narrative, he is
able to keep a unity and an overall shape.23 (Rieser, 2002: 155-156)
Considering these examples new forms of paradigms could develop that could break away
with narrative conventions and renew our whole idea of how to tell a story. In the development of
these accessible platforms that would allow for users to take part in the course but that would still
retain a sense of narrative the role of the artist would have to be reinvented. David Rokeby explains
this role by the difference between works of chance operations like by Cage and the work of
interactive artists which according to him is that ‘the chance element is replaced by a complex,
indeterminate, yet sentient, element: the spectator,’ and (‘whereas Cage’s intent is to mirror nature’s
manner of operation,) the interactive artist holds up the mirror to the spectator.’ (Rokeby, 1995: 137)
These mirrors are transforming mirrors for they involve a dialogue between the work and the
spectator. And so for interactive works like these:
‘The extreme of this position, in some sense corresponding to Cage’s notion of “indeterminacy,” is found in the
creation of learning and evolving systems. One might take the extreme position that a significant interaction
between an artwork and a spectator cannot be said to have taken place unless both the spectator and the artwork
are in some way permanently changed or enriched by the exchange.’ (Rokeby, 1995: 137)
For this ofcourse a work should be able to integrate and be responsive to a spectator’s input, but as
Rokeby predicts there will very likely be increasingly more attention for these kinds of interactive
learning systems. (Rokeby, 1995: 137) And so for artists of these interactive structures, instead of
being the almighty author of traditional narratives or as its opposite, just letting these projects be
determined by chance, he or she will have a very important role to play in designing these interactive
22
Rieser, Martin. Screening the virus, a residency for World’s Aids Day 1996, commissioned by Artec and
Watershed Media Centre as the multimedia pilot for the ArtAids website.
23
See appendix
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
models for exactly because of this dialogue between the system and the spectator, the artist’s most
important responsibility will have to be in the area of the relationships that it will create with its
participants. I will return to the subject of these relations later on.
So firstly, interactive film, in a singular sense, while being mostly linear also opens up
possibilities on a paradigmatic level which will undoubtedly have an effect on which stories are being
told and on the way they are being told. It will be interesting to see what will happen to film when the
audience will start to become a more active player with regards to the creation of some of the films it
is watching. The average viewer is consciously or unconsciously trained to be media literate and will
probably repeat certain conventions and genres he or she is used to, but it will also be very interesting
to see where and what kind of boundaries will be broken for with it meaning will change. Of course
this will definitely not have to apply to all movies for seeing only your own self-made stories will
certainly not be very much of a solution to anyone, but having such movies exist alongside traditional
ones still will bring in more possibilities for the audience to be more actively engaged with the works
they see and their subsequent subject matter and will increase consciousness of the ways they are
being constructed and tempt us towards interpretations. Secondly, this will also count for multi-linear
models of interaction for their potential of rethinking and questioning audiovisual conventions,
imagining new metaphors, and creating a space that remains open for the creation of new relationships
with its users and which might indeed function as mirrors that can enrich both the work and its users.
And of course authors would have to reinvent their own function in a story when it has to be shared
with their audience and the ‘readers’ will become writers too, but it will be a tremendous tool for play,
expression and media awareness.
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Chapter 2: Interactive cinema and intertextual marketing
A multimedial approach
But interactive film is only a part of interactive cinema which is a much greater concept and
implies the whole complex of film and its context, which is growing to be increasingly multimedial
and intertextual nowadays. The use of the term ‘interactive cinema’ has come into existence by a long
way of developments in the area around film.24 Its idea of recombining elements has not been invented
by the coming of new media technologies but was born as the strategy of avant-garde movements in
the 50’s and 60’s experimenting with techniques of montage to expand and break through the borders
of film. By diffusing attention and disconnecting traditional storytelling elements to criticize and
question them, and by including the audience, it has paved the way for the present interactive use of
cinema in which these elements have been brought back together to integrate a more active role for the
spectator. (Blunck, 2002: 54-62)
Now some media have become so closely connected with cinema that one can hardly imagine
what we would be without them again, and one such medium is the pc and with it the use of new
media. Cinema and computer technology ofcourse are already intertwined on so many levels, like for
instance in the way cinematic images are manipulated by new image technology and the use of special
effects. But more relevant here is that the computer for personal use gives the audience the tools for
nonlinear access and all sorts of activities. These tools are a part of a history of playback technology
which one could claim began with the coming out of videotapes in the seventies, which only grew
more popular in the eighties, and which soon was improved by the use of laser discs. And these
offered for the first time also the possibility to have nonlinear access to the content; for instance by
giving the public the possibility to have alternate audio tracks, see stills, and other secondary material.
(Lunenfeld, 2002: 150). Computers have added considerably to the options the audience has to interact
with the material. Henry Jenkins, in his article ‘Interactive Audiences,’ points at the intersection of
three lines of interactive culture. (Jenkins, 2002: 157) He describes the first one as the ‘new tools and
technologies (which) enable consumers to archive, annotate, appropriate and recirculate media
content. Secondly, the media industries ofcourse with their own economic interests demand more
active modes of spectatorship by encouraging the ‘flow of images, ideas and narratives across multiple
24
See the appendix for more on this development within cinema
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
media channels. And finally do-it-yourself (DIY) media production is being encouraged by a variety
of subcultures.’ I will here discuss the second line he mentions, namely the way that the industries are
stimulating these ‘active modes’ of spectatorship, but first I would like to turn his first point of
attention, namely the way that new tools are enabling the audience to appropriate media content. For
in what ways are these tools as the computer and the internet in general making it possible for us to
engage with media material? Dan Harries asks the question if we are not just viewing it the same way
as that we watch television, pressing the play button and zapping; or if we use it in the same manner as
we use any other application on the computer, like calculating or writing; or maybe if we do it in a
way that combines both viewing and using? (Harries, 2002: 171) We often use online viewing in a
way that is similar to watching television and that is marked by narrative immersion, watching movies
or clips on the net, and so Harries finds we use our computer in a way that is similar to the way we use
our DVD player; with very limited interaction. And using a distinction made by Raymond Williams,
we are more reactive than active; we have a certain prearranged set of options and have to handle
according to them. (Harries, 2002: 173)
The Internet is more and more used as a way to exhibit films, and because of its access it has
become a great means for promotion. More film and television studios are using the net to give the
stage to film trailers and advertising, but also for the entire movie itself. In particular films that
normally might not have the same reach as for instance independent or short films may benefit from
this. The Internet has become a great exhibition venue, one which relies on the same viewing skills as
used for television.25 (Harries, 2002: 173)
On the other end of the use of the internet we find according to Harries an engagement with
the Net which is based on computer interactivity corresponding to the same amount of activity as in
for example simple games, in which the parameters are very much determined and limited. (Harries,
2002: 175-178) This again is a very reactive form of activity. One can think of narrative sites with
multi-linear possibilities and where the viewer can explore the story. And we come across an
important dilemma here, which I will also come back to in the next chapter, as it seems that narrative
immersion and interactivity make for a difficult partnership. The more options for conscious
interactivity a story takes on, the less immersive seems to be the experience. Harries quotes both Lev
Manovich and David Rokeby who respectively argue that ‘the periodic reappearance of the machinery,
the continuous presence of the communication channel in the message, prevent the subject from
25
And movies have been brought online for viewing by the AFI (American Film Institute) Online,
BijouFlix.com, and IFilm.com and of course many others, some free, some charging. Though some of the films
may not have excellent image quality and may have gasps and shocks in them, (Harries, 2002: 173) but being
able to see these films which are sometimes otherwise hard to find or seeing them for the first time might make it
worth the effort.
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
falling into the dream world of illusion for very long, make [sic] her alternate between concentration
and detachment’26 (Harries, 2002: 176) and that ‘it is ironic that wide-open interaction within a system
that does not impose significant constraints is usually unsatisfying to the interactor. It is difficult to
sense interaction in situations in which one is simultaneously affecting all of the parameters.’ And so
Harries states that too much conscious activity can be a hindrance to narrative seduction and
immersion. In reaction to this paradox, media companies have been decreasing instead of increasing
the interactive element and so have been developing programs with a limited array of options for
interactivity to ensure the immersive element of their shows. For example online games have been
developed for the Net which simulate television game shows.27 Yet they often much more resemble
computer games instead of being able to maintain the immersive aspect of film or television. I think
that this paradox does not in all cases have to be important issue for interactive cinema, yet I will come
back to this later on in my last chapter.
There are however programs being developed that combine both the viewing experience and
the interactivity of the ‘using’ programs and these make up what Harries calls ‘viewsing’ programs,
which are an: ‘integration (and mutual influencing) of the two primary spectatorial activities that
creates a true ‘viewsing’ experience on the Internet, much in line, with Manovich’s concept of
‘cognitive multitasking,’ which is already embedded in modern computer usage and involves a
combination of multiple and oscillating activities’, and which: ‘creates a viewsing experience in which
one’s interaction with the content has an immediate effect on the outcome of the experience and can be
shared between connected viewsers.’ (Harries, 2002: 179) This is a sort of program that has emerged
only in relatively recent years and one can think of mostly reality tv shows as Big Brother for instance
that make use of these operations which try to combine an array of media. These programs are
interactive and multimedial from the outset.28 (Harries, 2002: 180) As these make an attempt to
integrate the spectator in better ways, they are one step closer in the direction of creating an active part
for the spectator, yet in reality when looking at the actual options for interactivity we see that they
usually still remain somewhat limited.29
One of the myths of interactive cinema was that the emergence of new media would
somehow out of itself make cinema an interactive medium that would renew our entire conceptions
and experience but as we see partly in these previous modes (‘viewing’ and ‘using’) they are more
often a continuation of previous modes of viewing and acting. Cinema is made up of paradigms that
26
Manovich is referring to Walter Benjamin’s concept of ‘perception in the state of distraction’
27
As for example Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Harries, 2002: 177)
28
See appendix
29
See appendix
19
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
won’t change on its own accord. (Lunenfeld, 2002: 148) But what are then the most significant
developments nowadays with regards to narrative and interactivity? Is there nothing to surpass the
tradition of narrative? What developments already exist and are not only an idealistic notion? Peter
Lunenfeld says the answer lies in shifting our attention from hypertexts to hypercontexts and start
thinking about technologies of ‘augmentation and communication.’ Less about narrative and
interactive narrative Lunenfeld argues it is about the ‘shaping and moulding of context,’ which takes
many forms and besides the strategies of promotion by media industries:
‘(…) there is the efflorescence of discursive communities generated by fans. In certain cases, all of
these combine to create something far more interesting than back-story and more complicated than
synergistic marketing. This is what I call ‘hypercontext,’ a rhizomatic and dynamically interlinked
communicative community using networks to curate a series of shifting contexts.’ (Lunenfeld, 2002:
149)
I will discuss these discursive communities and this strategy of hypercontextualisation coming from
the other corner, the side of the audience, in my next chapter, but I would like to begin by the way that
the industries are using this approach. As cinema is a matrix of film in relation with music, with
videos, games, advertising, and other extra-textual elements, and media industries are recognising the
need of audiences for a more active spectatorship they are playing an important role in providing the
linkages and the related material for them. For a cultural product is seldom brought forth in a single
form, but instead is usually linked to other cultural products and, less marked by boundaries when it
comes to its cultural form, often loses any strong medium based specificity. And since audiences often
learn about a product through another cultural product they are pushed along pre-planned media lines
envisioned by the industries. (Marshall, 2002: 69-71) This is a way of creating structures of product
promotion, a strategy which is also referred to as permission-based marketing,30 and which makes use
of consumer activity to market the products. (Jenkins, 2002: 166)
Intertextual marketing
This creative way to use the audience’s need for play and commodify it is a relatively new
phenomenon and dialectic for the industry and has its origins in children’s culture earlier on in the
century. (Marshall: 72) ‘Play’ in a common use of the word has become the most important key for
30
Two other terms used for this strategy are also viral marketing, or relationship marketing (Jenkins, 2002: 166)
20
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
marketing and promotion culture these days. It also finds an example in the music industry and in
specific in the way music videos have been developed beginning at the end of the seventies and early
eighties. Connecting cultural products as cassettes, cd’s, film and television soundtracks, concerts, tshirts, cards, bags, etc., they have become the ultimate multi-discursive cultural product. (Marshall,
2002:70) By the emergence of MTV and the combining of the promotional aspect with the music one
was able to capture the youth audience and thus an important niche within the market. This created a
transformation within the industries which started to make increasingly more use of these ‘gamestrategies’ by integrating audience activity as an aesthetic into their marketing structures. (Marshall,
2002: 69, 73-74, 80)
In the cinema industry we see similar marketing structures going on when we look at the way
blockbusters are being brought out to the public and are being promoted. Including all sorts of
marketed products, from film soundtracks to TV-commercials, from toys to posters, and from
figurines in our Happy Meal at the MacDonald to amusement park rides; the blockbuster in its
contemporary form is unparalleled. The marketing of a blockbuster event of course is not new, but it
has indeed changed in some ways in comparison to its precursors form the twenties and the fifties, in
fact its present format has mostly emerged in the last thirty years as with blockbusters like the STAR
WARS 31 series to films as SPIDER-MAN32 and the HARRY POTTER33 series in the new millennium. One
important change is that websites are being developed long before the film actually is being released
which enhances its promotion enormously. (Marshall, 2002: 76-77) The websites for one provide a
great platform to launch other cultural commodities connected to the film. Likewise trailers appear on
the web long before the actual release date. In addition games are being developed in relation to the
film, before or after, some even gaining much greater success than the film. Then toys and collector’s
items are part of the promotional strategy. DVD’s are distributed with extra features and products are
given something extra to mark them of from others and make use of consumer desires. (Marshall,
2002: 76-78)
Finally, as David Marshall argues, consumers are given more information about blockbusters
by the promotion of the ‘making-off’-documentary. This extra feature, as well as directors and actors
interviews and voice-over commentary with the film, and even alternative endings, has become a
much wanted extra feature enhancing the impact of a contemporary blockbuster. This also counts for
promoting an earlier version of a film in the case where it is a remake, such as with the THE ITALIAN
31
For example STAR WARS (Lucas, 1977)
32
For example SPIDER-MAN (Raimi, 2002)
33
For example HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (Columbus, 2001)
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
JOB for example, or giving out documentaries related to the same subject like in the documentaries on
the Titanic that were marketed or came out in the same period as the movie did.
David Marshall distinguishes beside the blockbuster three other intertextual commodities,
namely the game-film-game structure, the -what he calls - ‘kid cultural interconnections,’ and the cult
movie. (Marshall, 2002: 74-79) I shall discuss however only the first one of these three as the latter are
less relevant.34 Intertextuality makes it hard for cultural products to be defined in terms of boundaries
for where does it begin and where does it end? And sometimes film is not even the starting product.
Marshall explains another construction which according to him is the “game-film-game” concept.
(Marshall, 2002: 74-76) This can be found in the example of among others LARA CRAFT: TOMB
RAIDER which originally came out as a PlayStation game and later as a PC game that had already
achieved much popularity in the 1990s in game culture, but besides being used as a marketing vehicle
for footwear and other products it became even more popular and intertextual when the film came out,
starring Angelina Jolie as the personification of Lara Croft, and which in turn created a soundtrack and
music video by U2. The film served as a unifying means for connecting the products and this
increased its popularity and again connected back to the game.35 (Marshall, 2002: 76) And so it makes
sense that these media industries are pushing for convergence because it is in their interest when it
comes to product promotion. They go through a lot of trouble to connect industries because selling a
product in an intertextual manner adds up to more than the sum of its parts, and better even, audience
activity will put in the extra mile. In my upcoming case study I will use the discussed considerations
after making a short sidestep to a historical angle on film in order to understand a new rise of spectacle
which seems to be a relevant factor in these products. And it is exactly for this reason I shall analyze a
product which is very much intertextually marketed and I will go deeper into the ways this has effects
on spectator interactivity, as this product in my view is exemplary for the way that these products are
setting up possibilities for the spectator.
34
See the appendix for more on these other commodities.
35
The media industries were able to monitor this activity by looking at the visits of surfers on the ‘Webrings,’
which is a term used to refer to the patterns and links which are connected to the product and which are formally
provided by the industry to serve the audience in its ventures out on the net.
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Cinema of attractions
As film historian Tom Gunning reminds us, early film, before it became dominated by
narrative form, can be described best as a cinema that was characterized by spectacle and attractions.36
Until 1903 or 1904 film was often part of a larger program that featured a series of disparate
entertainments and a mixture of live performances and music in which film was part of a larger whole.
Unlike the narrative form which was soon to follow and which was characterized by cohering
storylines, a continuous sense of time and space, psychological motivation and development, cause
and effect structures, recognition, identification with characters, and suspension of disbelief, this early
form of cinema is better described as one that addresses the spectator directly and tries to stimulate
him or her in a direct way. (Darley, 2000: 48) It is a cinema that tries to capture the eyes and the
senses, one that tries to astonish and astound, to offer thrills and shocks, pleasure and excitement.
As film came into existence at the climax of two developments; on one hand there was an
increased growth of commercial popular entertainment, and on the other it emerged at the climax of a
long tradition of visual representation for early film was part of a larger tradition of popular
entertainment that included among others vaudeville, burlesque shows, variety shows, music, live
performances, melodrama, circus and magic theatres. While ofcourse attractions have always been
there, around the start of the twentieth-century serious endeavors for commercial exploitation of these
forms of attractions for popular entertainment became more and more frequent and movie theatres
started to arise. (Darley, 2000: 39-42) On the other hand in these new industrial times there was a
strong fascination with mechanical attractions and new technology with its promises for the future.
Contemporary viewers often partly went to the magic theater to see sophisticated uses of mechanics
and to catch up on the latest development in technology.
One other related issue is ofcourse that cinema arose at the climax of another development
namely the tradition of optical technology and visual representation. The cinematograph in itself was
an attraction in the first place. After nineteenth century popularity of optical means for entertainment
as the kaleidoscope, magic lantern shows, panorama, and ofcourse the invention of photography, the
sheer force of the cinematic apparatus was a new addition to the spectacle of optical technology. For
36
Gunning, Tom. “An aesthetic of astonishment: Early film and the (in)credulous spectator,” Film Theory and
Criticism, ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen (Oxford UP, 1999) 818-32
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
when the still image became alive with a flicker and turned into a moving image this was often already
enough to create astonishment. This magical moment of transformation and where the image came to
life formed a great part of the medium’s initial appeal.
Besides the medium itself the films themselves often provided miniature attractions of their
own, like foreign and exotic views for instance (previously ofcourse seen through the devices of the
magic lantern and stereoscope) emphasizing the ability of the new apparatus of cinema to ‘put the
world within one’s grasp’ while being mediated. It could offer views from panorama views of
landscapes to microphotography and from scenes close to home and family to scenes producing fear
and excitement, all designed to create a sense of wonder at this new medium.
