UCLA

“Adaptation, Remediation, and Reciprocity” analyzes the developmental relationship between twentieth-century narratives in fiction and film, and twenty-first century video games. The dissertation synthesizes major developments in narrative theory, media studies, and game studies, applying this framework to novel, film, and, video game adaptations as case studies. Analysis is broken down via established structural categories of storytelling: event structure, time, character, and point of view. The results indicate the relationship between games, film, and novels is historically reciprocal, as games have also influenced the storytelling techniques available to writers and filmmakers. These developments contribute to current efforts in narrative theory and media studies to understand both the unique and shared aspects of games as a popular storytelling form which have become increasingly conventional in the twenty-first century.