NOT OF WOMAN BORN: MONSTROUS INTERFACES AND MONSTROSITY IN VIDEO GAMES By LAURIE N. TAYLOR A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2006 Copyright 2006 by Laurie N. Taylor To Pete. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have many people to thank for this dissertation: my friends, family, and teachers. I would also like to thank the University of Florida for encouraging the study of popular media, with a high level of critical theory and competence. This dissertation also would not have been possible without the diligent help and guidance from my committee members, Donald Ault and Jane Douglas, as well as numerous other faculty members and graduate students both at the University of Florida and at other institutions. Thanks go to friends and loved ones (and cats): Colin, Jeremiah, Nix, Galahad, and Mila. And, thanks go always to Pete, for helping with research, discussion, giving me love and support, and for being wonderful. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................iv ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1 Introduction..............................................................................................................1 The Gothic................................................................................................................5 Horror Films...........................................................................................................11 Ludic Gothic and Horror Games.............................................................................14 Gender and Textuality ............................................................................................18 Game Studies..........................................................................................................20 2 ENEMIES, MONSTERS, AND THE OTHER IN VIDEO GAMES .......................23 Conflict, Opponents, Enemies, and Monsters..........................................................24 The Player-Character and Her Opponent(s).............................................................27 Monsters and Horror...............................................................................................29 Monstrous Focus in Resident Evil and Fatal Frame ................................................33 Monsters and the Other...........................................................................................41 Conclusion .............................................................................................................43 3 FRACTURED INDENTITIES: SIBLINGS AND DOPPELGANGERS IN VIDEO GAMES.....................................................................................................46 Siblings in Structure: Player-Characters and Enemies .............................................51 Siblings in Narrative...............................................................................................55 Sibling Worlds: Chaos of Changing Structures .......................................................60 Sibling Worlds: Enemies and Monsters...................................................................66 Characters...............................................................................................................68 Doubles, Shadows, and the Other............................................................................70 Conclusion: Survival Horror and Family Border Crossings.....................................74 4 GOTHIC SUBVERSIONS OF GENDER: WOMEN HEROES IN VIDEO GAMES..................................................................................................................76 Gothic and Gender..................................................................................................78 v Gender as Style.......................................................................................................79 Conclusion .............................................................................................................99 5 REMNANTS, RUINS, AND RUPTURES: HORROR VIDEO GAMES’ SUBVERSION OF CAPITALISTIC CONCEPTIONS OF SPACE......................102 Introduction..........................................................................................................102 Video Game Spatiality..........................................................................................104 Typical Video Game Spatial Construction ............................................................106 Space in Ludic Gothic and horror games...............................................................111 Gothic, Horror, and Spaces of Memory.................................................................118 Gothic’s Discontents.............................................................................................121 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................123 6 DOCUMENTING HORROR: VIDEO GAMES AS INTERACTIVE, AND UNREAL, DOCUMENTARIES...........................................................................126 Introduction..........................................................................................................126 Documentary and Docu-games .............................................................................129 Mock-documentaries for the Voiceless and Invisible ............................................133 Docu-games for the Undocumentable ...................................................................138 Documentary Traditions in Fictional Games .........................................................145 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................147 7 PLATFORM DEPENDENT: CONSOLE AND COMPUTER CULTURES .........152 Introduction..........................................................................................................152 Game Culture Platform Dependence.....................................................................155 Academics and Computer Vs. Console Games......................................................156 Internal Divisions: Console Wars..........................................................................160 Gaming Interface..................................................................................................163 Consoles are for Kids............................................................................................166 Places and Ways of Play: Living Rooms, Online Hints, and Game Play Conventions.....................................................................................................167 Game Genres........................................................................................................173 Conclusion: Platforms for Academics...................................................................174 8 SEQUELS, PREQUELS, AND SERIALITY IN VIDEO GAMES .......................176 Introduction..........................................................................................................176 Continuing Narratives, Closure, and Character Development................................178 Serials and Series..................................................................................................180 Sequels, Prequels, and Seriality in Games.............................................................187 Defying Closure: Serial Functioning of Ludic Gothic and Horror Games..............192 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................199 LIST OF REFERENCES.............................................................................................203 vi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................217 vii Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy NOT OF WOMAN BORN: MONSTROUS INTERFACES AND MONSTROSITY IN VIDEO GAMES By Laurie N. Taylor May 2006 Chair: Donald Ault Major Department: English Not of Woman Born combines an examination of the structure and genre of horror within video games to analyze how horror video games operate and the significance of those workings to video games and digital media, horror across media types, Gothic literature, and gender. The majority of texts on games—like Espen Aarseth’s Cybertext and Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s Rules of Play—have focused on founding the overall methods by which games operate, either in terms of other media forms or solely within games and new media. Not of Woman Born focuses on the particularities of horror games to illustrate commonalities in video games, and to illustrate how certain conventions fail or can be subverted in order to produce particular effects. Running through the chapters is an awareness of games and their current placement as mass-conglomerated media, even as games repeatedly diverge into alternative projects like independent and political games and movements like the Serious Games Initiative and the Games for Health projects. Not viii of Woman Born configures game and new media