UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Portal
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Portal Still Alive and Portal 2: Lessons from Critical Narrative Gaming Pedagogy A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements of the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education By Lisa Josefina Yamasaki © Copyright by Lisa Josefina Yamasaki 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Portal Still Alive and Portal 2: Lessons from Critical Narrative Gaming Pedagogy By Lisa Josefina Yamasaki Doctor of Philosophy in Education University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Douglas M. Kellner, Chair Due to the increasing popularity of video games in mass media culture, I will be investigating one particular video game series, Portal: Still Alive and Portal 2 , and the manner by which players learn from them. After observing that most instructors use these games in physics and math classes, I want to expand more on the way that video games enact a new story- telling feature through experiential means, which also serves a pedagogical function. I assert that players learn from games through their interactive gameplay, which allows them to engage with the game narrative that contains ideological content embedded through portrayal of characters, plot development, use of imagery and text, and thematic development. Thus, I develop my model of video game literacy through interactivity with a game narrative. My model, Critical Narrative Gaming Literacy, provides a construction of game narrative comprising of thematic development as the central component encompassing the development of the other narrative elements such as plot, character, use of symbols, setting, and point of view. A ii new form of Cultural Studies that incorporates the study of video games, Critical Narrative Gaming Literacy is informed by theorizations in Cultural Studies, Critical Pedagogy, and Psychoanalysis as articulated in Literacy Theory. In my analysis of the game series, I investigate the narrative using a means of comparison to Jacques Lacan’s reading of Antigone and examine themes of the sublimated death drive, violence, and sado-masochism, since I experienced those themes manifesting through plot and character development and the use of symbols. Due to the interactive nature of video games and variability in gameplay, I also capture the manner by which undergraduate players experience the narratives differently from each other. Thus, taking a phenomenological approach to data collection through 13 interviews with 13 different participants, I narrow my focus on 5 different participants’ experiences of the game series. These participants express their experiences of the game series as revealing a mother-daughter relationship and a cautionary tale of science and power. iii The following dissertation of Lisa Josefina Yamasaki is approved. Eleanor K. Kaufman Edith S. Omwami Val D. Rust Douglas M. Kellner, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2016 iv Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to my two nieces, Carisa Joyner and Sofia “Fifi” Joyner, whose curiosity about different aspects of my work inspires me to continue my scholarship. Carisa, I admire your eagerness to learn and achieve beyond your expectations—in a lot of ways, I have done just that in my research and in writing this dissertation. Fifi, I admire your ability to perfect your game playing techniques and admiration for French culture—also two components in my work, especially in my dissertation. May you two see that playfulness mediates between the sensuous and intellect, thus making it an essential part of scholarship. I also dedicate this dissertation to future scholars interested in similar research, especially those who find themselves in liminal stances due to being between polarities (i.e. being a mixed race scholar who uses European concepts or being a female scholar who studies predominantly male gamer interactions). My dissertation is a testament that one can use this liminality to develop new ideas and a fresh perspective. v Table of Contents Dissertation Abstract………………………………………………….………………………….ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………..iv Acknowledgements…………………………………………………….……………………….viii Vita……………………………………………………………….………………………………ix Chapter I Introduction ..................................................................................................................1 I.I Statement of the Problem: Description of the Portal Series .......................................................... 3 I.II Research Questions……………………………………..…………………………………………8 I.III Use of Portal series in the Classroom and Lesson Plans Based on Portal……………………..9 I.IV. Portal as Technoculture……………………...………………………………………………....12 I.V. Games as Phenomenological Play………………………………………………………………15 I.VI. Games in Educational Context……………………………….