Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Post Modernism – Case study analysis – Doctor Who Interactive Game.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/games/graske/geoip/host.shtml

This is an online interactive game based on a Doctor Who adventure where you, the gamer, become the doctor’s latest companion. I believe this is post-modern because it incorporates both a game set up as well as an acting narrative and involves the player in the narrative itself. The game opens just like an episode of the show with the rolling credits and soundtrack, the camera is then used to represent the gamer inside the tardis, to which David Tennant as the doctor says ‘Ah, I need your help. Do you fancy a trip in the tardis?’. This delves into hyper reality, as the viewer of the tv show becomes a part of the story too, shown when Tennant says to the camera ‘I just dropped Rose off for a bit’. This immerses the gamer into the narrative. After teaching the gamer what to do, Tennant says ‘Well get out there. This is your show!’, making the gamer become a real character within the narrative. The game is online and on the Doctor Who tv show’s official BBC website and helps to further promote not only the show but also the brand and the actors and writers themselves. Within the game, footage from an actual episode is used, therefore again blurring the line of reality – of what you watch at home and what you become a part of as a gamer. It breaks down the structure of what it is to be a viewer and consumer of a programme and through a different type of media – a game – allows the audience to become a part of the narrative of the drama show. Although the show and game is based in the genre of science fiction, it does parallel with our own reality and culture, particularly because all of the Doctor’s companions have been humans and also because the show promotes the idea of being morally right and reflects western and predominantly British culture. This is also shown in the game, as the gamer takes on a role they have seen be performed before and play with their logic and also fantasy intact. 

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