According to Darley these developments are related to two important concepts and these are
spectacle and realism. (Darley, 2000: 39) On one side cinema emerges in a tradition of spectacular
entertainment aimed at capturing the eye and eliciting a visceral sense as well, offering forms of live
entertainment to create direct stimulation to the senses and instantaneous pleasure in the audience. On
the other we see how within the optical tradition devices had already emerged to start forming a new
form of spectacle; the phantasmagoria had with its realistic supernatural illusions that captured the
imagination of the audience in ways that went beyond previous uses of the magic lantern, and the
emergence of the panorama and the diorama had astounded audiences with its extreme forms of
realism. This development was continued by photography, rapid photography and other techniques for
‘the persistence of vision’ and all became part of the development that would lead to the
cinematograph.
And so, realism and spectacle are already very much related in early popular entertainment
and cinema, and this also shows in the content of the early films whether in trick films like by Méliès
or in more realistic films like the train film by the Lumière brothers. But even though their convincing
realism made for an illusion that the audience wanted to see over and over, the fact that it was an
illusion was never forgotten, for according to Gunning the spectator of that time was far from the
credulous dupe as was often believed, instead the early film viewers were often sophisticated
spectators well aware of the promises of the new medium and consciously seeking these forms of new
thrill entertainment.(Gunning, 1999: 819-821) And ofcourse one hugely important factor in this was
also the presentation of these films themselves and the exhibition context.37 (Gunning, 1999: 826-828)
Significantly, this cinema emerged around the same time as another new phenomenon of
modern times, the amusement park. (Gunning, 1999: 825, 829-835) en (Darley, 2000: 43-47, 53-54)
Stemming from a tradition of fairgrounds and carnivals and mostly made famous by amusement parks
37
See appendix
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
as Coney Island here mechanics and new technology were ofcourse a key feature to the main attraction
of mechanized rides; Ferris wheels and rollercoaster rides all were made realizable by the latest
developments in industrial technology and as enabling speed and other sensational experiences while
being made secure by technology this opened up a whole new vista of entertainment for the modern
industrial times thrill seeker.
Gunning though already notes some critical beliefs to these early forms of attraction for
example by Walter Benjamin, Maxim Gorky, and Siegfried Kracauer. (Gunning, 1999: 821-835) For
example this new modern form of entertainment is seen by Walter Benjamin as a response to the new
modern industrial urban society and its experience of fragmentation and alienation, and as a new form
of distraction that came along with the growth of consumer society it exemplified another element of
its prevailing aesthetic ethos of attractions. Already at the time Maxim Gorky added that it was a form
of pleasure that would never satisfy completely for it would always require a stimulus more intense
than its previous one. One would become a slave to newer and more spectacular thrills while at the
same time experiencing more alienation and boredom. And Kracauer would extend it by saying it all
was part of a certain ‘externality’; being stimulated from the outside was according to him the only
response to a lack of fulfilling experience most noticeable in the working masses.
Now while they are claiming this is a loss of authentic experience, created in part by
mediation, I think it is better and more precise to say that these forms are more conducive to a lack of
inner activity. For the entertainment is based mostly on simple stimuli. It elicits simple physical reflexlike reactions. Contemplation is made unnecessary and impossible even. It is a new and modern form
of visual entertainment creating a mixture of pleasure in which anxiety and fear can be part of the
pleasure. And so when the train in the first exhibited film ‘drove into the audience’ it was not just fear
it stirred in the audience but a particularly modern entertainment form of the thrill. And I have been
considering this cinema of attractions for there is a clear connection between this early cinema and the
present form of neo-spectacle. While the cinema of attractions existed mostly before narrative cinema
arose it never really left the cinema. Though it was somewhat toned down by conventional Hollywood
style with its central role of the narrative and its accompanying framework of continuity editing in
which spectacle was not meant to distract too much from the main storyline and so slightly lost some
of its force, which had driven the early cinema. (Darley, 2000: 48-50)
But in the last few decades new developments have been emerging. Increased use of new
digital imaging technologies have made a huge difference in film production processes and in
postproduction processes and with it new forms of spectacle have come into existence making for a
resurgence of spectacular entertainment in ways that are both continuous as well as distinctive in
comparison with its early predecessors. For while early cinema can be placed in its own context it is
clear that the broader context of neo-spectacle is wildly different in some respects. (Darley, 2000: 58-
25
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
67) One of its key characteristics is that we now are living in an age in which we are experiencing an
overproduction of images; an age in which in the words of Baudelaire we are flooded with images. We
live in the age of mechanical reproduction, as Benjamin wrote. And these developments have made a
huge impact on our more recent forms of spectacle. Images have been reproduced to the extent that
they have surrounded us and in the process have lost almost any form of reference to a world outside
of the image. They have lost their original to the point where they have started referring only to each
other. (Darley, 2000: 67-73)
26
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Case Study: Mission Impossible 3: The film
I will discuss these new forms of neo-spectacle using a case study of an example of a New
Hollywood Cinema film, namely the film MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 (a.k.a M-I-III) (J.J. Abrams, 2006).
M-I-III is a typical blockbuster film that has come out relatively recently and though less than
expected did quite well at the box office. It emerged as a truly intertextual product; in addition to the
film a website attached to the movie has been set up, a soundtrack has been brought out, as well as
merchandise as posters, wallpaper, and toys, etc. The film came out on DVD in combination with two
other DVD’s containing an ‘interactive’ menu of 5 hours38 of special features. Though this latest
version of the series has no game specifically based on it yet, a game has already come out in 2003 by
Atari for the Game Boy Advance, the X-box, Playstation 2, and Nintendo Game Cube,39 In addition a
new kind of interactive game inspired by the film has been set up using text-messaging and Hyper-tag
technology. In my case study I would like to address the way in which this intertextual product speaks
to the spectator and the relationships it emphasizes and take a closer look at its interactive levels. I will
start by looking at the film in order to analyze what elements are salient and foregrounded in this film
and how they play a role in setting up the conditions for a certain viewer experience.
So let’s start with the narrative for this film, as the third in a series of three, may have actually
tried to pay more attention to aspects that seem to make the narrative the most important factor. For
while the first two movies reveal relatively very few personal aspects of main character Ethan Hunt
(played by Tom Cruise), according to the director and writers the aim in this film has been to explore
just this aspect further. And so whereas the focus in the previous two has very much been on the agent
Ethan Hunt, in this movie we see him for the first time in his own home and leading his personal life.
In both MI-I and MI-II the object of Hunt as a main protagonist has also never been that much in
contradiction to his assigned mission. In both earlier versions he has always followed pretty much his
role as an agent and the objectives assigned to him by the agency40. However in this version he is
being arrested by the very same agency and more crucially his personal life is threatened because his
wife is being kidnapped by his enemy (Owen Davian played by Philip Seymour Hoffman). So as the
38
On the limited disc edition
39
(Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma, Atari, Inc. 2003) With earlier versions for Game Boy Color in 2000
and in 1998 for Nintendo 64 and Playstation
40
See appendix
27
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
back of the DVD writes ‘never has so much been at stake’ and that being a very important determinant
in character motivation it may seem that narrative aspects are becoming much more important here.
This idea of his wife’s kidnap being the central objective is enforced by the fact that the movie starts
by an ultimatum in which Owen Davian is counting down with a gun to the girl’s head in front of
Ethan. Indeed the film is tightly edited around and leading up to this kidnap and is in fact very
important in the cause and effect structure of the narrative. Identification with the main character is
increased by the fact that we spent most of the time with Ethan (Smith, 1994: 34-52) and as mentioned
we see him ‘as himself’ at home and more importantly (in spite of more accent on the team aspect in
this third film) it is his personal ordeal that ultimately makes up a great part of the film. In addition we
identify easily with his quest; the threat of the loss of one’s loved one and the tension this brings are in
general recognizable for everyone. So in short, narrative characteristics seem all very present in this
film, and yet, though relevant, simultaneously are not as important as they seem, for so many other
elements vie for the viewer’s attention that we wonder whether this is really the most important factor
in the movie.
For in our contemporary aesthetic context new elements have come to the fore and one of
them is a concern for style and form. In a constant flow of images other means are required to keep the
images distinct from others so several means are deployed in order to achieve this. One of them to
start with is an attention for the image as an image, and surface accuracy and image brilliance are
important devices to achieve this. (Darley, 2000: 80-84) In M-I-III there are plenty of examples of this
kind of image brilliance, to take only one: in the opening shot of his first mission in the film41 we see a
black image in which we see a small puddle of water so still it is almost a mirror, reflecting a clear
blue night view image of the smoking towers of and part of the factory they are about to enter for their
mission. Within this still pool we see the name of the location being typed of ‘Berlin Germany.’42 But
as reading the text engages us for a moment in this still image, within seconds and almost as a shock to
this still image something falls into the water and causes a plunge reminding us we are looking at a
pool but also gives us a close-up so sharp that it, if only for a quick moment, becomes visually
arresting. And many more of these instances occur in this movie.43
Another way of achieving a visually exciting form is image combination (Darley, 2000: 129132). Indeed as the growth of images is increasing it becomes harder and harder to come up with truly
original images and so very often its freshness is achieved by using images in a new combination.
41
Berlin mission of saving agent Farris
42
And hear it for it is accompanied by a ‘typing-like’ sound.
43
I will get back to surface accuracy a little further on when discussing realism features.
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
With new digital techniques the possibilities are abounding in creating new ways of editing and
juxtaposing images in ways that excite the viewer. While this movie does so a little less explicit than
its predecessor this is still a feature that is nevertheless very much a part of the film’s aesthetic aspects.
For instance the opening credits start by a scream by Ethan and immediately go over into the musical
theme when we see a black screen with in it a very close-up shot of a match catching fire, bursting into
a flame, then lighting a fuse that starts to give of a series of sparks and flames, which we all see from
very close by. The whole is very tightly edited to the musical theme, cutting images on the beat where
the beat takes over in the music and edited partially to the melody wherever the melody starts to
dominate in the score. Now, in the first place, the sequence is very quick paced. Secondly it is a
montage of slightly different views of the same flames and fuse, which obviously uses digital editing
techniques for the series of shots are taken from so many different angles that make it unlikely it is an
analogous series. So editing clearly plays a role, though it is not only montage that is important here.
For at the same time we see that images are so bright and realistic looking that they capture our
attention. And moreover we see the close-up of an object which we in real life could not so easily see
from this distance because of the sparks and the fire and the threat of burning ourselves. It is an
impossible shot and one we can assume is helped to manufacture by digital imaging techniques. It is a
bizarre sequence in a way, and yet we can see it. So a few things come into play here; first the image
quality gives us a sense of realism when we see the images looking very real and very precise, while at
the same time we know they cannot be real. So part of the attraction is that we know they are
manufactured and thus our attention is partly drawn to the artifice maybe arousing curiosity as to how
they were made. (Darley, 2000:114-115) This may be reminiscent of early spectacle cinema, for one
being a view that we normally do not see so therefore drawing our attention, and second in the way the
cinematic apparatus draws attention to itself, however in this case there may be no real signified for
this sequence. So in this way new spectacle forms are clearly different than these earlier forms of
cinema; there is a depthlessness of the image; it only happens on the surface.44 (Darley, 2000: 68-74)
So surface accuracy, image brilliance, image combination all add up to a sense of spectacle in this
example by creating a sense of realism of an impossible series of shots and thereby drawing attention
to its own techniques while at the same time, because of its pace, the editing may be leaving little time
to think about or engage in any other way with the images other than to experience them in their
aesthetic facets as the spectator is taken over by an igniting visual play. (Darley, 2000:114-115)
Now there is another stylistic element very present in the film which strongly determines the
way it looks and that is the use of color. We can see how almost every scene of the film in varying
degrees (with the few minor exceptions of scenes in Ethan’s home and a few outdoor scenes) has been
made visually pleasing and contrasting with other scenes by using a very limited palette of colors. For
44
I will elaborate further on these instances of ‘impossible photography’ later on in this chapter.
29
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
instance already in the first scene where Davian is setting an ultimatum for Ethan we see how the
scene is rendered in predominantly yellow, brown, green, and black colors which are obviously
manufactured for they are unlikely to have been present there. Besides being visually aesthetic they
help focus spectator attention in this scene and intensify spectacle (aided by a dominant use of medium
close-ups and close-ups that are leaving little room to focus attention on anything else than the event
of the ultimatum). As Ethan gets the first phone call for a new mission while partying at his home and
drives to the Seven Eleven he literally drives his car from a strangely greenish scene into a scene that
is predominantly blue with hints of yellow and red. So it functions here to enhance visual contrast
between scenes, making it visually interesting.
In the Berlin factory scene we see how this use of colors helps guide the spectator’s sense of
location in the scene. Because the scene is made mainly green and blue we are quick to notice deviant
colors in it. When Ethan enters the building he stays within this palette, but when he is talking to his
friend Luther in the van the image colors have a bit of red to them and seem slightly more yellow. As
the action progresses and the shooting begins we see how Hunt’s scenes sometimes have a slight
yellow look too but stay predominantly green and blue while we switch to a scene of his other team
partner Zhen that is rendered in colors that are much more yellow and brownish sometimes with a red
color in it. A function of this use of color is that as the action takes over the screen as spectators we
can easily and quickly decide with whom and where we are at moments when the action can make that
hard to decide.
A final interesting example of this use of color is to be found in the scene that is meant to be
the climactic scene, namely the Shanghai China scene. Arriving here at night we see a rainbow of
bright colors in the night view. As he arrives at the apartment we see warm colors of red and yellow
but also green; while he is talking with his team and drawing on the window against the night sky a
blue color is brought in with the various colors of laundry hanging from a line in the background; as
he turns around, the scene colors a bright purple and orange in the background, moving back to yellow
and green as Ethan looks at his team partners. Though the Shanghai scenes deploy this use of color in
varying degrees,45 the scenes on the whole keep this richness of color. In spite of a few exceptions like
‘home’ scenes and some outdoor scenes, the fact that these later scenes have so many colors
emphasizes their modified look. (We also see this in the way how the ultimatum scene with Ethan and
Davian at the beginning of the film is overall black, green and yellow and here is added more red to it
to set it apart from the opening scene.) They look so much altered and so bright that they subtly stand
out in a - within the film itself - hitherto unseen way and intensity. As all throughout the film we have
seen such limited palettes the many colors here bring with it a feeling of climax at a visual and surface
level.
45
Sometimes moving to a more limited palette of blue and black with other-colored items in the background
30
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
So this use of color may be defended in some cases to support a narrative function like in this
last example. However looking at the whole of the film the visual aesthetic aspect far surpasses these
narrative enhancing qualities for the images are visually pleasurable to look at in themselves and
certainly do not invite conscious reflection on a hidden significance and narrative functions. In fact
they do not look motivated by the narrative at all. What instead is a more significant effect is that they
simplify viewing for the spectator. Color is a very good device for guiding the spectator’s look in a
manner that is likely to remain unconscious and undisruptive. Important here is that it prevents the
viewer from straying within the field of the image and strongly discourages him or her to look at
anything else within the image. In fact it does quite the opposite and focuses attention on the action for
the rest remains constant, at least it does so colorwise. What it says is ‘look at this for the rest is
basically all the same’. Where the image is overwhelming and is inviting the spectator to have a look
around and be impressed by its beauty, the overall sameness of the colors gives such a strong unity to
the image and the scenes that it is keeping the viewers attention still within very strict boundaries and
so in other words ‘keeping viewers attention safely within the vehicle.’
Now these stylistic elements are not the only aspect in the film that is pulling us away from
narrative. For M-I-III does not stand on its own and we can hardly forget that this film is the third film
in a series. In our postmodern situation in which levels of reproduction have reached unprecedented
growth and have given birth to an endless archive of images we see how this has had an effect on the
principles that are at work nowadays. In an age that was led by, in the words of Frederic Jameson,
‘the culture of the copy’, the notion of an original has become much less relevant and instead has
given way to a new preoccupation with principles of seriality, repetition, reproducibility and
sequalization; principles that mark the shift to a new aesthetic. (Darley, 2000: 66-72, 126-129, 140)
Instead of the notion of images representing events existing in the outside world they have started to
refer to themselves. And we see images that are much of the same; they are repeated over and over.
But at the same time they are also renewed because in order to distinguish them from the others they
are ofcourse altered and modified. Still this is, as Baudrillard wrote, ‘an aesthetic of variables,’ a
principle of ‘differentiation within repetition’ of the self-same. (Darley, 2000: 58-72) And one
tendency in which this has become strongly noticeable is seriality for one way to organize within this
stream of images is the use of serialism and sequalization. This is also a symptom of the
standardization of products as ofcourse the commercial aspect plays a role here and commodification
and demarcation of the product are often determining factors. So as one of the consequences is that
images are often referring to each other ‘uncoupled’ from a necessary ‘historical referent’ they
reinforce their meaning through self-reference and allusions to other texts, styles and forms. As Darley
writes, meaning becomes evident through repetition. It ‘exists and grows through self-reference’
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
which ofcourse plays a part in any story except not to this degree in which it can create a reality all on
its own based on these new ‘recursive modes’ of reference. (Darley, 2000: 72-76, 115, 165, 139-140)
Intertextuality is an important feature of MI-III on several levels: within the film, with reference to the
film series, with reference to the TV-series, and finally within the genre as a whole. Considering the
film itself we can note a few elements, for instance the rope stunts Ethan performs: In the Berlin
operation he rescues agent Farris and himself from the factory building by letting himself glide down
from a rope on a truck. In the next operation in Rome he again uses the rope except now goes a bit
further, shooting an arrow in the top of a wall and with the help of a rope attached to it runs up very
quickly against the vertical wall, and after his job there measures the distance to the ground with
another device and lets himself fall down a rope again to land only on a very close distance from the
ground. These however being nothing considered to his final stunt where he stands on the top of a
building in Shanghai jumping off into the depth and swinging with his rope to another building. Now
this stunt is not only a recurring one within this film but it also refers to his history of aerobatic stunts
within the series, his most notorious one being the entering of the CIA terminal by using a rope (in MI), and perhaps improved upon by breaking into the pharmaceutical building in M-I-II, falling down
with a rope from a helicopter through the sliding doors of the roof. Thus the viewer is reminded to
compare his latest stunt with his history of stunts throughout the series.
And besides the rope stunts other elements are standing out when we are looking through the
intertextual lens. Elements as his use of disguises and other technology, like for instances the use of
face disguises (and voice simulators) that make a person look like someone else are used in surprising
ways for plot twists in both the first two parts and so reminding us at every plot reversal by the mask
in the third film, how it also played a role in the other films. This film however is the first in which
one actually sees how the mask is being made by their technology. So it not only refers to, but also
tries to give more information to the viewer. Another very clear intertextual instance is ofcourse the
device that is used every time to inform Ethan of his mission. In this film it is a disposable camera,
which brings us back to the videotape in the first part offered to Jim Phelps (and later to Ethan) on the
airplane giving information of his mission, and the glasses informing him of his mission in M-I-II.
