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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Theatre and the video game: beauty and the beast

Whitlock, Katherine Lynne
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1086119742

Abstract Details

2004, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Theatre.
As technology is altering the world, electronic games are changing the face of popular entertainment, infecting spectators with a craving for spectacle and interaction. Games allow viewers to become active participants in dramatic narrative, transforming audience into performer. The game player is joining in a mediatized theatrical experience that reshapes notions of performance, theatre, and audience. The first theatre scholar to connect theatre, computers, and performance was Brenda Laurel. Speculating on the nature of user interaction with the computer, Laurel used the Aristotelian elements of dramatic structure to create a new poetics for interactive fantasy generated in the computer realm. Since Laurel’s initial work in 1986, games have evolved beyond those of her pioneering study, creating a level of theatrical experience worthy of critical examination. The games from the late 1990’s and into the current century show a level of complexity in design and narrative that compels a re-examination of what has been dismissed by many as escapist entertainment. The electronic game industry has adopted theatrical devices and principles to produce a live, non-repeatable, and new form of theatrical experience. My research draws from traditional theatre theorists (such as Aristotle, Bertolt Brecht, Adolphe Appia, and Augusto Boal), modern theatre and performance theorists (such as Brenda Laurel, Janet Murray, Gay McAuley, and Richard Schechner), and game design theorists (such as Steven Poole, Bob Bates, and Richard Rouse), to assess the electronic game as a new and distinctive form of performance. This dissertation will examine a variety of computer and video games from five perspectives: 1) space 2) plot structures, 3) character, 4) theme, and 5) interactivity, with a view to articulating the modes of kinship between games and live performance. In recognizing and articulating such relationships, both gaming and theatre benefit, strengthening the aesthetic and structural creation of performance through technological means while recognizing the evolution of the current century audience from passive to active, spectator to player/performer.
Lesley Ferris (Advisor)
264 p.
Theater
Theatre; video games; Brenda Laurel; Aristotle; Bertolt Brecht; Augusto Boal; theatre design; game design; RPG; role-playing games; MMORPG; massive multiplayer games; third person action

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Whitlock, K. L. (2004). Theatre and the video game: beauty and the beast [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1086119742

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Whitlock, Katherine. Theatre and the video game: beauty and the beast. 2004. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1086119742.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Whitlock, Katherine. "Theatre and the video game: beauty and the beast." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1086119742

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1086119742
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© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.