The Good
- It's a really interesting narrative they created. The story of the cult, and Eva, and trying to figure out the mystery is one that appealed to a lot of people. It naturally appeals to people's curiosity, and I believe this is one of the huge factors in how they got so many enthusiastic participants.
- The beginning of the film was really attention-grabbing. I wasn't sure what I was watching at first, if it was real or fake. It was hard to pick out where the ARG began and the film about it ended.
- In terms of the game itself, I think people were drawn to it because of how physical and tactile it was. More than any other examples we've seen in class, this one placed the most emphasis on the player actually holding and acquiring items, and actually physically doing things with their bodies. Even the movie itself is like an object of the ARG, because it continues the narrative that the game began.
- The bright, flashy, "down the rabbit hole" graphics and color scheme of the movie was very distracting and difficult to watch in some places. I was too preoccupied with the things on the screen rather than what was being said.
- I wish they would have discussed more of the logistics of the game. What I really wanted to know the whole time was how they managed to plan such a large scale event, including how they got the physical properties ready and available for the players. For instance, I would like to know how many of the keys with a map they made and how they made them.
- While the way the movie worked as part of the transmedia storytelling narrative of the Jejune Institute, I think that as a movie, it would have been more successful with a straightforward and traditional documentary approach. By immersing the movie within the world of the ARG, it makes it alienating to people who don't have any previous knowledge of the game or how those games work in general.
Overall, I liked the movie because I thought the content was interesting. If I was not familiar with the concept of ARGs before watching it, however, I doubt I would have liked it at all. It really requires a familiarity with context to totally understand, especially from the beginning as you are shown the Induction Room and video from the perspective a player.
I really like the way you categorized the good and bad aspects of the film. I completely agree with the point you made about not knowing a lot of the things that happened within the game. I felt that they left several key factors out that kept viewers guessing. I personally think you made all the necessary points in your post regarding the film.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you've broken it up into Good/Bad. That's a useful way of getting a sense of the movie in balance.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the movie might be unsatisfying and yet still "appropriate" to the Institute? Would it ruin it or destroy it if it revealed too much? Is there a balance between explanation and maintaining the mystery?
I'm glad you mention the plot and Eva. I think it's hard to grasp the Institute plot, hard to know what to make of Eva within all that - of course, the part of me that wishes the movie was in fact a documentary, makes me wish that I'd played, so I would (possibly?) have a sense of how it fit together.
Finally, I think that some part of the movie could have been in the flashy style you mention, but yes it did distract some ...