In fact one could say the entire Mission Impossible format is intertextual for every film makes
a reference to the previous one in terms of expectation and hypothesis and every time we hear Ethan
explain the impossibility of the task at hand we expect not only a task as impossible as we can imagine
but at least one that is more daunting, impossible and spectacular than the last one we have seen. And
living in this age of the remake this Mission Impossible film format is ofcourse a new version of an
older one, namely the TV-series running in the sixties and seventies on which the film series was
based. Using an older concept the film series was a good way to play with intertextuality and
32
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
familiarity and having an excellent pretext for displaying the latest technology and spectacle of our
own age in a format that was obviously made for it.
Then there is ofcourse also the influence of ‘authorship’. (Darley, 2000: 134-144) The three
films have each their own director of which the first two directors (Brian De Palma and John Woo) are
both signature directors and though J.J. Abrams (known from the TV-series Alias) had never directed
a film before, he has clearly tried to leave a mark on this film and set it apart from the other two by
remaking the film in terms of style. For instance his use of color is much more obvious than in the
other two while De Palma created a much darker atmosphere and John Woo clearly made a mark with
his use of doves flying before the shooting, characters with guns in each hand, and strongly
choreographed slow-motion scenes.
Finally one could note genre as an important serial factor that sets up expectations and though
I will not go further into all the generic factors that make this into an action movie it makes one
particularly interesting allusion to other action films of its time,46 and that is the quick switch of
locations - preferably exotic ones - here being Berlin, Rome and Shanghai. In most recent media
hyped action movies this seems to have become a standard feature and the film this way places itself
in this new line of action films. All these intertextual features are clearly an attraction of their own and
in spite of possible diegetic functions they are at the same time not dependent on these functions.
As I mentioned when discussing the sequence with the opening credits there was an element in
it which asks for some further elaboration because it is such an important aspect of surface spectacle
these days and that is impossible photography. (Darley, 2000: 94-97, 107-111, 133) New digital
imaging techniques have a way of refining and perfecting the image to such a degree that it becomes
apparent precisely because of this quality. Computer techniques now have the ability to combine and
superimpose in seamless manner images from different sources in a way that it remains undetectable
for the viewer, while at the same time being realistic in character. On one hand this enhances the
illusion for it presents an object which cannot be real in the same space and time as the characters.
This is a realism that is even made stronger by the fact that the ‘impossible’ object, character or event
is incorporated in continuity style and which moreover is strengthened by the fact that we are often
allowed to see it from up close, as it is often given a medium close-up or close-up to give the viewer a
sense of intimacy with its realism. (Darley, 2000: 94-111) But on the other hand, in spite of this
realism, this paradoxically also makes the images into a spectacle of their own for they appear to have
a realism that is impossible as they give an image of a scene that lacks a direct correlate in the ‘real’
world. And so given the notion of the indexical character of a photographic presentation and what the
46
Like for example the James Bond film CASINO ROYALE (Martin Campbell, 2006); THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM,
(Paul Greengrass, 2007); and JUMPER (Doug Liman, 2008)
33
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
images in question portray, they are likely to be noticed by the spectator. And ofcourse, in a culture
that foregrounds the surface, these details are often made to stand out as well.
The use of realism as a spectacle reminds us of earlier nineteenth century entertainment forms
as the Panorama with its ‘superrealism’ but also reminds us of the way that in early cinema the
cinematograph was an attraction in itself, for in Darley’s words this ‘surface accuracy denies and
simultaneously points to the highly sophisticated artifice involved in its production.’ (Darley, 2000:
115) And so the paradox that it creates is that while it one the hand heightens the realism of the scene
it at the same time reduces its sutural quality, as it brings its own artifice to the fore and becomes selfreferential. Thus, as in early cinema, the apparatus has once again become an attraction in itself. There
are numerous instances in the film that attest to this form of surface play, one of which could be the
scene at the end of the Berlin mission where the team is being chased in their helicopter while flying
through a field of windmills. As the helicopter is barely missing the mills while flying through them,
evading missiles, and a part of the mill landing in a field of sheep missing them by an inch, we can
safely assume that this scene is largely constructed, and for the part where it is using existing imagery,
highly altered, but this is perfectly integrated in the film’s continuity and style.
Another eye catching scene is the scene where Ethan puts on the mask of Owen Davian’s face
and slowly becomes him. The scene appears as one long take tracking around his team mate Luther
sitting across from him and blackening the screen only for a quick moment. When it turns around him
and we see Ethan again his face is still looking a bit strange but then slowly starts to look more like
Davian’s face. While seeing him with Davian’s face we still however hear him speak in his own voice.
We see this scene in medium close-up to close-up and so we can follow this metamorphosis very
clearly in a close shot. Because the take looks as if it is uninterrupted the scene’s realism sticks out
even more. Of course we can see this same kind of realism when Ethan (as Davian) appears a few
moments later behind the real Davian projecting a reflection in the mirror showing the two Davians
together and portraying something that looks impossible in real life. In spite that the scene does not
show them together continuously throughout the scene but uses shot-reverse shots to suggest it, we do
however see a shot inserted that tracks from the real Davian to Ethan in a medium close-up that
stresses the realism once again. Though the scene as a whole uses tricks to suggest the illusion, digital
imaging techniques clearly make an entrance in these two shots so when the two Davians look in the
mirror the apparatus clearly also mirrors its own artifice and construction of realism here.
In similar fashion in the film we see Ethan running up a wall at the Vatican which would very
unlikely actually be at the Vatican; we see once again missile attacks in the bridge scene; and most
strikingly we see Ethan being blown by an explosion against another car in a very awkward yet very
realistic manner. According to the extra’s in the DVD this was not CGI but nevertheless it was a stunt
which could not have been done without support from other means (like ropes for instance) which
34
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
have all been erased from the scene. And ofcourse a variety of these examples can be found in the
film, all which represent a spectacle of their own in spite of any structural function.
Next to image construction Darley also mentions how neo-spectacle forms as recent action
blockbusters often feature a density of technological devices in their subject matter to function as
spectacle. This brings us back to nineteenth century forms of entertainment47 (Darley, 2000: 45) where
in optical technology the spectacle aspect was for one part in the apparatus that produced it and for the
other in the mere scopic pleasure of what it produced; even if the view was not aesthetic there was a
spectacular aspect in this new mediation of the look. And moreover mechanical devices and
technology formed a key aspect in recreational forms around the time on their own as for instance in
the form of amusement parks which relied on the latest of engineering for their mechanical rides and
so were drawing audiences not just with what it displayed but were also on display themselves for
presenting the latest technology and breakthroughs. And thus I would firstly like to see which
technological devices play a role in the film and exactly what this role is. And secondly I would like to
analyze how they portray the characters in the film and what their influence is on them.
To start with the first one we can see an array of technical devices in MI-III to start with of
course all the technical gadgets as ropes that shoot in walls, smoke for distraction, measurement
devices like the one he uses to measure the ground from the Vatican wall, spy devices like disguises,
for instance the technology to create a 3-D face from a picture on a screen and print it as the perfect
image of someone’s face (also used by his enemy), and voice manipulator to match; his weaponry
besides the standard guns as we see the use of bombs that are small and extremely magnetic (Berlin
mission), underwater explosions that are very precise, and so forth. Then it also uses bio-technical
means as the adrenaline shot Ethan gives Farris, the time-release charge injected in the brain of Farris
and Ethan, the very small bandage that makes Julia unconscious, a self-improvised defibrillator, etc.
And ofcourse one could also mention the means of transport which range from trucks to helicopters to
motorcycles, to sports cars, to speedboats, to airplanes to even parachutes. These means of transport
are perhaps less noticeable but emphasize part of the speed and mobility within the story.
And this is not the only type of mobility for another type of mobility is in the look, for the
technical and surveillance expertise of the IMF office and their informational network is a feature on
its own, with surveillance details and screens at the press of a button showing maps and targets, and as
we see when Benji helps Ethan navigate by tracking his mobile phone near the climax of the film.
Now this look brings us to the most obvious technology in the film: the optical devices. We see the
disposable camera that ingeniously informs Ethan of his mission showing screens and audio
information and in the end even self-destructing in a small smoke explosion as if it was an illusionist
47
See appendix
35
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
disappearing in his stage act, we see the surveillance screens that Luther runs from his van at the
Berlin factory, the screening device to trace the time-release charge in Farris brain, the magnetic (‘oldschool’) microdot in the stamp containing a video file, the photographic card to block the cameras at
the Vatican, sophisticated binoculars with night vision and able to zoom in on the Shanghai roof. As I
mentioned all these play an important role in the speed and mobility of the look because of their
information.
But there is also a very interesting reversal in the use of technology and that is the fact that
quite a few times the form of a gun is used for optical technology and exactly the opposite; we see a
photo camera used as a gun to shoot another object. We see an example of the first at the Berlin
factory where Luther is controlling some big guns which are actually able to shoot from a remote
distance and is aiming them at the factory while we can see on the screens in his truck how these also
transmit information with which he screens his targets. We see the screens in his truck (though we
don’t know if all screens are linked to a gun): one giving a complex looking image of a detailed map
of the location with overlapping circles and later the movement and span of the guns, another giving a
red and yellow screen with infra red or heat based-surveillance which he can use to look both to the
outside of the building as well as to the inside of the building and to zooming into a close-up of the
target. Another one is where Ethan is shooting a small device with an object looking like a gun at the
Vatican wall which disrupts all the screens of the security, and so which has an optical effect. We see
exactly the opposite when team mate Declan uses a ‘photo camera’ to literally shoot a tracer on the
floor. And there is another connection that becomes apparent here, which is the connection between
the technologies themselves, and which is both suggested and literal; ‘suggested’ as here in the above
example when he uses an optical device as a gun to shoot a tracer which connects weaponry and
optical technology and places the object in their gaze and information system; and ‘literal’ as when
team mate Zhen uses a powder box to film Owen Davian while immediately transmitting the image to
Luther’s laptop who uses it as input for his creation of the facial mask, and so making the
interconnectedness of technologies a spectacle in itself.
This brings me to the second part of my question and that is how these technologies look at the
characters in the film and influence our look on them. For instance in the disposable camera sequence,
we see Ethan’s objectives, after Ethan’s identity is confirmed by a (physical) scanning of his eye. First
we see an identity screen of agent Farris who is captured, with then the larger objective of Owen
Davian zoomed in on from a distance, then followed by satellite shots tracking Davian and his
associates zooming in on the exact location, followed by Musgrave filmed as he explains the mission
(while his voice works as voice-over explaining the mission) and then we see the team he has selected
and see their identity screens. First of all we notice how the identity of Ethan is based purely on his
physical traits, his eye. This is a surface characteristic and has nothing to do with him as a person. We
36
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
see how the IMF agents all have an identity given to them with a name onscreen while the enemy does
not. It is also interesting to note that the entire sequence is almost in black and white, or better blue
and white, in spite of the state of the art technique, which could partly be because of satellite
photography but also where Musgrave is talking which could be in color. The only ones that stand out
are the photographs of Farris and the team which are slightly in color. This removes human qualities
from the screen except where it concerns the IMF agents.48 This blue and white color also gives the
screens a surveillance look that in general carries a connotation of ‘criminal intent’. So not only
Musgrave’s voice-over but also the images already set up the target with a criminal association. The
connection with the satellite as real surveillance and tracking system also places the objectives within
the informational system of the IMF office, and by putting them on their map it maps them into their
power and influence. The enemies are shown as objectives of the mission; targets, and thus the film
foregrounds these ‘target’ characteristics emphasized in words by ‘black-market trafficker’, and
‘extremely dangerous’, also image-wise. But we see this also with the IMF team that is only brought
in for their ‘usefulness’ for the mission; agent Farris would not have been saved in normal IMF
circumstances but is saved because she might lead to Davian; and though we see the IMF team’s
identity screened this only gives us their IMF numbers and their professional skills, so again
emphasizing surface characteristics that have nothing to do with them as a person but are only relevant
for the mission. They are basically not much more than means to the mission and are not given any
human value.
With these aspects this sequence is exemplary of the look that technology is creating of the
characters49 We see how people are reduced to targets by the screens in Luther’s truck in which the
screens present such an abstracted image of people that all the human qualities are banned from the
image and thus present no moral dilemma for seeing them as targets. And this brings us also back to
the connection between guns and optical devices for both try to capture living human beings as targets.
They do so in themselves alone; guns shooting, and camera’s also ‘shooting’ images as I discussed
them, but their connection also emphasizes this. And so does the connection between the technologies
as weaponry, optical means and the information system. These all combine to operate as a ‘mission’48
And it may be a hidden clue that Musgrave is the only IMF agent in blue and white for the fact that he will
later be revealed as allied with the enemy.
49
And we see some of these reemerge in even a stronger degree, like for instance in the scene where Zhen takes
pictures of Davian at the Vatican with the powder box. In this scene we see how surface characteristics are the
only measure as she is only trying to get his looks. She is not interested in himself or his motivation, but is
literally only trying to get the look of his face in order to make the mask. Likewise, in the bathroom later Ethan
is only interested in getting the sound of Owen Davian’s voice and not in what his opponent is saying, which is
literally nonsense.
37
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
system that frames the characters by use of technology. So in short this all creates a ‘mission’discourse that places a grid on the characters which disregards human qualities and which in fact
pushes these considerations as far as possible to the background.
Ofcourse in order to see this in relation to the film as a whole we need to analyze how the film
sets up its own structure and relations. First of all we can see how the narrative structure engages us
towards an objective, which is respectively ‘to get Davian and solve the mission,’ ‘save Julia,’ and ‘do
both’; simple and easy goals to engage with and also the goals we are invited to identify with as
viewers. Then we can look at the main character which is Ethan, for it is him we spent all our time
with and with whom we are almost forced to identify. He is the most developed in character compared
to the others, however not very complex. He is an all-action hero, almost too good to be true, good at
rock climbing, driving motorcycles, foreign languages, technical skills, shooting, etc., and so these
skills are valued here. But on the whole there is little psychological depth; he is assumed to be a great
lover and we may see his intense emotions, but there is not much contemplation or hesitation or major
moral dilemmas he is struggling with.50 So there is no significant growth or personal development.
To consider the relationships of the film we can set Ethan against his enemy Davian. Davian is
presented as an uncompromising ruthless killer who will do anything for money and power. There is
no complexity or motivation to his character being revealed, he shows no humor and little emotion,
and his speech is limited to business and attacking Ethan. His accomplices are usually devoid of
speech too.51 So in relation with Ethan who we do see personally and see what is emotionally at stake
for him we are likely to identify with Ethan, and in relation with his team whose voices we do hear,
and whose qualities we do see, we are likely to be on their side. Musgrave is an enemy from his own
team,52 who actually does speak and is the only one who challenges the simplicity by explaining his
motives, but is by then given such a dubious role in the film (one time appearing to help Ethan, then to
be against him, then helping him again), and being revealed in the same moment as real enemy behind
Davian, that his speech is made unimportant. It sets up a relation of Ethan as simplistic but integer and
action-minded, against Musgrave as more complex, but corrupt and associated with ‘sitting’ office
work.
50
The only doubt we see him have is for a few quick moments when he considers he has been the one saying
Farris was ready for field action (and was killed), but this is solved within the film when he hears she was set up.
51
His bodyguard because it is not within his duty, his translator can only translate what other people say or has
her mouth covered (when disguised as Julia so her identity is covered as well), the helper with a bandage on his
nose (demonized with this physical ‘flaw’ which was probably put here by Ethan and his team) hardly speaks
and the man who poisons Julia has two lines at most.
52
A recurrent aspect in the film series.
38
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Ethan’s relationship to Julia seems very real and they seem equal and respectful to one
another. This regard and equality also counts for his relationship to female agent Farris and female
team mate Zhen. And in general male and female characters are reasonably balanced. However there is
still a slight unbalance in gender relations as all three women, including the two agents at some point
in the story needed to be rescued by Ethan as if they were not fully competent themselves. In relation
to Ethan both Julia and Farris also play a role in enabling narrative progression and the mission while
Zhen helps him on his mission. With respect to his team we can note how one member is black,
another Irish and a third is Asian which makes it appear to be racially diverse. However in spite of
more emphasis on the team aspect Ethan is by far the most important character and he is white and
American and so are the other important main characters of Julia, Owen Davian and even Musgrave.53
His team is just a helper to the mission.54
So firstly, these relationships with the other characters stimulate us to identify with Ethan and
make it very difficult to identify with anyone else. He is the action hero, we identify with him and his
values and how he overcomes obstacles, for, for one, the narrative progresses through him. Then, from
a filmic point of view we stay with his character throughout the film. And then the relations in the film
all prompt us into his point of view. The spectator is seemingly given control because it is simplified
and transparent and he is able to grasp the story and know his place in it is with Ethan, except in
reality is given very little choice of an alternate role or point of view, or incentive to be aware of this.
Perception is not guided but imposed. The spectator is given no alternative.
Secondly, they place us in a larger system of relations as well that despite its apparent equality
is strongly hierarchised. It structures our look into a discourse of the mission and its internal relations
and values. For instance, the relationship with the enemy is simplified by presenting him as an
objective to arrest or shoot, not to understand him. While part of the mission is to be very precise,
Ethan and his team never hesitate to take out people associated with the enemy at random when
necessary. Ethan’s job towards them is as he says ‘very simple, just point and shoot.’ Beside the
mission discourse there are other relations, for instance, the gender relations or the interracial relations
which are not equal. And so even if we were not to identify with Ethan we would still be subject to
this larger system. So to conclude, these relations work to simplify the spectator’s position in the story,
which is useful to keep balance in a story that is focused on spectacle to shock the spectator in other
ways, and we are structured into a network of power relations.
53
See appendix
54
See appendix
39
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Finally we come to another characteristic of this film which is physical spectacle. Being a
blockbuster action movie it sets up certain expectations with regards to physical action and explosions,
etc. And since the 1980s it has become a common trend to use special effects as a main attraction. On
earlier popular entertainments Darley writes: ‘For here it is the staged combination and display of
exotic, strange and incredible events, action, objects and character that takes precedence.’ So if we
look at this line with regards to this film we can see how this is given new form in the spectacle
feature film. (Darley, 2000: 105) Whereas in classical cinema spectacle was usually ‘isolated and
intermittent’ the action packed blockbuster is now more defined as a ‘montage of attractions’ aimed
towards hailing us by a variety of forms. (Darley, 2000: 54) It is intent to provide an experience that
‘brings all of the senses into play; an experience where meaning in the classical (cinematic) sense is
overtaken (..) by sensations of sheer delight, visceral thrill and near vertigo. And so from this
standpoint we can see how the film is trying to speak to our physical sense on many levels.
