Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2012, 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.

Committee: Dr. Louis-Georges Schwartz PhD (Committee Chair); Dr. Ofer Eliaz PhD (Committee Member); Dr. Karen Riggs PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies