The notion of adapting works into different media has always
been prevalent in popular culture, although this is often a cynical attempt to
make money from brand recognition more than anything else. I recently watched a
few episodes of the Joss Whedon TV thing, or “program”, if you will, “Dollhouse”, and it inspired me to write an article.
For those of you who don’t know, the “program” is about a
company that effectively deals in slaves, or “dolls”, in modern America. The
dolls, however, have willingly signed up to have their minds wiped, and then
have new personalities inserted to suit the needs of the customers. This can
range from fulfilling sexual desires or emotional needs to making them into
temporary assassins or spies, depending on the client. After they have done the
job, they have their mind wiped and reset back to their default mode. After a
few years of servitude they are given their old personality back and sent back
out into society. If I explained that badly, feel free to do a quick Wikipedia
check.*
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| Joss Whedon, showing off his new banister. |
There are two good reasons for thinking this. Firstly, the
idea of interchangeable personalities within the same character is a brilliant
gameplay concept. Not only does it give a narrative explanation for why one
person can do so many diverse things (unlike, say “Grand Theft Auto” or “Fallout”,
where we just accept that a talented murderer is also brilliant at flying
planes or fixing satellite dishes), but it also gives excellent progression and
limitations on a character. It can also be used to explain why you lose useful
abilities between levels, as your character has been reset and can no longer
hack computers or speak French. Compare this to the “Metroid” games, which have
to come up with increasingly convoluted ways of explaining why Samus has none
of her equipment at the start of each game.
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| Such as the incident at the start of "Other M", where Samus loses her character traits, empowerment and likability. |
The second reason I think the “doll” idea would work so well
is the narrative potential. Throughout the course of “Dollhouse” we learn more
about the previous life of Echo, the central protagonist and one of the dolls.
Whilst I think “Dollhouse” does a decent job of exploring her past and her
motivations, I think this could have worked far better in the form of a video
game. A confused perspective works to a degree in a television “program”, but
when we experience that character’s confusion in an interactive way it becomes
far more engaging. There is an episode of “Dollhouse” where Echo has memories
of breaking into a laboratory, and these break through her memory loss, helping
her artificial personality do it’s job. This is fine to watch, but I feel it
would have worked a lot better if we were playing as Echo, and had the choice
between relying on her amazing but artificial skills or her personality,
something that is a central and seemingly invincible part of her. This tension
seems so much more exciting in a video game format.
I think it’s such a shame that there is a perceived cultural
hierarchy, that seems to suggest that film and television are always the best
formats. It is a simple fact that some ideas suit some media formats better
than others. Should fans be constantly pushing for a “Halo” film? Would “Citizen
Kane” work as a television series? Could “Watchmen” work the same way as a
film?
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| I'm pretty sure Alan Moore loves it when his deconstruction of an entire medium is reduced to "ooh, look at her bum". |
*A fun game to play with Wikipedia with a friend or friends
is to hit “random article”, read out the title (and nothing else) and then you
all have to draw your interpretation of that title in 5 minutes. Jak and I have
spent many an evening playing this, and I now have a whole stack of drawings
that look like the holy book of the shittest cult ever.