First of all, what is at stake in this film? The film opens in media res with an ultimatum by
Davian on Ethan. What is at stake is the life of his wife Julia. This physical threat is central to Ethan’s
motivation in the greater part of the film. Another example is the mission’s objective behind capturing
Davian: the so-called threat Davian stands for, namely the presumed threat of an object he will buy
that will destroy all life on earth (named by Benji as the ‘Anti-God’). These two motives drive the
film’s narrative. They are based on pure physical threat; they are not about for instance the quality of
life, but about pure survival.
Secondly there is the continuous physical threat presented by all the action-sequences, full
with explosions and guns shots, even missile attacks. Again what is at stake is survival. It is about
direct physical attacks. For example on the bridge attack they have to escape enemy fire by Davian’s
crew. The scene is filled with explosions and gunfire and though Davian is freed by his men, the rest
of the scene is only about surviving. So while these scenes do have diegetic functions the spectacle
and special effect scenes are exceeding these by far and are creating spectacle in themselves. But the
relations between characters, actions and objects are only based on physical instincts; fighting or
fleeing; they are very simple.
Thirdly and in extension of the first two we are pulled into the action by speed whether in
helicopter chases (Berlin), car chases (Shanghai), which brings an element of attack into it, but also by
Ethan racing home in his car to save Julia (after bridge attack), speeding in a boat (Vatican), running
away to avoid arrest by the IMF, and running on the rooftops in Shanghai to his save his wife. It
speaks to our physical sense of running and tries to stimulate this sense of rush and adrenaline in the
spectator as well.
Fourthly in a few instances in the film a sense of vertigo is created. For example, in the Berlin
factory as Ethan throws a rope and glides down from the window we look down from a height, as the
40
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
helicopter takes off and rises between the buildings, but also during the chase when the camera is
shaky and we seem to move with the helicopter, when Ethan lets himself fall of the wall at the
Vatican, and ofcourse most obviously in the Shanghai shots of the city and Ethan’s jump from the
rooftop where Ethan seems to jump without a rope and we jump into the abyss with him.55 Our senses
are overtaken by the events in these scenes which once again speak to us in a physical sense.
In especially these last three examples of fighting action, speed, and vertigo, we notice how
the camera use plays a role as well, for instance in the bridge attack the editing is fast-paced (in
comparison to the rest of the film), the shots depict details and angles from which there is less
oversight, uses a few quick zooms, and by showing character action in a jerky manner to emphasize a
‘no-time-to- think’ high speed action movement. In the speeding actions and vertigo shots we see this
as well, while we track Ethan by camera and we ‘feel’ the speed by the speed of the camera and the
blurring of images in the background, by the filming without establishing shots or by making these
into spectacle themselves, and by the editing speed. And as a fifth aspect of this spectacle we might
note the exotic locations which obviously provide the eye-candy (besides good-looking characters)
and are presented with great attention for detail and/or in beautiful establishing shots to emphasize the
visual aspect.56 Finally, ofcourse the sound plays a major role in engaging us in many ways into the
film (mentally, or emotionally), but in this film is used relatively more to engage us physically in the
action scenes by prepping us for the action with the MI musical theme, using tense music, or using a
beat (when we rise in the helicopter) or in the ‘heartbeat’ when Julia brings Ethan to life.
Conclusion
So in conclusion, I have been trying to answer two questions in this study; 1) what
relationships are making up this film? And 2) how does the film solicit the spectator? With regards to
the first question I conclude that the presentation of the characters overall is very simple even though
Ethan’s character is a little more elaborated on. Considering human relations in this film one can note
how these are strongly simplified as well. The structure of the mission is decisive in which
characteristics the characters display, which places a grid on how we see them. The human qualities of
the characters are moved to the background and their characteristics relevant for the mission are
moved to the front with as only exception a few scenes in which we see Ethan in his personal life. This
is however eventually also incorporated into the mission. The mission structure sets up a hierarchical
55
See appendix
56
See appendix
41
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
system based on power, and this is not limited to the mission scenes, for as I have discussed there are
other power relations in the film as well.
We are at the same time firmly placed in the point of view of Ethan and are given very little
opportunity to take another point of view. We are strongly encouraged to identify with him; almost
pushed by the fact that we hardly see a scene without him, that we see his point of view, and that he is
the drive behind the narrative; it is with him that we overcome the obstacles, and which influence the
lessons we might learn. So this identification with Ethan brings us to what is at stake in the film, what
is to be won? Looking at all the obstacles in the film we can say that the main issue is survival, it is not
about quality of life or human subtleties but it is simply between life and death or injury. Even the
ultimate goal is to save the world from destruction of all life. And so, though in an ingenious way, it is
just about physically surviving. Finally the narrative is very straightforward and relatively simple. It
has no open ending; all questions are answered and the film gives little incentive for second-guessing
its conclusions or contemplating on deeper or alternative messages.
But this is only one part of the story, for how are we solicited as spectators? In order to answer
this second question I have tried to argue how the film uses forms of spectacle that are reminiscent of
earlier nineteenth-century forms of entertainment, but also how it uses neo-spectacle forms. We are as
spectators interpellated57 in a variety of ways; by new spectacle techniques of digital imaging as
surface brilliance, image combination, but also by intertextuality, etc., as moments that draw our
attention away from the narrative for a moment and solicit our attention in other ways even if they
have diegetic relevance. There is a depthlessness to them. The spectacle happens on the surface and
they create visual excitement by transitory aesthetic features or references to other surfaces. And not
only do these forms visually stimulate us, they often solicit our other senses as well. Furthermore ‘out
of the ordinary’ actions and events, objects, etc., stimulate our curiosity because they are new and also
stimulate us in a physical sense by involving physical events that are enhanced in their impact by
visual techniques to create visceral thrills. By doing so the film sets up a sort of tactile communication
and eliminates the distance between the subject and the object, leaving no room for reflection and
contemplation. And though it is a narrative film it is spectacle that is continuously set up to draw our
attention. So basically the relations in the film and the way the spectator is solicited for the better part
of the film work with simple stimuli, making spectacle of new and innovating images, and by inviting
57
Interpellation is a term introduced by the French Marxist Philosopher Louis Althusser and refers to the way in
which a person can be hailed by a person or product in a manner that makes him/her become subject to a certain
discourse (provided this process would be successful).
Storey, John. Cultural consumption and everyday life. London: Oxford University Press Inc.: 1999: 128-131
42
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
a physical response. Ofcourse I do not intend to say that attention for our senses is in any way
negative, it is only to say that as it is placed in this context of other relations these physical qualities
are the only aspects that are coming to the fore, and thus create very simple relations within the film
and between film and spectator. And so in spite of other aspects of meaning that the film might lend
itself for, I have tried to argue how the main attraction in this film is created by forms of spectacle that
make it into something similar to an amusement park taking us on a ride.
Case Study: Mission Impossible 3: Interactive features
Now this film has been brought out on DVD in connection with an ‘interactive’ menu.
Consisting of a number of options one can choose to view certain aspects of the background of the
film as actor’s and director’s commentary, the making-of, having a look inside the mission, and titles
as ‘visualizing the mission’, ‘evolution of a blockbuster’, and so on.58 While these titles all do provide
background information they in fact offer no substantially different view of the film. Instead they exist
of a number of interviews alternated by making-of documentary that all combine to an extremely
unified view completely in line with the film. In fact they create another aspect of present-day
spectacle: the spectacle of the ‘making-of’, allowing the viewer insight in seeing how it was made.
There is no interactive element but the choosing of the options, neither offering a challenging view nor
deeper insight.
Attached to the film there is also a website with interactive elements.59 It offers the viewers the
array of products to buy related to the film, background info on cast and production, stills, clips and
trailers, etc. In addition it allows downloading of wall-paper, buddy icons, film song, and ringtones,
etc. One can even download a mobile phone game inspired by the film, and finally one can play a
game in which one can shoot targets, a very basic game that seems little related to the film. All seem
to be playing into a consumer’s wish for ‘interactive’ products. But the only interactive quality the
user has is in the choice of consumption.
In another example an interactive game inspired by the film United International Pictures
(UIP) and their media agency Mediaedge.cia, joined with Aura Interactive, The Global Game, and
Adshel to create a new way of interactively engaging with customers and to promote both the film and
58
59
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III (U.S.A: J.J. Abrams, 2006) limited disc edition
Official website Mission: Impossible. Paramount Pictures, on 01-04-2008
http://www.missionimpossible.com/
43
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
a new Hypertag technology.60 They created a game in which a number of players were asked ‘to race
about their capital city, searching around various city locations for hidden answers to a series of MI
themed clues’ using SMS-messaging and Aura’s hypertag technology; short range wireless devices,
embedded in bus shelters and street signage as film posters at several locations within each city. These
would send information to the customer’s mobile by infra-red to be received by pointing at the
hypertag. Customers could download wallpapers, ringtones, and business cards, etc by providing
numbers for the clue on their mobiles. And thus in addition to giving information about the best
performing locations for advertising and the most wanted downloads it was set up to combine multiple
media, as phone, hypertag and online technology into a new engaging experience for the consumer.
However if we take a closer look, what faculties are actually required to perform this task?
Besides being mobile for racing partially at random through the city aiming for good sites, it might
require a sharp attention for the clues, perhaps a good memory, and luck. And thus the faculties
required are mostly physical and mental, but solely on an instrumental level, and so its play level has
to remain very limited. It is in anyway not an experience that is designed for an emotional or
intellectual eye-opening, or for inspiring any personal growth of the customer. At least its internal
rules do not lend itself easily for that. And as it doesn’t move deeper is once again surface spectacle.
Case Study: Mission Impossible: The game
Now let’s see what the MI game brings in on interactive features to the film and I will take a
look at the latest game that was based on the MI-film series, namely Mission Impossible: Operation
Surma.61 For this I will explore the narrative, the game play and the spectacle elements. To start with,
the narrative in action videogames (and also in other genres) is usually different than in cinema.
(Darley, 2000: 147-155) The story is often fragmented in the sense that the emphasis is on the
interaction so the narrative is less present during these instants. And though the game often supplies
information about the story, and goal, and the environment, this is often kept as basic as possible and
there in the service of setting you up for the game play. Narrative is thus de-centered.62 According to
60
B&T website. http://www.bandt.com.au/articles/FC/0C04F8FC.asp on 15-05-2008
61
Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma. Atari, Inc. 2003 (This is the latest game, but there are older versions)
Underground Online. 15-05-2008
http://missionimpossible.ugo.com/games/missionimpossible_operationsurma/default.asp#
62
And this holds for other genres as well as in puzzle- or navigable game structures.
44
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Darley it is best to say that there is a narrative conventionality in games, but that interaction is the
most important factor. The narrative is simplified and subordinated to this game play element and the
human element is reduced in complexity as well. In spite of the fact that the characters in the game are
sometimes the same as in the movie, with their own traits and motives, the game is usually not about
people. Looking at the story in this game, it is not based on an existing film within the series but
overall seems to have the same format and does have a few scenes which are inspired by them. The
story is about a plot set up by an enemy from the East who has created a highly advanced virus called
the Ice Worm that can bypass security systems around the world and forms a threat for the West and
the assignment is to take on the role of Ethan Hunt and track him down as well as the virus. While
characters as Ethan and Luther are imported into the narrative, they are further reduced to their agent
qualities instead of being fully human and the story is interrupted by so-called ‘mission-moments’ of
high action and stunts, gadgets and timed mission sequences.
This brings us to game play because the most important element for a game is how it plays.
How does it create a sense of presence and agency, a sense of mastery and performance? What does it
involve? For what matters is the engagement on the part of the player. So how and what kinds of
engagement are created in this game? What distinguishes a game from a traditional narrative is that the
viewer is put in the position where he can act as a protagonist and be engaged in a surrogate
performance. So how is he immersed in the game? What skills are acquired? What is the degree of
difficulty? How is he able to affect the course of events? Is he continually compelled to react? In most
traditional action videogames we have first person view, are immersed in the game by being
continually required to act on what we see, need skills as quick reflexes, and eye-hand coordination,
and familiarity with the controls (skill acquisition). However the MI game is more of a stealth game,
implying ‘patience, lurking, avoiding detection (or getting rid of an enemy silently and quickly
without calling attention) in order to complete missions’, they lay emphasis on missions against odds
to attack multiple enemy forces, forcing the player to use stealth tactics and weapons. Player’s skills
need to contain ‘accuracy, planning, keen observation, and puzzle-solving skills’, ‘as opposed to the
adrenaline rush of combat, enjoyment is more cerebral in nature’, remaining undetected, these lay
more emphasis on story, and on the context; there are ‘more visual cues and sounds’, and ‘the players
often find great excitement in the high-risk, high-tension gameplay and cinematic experience’. 63
And in the Mi game these all apply for it uses stealth game elements requiring patience, and
strategic abilities to remain undetected like turning of alarms, weighing different factors of risk and
resources, acquiring insight in guard patrol’s patterns, and achieving the goal within a limited amount
of time, etc. But the game also uses gadgets, weapons, and hand to hand combat. Some reviews claim
63
Stealth game- Wikipedia, free encyclopedia. on 21-05-2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_game
45
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
that the use of gadgets reduces the challenge somewhat because there seems to be a gadget for every
purpose. The game is also often reviewed as being too linear, because it specifically directs you and
tells you which way to go (if not you start over from the last point of reference), and which weapons
and gadgets to use, so there are less trial and error moments.64 Yet the game allows for many different
activities like climbing, gliding down pipes, etc., and lays in comparison to other stealth games more
accent on hand to hand combat, existing of a three move combo system. What sets the game apart
from other stealth games are ‘mission moments’ as ‘high action stunts, sudden plot twists gadget
oriented puzzles, and timed mission sequences.’65 These moments break up the typical stealth-action
gameplay and engage us in another way. And so as it is a third-person and not a first-person shooter
game it does allow us more distance to contemplate, and immerses us less directly, and so makes it
easier to bring in more intellectual capabilities. But nevertheless the play relies on intellectual qualities
only in so far as they are instrumental to completing the mission and fitting the mission format. We
cannot wander of the path because the game is very linear and reduces the chance of learning from any
mistakes. The stealth game element is interrupted when we experience moments of high action stunts
and are using spectacular gadgets for multiple purposes, and when moments of shooting and hand to
hand combat are providing a quick response to the player’s action thus giving him/her a quick sense of
effectiveness.
This is where the element of spectacle comes in as well. In the first place action games like
these belong to a genre and in order to mark of this game from other games it needs to have certain
distinctive elements. These are variations that gain importance in the light of marketing. Yet at the
same time many of these action games are often the same at the basis and the differences are relatively
minor or ‘smaller in scale and simpler (in) its operation’ and take place mostly on the surface level.
Thus there are a considerable amount of variations of the same twitch games, or ‘shoot-‘em-up’s with
minor variations. And already we see that in terms of graphics it has been reworking older styles:66 So
being a stealth game and thus likely to pay more attention to graphics and photorealistic scenes it may
not be distinctively better than other games in a similar genre but the images do look better than many
other animation sequences. And considering this game in terms of genre we can note that it belongs to
a genre of stealth and action games and is also very similar to another game, namely Ubi Soft’s
Splinter Cell. We see this in lead character design, movement repertoires, and the overall similar look.
What distinguishes the game from other games though is the reference to memorable movie scenes
64
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/445/445707p1.html version 10-12-2003 on 22-05-2008
65
IGN.com. http://xbox.ign.com/articles/427/427073p1.html version 02-07-2003 on 22-05-2008
66
For instance Ubi Soft’s Splinter Cell
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
though it is not based on an actual MI film; intertextual references or ‘mission moments’.67 Among
these intertextual references are also items as the gadgets which make the game original and which as
we have seen in the movie provide spectacle in themselves, for example the binoculars Ethan uses
with which he can take pictures of guard, listen in on their conversations, and then send it to his team
mate to make masks and voice simulators. Other mission moments are the ‘following of a beautiful
spy through patrolled streets, ‘large scale gunfights,’ stunts like trying to ‘infiltrate Algo’s flying HQ
in midair,’ and a range of exotic locations varying from ‘Southwestern United States exteriors to
stately European interiors.’ And though it may not be a shoot-‘em-up game, moving so quickly that
reflection and hesitation is rendered difficult throughout the game, it does for its genre place more
emphasis on hand-to hand combat.
So how does this effect interactivity? As it is a stealth game mental activity is as much
required as physical activity though it is merely instrumental to the completion of the mission within
the game, or within the preset boundaries; it is only required in so far as it beats the enemy as fast as
possible. Physical activity is involved in so far as the actions require a good handling of the controls
by hand, which becomes automatic, instinctive as soon they are learned. While the stealth game is not
a game thriving on speed to remove the possibility of thought as most action games, it does have
certain elements that withdraw the player from conscious contemplation outside the story. Since this is
a stealth game, the cinematic look of the film takes on a role of its own. This helps the immersion in
the context but also captures the eye in itself. With its intertextual moments it draws attention to its
images and likeness to the films. In specific these gadgets, and stunts also again draw attention as
spectacle moments all on their own. Finally, the hand-to-hand combat and shooting heightens the
effect. They are like in the film encouraging physical involvement. But because the game takes place
in real time and as the viewer becomes a doer it gains even more immediacy and stimulates the
physical sensation, making it more real in comparison to the film. And it is even more as if one is
there. It is a spectacle-like attraction like the shooting gallery or ‘test-your-strength’ booth in the
amusement park of the nineteenth century.
Now which internal relations are structuring this game? First of all, as the better part of
computer games it is a competitive and antagonistic form of play; one is playing against an enemy.
And second, one is playing within a system of relationships. The film has here exported the characters
to the game which includes the way of representing the enemy, and it has also modeled for the system
of relationships within the scenario of the game. Mission: Impossible is an antagonistic game for the
goal is to shoot, beat or in any other form eliminate an enemy. It is not about mutual understanding, or
67
As Jim Galis (Executive Producer at Paradigm) calls them.
IGN.com. http://xbox.ign.com/articles/427/427073p1.html version 02-07-2003 on 22-05-2008
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
entertaining dialogues, or any of such matters and demands no such abilities of the player. It is an easy
to comprehend situation made for quick and effective action. All the required puzzles and problems
are practical and instrumental to the overarching goal. Here in particular but also in many games in
general we can see how the game not only takes film characters and film narratives as a basis for game
scenarios but subsequently also reduces them and deprives them of their complexity in order to make
the player feel more effective. Reality is simplified and is deprived of meaning to become more of a
play with signifiers; a surface play. For as far as these signifiers have meaning they abstract very
simple elements from the film. The character traits and relationships in the process of transformation
to the game become even more one-dimensional. And it finally is these relationships that make up the
system that we are playing in. As we step into the system these are the subjective positions we are
assuming and these are the representations of the world we are accepting for real in our role as active
players; these are the relationships representing ourselves.
By pushing certain relationships to the fore and others to the background, or eliminating them,
the interactive game has expressive power. (Rokeby, 1995: 133-141) The game outcome may be
decided by the player, but the player is still playing within a system of relationships. So not only the
relationships within the game, but also the relationship of the spectator to this system of relationships,
matter for our interactive role within the game, the self-image we step into, and the world that we, by
doing this, assume. To quote David Rokeby:
A technology is interactive to the degree that it reflects the consequences of our actions or decisions back to us.