………………………………..20 Chapter II Critical Narrative Gaming Pedagogy…………………………………………….27 II.I Play as Concrete Enactment of Abstract Ideals in Freire, Schiller, and Marcuse…………....30 II. II. Critical Media Literacy and Cultural Studies…………………………………………….….38 II. III Narrative Structure…………………………………………………………………………….49 II. IV Narratives in Video Games…………………………………………………………………….58 Chapter III Methods...…………………………………………………………………….……69 III.I Textual Analysis Portion of the Dissertation…………………………………………………..69 Use of Psychoanalytic Lens in a Literary Theory Context…………………………………….………71 III.II Phenomenology Approach/Audience Reception……………………………………..………72 Participants…………………………..……….…………………………………………………….......75 Interviews…………………………………….………………………………………………………...77 Interview Questions………….…………..…………………………………………………………….79 Chapter IV Findings: Sublimation of the Death Drive: Affirming Life or Death………………………………………………………….………………………………....81 IV.I Life and Death Drives……………………………………………………………………………..81 IV.II Theme I: Sublimation as Repetition or Averted Death……………………………………..…84 Sublimation As the Desired Aim……………… ……………………………………….………...92 IV.III Theme II: Sadist homoerotic relationship between Chell and GLaDOS……………..……101 Sublimation Part of the Sadist Model? Comparison to Antigone……………………………………117 IV.IV How the Theme Envelops the Plot and Character Development…………………………..124 Chapter V Findings: Gender and class critique through Space Exploration………...…...132 V.I. Theme III Space Navigation Engenders Gender………………………………………...........134 Rattman’s Gaze: Chell as Life, GLaDOS as Death……………………………………………...…..135 Portal’s Fusion of Past, Present, and Future, and Deleuze’s Syntheses of Time………………..…..148 Successful 1950s Era……………………………………………………………………….…..……153 Bankruptcy Era 1970s……………………………………………………………………….………158 Technoculture Era……………………………………………………………………..…………….166 V.II. How the Theme Envelops the Plot, Character Development, and Setting…….……………170 vi Chapter VI Findings: Arising Themes in the Portal Narrative for Other Players…..........178 VI.I. Organizing and Interpreting the Data…………...……………………………..…………….178 Summary of interviews………………………………………………………………………….......179 Chart on Gender, Race, and Class…………………………………………………...………………181 Chart of Themes Found……………………………………………..……………………………….183 Chart of Literary Themes for Portal 1 and Portal 2………………………………………………….185 Mother-Daughter Theme…………………………………….……………………………………….187 Connections to Literature and Metaphors……………………………………………………………191 Deeper Observations of Five Selected Participants………………………………….………………196 Ellen’s Interpretation…………………………………………………………………………………198 Simba’s Interpretation………………………………………………………………………………..203 Nicki’s Interpretation…………………...……………………………………………………………208 Rucksbin’s Interpretation……………………………...……………………………………………..213 Gentry’s Interpretation……………………………….………………………………………………218 VI.II. Implications of Different Experiences of the Portal Narrative…………...…………………222 Chapter VII Conclusion: Implications of Critical Narrative Gaming Pedagogy…………………………………………….…………………………………..……..227 References………………………..…………………………………………………………….237 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my family for supporting my academic endeavors, especially my mom, Elena Yamasaki, for instilling in me intellectual curiosity and motivation to extend beyond my own expectations. I also thank my dad, Jose Yamasaki, for reminding me that confidence goes a long way to proving to others that I deserve to speak my perspective, even if the person who needs the most proof is myself. I would also like to thank my committee members—Doug, Eleanor, Edith, and Val—and mentor, Steve Mamber, for being instrumental in my progress in my dissertation and for patiently guiding me through my hardheaded ideas. I know I am stubborn, so you have all been incredibly patient! I am eternally grateful for your kindness and expertise in your respective areas—I would be nowhere without your devotion to giving me the tools to grow intellectually and express my ideas. Thank you for giving me a chance in your classrooms. I am very blessed to have you as my committee members and mentors. Doug, I still remember initially reading your book, Media Culture, and thinking that it would have been a long shot to be your student— it is an honor that you selected me to be your student. Eleanor, thank you for inviting me to your classroom and the Deleuze reading groups—I marvel at your abilities to make the thinkers in the French tradition so accessible to your students. Edith and Val, thank you for your endless patience in discussing my methods. Your insight really helped me consider different ways to improve my interviews and ways of getting participants. Your attention to detail helped me strengthen formal issues in my writing, an area of weakness for