Becoming the Gamepad: How the Video Game Genre Gives the Illusion of Agency
Since the release of Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel’s Super Mario Bros. in 1993, a new cinematic genre slowly developed: the video game film. While this genre may take on many forms, what each movie has in common is its relationship to video game techniques or aesthetics. Some directors merely adapt existing video games for the screen, with films like Tomb Raider (Uthaug, 2018) or Uncharted (Fleischer, 2022). Others borrow several audio and visual elements commonly found in games. Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) is a perfect example of the latter. In this video, I took almost every video game element from the film and showed it next to its source material. For the final paper, I argue that hypermediacy and remediation are what make viewers feel more connected to the film, giving the illusion that they are actually playing a video game. Wright’s unnatural and hypermediated style of filmmaking attaches the spectator to the content and actively involves them in the movie-watching experience. There is a certain dependency on the viewer acknowledging references and conventions to feel more immersed in this video game type of universe. By editing a fast-paced hypermediated video myself, I directly demonstrate the ways in which Wright relies on video game aesthetics and how closely the film content relates to a viewer’s knowledge of popular gameplay. Not only does this video show the true familiar origins of Scott Pilgrim, but it also demonstrates how these video game qualities become generally recognizable even outside their realm of construction.
All examples come from the video game series: Super Smash Bros., Dance Dance Revolution, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Bros., No More Heroes, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Forza, Guitar Hero, Soulcalibur, The Legend of Zelda, and Sonic.