It follows that an interactive technology is (…) – a mirror. The medium not only reflects back, but also refracts
what it is given; what is returned is ourselves, transformed and processed. To the degree that the technology
reflects ourselves back recognizably, it provides us with a self-image, a sense of self. To the degree that the
technology transforms our image in the act of reflection, it provides us with a sense of the relation between this
self and the experienced world. (Rokeby, 1995: 133)
Games reflect, refract and sometimes have a transforming power. They are like a mirror, in better
words a transforming mirror. (Rokeby, 1995: 145-156) We can see how this works in the M-I game by
looking at the narrative structure of the game, the characters and the system of relations. The game
narrative is set up as the narrative of a movie, but is simplified to make the actions clearer for the
player. It does not have the intricate conspiracies and plot twists in the same manner as the movie does
and gives a much clearer indication as to which direction to take. Looking at the character we can see
how their personal elements are as much filtered out of them as possible for the story context still to
match the MI-films and look realistic. What are brought to the fore are their agent qualities to match
the player’s interactive possibilities. The player can act like the agent Ethan Hunt, how Ethan is as a
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
person is pushed to the background and the player has no input in this. And this frames the players in
the same sort of system like the mission format we have seen in the film. It reduces human qualities
like emotions and brings others into emphasis, especially physical skills and intellectual abilities
though only in so far as they are instrumental for defeating the enemy like for instance strategical
skills. This makes it easier for the player to make decisions and also makes him feel effective more
immediately; for instance, if one would hit a person and a person would fall down one could feel
effective much quicker than by talking to this person and waiting on a response whether negative or
positive. But it also reveals, as Rokeby suggests, ‘an implicit social contract’ between the player and
the interactive work. (Rokeby, 1995: 152-156) It brings out certain qualities in the player for he has to
use the interface to assume an identity. The more simple and transparent the interface the easier it will
be to step in and use the interface with the social implications attached to it, but simultaneously the
less visible it renders the social contract. The player takes on a representation of himself in the form of
agent Hunt and while his ‘voice’ in the story is represented, his ‘speech’ in a way is also fragmented
and reduced and distorted.68. At the same time it enables for a quick sense of effectiveness and easy
playing and does not stimulate any awareness on the part of the player. The M-I game already forces
directions on him to let him continue playing without any further considerations on his own
representation. And this is exemplary of the way many present-day action video games work.
Conclusion
So once again, I have been trying to answer two key questions in this study; 1) what are the
relationships making up this game? And 2) how does the game solicit the spectator? As the narrative
in the movie was already very straightforward but still had many plot twists and turns, the story in the
game becomes even more fragmented and simplified, and human characters are even more deprived of
emotion and reduced in complexity. As the narrative in the film is subordinated to elements of neospectacle, the narrative in the game is subordinated to elements of game play, and in addition also by
neo-spectacle elements. The game play lays emphasis on stealth techniques, yet the array of choices
one can make is limited as the game is very linear. Just as in the film neo-spectacle elements take over
here as well; as context and visual cues improve the cinematic experience for stealth games, they
receive extra attention here and so while we do not see all surface spectacle elements return they are
very present here as well. Moreover, as in the film, action becomes spectacle, except now it is done by
the player himself and so the player is also able to control spectacle elements such as speed.
Still spectacle performs it double role here as well in playing a part in soliciting the spectator
as well as in the relationships within the game, an overall system in which relations are predominantly
antagonistic and hierarchised and are focused on bringing out the qualities in the player that match that
68
In a similar way as Narcissus’ voice was coming back to him in the voice of Echo
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
of an agent within the MI network. On the one hand relations and values in the film are simplified here
while the game brings certain relations to the fore which in combination with the sense of interactivity
of the player will stimulate the effect of working as transforming mirrors; and on the other hand the
player is solicited by means of neo-spectacle which in this case strengthen the relationships in the
game because they are corresponding with one another. In terms of levels of interactivity the game
invites engagement primarily on a physical and instrumental intellectual level and if on an emotional
level only in a very simplified sense. In terms of openness or being an open work it communicates by
means of its internal relationships and its mission format that is strongly bringing certain
interpretations to the fore. In terms of work in movement the game is unfinished; there is no end unless
the player ends or finishes the game but the structure is very linear and determined in its directions and
strategies so the manners in which it could end is very limited. And so we could say that with regards
to interactivity its structure is similar to the amusement park workings as we have seen with regards to
the film.
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Chapter 3: Interactive Cinema and Audience Interactivity
Fan Communities
In the previous part I have discussed an example of a product of interactive cinema that was
very strongly determined by its pre-planned intertextual marketing strategy. However as this is only
one side of hypercontextualization I would now like to analyze another direction; for audiences have
discovered their own ways of being active with regards to cinema, ways that are not always serviced
and pre-created by media industries, and this is nowhere more visible than in the area of fan
communities. Now fandom has not been a new phenomenon and especially with regards to sciencefiction stories in magazines there was already a lot of fan activity in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Active
networks were being created that debated about the meanings storylines and theories making use of a
postal system to reach their participants they wrote articles, alternate endings of the stories and made
their own stories.69 This quickly was taken over in the realm of film and television and a good example
is the active network that sprang up around the sf-series Star Trek with fans debating the meanings,
lobbying for broadcast time and trying to influence producers to change scripts and storylines. And
when new media became more available fans soon learned to make use of cyberspace. In fact, ‘In
many ways,’ as Henry Jenkins put it, ‘cyberspace is fandom writ large’. (Jenkins, 2002: 159) 70
But these fan communities were affected by the use of new media too. (Jenkins, 2002: 161)
The Internet has allowed quick and easy access and has enormously increased the speed of
communication among fans. Now they can react and respond to each other right after each episode.
And also the frequency has changed; instead of speaking weekly or monthly by postal circulation or
69
These passionate attempts sometimes were published and many professional science-fiction writers started out
by writing these fan texts, and as a consequence amateur efforts were often taken seriously in themselves.
(Jenkins, 2002: 159)
70
See appendix
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
once in a long period of time on a convention, people can now speak daily or with an even larger
frequency. In addition a third change is the scope of communication. Fans now have an access to
programs on an international scale and can communicate from one part of the world to the other to
discuss shows, all kinds of info, and interpretations. And so with these features internet forms a
powerful medium for the underground circulation of films and episodes and also for many kinds of
grassroots projects.
With these new communication features the way knowledge is shared also changes, for it is
now easily and in no time shared with fellow members and even more easily accessed. While fan
communities ofcourse already existed before the emergence of new media they have made some
significant impact on the shape, size and availability of these fan based communities. Online fan sites
are an important site for these self organised networks to organise their activity.71 They are
communities in a very real sense but also in an imagined sense (Anderson, 1983: 1-7) for they create
the sense of a network even though they might only suggest this by user comments, but as this sense is
often shared, these imagined communities are also quite real. They offer a useful platform for fans
negotiating ‘understandings of their ‘socio-emotional environment,’72 and meet a need of fans to
exchange knowledge and play a role in these environments. It offers this way also a sense of
community and connection with the other viewers or users.
And for a concrete contact nowadays one can even connect by adding a personal profile on
often linked sites like for instance www.MySpace.com where one can meet through profiles and web
logs, and allowing communication with fellow fans and even with the directors and actors of a film if
they have their own site. Sites as www.YouTube.com allow anyone to participate and actively create
their own short films and clips and these sites are often used by fans for very creative works, like for
instance montage sequences edited to music by fans of their favourite movie or television series, and
also for aspiring actors to film themselves as they re-act the part of their favourite actor in their
favourite episode and put it out for other viewers to see. Especially for ‘Indie’ films which are difficult
to come by and for which the fans are often very passionate these provide a much appreciated site and
in general are of great asset for allowing a much greater participation of viewers and by creating an
environment for improvisation.
71
But also elsewhere like for example the user comments of films on the sites of Amazon (www.amazon.com) or
the International Movie Data Base (www.imdb.com) offer a perfect platform for fans to debate and respond to
each other on films, background information and other relevant news, or trivia.
72
Nancy Baym. ‘Talking about soaps: communication practices in a computer-mediated culture’ in Theorizing
fandom: fans, subculture, and identity ed. by Cheryl Harris and Alison Alexander. New York: Hampton Press,
1998: pp. 115-116 quoted in Jenkins, 2002: 160
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
This increased availability and participation is giving fandom the potential of a very powerful
organisation in part by giving it more strength and increased popularity by being more visible and
mainstream.73 But fandom nevertheless creates an effective ‘platform for consumer activism’ as
Jenkins writes, making it a very useful base for grass roots politics. Just because of their speed and
support system fans make in Levy’s words ‘an invisible and intangible engine’ quick to come to action
when it is required.74 And because of the influence they can have on among others markets and
advertising, their elaborate networks make them an effective initiator of critical dialogues that can
have some serious effects in the real world.
Collective intelligence / Knowledge spaces
The exchange of information and the sharing of knowledge surrounding the film text are
creating something larger and are creating shared knowledge spaces and collective intelligences
making up a context for meaning. As Levy noted shared knowledge is here referring to knowledge
known by all members or participants and collective intelligence is here referring to knowledge
available to all members of a community. (Jenkins, 2002: 159) The individual now has the possibility
to access a realm of facts, related news and expertise far exceeding his own world of knowledge and
memory. And in turn he can contribute to these spaces by adding relevant information of his own.
Viewing the information is often not enough and so there is often a need to be active and exchange
one’s own interpretations and sometimes show off to another person. And this in turn often brings a
feeling of responsibility with it. This is even more so since these are in addition often very much social
environments and do tend to socially assess and sanction members if they are appreciating or
disapproving of their interpretations. The individual participant is often actively and consciously
seeking to create an active part for himself, and is aware that to a degree he can be credited or held
accountable for this.
Now the shared knowledge may invite a feeling of community for the active members. And as
an imagined community they might feel even more passionate because they are bound by their
common interests and affinities. Levy calls these shared knowledge spaces ‘cosmopedia,’ saying these
might emerge75 if all possibilities are used that are created by the new media as these possibilities
73
However, it could at the same also be diversifying it and perhaps weakening to its social bonds. (Jenkins,
2002: 160-162)
74
Levy, Pierre. Collective intelligence. Mankind’s emerging world in cyberspace. Cambridge: Perseus, 1997: p.
237 in Jenkins, 2002: 165
75
See appendix
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
might lead not only to greater availability, participation and mutual informational exchange but might
also bring ‘new modes of citizenship and community.’ (Jenkins, 2002: 158) These communities might
function with their own different dynamics, like for instance the value of information may increase by
the frequency it is interacted with.76 Better to say that it works as a ‘dialectic of interactivity’, as
Marshall writes, between ‘control and chaos.’ (Marshall, 2002: 74)
Bloggers
And speaking of this dialectic between control and chaos, there have of course also been
efforts to take control by causing chaos. A variety of strategies like media hacking and cultural
guerrilla tactics are being used as a means of counterattack on the stream of works from the media
industry in an attempt to block media flows by grassroots techniques. Mark Dery in a 1993 article has
described these cultural techniques used, under the name culture jamming referring to a radio related
term that means trying ‘to introduce noises into the signal as it passes from transmitter to receiver.’
Grassroots activities have become more and more possible with viewers gaining greater control over
media with their home based equipment and relatively low costs. (Jenkins, 2002: 166)
But this strategy of jamming is not the only way for consumers to create their own active part
in the media flow for themselves. And in fact even some of the activities that Dery has described as
jamming are according to Jenkins already better seen as a way of actively participating in media.
While thwarting media consumption is one way of doing it is also very reactive in nature. It is intent
on making chaos, it is aimed to destroy. (Jenkins, 2002: 167) But in these new times there is an
upcoming popularity of a new kind of media activism; fan discussions, distribution and exchange of
information, making contacts and the building of networks are very much a part of the new era and the
new relationship between consumers and the media flow. And instead of destroying content,
consumers have found a way to appropriate products for their own uses. They want to participate in
the new media rather than to block it. And consumption is not enough anymore; if any, there is a thin
line left between media consumption and production. Consumers have found a way to take a hold of
the knowledge flow and even contribute to it. They now more and more use the media for their
personal expression and as a means of communication and speech.
One of the new forms of media use is blogging, the term ‘blog’ being ‘short for weblog, a new
form of personal and sub-cultural expression involving summarising and linking to other sites.’
Jenkins suggests that instead of speaking of culture jammers ‘we might speak of bloggers.’ (Jenkins,
2002: 167) As enablers of communication, bloggers often temporarily work together to get ideas and
76
See appendix
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
messages circulated instead of by jamming them in the flow. And they take on a certain responsibility
for their active part in this process of creating collective intelligence. (Jenkins, 2002: 168) Instead of
negative effects they see possibilities and in their affective strategy open the way for many different
styles. And as their approach is much more dialogic and willing to make use of the participation of
other users their cultural production is in general achieved in a more democratic way.77
Spectators, artists, critics, and vanguard criticism
Ofcourse media activity by consumers also has its roots in a long tradition of vanguard
criticism. While avant-gardist approaches already existed earlier, in America vanguard criticism came
into being in the 1940’s when critics of film were starting to use film as a ‘raw material’ for their own
inventive vision and it is roughly divided in two sorts of approaches firstly, in the “cultist” approach –
which in Taylor’s words stands for ‘the discovery of expressive vitality in the work of lesser-known
artists’; the cult critic is very selective about his range of film choices and is intent on appreciating and
understanding the quality in movies falling on the waste side of mainstream cinema. (Taylor, 1999:
introduction) The other approach is called the “camp” approach and represents an attitude ‘where the
critic’ - or audience –‘“completes” the work creatively, by reworking and augmenting its material’ into
a new art work of its own. Here the consumer brings meanings to the work that might not in the least
resemble the original work. So-called bad movies may be turned into culturally valued products by the
meanings that are being articulated for them by their active camp spectators. As fans see unrealized
potential they come into rebellion against the materials they are given and take control of them.
(Taylor, 1999:3) Thus the critic turns himself into the artist and the consumer turns himself into a
cultural producer.78 It was a new daring form of criticism which had a huge resonance all throughout
the art world in America in the post-war years, ‘in opening artistic production to all those able to
master a liberating aesthetic gesture,’ and created a clear and open road for a more creative role for the
spectator. (Taylor, 1999: 5) Every mainstream film could now be used as material for an alternative
idea and it was up to the critic or spectator to make the meaning, or, re-make its meaning. No longer
keeping popular culture at bay but embracing it for their own purposes, these critics provided a new
77
According to Levy these strategies will become a normal part of the communication process and will no longer
only be used for an exceptional action for purposes of change and resistance by consumers.
78
Manny Farber and Parker Tyler were respectively the pioneers of these two sides of vanguard criticism.
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Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
critical approach that could not just use everything but could likewise also be used - by everyone.79
The vanguard movement has created an entire new model for spectatorship, criticism and artistry
which has created a shift ever since so that these days it seems it becomes even harder and maybe even
less relevant to make a distinction between them. 80
It may now seem that movie art is almost natural to us but its history has been in the making,
in fact, it still is. However, I would definitely argue that there is indeed something in it that comes
natural to us. There is a need to be active and be effective. While in fact one may be motivated to
create a better alternative for a certain work or maybe ‘create a culture better than the one we have
been offered’ (Taylor, 1999:4) the need to engage in a dialogue in which one’s own voice and action
play an active part is often of enough importance in itself. And being able to respond in a creative way
gives one a sense of one’s own activity. So the worse the movie – ofcourse certain type of ‘bad’
movies will qualify better for certain purposes – the more a vanguard spectator may feel he is finishing
the film and the more pleasure one can gain from ‘making’ the movie. While ofcourse the spectator
always makes the meaning, the more a film is able to engage a spectator in its storyline without
resisting it the less a viewer will need to be inventive. (Taylor, 1999: 3) Ofcourse the sense of
expertise a viewer may acquire from being able to pick quality in a range of ‘trash’ items may give a
sense of achievement, but even more so when someone is able to act by creating an entire new
meaning for a work, one which he may even share with fellow spectators, or even by just creating an
entire new work by re-editing it for instance and maybe communicating about it with others on the
Internet. The more transformation that one is able to bring to the work the more one will achieve a
sense of activity, and the more one is able to transform it into something that is of personal importance
the more pleasure one may achieve from it. In short, movies as ‘vehicles for a more active, creative,
and implicitly empowering form of spectatorship’ (Taylor, 1999: 7) may be of great importance as a
means for play.
Play
The relevance of play
79
This making it a democratic and critical means for the masses it was quickly taken up by countercultural
groups such as New York’s underground in the 1960s. This time around gaining much popularity and growing to
be even more influential with a more anti-bourgeois ideal.
80
See appendix
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
So having considered interactivity in a general sense and in relation to film and cinema, what
direction should we go? We have seen its uses in many areas of cinema, but what criteria can we use
to evaluate interactivity, if it is not just ‘anything goes’? I would say that indeed evaluations could be
made and to begin there is a difference that can probably best be described as the difference between
entertainment and play. But what am I exactly referring to when I am talking about play? This needs
some elaboration even if every human being will most likely have experience with it. After all if
history is the proof of anything it will be that human beings not only have needs for physical survival
as in their four instinctual needs of food, sex, fighting, and fleeing when he is threatened, but also have
trans-survival needs that might even surpass our instincts of survival. We see the proof of these transsurvival needs in religion, culture, art, and also - in a need for play.
And ofcourse this importance of play has not remained unnoticed by theorists, and is in fact
even being more and more established in a variety of fields. For instance, its importance has been
well-recognized in the field of children’s learning and development. David Elkind, professor of child
development for instance states81 that ‘more play should be added to children’s lives’ as unscheduled
creative and imaginative play is crucial to children’s development, as according to Elkind ‘a toddler’s
babbling is a necessary precursor to the acquisition of language.82 In playing with rocks a child creates
concepts of sameness and difference, and other properties of counting and shapes that are the
underpinnings of mathematics. Through self-initiated games and role play, children learn mutual
respect and cooperation, social skills essential for successful classroom learning.’ In these modern
times there no longer seems to be that much free time left for those ‘lazy afternoons’ of unstructured
and good old fashioned play and according to Elkind this can have some serious health and
psychological effects. This opinion is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
stating in a recent report ‘in defense of play and in response to forces threatening free play and
unscheduled time’ that ‘free and unstructured play is healthy and – in fact – essential for helping
children reach important social, emotional and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping
them manage stress and become resilient.’
Rebecca Marcon, developmental psychologist and education researcher, says the role of play
in the child’s learning becomes more apparent in the long run and in specific from the fourth grade on
81
Elkind, David. The power of play. Learning what comes naturally. Philadelphia, Da Capo Press: 2007
As Elkind’s two subtitles for his 2006 and 2006 edition of his book read respectively ‘How spontaneous,
imaginative activities lead to happier healthier children’ and ‘Learning what comes naturally’ are telling with
regards to two important issues with regards to play, namely that we have a need to allow for spontaneous
activities in order to remain psychologically healthy and that nowadays it seems that we have forgotten how to
do this and respond to this natural need.
82
See appendix
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Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
in comparison with previous grades as this is the time when children are required to be more
‘independent and think.’83 She also found that children learning in a play based program ‘showed
stronger academic performance in all subject areas measured compared to children who had been in
more academically focused or more middle-of-the-road programs,’ while children growing up early in
an overly academic environment showed more behavior problems at a later phase and less likely to be
enthusiastic and creative learners, and thinkers.
These findings are not only84 noted by the above authors, but more names could be mentioned
as well. But what really matters is that we have this natural need for play from an early start, and that
this need for play is clearly very much connected with our growth as in Elkind’s words “Play is a
powerful form of learning that contributes mightily to the child's healthy physical, emotional, social,
and intellectual development."85
But not only do we have a natural need for play in order to grow in our younger phase. Also
when we are adults we have a strong need for more play in our lives. As Lenore Terr, a clinical
professor of psychiatry, emphasizes in her book,86 play is the third87 fundamental need and believes
strongly that a lack of play dulls a person, moreover that it can dull a society. In a culture in which this
need is often suppressed she writes about the benefits and profits of more play in our lives and her
belief that play can make a society more dynamic.88 The same as with children adults suffer from a
steady decline in leisure time.89 So while the studies I mentioned show the need for play in general,
achieving this at work time may in reality not always be a realistic option; while most people will very
likely enjoy some degree of play within their work, the ability to express freely all your qualities
within the refines of your work will in all probability only be feasible for a relatively small group of
people while in a majority of cases this form of play will have to remain very limited. So what are our
options then?
We would have to move beyond our work, because, in Michael Oakeshott’s words: ‘The
complete character of a human being does not come into view unless we add Homo ludens, man the
player, to Homo sapiens, intelligent man, Homo faber, man the maker of things, and Homo laborans,
83
84
See appendix
See for instance also Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, and Diane Eyer. Einstein never used
flash cards. How our children really learn, and why they need to play more and memorize less. USA: St.
Martin’s Press, 2003
85
See appendix
86
Terr, Lenore. Beyond love and work. Why adults need to play. New York: Touchstone, 2000
87
If we would assume love and work to be the first two as Freud wished
88
See appendix
89
See appendix
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
man the worker.’90 He writes that in spite of the fact that "work" has usually engaged the greater part
of the attention of mankind, there is another form of activity that does not suffer from the defects
inherent in "work" and this activity is play.91
But while the work-ethic has always been well-defined, one of its most famous examples
being sociologist Max Weber’s book ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’,92 there have
always been groups of people for whom the work-ethic was harder to realize and not a practical
solution. And so therefore, Jim Cullen, a highly acclaimed lecturer in history, literature and expository
writing at Harvard University writes:
‘For these and other people, an alternative model was available, one which could be called a play ethic. The play
ethic is not a simple negation of the work ethic that celebrates idleness. Nor is it a more philosophical sensibility
that prizes sedentary contemplation. Rather, it involves a focused, energetic commitment to play not for a
livelihood, personal advancement, or social obligation, but as an end in itself.’ (Cullen, 1997: 101)
Ofcourse Homo ludens or ‘Man the player’ has received a well-known elaboration in Johan
Huizinga’s book of the same name in which he tries to comprehend the concept of play as ‘a special
form of activity, as a “significant form”, as a social function’ and as an important ‘cultural factor in
life’.(Huizinga, 1955: 4) He argues how play is closely intertwined with culture and in fact makes up
a great deal of our culture, and for which he therefore even understands the latter as sub specie ludi. In
fact he suggests that play is one of the main contributors to our civilization.93
90
Oakeshott, Michael. “Work and play” (previously unpublished article) First Things, 1995
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=4057 on Feb 2, 2008
91
See appendix
92
First published in 1904-1905 in a German Scholarly Journal and translated for the U.S. in 1930
93
See appendix
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
The concept of play
So now after having established the importance of the need for play I would like to work
towards a working definition of play as I would like to use it. In order to simplify the argument just for
the time being I would like to use a following concept of play, and then try to illuminate it by
describing the terms and contrasting them with their opposites. Though it remains a hard subject to
describe in definite terms, by doing so I at least hope to narrow down the terms enough for me to make
an argument and clarify some of the nuances of it within interactive media. And though my concept is
slightly philosophical I hope to make it more concrete in my case study. So let me start by saying that
Play is a free, conscious, non-alienated activity that brings joy and well-being. Let me take apart this
working definition to see what this means exactly; to begin with I will take its most important term,
namely activity and here I take my cue from the work of Erich Fromm, a psychologist and social
philosopher on which most of my upcoming argument will be based. He describes being active or
activity as ‘to give expression to one’s faculties, talents, to the wealth of human gifts with which –
though in varying degrees – everyone is endowed. (Fromm, 1979: 92)
So being active is more than behavior, and is more than creating a visible effect by making an
effort. And this is a critical difference with everyday usage in which it in general does not really matter
whether we are driven to act by internal compulsion or external force or whether we are active for
other reasons. But there is a fundamental difference between being active and mere busyness as
Fromm argues and this is based on another term of my definition the difference between the terms
alienated and non-alienated activity. (Fromm, 1979: 93-99) Now as Fromm explains ‘in alienated
activity I do not experience myself as the acting subject of my activity; rather, I experience the
outcome of my activity – and that as something ‘over there’, separated from me (…) in alienated
activity I do not really act; I am acted upon by external or internal forces. I have become separated
from the result of my activity’ whereas in ‘non-alienated activity, I experience myself as the subject of
my activity. Non-alienated activity is a process of giving birth to something, of producing something
and remaining related to what I produce (…) I and my activity are one’ and I thus give expression to
my faculties. I call this non-alienated activity productive activity which does not refer to the product
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
that the activity produces but to the quality of the activity. 94 It refers to a productive inner activity and
so alienated forms of activity can in fact be termed passive while non-alienated forms of ‘passivity’
could actually be forms activity. But how do we apply this ‘passive – active dichotomy’ to cinema?
For here I do not want to go into the whole argument of whether a spectator is passive or active when
watching a film or TV-show etc., for ofcourse a spectator is active making hypotheses, plotting
possible endings while he or she is watching. But firstly this is not always conscious, and secondly I
would like to focus on effective activity – activity in which one can actually effect something.
Moreover this is about spectatorship and though relevant I would like to concentrate here on the work
in movement.
With the term conscious, which I think is important for it, I mean consciousness in the sense
of alertness, the sense of being awake and alive, which is a prerequisite of the sort of play I am talking
about.95 With the term ‘free’ I do not imply that play has to be without rules for obviously a lot of play
forms have their own set of principles and rules, but I mean to say that there is room for spontaneous
activity. As the question of what set of rules is far more interesting, I shall use the case study to talk
some more about this. Finally, the terms joy and well-being stand as opposites to another related term
which is pleasure. (Fromm, 1999: 117-120) Fromm defines pleasure as the satisfaction of a desire that
does not require activity (in the sense of aliveness as I discussed it) to be satisfied. While this can be of
great intensity for instance as in sex, eating, money, alcohol, drugs, and killing it creates a thrill, an
excitement, but not joy and so we need to find ourselves ever new thrills to satisfy us. Pleasure and
thrill are often conducive to sadness after the so-called peak has been reached. One’s inner powers
have not changed, one has not grown. Nothing has changed within oneself; after the thrill is gone the
feeling is no longer there. Instead of being active ourselves in a productive sense we surrender to a
maximum pleasure drive. Joy is something that we experience when we are productively active. It is
the concomitant of productive activity; it is not a peak experience, but rather a plateau, a feeling state
that accompanies the productive expression of one’s essential human faculties. Joy then is what we
experience in the process of self-actualization, and is so is very much related to growing to become
more yourself. (Fromm, 1999: 120) This is not entirely a new notion for in fact similar utterances were
already made in ancient times by Heraclitus and as Schiller wrote ‘The human being is only fully
94
So in that sense not every work of art has to be productive from the subject’s point of view nor does every art
work has to be great in order to be productive.
95
However while this involves a sense of self and one’s own actions I do not mean ‘self-conscious’ for this is
something entirely different. See also (Sutton-Smith, 1997)
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Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
human when he is playing, and he is playing only when he is human in the full sense of the word’96
(my translation) (Steiner, 1985: 26).97
So why play? How does play fulfill a need – and if so what needs? Fromm argues that one of
the human needs is effectiveness. (Fromm, 1974: 315-318) A need that becomes apparent from an
early age on in children who experience ‘just joy in being a cause’ as K. Groos, wrote at the beginning
of the century. R.W. White described ‘competence motivation’ as one of the main motivations in man
and used the word ‘effectance’ as a motivational force.98 Both children and adults feel this need to
effect. As Fromm explains:
‘Man’s awareness of himself as being in a strange and overpowering world, and his consequent sense of
impotence could easily overwhelm him. If he experienced himself as entirely passive, a mere object, he would
lack a sense of his own will, his own identity. To compensate for this he must acquire a sense of being able to do
something, to move somebody, to ‘make a dent’ (...), to be effective (...) (from the Latin ex-facere, to do). To
effect is the equivalent of; to bring to pass, to accomplish, to realize, to carry out, to fulfill.’(Fromm, 1974:
315, 316)
The adult can solve this by for instance love or productive activity like intellectual or material
or artistic work, but also by destructive actions like trying to have power over others, to force fear on
others, to make people suffer or to destruct. While they are of an entirely different nature they fulfill
the same basic need for effectiveness. One of the main factors in boredom and depression is the sense
of ineffectiveness and this clearly shows the pathological effects when man doesn’t feel effective. As
it is one of the most painful experiences, one will often go to great lengths to overcome this sense of
impotence and if this need is not achievable in a productive way one may fulfill this need by turning to
addictions or crimes and cruelty.
A second important need is the need for excitation and stimulation. (Fromm, 1974: 318-325)
The fact that our nervous system needs to be ‘exercised’ and needs a minimum of excitation was first
pointed out by neurologist Ivan Sechenov (Sechenov, 1863). R.B.Livingston established that: ‘The
nervous system is a source for activity as well as integration’ and that ‘the brain is not merely reactive
to outside stimuli; it is itself spontaneously active…’ And more recent studies on infants and adults
make clear that there is a need for stimulation and excitation of the brain.
96
http://books.google.com/books?hl=nl&id=Kfp5G77s0aUC&dq=de+spirituele+bronnen+van+de+kunst&printsec
=frontcover&source=web&ots=gesLYWk4WD&sig=CNW6zYhP9uHK8YzZfRpUJti1S4o#PPA26,M1
97
See appendix
98
Quoted in (Fromm, 1974: 315-318)
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Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
But while our brain is always in need of stimulation there is an important difference in
99
stimuli .(Fromm, 1974: 321-325) Often the term stimulus is used to denote a simple stimulus, for
instance when a person is in danger or experiences a direct threat he can give a simple and direct
response because it is built into his neurophysiological system. Such a stimulus encourages that one
reacts more than one acts in the same way as one responds to other existential needs as hunger or (to a
certain extent) sex for instance. In a way our physiological organization acts in our place. One can
think of an accident or a crime scene, or a sexy advertisement, or a fighting, or an ice cream, or a
rollercoaster ride for examples of simple stimuli.
But according to Fromm there is another kind of stimulus, ‘one that stimulates the person to
be active.’ These are more complex stimuli which invite you to become actively interested and
engaged with the stimulus and relate yourself to it in a dynamic way, ‘seeing ever-new aspects’ in the
stimulus. For instance one could think of a poem, or a complicated literary work, or a painting, or a
song, or a concept, or even a loved person. They are thus always changing while simple stimuli remain
the same and have a point of satisfaction, after which they lose their effect unless they change or
increase in intensity. And in the relationship with the activating stimulus the stimulee keeps the
relationship active and becomes productively active by expressing one’s own faculties in this
relationship. And thus the relationship is mutual between the stimulus and the stimulee and not the
‘one way mechanical relationship S→R.’ In short while simple stimuli create ‘a drive – i.e. the person
is driven by it’, activating or complex stimuli create ‘a striving – i.e. the person is actively striving for
a goal.’
These activating stimuli are an important factor in learning when learning is seen as more than
an accumulation of knowledge but as a dynamic process of understanding and seeing the object or
concept in question from multiple perspectives and levels. This requires effort and so needless to say it
is ofcourse the stimulee that needs to be active. A bored and unresponsive person may for whatever
reason not be able to relate to an inviting stimulus. It requires an active stimulee. But though we may
never be able to create productive inner activity in a person, we can create conditions in the media
work that are conducive to it. And so the concept of the complex and activating stimulus can be very
useful when we want to assess play in interactive media works.
Play is not only a need in itself, but is also related to our needs. Man has a need to grow and
optimally develop himself,100 and in play we give expression to our human faculties in relation with
the ‘object’ (that could also be a person) we are playing with. We escape the prison of our ego and
relate ourselves to the object of play. We are setting up a relationship with the outside world. For this
reason the relationship is very much of importance. How does it speak to us? How many faculties does
99
The term ‘stimulus’ has been introduced by the Russian psychologist Bechterew
Provided the circumstances are conducive to this aim (Fromm, 1974: 341)
100
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Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
it solicit? Which faculties does it solicit? And what are these faculties? As this makes it clear that if we
want to create more and better play we need not only to understand the concept of play and the works
that inspire it better, but also ourselves as human beings and our human needs and capacities. For, for
instance, if we want to make a dialogue between two people more meaningful we need to have
intimate knowledge of both people; and thus we need to understand both here in order to enhance our
interaction with media works. In order to create a certain experience with a media work we need to
know the spectator or player. This is a mutual understanding, for just as in a dialogue when we are
speaking with a person who is remote, or engaging us in an alienated way, or speaking to our more
negative faculties – we are more compelled to activate these negative faculties, while on the other
hand if we are speaking with someone who is inspiring to us we are much more inclined to bring the
better part of our faculties to the fore.
This brings us to much more difficult questions for if we want to bring in a more human
element we need to take a better look at ourselves as human beings. What needs do we have in
common? Which are our faculties? What makes us human? Questions that might not be answered over
night, in fact that might never fully be answered at all, most certainly not in this paper but they are
most relevant nevertheless in an age where images are becoming all-surrounding and interactivity
seems to be the key word of the future. It is yet an important question if we want to learn how to build
relationships using the play element.101 So a need for effectiveness and excitation/stimulation are two
of the (five) needs Fromm suggests. Without laying claim to them being exhaustive in any way or
excluding other needs they provide a useful example as to how we can use these needs in order to
function as a grid for evaluating interactive qualities, for as I will try to show in the upcoming chapter
they will have a bearing on interactive media works. Either way one does not have to use these needs
as a starting point for one could also turn to multiple other disciplines and other currents within these
to find other studies on the needs of man, like psychology, neurology, sociology, etc. One of my points
will simply be to show that the study of interactive media and play cannot go without these studies,
and the necessity of taking an interdisciplinary standpoint. For these provide us with the fields to
evaluate our values from. I will try to assess the differences in the relationships that are being set up by
spectacle-favoring cinema by now discussing in the upcoming case study a work that will be more
conducive to play.
101
See appendix
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Case study 5: Imagining Ourselves
In this study I would like to discuss an example of how interactive cinema can work in another
manner. The site Imagining Ourselves102 is a project that was initiated as a platform for ‘young women
to create positive change in their lives, their communities, and the world’ and was set up to start a
conversation between women around the world and overcome the boundaries in the process by
creating a sense of community. It is an online exhibit for films, video clips, songs, images, and texts
like poetry and stories and it also organizes a series of events on an international scale in which one
can participate, a celebrity blog on Yahoo, and an anthology of global voices published in book form
by New World. One can join the conversation also just by talking about the issue or theme, and one
can also take action as for instance by payment or by participating in some of the campaigns, but here
I shall be focusing on the online exhibit of artwork. Because through this platform women, and now
also men, from all around the globe can put in their stories and artworks like image installations, selfmade films, pieces of poetry, conversations, and more.
In a way as in a fan site they have created a platform to debate and to comment on each other’s
contributions to the site. In similar fashion as in my discussion of fan activity in which amateur efforts
were made to write fan texts as articles, alternative storylines, or trying to change scripts, participants
are adding their own vision to the online stage. Films or other works by other participants are not just
‘consumed’ but are given an active response by a whole new art work in any form.
By exchanging their responses and giving their own perspectives these works are creating a certain
community in which ideas can be shared thus creating ‘shared knowledge spaces’ as Levy would call
them. (Jenkins, 2002: 158, 159) As in profile sites or in blogging the active members are placing
personal information of themselves on the site. However on this platform they are giving their own
interpretation and opinion of a certain subject. So it is inviting a response that is very personal and
102
http://imaginingourselves.imow.org/pb/Home.aspx?lang=1 on June 2, 2008
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Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
makes room for expression and speech. Because these communities usually draw motivated members,
the participants are likely to be credited or held accountable for their works. And the works that the
participant sends in will in a way create him/her a type of personal profile. But while profile sites and
blogs already are a form of sub-cultural expression this site requires even more effort, creativity, and
skill, and so is asking for a more active type of communication. And because it is inviting participants
to make an effort to express themselves at a level of personal significance it is likely to invite in turn a
similar connection with their fellow members.
If we think about vanguard criticism than this is a fine example of the roads it has opened
because as vanguard criticism existed of the cultist approach which saw value in the work of lesserknown artists and the camp approach which reworked the meaning of already existing ‘bad’ movies
we see how here the work of lesser-known artists is valued as well with a significant difference in the
fact that it is now the audience itself contributing them. It is not so much that here these independent
works are favored; but they are the work itself. And as camp activity re-imagined new meanings for an
existing work, the response here is even more active in that the audience literally creates an entire new
artwork for a comment.
Looking at these above-mentioned characteristics one may notice how it encourages activity
and media participation in ways which are not pre-planned and by the industries. So does it qualify for
play, and if so, how does it qualify for play? Using my work definition of the concept of play being ‘a
free, conscious, non-alienated activity that brings joy and well-being’ we could check these traits
within the site: The site to begin with gives a great amount of freedom to the participant, which is for
starters the freedom he or she is allowed with regards to the medium (poetry, prose, music, film, etc.)
he/she uses, and secondly with regards to the choice of the subject.103 The second term denoting
‘conscious’ may be almost a necessity in adding one’s own interpretation, as the creation of an
artwork with a message answering to a designated topic would require some intellectual evaluation.
