Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


ohiou1345038934.pdf (1.56 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

A Binary Within the Binary: Machinima as Digital Agency and Growing Commercial Incorporation

Brown, Megan R.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1345038934

Abstract Details

2012, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, Film Studies (Fine Arts).
This thesis traces machinima, films created in real-time from videogame engines, from the exterior toward the interior, focusing on the manner in which the medium functions as a tool for marginalized expression in the face of commercial and corporate inclusion. I contextualize machinima in three distinct contexts: first, machinima as historiography, which allows its minority creators to articulate and distribute their interpretation of national and international events without mass media interference. Second, machinima as a form of fan fiction, in which filmmakers blur the line between consumers and producers, a feature which is slowly being warped as videogame studios begin to incorporate machinima into marketing techniques. Finally, the comparison between psychoanalytic film theory, which explains the psychological motivations behind cinema's appeal, applied to videogames and their resulting machinima, which knowingly disregard established theory and create agency through parody. These three approaches culminate to reveal machinima's dual nature as an expression of fandom agency and corporate expansion.
Dr. Louis-Georges Schwartz, PhD (Committee Chair)
Dr. Ofer Eliaz, PhD (Committee Member)
Dr. Karen Riggs, PhD (Committee Member)
129 p.
Film Studies
machinima; videogames; video games; agency; fan fiction; identification; immersion; historiography; corporate; Metz; Bazin

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Brown, M. R. (2012). A Binary Within the Binary: Machinima as Digital Agency and Growing Commercial Incorporation [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1345038934

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Brown, Megan. A Binary Within the Binary: Machinima as Digital Agency and Growing Commercial Incorporation. 2012. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1345038934.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Brown, Megan. "A Binary Within the Binary: Machinima as Digital Agency and Growing Commercial Incorporation." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1345038934

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1345038934
2,503
© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.