Geographies of the Underworld: the Poetics of Chthonic Embodiment and Game Worlds
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GEOGRAPHIES OF THE UNDERWORLD: THE POETICS OF CHTHONIC EMBODIMENT AND GAME WORLDS A Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty By Kathryn DeWitt Fletcher In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Digital Media Georgia Institute of Technology May, 2008 GEOGRAPHIES OF THE UNDERWORLD: THE POETICS OF CHTHONIC EMBODIMENT AND GAME WORLDS Approved by: Dr. Michael Nitsche, Advisor Dr. Eugene Thacker School of Literature, Communication School of Literature, Communication and Culture and Culture Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Celia Pearce Dr. T. Hugh Crawford School of Literature, Communication School of Literature, Communication and Culture and Culture Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: 21 May, 2008 LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................1 1.1 THE CURIOUS SYMPATHY BETWEEN UNDERWORLDS AND VIDEO GAMES ...............................................1 1.2. THE CONCEPT OF UNDERWORLD................................................................................................................2 1.3 THE INFLUENCE OF THE UNDERWORLD IN MEDIA......................................................................................5 1. 4 THE HISTORIC PREVALENCE OF THE UNDERWORLD IN VIDEO GAMES ....................................................9 1.5 INFERNO: ONE UNDERWORLD’S VIDEO GAME HISTORY .........................................................................15 1.6 THE UNDERWORLD’S HOME IN VIDEO GAMES.........................................................................................19 1.7 POETICS: CHTHONIC PERSPECTIVES AND DEFINITIONS............................................................................37 1.8 CHTHONIC EMBODIMENT: PERSPECTIVES AND DEFINITIONS...................................................................38 1.9 THESIS SCOPE AND STRUCTURE ................................................................................................................40 CHAPTER 2 EMBODIMENT IN DIGITAL AND SPIRITUAL SPACE .................................................47 2.1 CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DIGITAL AND SPIRITUAL SPACE ......................................................................47 2.2 SOUL AS SPIRIT BODY................................................................................................................................50 2.3 GAME AVATAR AS SPIRIT BODY ...............................................................................................................52 2.4 POETICS THROUGH DIVERSE APPROACHES ..............................................................................................55 2.5 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................................56 CHAPTER 3 INFERNO E PURGATORIO: CHTHONIC EMBODIMENT IN DANTE’S COMMEDIA........................................................................................................................................................58 3.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMEDIA ...........................................................................................................58 3.2 DANTE’S INTERPRETATION OF THE BODY.................................................................................................60 3.3 INFERNO AND PURGATORIO IN RELATION TO PARADISO...........................................................................61 3.4 PURGATORY AND INFERNO AS CONNECTED GEOGRAPHY........................................................................64 3.5 NARRATIVE PROGRESSION THROUGH LOVE, SPACE AND BODIES ...........................................................69 3.6 THE BODY IN THE COMMEDIA....................................................................................................................72 3.6.1 Categories of Being I: Living Mortals...........................................................................................................73 3.6.2 Categories of Being II: the Dead ...................................................................................................................79 3.6.2.1 The Damned...........................................................................................................................................79 3.6.2.2 The Penitents..........................................................................................................................................83 3.6.2.3 Categories of Being III: Living Immortals ...........................................................................................85 3.7 EMBODIED RITUAL.....................................................................................................................................86 3.7.1 Ritualized Punishment in the Inferno ............................................................................................................87 3.7.2 Ritual in Purgatory: Physical Trial and Spiritual Progression......................................................................88 CHAPTER 4........................................................................................................................................................93 WORLD OF WARCERAFT: THE BODIES OF THE AVATAR..............................................................93 4. 1 INTRODUCTION TO WORLD OF WARCRAFT ................................................................................................93 4.2 UBIQUITY OF EMBODIED METAPHOR IN WOW..........................................................................................95 4.2.1 Embodiment and Constructed Space................................................................................................96 4.3 THE AVATAR AS BODY ............................................................................................................................104 4.2.1 As “Cyber” Body.............................................................................................................................105 4.2.2 Avatar As Tool.................................................................................................................................108 4.2.3 Conventions: Body as Interactive Metaphor..................................................................................108 4.3.3.1 The Metaphor of Health............................................................................................................................109 4.3.3.2 Health and Ritual.......................................................................................................................................111 iii 4.3.3.3 Abstract Embodiment: the Example of Reputation .................................................................................113 4.3.3.4 Visible Reputation: Mounts ......................................................................................................................114 4.2.4 Avatar As Physical Body.................................................................................................................116 4.3.4.1 Categories of Being: Player Avatars in Life ............................................................................................118 4.3.4.1.1 Experience as Spatial Control ..........................................................................................................118 4.3.4.2 Categories of Being: Player Avatars in Death .........................................................................................120 4.3 CATEGORIES OF BEING: AVATAR AS SOUL BODY..................................................................................122 4.4 CATEGORIES OF BEING: OTHER BODIES .................................................................................................125 4.5 RITUAL AND THE BODY ...........................................................................................................................128 4.5.1 Ritual and Advancement..................................................................................................................129 4.5.2 Holy Days in Azeroth ......................................................................................................................130 4.5.2.1 Holidays in WoW and Real-life Equivalents ...........................................................................................130 4.5.2.2 Brewfest: Tipsy Trolls and Drunken Dwarves.........................................................................................131 4.6 THE AVATAR AS ULTIMATELY TRANSCENDENTAL BODY......................................................................132 CHAPTER 5......................................................................................................................................................136 THE CHTHONIC POETICS OF EMBODIMENT ....................................................................................136 5.1. SUMMARY ...............................................................................................................................................136 5.2 CHTHONIC EMBODIMENT: CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DANTE’S COMMEDIA AND WORLD OF WARCRAFT ........................................................................................................................................................................138