One needs an awake mind. ‘Non-alienated’ is referring to the extent to which one experiences
him/herself as the subject of his/her own activity and this site promotes just that by encouraging one’s
personal and original ideas and visions, and thereby stimulates the use of as much faculties as possible
to give one’s own voice and opinion on a matter. And by stimulating a person to be productive, which
is also intertwined with the use of one’s faculties, it also stimulates a person to be at the center of his
own activity. Therefore inner ‘activity’, as I discussed it in the chapter on play, is strongly invited by
this work. The ‘joy’ being different than the pleasure from a simple stimulus will come here from the
productive activity and work of one’s own hands. One’s well-being is related in the sense that this
kind of activity is meeting the human need for play, and with it certain important other needs as well.
103
Though there may be site editors assessing the work that is sent in; unlike YouTube for instance.
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Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
Two of them as I discussed them earlier in my chapter on play are the need for effectiveness
and a need for excitation and stimulation. So how are these needs being met? In terms of effectiveness
the participant not only has the opportunity to create a work of art but also to get feedback and see its
effects in the site’s ‘community’ or fellow site members. In terms of stimulation there is no simple
stimulus that is dictating the way the audience is invited to be active. Instead of being reactive to
spectacle-like entertainment the audience is mobilized out of themselves to create an artwork. It uses
therefore complex stimuli: stimuli that stimulate a person to be active, in better words, create a
‘striving’. And as it is loosely organized and not uses ready-made patterns, but allows a great amount
of freedom on the part of the participant with regards to the work and the medium, it also gives room
for improvisation, so in terms of excitation or stimulation it allows its participants to be spontaneously
active.
So how does it create conditions that stimulate these characteristics of play to be likely to be
present? Firstly how does it speak to the spectator to enable this?; and secondly, what kind of
relationships does it communicate to the spectator, or how does it speak to his other human faculties?
For this we need to consider the structure of the work. This structure is provided to start with, by the
use of themes. If we look at how it works as a platform then we see that it was initially structured
around one theme, or question: ‘What defines your generation of women?’ (or now generation of men
as well). As an interactive work it is further being structured by sub-themes such as ‘image and
identity’, ‘culture and conflict’, ‘war and dialogue’, ‘future’, ‘love’, ‘money’, etc, and some breaking
down in smaller categories like relationships, immigration, racism, sexism, fatherhood, motherhood,
and so forth. Responding to these themes one can send in an artwork that can be incorporated in the
site. This brings to mind the structure of interactive multilinear works (see my discussion under
interactive film) for we could consider this in a way as an interactive multilinear work. With regards
to these works questions arose on issues such as narrative and montage and though this site as a work
may not create traditional narratives it does create realities in different spheres and on different planes.
While there is no fixed montage, it is the participants who, by adding their own interpretation (of the
theme) to the thread, make up the montage of the work and are thereby creating a chain of events; or a
string of alternate choices. So they make up their own montage even though they do not make the
connections between the films, the songs and the poems, etc., these are all structured around these
unifying topics thereby implicitly being connected to each other. In this way it can partially be seen
like a hypertext, partially as a loosely unified interactive artwork, but because it is containing multiple
perspectives and it is a network that is continuously being added to and changing, it is inviting new
interpretations every time.
As a loosely unified interactive work it makes up ‘a collective memory of images’ as Shaw
calls it, and not only that, for thinking back to Dinkla it resembles his suggestion of a ‘floating work of
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Datum: 19-08-2008
art’ which uses its strategy of a ‘recombinant poetics’ where text, images, sound and movement, etc,
are meeting each other and are making up a ‘field of meaning,’ or in other words, it is working as a
discursive field, a network of associations. (Dinkla, 2002: 36-37) According to Dinkla these would
have ‘to be reformulated in order to enable a new understanding of (hi)story’. Looking at this
interactive site we see how it at the same time opens up the possibilities for a critical dialogue and
questioning of audiovisual conventions, and a place where they could be re-invented, and new
connections could be made to create new forms and metaphors. And to use Rieser’s words, it is a place
‘where poetry could be re-imagined as part of a hypertextual universe’. (Rieser, 2002; 151, 155-160)
And we can note how Rieser’s structuring devices can be seen in this project as well. In his
own internet project Screening the Virus104, he is able to integrate new narratives and still maintain a
unified whole by using a larger theme with smaller themes and likewise this site uses a similar
construction to provide structure and overall shape to the assembly of works. (Rieser, 2002: 146-147)
So we could say that some of the principles of these multilinear works work here as well: the themes
provide a structure for the participant within which he can be effective and in combination with the
content of themes they also give him/her a focus point, and as a multilinear interactive work it
sketches a ‘field of meaning’ in which one could make a change by adding one’s voice. And so the site
makes the spectator feel effective by being productive, and also by sharing it. While an interactive
work of cinema still often has a film as its basis on which the complexity of the relationship with the
participant will rely, this platform provides on the other hand by its interactive structure and topics a
framework that will be more important in inviting a certain type of audience activity. As I spoke
earlier in the second chapter about the paradox between narrative immersion and interactivity, we can
also see here how this will be less relevant in interactive cinema that usually still has a film at its basis
that could be immersive and invite interactivity at the same time. It could also not have film at its basis
but for example a structure as this site has, but film could here actually still be really immersive, while
the work in general can still be highly interactive.
Because next to the theme structure, the themes’ content is of equal importance as these are
topics which are resonant enough to inspire the participants in many ways. For instance, topics as
‘motherhood’ and ‘fatherhood’, or ‘immigration’, will be more likely to speak to a broader range of
human experience and emotions than would for example infiltrating the Vatican, as will a topic of
‘war’ more likely have a greater level of resonance than escaping bullets as a secret service agent. So
these topics are speaking to a wider range of human faculties and needs, and are more likely to inspire
104
Rieser, Martin. Screening the virus, a residency for World’s Aids Day 1996, commissioned by Artec and
Watershed Media Centre as the multimedia pilot for the ArtAids website.
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Datum: 19-08-2008
a striving. They are complex stimuli. Also as a multilinear interactive work that is constantly changing
it creates a much more complex stimulus by constantly inviting a new interpretation.
Both these characteristics could have an effect in a much broader perspective. Namely, the
reason for setting up this site was to create connections for participants to improve on each other’s
lives, to create awareness across countries, even ones that are small and often little heard of, and to
give unknown filmmakers a chance to let their voice be heard, even as in this case for men and women
with no education or film background, but with talent to create a work of art in response to a central
issue giving their intimate and unique perspective on it. By enabling a participation in a conversation
across these boundaries and bringing them in contact with each other it is not only encouraging human
understanding in the process, but creating a sense of community on an international level. So a
platform as this at the same time opens up possibilities for a critical dialogue, and can have serious
effects on a larger scale as well. It offers a platform for understanding one’s social environment and
one can learn from its dynamics and play a role in it. Exchanging knowledge and information are
making up a context in which meanings can be negotiated. This is knowledge that becomes available
for all the members of the site, making a ‘shared knowledge’ space (or ‘cosmopedia’). (Jenkins, 2002:
158) Sharing this knowledge could create a sense of a community with its participants. And we could
see it as an example of Marshall’s ‘dialectic of interactivity’ between control and chaos (Marshall,
2002: 74) and see the possibilities of Levy’s ‘new modes of citizenship and community’ as its
approach is much more dialogical and democratic because of the site’s accessibility for participation
and mutual exchange of knowledge. The more participants the site will have the more it will have a
potential for becoming collective intelligence. And considering that maybe more sites will be used in
this way indeed the more it could become a part of our normal communication.
Because of the speed, the frequency and the scope of this new media platform and the fact that it is
easily shared and accessed it could be used as a platform for activism too, with its possibilities for
networking making it a good basis for grassroots activities. And as an interactive work we could see
its possibilities as a ‘transforming mirror’ for reflecting back our own activity and giving us a sense of
self and our actions and also by stimulating reflection in which it could affect our sense of ourselves in
relation to the experienced world. (Rokeby, 1995: 145-156) This is even more so as it has many levels
that could inspire a sense of effectiveness with the participant and with this sense of effectiveness also
comes a potential for learning. The same holds true for the complex stimulus which instead of a
‘drive’ could inspire a striving, which plays a role in learning as well.
Speaking in terms of the three axes with which we can evaluate interactivity we can see how
this is another form of interactivity than the one in the previous case study. In terms of levels it invites
you to engage on more than one level; whether you would be responding to a topic like ‘war and
dialogue’, or ‘future’, or ‘culture’, it involves more than one faculty to engage with the subject
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considering its complexity. Secondly, in terms of openness, the work is as much open as possible for
any interpretation needs to be made by the participant. While the themes serve as structuring elements
they only do so in the area of the subject and they give no directions as to what the response should be
or how it should be given. These are all questions left up to the participant. Thirdly, in terms of the
work in movement it also qualifies as interactive as there is no work unless made by the player. There
are strings of a conversation but with no clear direction as to how to respond. There is no finish-line.
And so how does this differ then from the previous case study? While the previous case study is more
set up as an amusement park this is more set up as a playground; for it makes no use of ready-made
attractions with limited options, but instead creates a stage set up by guidelines on which one can
perform and improvise and so is as an interactive work more conducive to play.
Conclusion
I have here tried to show by two examples of interactive works how the difference in approach
can have effects on the level of interactivity. In the first case study of M-I-III as an intertextual cinema
product which has been structured by the industry and permission-based marketing we can see how
the use of both early spectacle forms as well as neo-spectacle forms has limiting effects on the
interactive features of a work. Making use of simple stimuli to move the spectator or player it has
only limited means of activating its audience beyond re-acting to mere pleasure and thrill and in this
respect I would say that its interactive mechanisms look somewhat similar to those of an amusement
park in which the visitors have no other option but to take the rides as they have been set up for them
in ways to appeal to their immediate physiological responses.
In my second case study of Imagining Ourselves I have attempted to show how another
approach could invite a much greater level of interactivity by encouraging creativity and activity from
the audience. Both by structure and content it provides stimuli which are complex and more activating,
and allows more possibilities for play and improvisation. Hence I would like to compare it to a
playground in which a space is marked of and principles are set up but there are no exact rules on how
to play. In addition I hope to have shown by this example how much play, interactivity and our own
human faculties are interrelated.
In my analysis I have focused my attention on two questions: one, what are the relationships
and values making up the work?; and two, how is the spectator being solicited by the work? I think I
have made clear that these two are closely intertwined with one another, as we see in the first case
where the film provides the basis for its related interactive products and both the relationships in the
film and its spectacle elements are reducing its stimuli for spontaneous action. In the other case study I
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have not elaborated on each film which is on the site, in part because this is continually changing but
more importantly because they are all unique and different, and what matters more here is the structure
and context in which they are being placed. In my opinion the integration of the films into a structure
that supports a more dialogical exchange of information and individual initiative, which is interactive
and requires reinterpretation, and in addition uses very resonant socially-oriented topics to answer to,
will be more relevant factors in this instance. As interactive media and film are relatively new and not
yet so developed and nuanced as film is in its representation of social identities and human emotions,
and so forth., film in its hypercontextual structures remains important in many cases as a basis for the
simplicity or complexity of relations which it invites with its spectators/participants unless other
features as mentioned above become more determining factors. And ofcourse in audiovisual works
form and content are hard to separate, if not absolutely impossible, but as interactivity always takes
place in a context and interacts with these this will reinforce the way they affect one another even
more.
So now, after having established the connection between play, interactivity, and cinema, if we
realized the potential of interactive cinema, if we realized the potential feeling of effectiveness, and if
we realized the potential of being able to look into a transforming mirror, knowing how much we
could express of our own faculties in our interaction with a work, knowing how much we are setting
up a relationship with our outside world and knowing how a work is trying to speak to us, I just
wonder, how much of these same dialogues would we still feel a need to hear? And so I would say, at
the end of the day when all our work and our chores seem to have made us forget and we find it hard
to be moved by anything anymore, but we still have some energy left, to keep looking, then using the
three axes of interactivity as a grid, and play as our guideline we should be able to find our way again
and be led away from the comfort of boredom towards a cinema of play.
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APPENDIX: EXTENDED NOTES
1. As film in its early days was marked by spectacle forms with which it impressed its spectators (Even if
Musser would disagree and would argue for a ‘cinema of contemplation’ they were still a part of early cinema)
and was soon dominated, without spectacle disappearing, by narrative forms in which the spectator was asked to
be active by interpreting and anticipating a film’s possible meanings, it would seem like a normal step forward in
this new millennium to move towards ways that would develop our interactivity with cinema in better ways,
perhaps even closer to André Bazin’s myth of ‘Total Cinema’. But in either way towards a direction that would
allow a more active and creative role for the spectator. Instead we have been stagnated at a level that disguises
itself as such with a renewed use of spectacle albeit in a new form, but in reality has to remain very limited in
terms of interactivity with the audience.
5. A significant feature here is also that these compositions very much intended to break down the system of
tonality. Tonality which by its hierarchical structure in which one tone is more important than the other, and in
which one usually goes from state of equilibrium to a state of dissonance to a state of new equilibrium, can in
some ways be seen as a sort of “syntax”, or narrative. And therefore by the non-syntactical approaches of both
integral serialism and indeterminism to break down this syntactical tonal system, they are able to free individual
elements out of their traditionally fixed frameworks; they open up structures and allow for a more active
involvement of the person performing the work. (Morgan, 1991: 370)
7. While this work shows the interaction of a larger fixed framework with smaller indeterminate elements,
another example will show a construction that is in some ways the opposite; working with mostly determined
segments within a movable framework Piano Sonata No. 3 is a piece that has a middle movement called
Constellation which is set up in a way so that one has a choice at the end of each musical segment as to what
continuation to take. One can make different arrangements of the piece by choosing alternate paths to connect
these separate segments. The number of configurations is not entirely without boundaries however, as one only
needs to use each unit once, and one time only. Moreover the overall directions as well as the outcome of the
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piece are determined and specified. But in Boulez’s own characterisation of his work: it works like ‘a map to an
unknown city’ and provides a good example of how a range of choices can be generated out of an interaction
between fixed and indeterminate elements. (Morgan, 1991: 370 - 374)
8. Another influential composer, John Cage, who was one of the promoters of indeterminate music used another
approach to compositions and may have gone even a bit further. Doing much of his work in the late fifties and
sixties, a time of an in general increased sense of alienation and dissatisfaction, he tried to use music as a means
to find better ways for social interaction and change. By breaking down some of the musical assumptions of the
closed form he tried to open up the relationship between the composer, music, performer, and listener and to
create a more direct relationship that was as unmediated as possible by predetermined frameworks and
conventional relationships and connections. (Morgan, 1991: 452) Seeing fixed works as mediating and too
manipulative his efforts may be seen as ‘a symbolic statement about the tension between individual freedom and
imposed institutional frameworks.’ (Morgan, 1991: 456) In his work he treated music as a sort of “empty
container” by constructing temporal or sometimes rhythmic structures and using these as a larger framework.
Within these carefully measured and proportionally related time units he could insert any sort of sonic material,
even silence, to improvise a composition, units that were less tied together by conventional relationships and so
therefore could stand on their own. Cage suggested himself that ‘the method was that of considered
improvisation’ and with this idea he thus allowed much more leeway and creative input in the use of his
compositions. (Morgan, 1991: 361)
9. And we can see how this form of interactivity has found its way to film for instance in the self-proclaimed
first interactive movie ‘I’m your man’ (Bob Bejan, 1992) which works quite similar; I’m your man is a short
film in which the audience not only has the choice to follow different characters, but also to decide at specific
moments in the story in what way the actions of their character are going to continue and in turn will have a clear
effect on its story and its meaning. (Lunenfeld, 2002: 147)
11. While for example medieval and Renaissance works are often marked by a use of allegory we also find that
their use of symbolism is often very much ruled by conventions and that their intended interpretations are
thereby limited. (Eco, 1989: 5-7) In the period of Baroque we find a new form of openness in the form of
indeterminacy entering the work of art. One tried to get rid of the more static and definite views of classical form
by never allowing the viewer a clear and definitive frontal view. Rather it encourages the viewer to shift his
focus and attention within the work of art across its play of light and darkness and other illusory effects and
kinetic appeal. This function was later also furthered by poetry and late-nineteenth-century Symbolism
continuing an attempt to create suggestiveness and open up the text to a free interpretation by the addressee,
namely by suggesting one could mirror, stir and mobilize a person’s own imagination and emotional response. It
appealed to the individual as a performer. Followed up by many works in contemporary literature that made use
of symbols to communicate meaning outside of the general conventions it was not only characterised by a much
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freer use of symbolism, that was guided more by its internal rules and guidelines, but it also mobilized the
addressee more as a performer and allowed for multiple interpretations and a continuously shifting view.
12. To name only a few we could include the ones by Damarin, Ambron and Hooper, Rhodes and Azbell,
Jonassen, Schwier and Misanchuk, and Sims: Damarin (1982) distinguished interactive options as watching,
finding, doing, using, constructing and creating, Ambron and Hooper (1988) referred to interactivity when users
are able ‘to browse, annotate, link and elaborate within a rich, non-linear database’ (Sims, 1997: 2). Rhodes and
Azbell (1985) used three levels to understand interactivity which ranged from “reactive” (where there is little
learner control of content structure with program directed options and feedback) to “coactive” (providing learner
control for sequence, pace and style) to “proactive” (where the learner controls both structure and content).
Jonassen, (1988) looking more at the subject’s involvement and its effect on learning made a division of five
levels, namely; the modality of the learner’s response, the nature of the task, the level of processing, the type of
program, and the level of intelligence in design. Schwier and Misanchuk (1993) created an even more elaborate
classification system, dividing it into: “levels” (reactive, proactive, mutual), “functions” (confirmation, pacing,
navigation, inquiry, elaboration) and “transactions” (keyboard, touch screen, mouse, voice). And finally Sims’s
classification divided interactivity into object interactivity, linear interactivity, support interactivity, update
interactivity, construct interactivity, reflective interactivity, simulation interactivity, hyperlinked interactivity,
non-immersive contextual interactivity, and immersive virtual interactivity. (Sims, 1997: 3-7)
16. One may for example think of Hotel Dusk: Room 215, a so-called ‘point-and-click’ Nintendo DS game in
film noir style looking much like an interactive novel and in which one has to solve a puzzle to finish the story.
In this detective mystery, playing in the seventies, the participant plays Kyle Hyde, a cynical ex-police officer
who finds himself in a situation he has to solve, having to do with his past, the disappearance of his partner and
some odd packages. We see through Kyle’s eyes in 3D on the left screen the rundown hotel he finds himself in
as on the right screen we can see a map of where he is located, and click on icons to speak to characters, open
doors, and keep a notebook. The screens come together when an answer to the puzzle comes together. The game
also has a soundtrack with music, sound-effects, and dialogue fitted to the story as in a film, of which the latter
one can be speeded up when playing it the second time.1 This being only a mere example, it shows how many of
the features that are not yet fully integrated in interactive films are already being well explored in the field of
games, not only in this ‘click-and-point’ genre but in other games as well.
Wikipedia, free encyclopedia [Online] available on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Dusk:_Room_215 on 0709-2007, on http://www.dsworld.nl/artikel.php?id=3324 and on
http://media.ds.ign.com/media/827/827002/vids_1.html
23. Searching for interactive spaces ‘where poetry can be re-imagined as part of a hypertextual universe’ Rieser
created also another interesting example of interactive film in the installation narrative Understanding Echo
which combined cinema and video art to create a diegetic space in a physical environment, namely by using
translucent panels with montages that interacted with user behaviour. In the middle there was an interactive
screen representing a pool of water. Basing the theme on the myth of the nymph Echo who was condemned to
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Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
forever echo the words of Narcissus from the water, Rieser tried to create a space corresponding to a ‘
“collective unconscious” where “memories, dreams and reflections” could rise to the surface.’ 1 In the same
spirit he keeps the correspondences somewhat open for more interpretations and allusions to other mythical
female figures. As a unifying role player he uses language in making the poetic fragments spoken by the nymph
go from a distant type of speech to a much more intimate and personal type of speech as the users are
approaching the screens and as they interact more. And so there is evolvement, for the user’s knowledge of the
character grows, even though a temporal linearity remains absent. And so the key relevance of the example is
that he is able to achieve a poetic work that is interactive and open enough for multiple resonances which he
realizes by using language, and loosely basing it on a narrative concept, as useful framing devices. (Rieser, 2002;
146-147, 151, 155-160)
24. The use of the term ‘interactive cinema’ has come into existence by a long way of developments in the area
around film. Its idea of recombining elements has not been invented by the coming of new media technologies
but was born as the strategy of avant-garde movements in the 50’s and 60’s experimenting with techniques of
montage to expand reality and help dissolve or break down the borders of film. (The terms they were using for
these actions were Action Art or Happening) By diffusing attention and disconnecting traditional storytelling
elements to criticize and question them, and by including the audience, it has paved the way for the present
interactive use of cinema (though in the 90’s they would try to bring these elements back together). (Blunck,
2002: 54-56) For the avant-garde groups cinema needed to be expanded and hence emerged the concept of
‘expanded cinema’ which made use of for example the projection space in order to break down the barriers of
the diegetic world, and by using sometimes multiple screen installations, linking several media, influencing the
technologies or including the spectator in some way. (As for example Peter Weibel pointed a water-cannon
towards the spectators while watching a film.) (Blunck, 2002: 56-57) In sometimes disruptive, sometimes more
positive ways, the main strategy was to either draw the images into the space of the spectator or allow the
spectator to enter the image. As a consequence of these ideas of expanding and breaking down the borders of
film the idea emerged of an ‘immersive cinema’ completely surrounding the spectator, in which one would no
longer be able to differentiate which medium is speaking. And so as the walls of the film world were being
broken down, other media could be included and integrated and more interactive installations emerged as we see
for instance in the HPSCHD (1969) interactive media construction initiated by John Cage and Ronald Nameth.
And as multiple media were pulled together for this new cinema, one also uses the term ‘synaesthetic cinema’,
including all forms of art. (Blunck, 2002: 58-59) This term was coined by Gene Youngblood who in the 1970’s
also described the idea of expanded cinema. As the film borders had been broken down, cinema now included a
new space in which the spectator could participate in its process and therefore arguing for a technologically
supported expansion of human awareness Youngblood sees expanded cinema as an ‘expanded consciousness’. In
the 90’s digital space or cyberspace emerged on the scene and thus multiple screen and interactive media
constellations could now be integrated with the help of a computer. Moreover this could allow for a greater
participation and integration of the spectator, in part by allowing control over the timeframe of the film medium.
And if linearity is to be experienced it has to be made by the spectator himself. Hence making for more
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interactive cinema constellations in which the spectator intervenes through an interface and is able to create his
own cinematic context existing of multiple media and art forms. (Blunck, 2002: 58-62)
And, less directly perhaps, we could also see a resemblance to André Bazin’s ‘Myth of Total Cinema’ in which
he argues for a cinema that would represent reality more complete, and by making film burst through its own
confines and entering the space of the audience we would seem to be moving a step closer in the direction of
realizing his wish. Finally this development is only one way to trace the development of interactive cinema and
ofcourse besides Bazin many other authors could be named as well to have written on these possibilities of
expanding film. (Everett, 2003: 20-24)
28. As in for instance Big Brother the viewer is allowed all sorts of activities that both combine viewing and
acting like opinion polls, watching live cams 24/7, a 3D virtual tour through the house, participation in chat
rooms, live camera mixes a ‘fan cam,’ a spin cam that the viewer can steer him or herself, updates on mobile
phones, and even to influence the outcome of who will be the winner and who will be the losers. (Some of these
features were only present in the UK version of Channel 4)
29. Also the program The Runner, based on the film RUNNING MAN (Paul Michael Glaser, 1987), a LivePlanet
and ABC television program founded among others by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon integrating the reality of
film, the liveliness of television and the connectedness of the internet, has found a way to provide a well rounded
media experience by letting the viewer be a part of the story’s development and enigma and giving him or her a
chance to solve it, if needed by using other viewer’s contributions. The goal is to track a ‘runner’ who in order to
win a money prize has to perform a series of tasks somewhere across the country and if the viewer succeeds, he
or she is able to win a share of the amount of money. In an effort to ‘break down the barriers between traditional
media, new media and the physical world,’ the project thus uses the strengths of each medium and immerses the
viewer while making him active at the same time, and so The Runner forms a good example of a new program
generation of entertainment products in which multiple media converge to create a more integrated experience.
Yet we see if for instance in Big Brother, the program has as a relatively complex basis, namely the show, the
interactivity of the participant limits itself to for instance camera access, updates or phone calls, while on the
other hand a program like the Runner carries more options for activity yet has to based on an idea which remains
very simple and straightforward without incentive for a more complex interpretation. And thus these programs in
their current situation simply have not yet developed in a manner that enables an interaction between the both of
them but they have a maybe potential to do so in the future. (Harries, 2002: 180)
34. By ‘kid cultural interconnections,’ Marshall refers to the integration of play and interactivity in the
commodification of cultural products in the market for children. These ofcourse have a history as intertextual
marketing strategies have their origins for the most part in children’s culture. Already early on in the century
promotion of products was linked to children’s toys and television programmes like the Mickey Mouse club on
ABC Television in the 1950’s were ideal for connecting films, cartoons, products, young hosts and creating a
special membership and loyalty for anyone associated to the club. And many examples came after this, like the
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Barbie series and cartoon series as Strawberry Shortcake, He-Man and Transformers in the eighties. The
Nickelodeon channel in a similar fashion nowadays creates the same sort of feeling of membership by targeting
very specifically for certain age group audiences at particular moments. Not only its television channel operates
in such a structured manner but it also has a website that services to audiences of different ages and connecting
animated television characters with educational info and games, and in an unequalled manner adds coherence
and builds up a strong connection with its audience. Designing children’s products is already intertextual and
interactive from the beginning. Pokemon came on the market at the same time as a tv-programme with
educational value and as a Nintendo game and was both an ingenious marketing concept for the collection of the
many cards, toys and balls, as at the same time being ‘designed for heightened levels of interactivity for
children.’ The same holds true for series as Dragon ball and the Sponge Bob Squarepants animation series which
all have been distributed along similar intertextual lines of promotion. (Marshall, 2002: 72, 78)
Finally the cult movie is becoming more and more often consciously marketed as an intertextual commodity.
Increasingly tied to websites it makes use of the connection of industries to enhance its impact. And media
industries encourage this by providing a wealth of linkages and associated sites for background stories and other
various sorts of information, this way servicing an already active and eager audience. (Marshall, 2002: 79)
37. For, for starters, these films often address the audience directly, confronting them, and acknowledging them
openly. Then secondly the films were often part of a succession of entertainment usually placed as twodimensional entertainment within a bigger program of three-dimensional acts as music and variety performances,
and though this was often given an overarching structure by its presenter, the attractions themselves were not
necessarily connected as development was not necessarily needed for the entertainment value of the individual
act. The exhibitor in addition would like a fairground barker stress the spectacle of each and every element in the
program to focus audience attention and arouse curiosity and anticipation for the upcoming act in order to
heighten the sense of spectacle. So while having an overarching structure (Musser, 2006: 162-173) the
discontinuity and interruption within its presentation would have likely made it difficult for the audience not to
remain aware of their own presence and the act of looking at an act of display while anxiously awaiting the
promise of a visceral thrill, and so it is likely the spectator would have vacillated between belief and disbelief
while watching the program of attractions.
40. One might note how he in MI-I is suspected of being the mole in the agency and has to go against it to prove
himself but he also solves this by helping the agency to find the mole and save the object in question and in MIII one might note his very personal love affair with his team partner but here as well it all stays within the
mission as it was assigned to him.
47. As both Gunning and Darley remind us, on one hand there was the growth of optical technologies which
culminated in the cinematograph; from the 1700s the technology of visual representation had grown to new
visual techniques as photography, rapid photography and finally film cameras. (Darley, 2000: 39, 46) en
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(Gunning, 1999: 821-822) And the cinematic device was something in itself with its ability to project and
transform a still image into a moving projection.
53. Secondly his relationship with them is mainly based on their work; for they do not see each other in between
missions. Though they speak on personal issues the team is not present at his engagement party (even though the
end of the film might suggest friendship).
54. Finally one could say the relation with the relatively normal family members of Julia focusses attention on
Ethan’s extraordinary skills and emphasize his heroic characteristics both with the men and with the women; and
his relationship to his boss is characteristic of action conventions; he is dutiful and dedicated but disobedient
when he thinks it is necessary, yet in the end responsible and loyal to the case.
55. As this scene unfolds we glide with him from a diagonal roof and stop just before another great depth staring
at us, a little further on he jumps out of a window with a parachute that won’t open so we as spectators get
entangled in the falling while going back and forth as we plunge into the depth and we are taken to the ground at
high speed and losing any sense of ground beneath our own feet.
56. For instance in the representation of the inside of the IMF office, the inside of the Vatican emphasized at the
end of the scene by a beautiful shot of the city, the overwhelming aerial shots of Shanghai, the rooftops of
Shanghai and the small houses along the canal in Shanghai, all just for looking-at.
70. Because science-fiction has often been popular in scientific and military circles these fans have often been
quick to use digital technologies for these fan activities in Jenkins, 2002: 159 based on Sherry Turkle. The
second self. Computers and the human spirit. New York: Touchstone, 1984 on. the role of science fiction in
early hacker culture, and his own article Science fiction audiences. Watching doctor Who and Star Trek. London:
Routledge, 1995
75. And he distinguishes between organic groups as family, clans or tribes, social groups as nations, institutions,
religions and corporations etc., and self-organised groups as for instance these virtual communities on the
Internet.
76. This is of course something media institutions benefit from as well for its free promotion and ‘the advertising
engine’ will keep itself running for it runs on the motivation of the participants, without any effort from their
part. They are therefore willing to serve this interactivity a long way and it will be hard for them to determine
where to draw the boundaries.
80. In the decades thereafter the vanguard movement was divided into two directions: with the more radical
vanguard representatives occupying themselves mainly with the theoretical part on the one side, and with the
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other side being taken up mainly by vanguard critics working with pop avant-garde largely in the underground
movement and midnight movie circuit from where they have up to the present-day very often been able to be of
widespread influence. (Taylor, 1999: 8)
82. And as author of the book ‘The Power of Play’ finds that these free forms of play are all too often replaced
by scheduled activities, activities aimed at academic preparation, or by passive leisure activities, while in fact
these spontaneous activities set the best preparation for learning,
83. Clayton, Victoria. “Should preschools teach all work and no play?”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20056147/ on August 6, 2007 She published these findings in 1999 after a study
of 721 four-year olds subjected to three different pre-school models: ‘play based, academic (adult directed) and
middle of the road (programs that did not follow either philosophy)’ and in which she followed the children’s
‘language, self-help, social, motor and adaptive development along with basic skills.’
85. However, opposing play versus academics is a false dichotomy according to Deborah Stipek, dean of the
school of education at Stanford University who states that these need to go hand in hand, something that is also
very much underscored by Elkind in his article and book)
88. See for more reading for example:
Weinstein, Matt. Managing to have fun. How Fun at Work Can Motivate Your Employees, Inspire Your
Coworkers, and Boost Your Bottom Line. New York: Fireside / Simon and Schuster Inc., 1997 en
Yerkes, Leslie. Fun works. Creating places where people love to work. San Francisco: Berret-Koehler: 2007
There is increasing attention for this need when it comes to adults in their work environment; a need for
employees to experience more ‘fun’ in their work has been the subject of ample studies noting the benefits not
only for the employees but also for the benefits of the companies like in terms of productivity and in playing an
important role in the reduction of absence rates and health care costs. As certain case studies have shown it can
help to boost morale and team motivation, improve productivity, and create a sense of community.
89. Juliet B Schor, an Associate Professor of Economics at Harvard University notes that research shows that
over the last twenty years, ‘the average employed person is now on the job an additional 163 hours, or the
equivalent of an extra month a year.’ (US study) This is related to another trend starting in the 1980; a decline in
paid time off such as holidays, sick pay and bereavement time; ‘as employees become more fearful about job
loss, they spent less time away from the workplace. (Schor, 1992: 29, 32)
91. Oakeshott writes how play forms, as Aristotle said, “a non-laborious activity” as it is an activity that is not
aimed at the satisfaction of wants, instead it is a ‘leisure-activity, that is not the same as work, nor the same as
rest, but nevertheless an activity that may ‘have rules of its own and be played with energy and require effort, but
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is emancipated from the seriousness, the purposefulness, and the alleged ‘importance’ of work and the
satisfactions of wants. [My italics]
Oakeshott uses “work”, ‘in a wide sense, to stand for the activity of satisfying wants in a world like ours
that can be made to satisfy wants but does not so automatically.’ On the other hand he uses the term ‘“play” in a
wide sense to stand for an activity that, because it is not directed to the satisfaction of wants, entails an attitude to
the world that is not concerned to use it, to get something out of it, or to make something of it, and offers
satisfactions that are not at the same time frustrations.’ By ‘wants’ he is referring to our random human desires
which are not necessarily connected to our needs and in this sense he could be related to Fromm whom I shall
discuss further on in this chapter, if these needs correspond to the needs that Fromm suggests.
He also mentions an interesting fact which is that we are often accustomed to interpreting the word
“school” in a way of having to do with learning to obtain the skills and knowledge required to get a job in order
to satisfy our wants, but that the word itself has its root in the Greek word “skole” meaning right the opposite,
namely “free time” or “leisure” and that school was originally a place ‘where one was introduced to those
activities and attitudes towards the world that were not concerned with satisfying wants, where one was
introduced to those activities of explanation and imagination that were “free” because they were pursued for
their own sake and were emancipated from the limitations and anxieties of “work.”(...) In this situation,
generations may be deprived of that acquaintance with the activities of Homo ludens that was once thought to be
the better part of education.’ Now as school may not likely be the place where this will occur once again at any
time soon, interactive media however might be more likely to fulfill this need.
In his connecting of work with these ‘wants’ as random human desires which are not necessarily
connected to our needs his opinion is also closely related to Juliet B. Schor’s standpoint on human desires in
‘The Overworked American’ in which she considers the ‘work-and-spend cycle asking the question of how it
would be possible to get off the treadmill. Her answer to the question suggests we could only get off if we find a
way to lower these human desires. This way creating more leisure time is of course a helpful factor though I
think it would only be part of the problem.
93. One of the leading proponents of the concept of play, Brian Sutton-Smith (Professor of Education)
approaches the concept of play from many different disciplines, like biology, psychology, and education to
metaphysics, mathematics, and sociology, in what is probably the most extensive study in recent times ‘the
Ambiguity of Play’. (Sutton-Smith, 1997) He tries to describe the concept of play in a more marginal way by
exploring it in many different discourses which he organizes in seven ‘rhetorics’ and these may vary from
rhetorics of animal progress to rhetorics of fate, to rhetorics of identity, and so on, in the process covering play in
many of its diverse forms. As play is an extensive subject this work is very insightful, however because his
approach is too broad it is less usable here for it includes play in too many diverse forms and I would like to
narrow it down so I can use it in a more specific manner, which is probably most in line with Sutton-Smith’s
chapter on rhetorics of self. (In this chapter he discusses the relationship between the self and play and the
subject of self-actualisation.)
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
He explains that play as one of the human traits has transcended generations all throughout the ages and
therefore he tries to map the many discourses surrounding the subject both with regards to child development as
well for adults, and even for nonhuman species. From this he concludes that it provides us with a ‘mental
feedback that reinforces both animal and human variability’ and tries to argue how ‘different aspects of this
feedback might offer the components for a new social science of play’. While suggesting that play still has many
possibilities to offer his approach however is a broad one, covering the subject from many perspectives as he
uses his work more as a study for analysis and debate, instead of using a straightforward approach of defining it
in solid terms, for surely as he writes ‘No theory of play would be adequate if it did not leave scope for its own
deconstruction and distortion into nonsense. Any earnest definition of play has to be haunted by the possibility
that playful enjoinders will render it invalid.’ (Sutton-Smith, 1997: 213)
97. In a very similar vein in a more recent writing we find a very interesting notion of play in Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow. Csikszentmihalyi after research created a theory of ‘optimal experience’.
This could be achieved when ‘a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to
accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen’ He
created his theory based on the concept of flow – ‘the state in which people are so involved in an activity that
nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it at great cost, for the sheer
sake of doing it.’ This would give people a sense of mastery and participation in their lives and would therefore
be an enjoyable experience. Though flow is an inner state that depends much on the person, our aim is to create
conditions that stimulate these characteristics of the flow experience to be likely to be present. For instance this
inner state requires an order of consciousness which happens when attention is narrowed by a limited field of
stimuli and is concentrated by the awareness of a goal and skills more or less match the invitation for action.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Beyond boredom and anxiety. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 1977: 38-46 quoted in
Sutton-Smith, 1997: 184-185.
101. For we could also rephrase the question in another way: do we want to become human beings with poorly
developed faculties but with superhuman prosthesis? Or do we want to become human beings with well
developed faculties aided by technology that is constructed for our human needs? While universality seems to
have become almost a dirty word in humanity studies, there is much to learn from work in several disciplines on
the subject of human nature that could be relevant in rethinking interactive media works. Yet as it is in scientific
nature to generalize and find commonalities or concepts which could possibly pertain to larger- scale areas as
well, we might not have to go back to any ‘Master Narrative’ or ‘Grande Histoire’ of progress, but we can take
other directions. Fromm as an example tries to find something that binds us by analyzing some conditions we
have in common as human beings and so takes a more humanist approach. But no matter which approach, the
deeper our human understanding the better we can create interactive media works.
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
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Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
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AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES
84
Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
1.MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III (U.S.A: J.J. Abrams, 2006)
2. Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma. Atari, Inc. 2003
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Shelly Merkelbach
Studentnummer: 0218294
Vak: MA thesis
Docent: Catherine Lord
Datum: 19-08-2008
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