School of Culture and Communication - Research Publications
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Item'Hail to the King!' – the return of doom( 2004-12)It was back in 1993 that the horror was unleashed in the form of the DOOM: EVIL UNLEASHED. Developed by the Texas-based company id Software, this computer game was to introduce radical innovations not only to the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre, but also to the soft and hardware technology that drove gaming. In 1994, the sequel DOOM II: HELL ON EARTH was to push the envelope further still. Drawing upon the science fiction and horror conventions of cinematic examples like ALIEN (Ridley Scott, 1979), ALIENS (James Cameron, 1986) and EVIL DEAD II (Sam Raimi, 1987), both DOOM games upped the ante in game culture by transferring experiences familiar to the horror and science fiction film spectator over to the gamer. Discussing DOOM's influences, Jay Wilbur, the then chief executive officer of id stated that id ‘wanted to make an ALIEN-like game that captured the fast-paced action, brutality and fear of those movies’, while also amplifying the action and horror with EVIL DEAD II, whose ‘chainsaws and shotguns are an unbeatable combination’. It would not be an understatement to say that these two games are up there with the most popular and influential games in game history. Significantly, one of the concerns of the games’ creators – John Carmack and John Romero – was to transfer the dread, suspense and terror that was familiar to film audiences into the game environment. Fast forward to 2004: a new breed of game horror is born again in the form of the PC-game DOOM 3 (to be released in December 2004 on X"Box). Like its addictive predecessors, DOOM 3 introduces an even greater ‘filmic’ quality to its game space and, yet again, a new standard of gaming aesthetics and technology is created. Todd Hollenshead, head of id Software has stated that ‘DOOM 3 is a video game experience unlike any before it… From the cinema quality visuals and the incredible 5.1 sound, to the terrifying atmosphere and hyper-realistic environments, the whole game screams “interactive horror film”.’ In particular, the DOOM games typify a strong tendency amongst game developers towards fetishizing the film object, and what is perceived as the cinema’s convincing illusion of ‘realism’. But the cinema is by no means the only media form that has impacted upon games. Through an analysis of DOOM 3 and its heritage, this essay will address the question of games and their history, arguing that their reliance on past sources does not detract from their uniqueness. The creators of games like DOOM 3 deliberately place their creations within a rich, diverse tapestry of media history not in an admission of their lack of originality, but rather so that they can flag their innovation. In fact, as will be argued below, the ways in which John Carmack (Lead Programmer of the DOOM trilogy) and the rest of the production team at id Software arrange and reshape their influences has a story to tell us about how these games situate themselves within the arena of competing entertainment media.
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ItemSusan Norrie( 2004)The work of Susan Norrie, which now spans more than two decades, is challenging, provocative and inspirational. As with all visionary artists, Norrie’s practice has developed and changed over time, now incorporating painting, objects, still and moving images and sound. from her paintings to her installations and video projections, Norrie’s work combines technical brilliance and extraordinary talent with an acute and restless intelligence.
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ItemImperial legacy: the politics of display in Australia( 2004)Somewhere among the countless rows of objects currently on display in the British Museum’s Enlightenment exhibition there rests a flaking bark shield. This battered, utilitarian object stands somewhat apart from the splendidly exotic artefacts that surround it. Yet beneath its unprepossessing appearance there lies an extraordinary provenance. It was taken in 1770 from the Eastern Australian seaboard by Captain Cook’s landing party during its initial encounter with the first inhabitants of the land incorporating what is now known as Sydney. The shield has been placed in a display of non-Western artefacts acquired during the period of Enlightenment discovery “through gift, trade or purchase”. In truth, however, none of these words could be used to describe its acquisition. It was hardly given, since it came into the party’s possession as a result of their shooting at a group of Eora people who left the cover of trees, apparently shouting at them to leave. Neither was it traded, unless one views a bullet fired in anger as a fair offer of exchange. Nor could it be called a purchase, unless one counts as a purchase price the blood shed by its original owner as he was hit trying to flee the invaders.
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ItemAbstract art, ethics and interpretation: the case of Mario Radice( 2004)Modernist abstract art can be interpreted as the expression of ethical ideals. The elimination of figuration and illusionistic space in the work of abstract painters such as Piet Mondrian or Frank Stella might seem to militate against any reading of their work as embodying principles or standards of human conduct. However, I will demonstrate in this essay that a specific example of modernist abstraction, created in Italy during the 1930s, can be interpreted as responding to ethical principles articulated in the culture at large. I will also show that such principles are not inherent in the formal structure of such works, as the ethical meaning attributed to them depends upon the context in which they are received.
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ItemDream cities: the uncanny powers of electric light( 2004)In his famous 1919 essay, Freud (1955: 219-252) defines the uncanny to include experiences in which inanimate objects seem to come to life. In early modernity, this sense of the uncanny accompanied the spread of electric light, itself a manifestation of the near-miraculous powers of electricity. From the moment of its initial recognition as an independent phenomenon, electricity has been a source of profound wonder. Romantics rapidly identified it with a universal life force, dramatised in the archetypal modern creation scene of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel and distilled by Goethe into ‘the soul of the world’. A century later, the prospect of widespread electrification literally dazzled the world, inspiring entrepreneurs, artists and revolutionaries alike with visions of an irresistible electrical future. At the same time, electricity has always led a double life. Beneath the Promethean narrative of limitless possibilities lies a more utilitarian tale of practical development. Counterpointing the arcane myth of electricity’s magical properties — force without muscle or steam, light without flame — is the profane physical reality of its often cumbersome technical infrastructure. Supporting the spark of the incandescent lamp which shines brighter than any jewel are unsightly poles and criss-crossing wires, not to mention ferocious patent wars and internecine struggles to form some of industrial capitalism’s most powerful corporations.
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ItemBattling over the 'truth'(Lawrence and Wishart, 2004)Controversy surrounded the legitimacy of the US/UK-led invasion of Iraq and the apparent deception of Congress and Parliament. Crucial to this controversy are two debates which touch on the relationship between the media and society. First, the management of the narratives of war raises questions about the ‘truth claims’ of news and documentary programme making. Second, the accusations of ‘spin’ allude to the role of the media in the creation and maintenance of an informed citizenry. The reporting of the rescue of Jessica Lynch, and the marginalisation of dissenting and ‘other’ voices, suggests that partial coverage of events threatens the very values of citizenship and democracy.
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ItemHope: an e-modulating motion of deterritorialization( 2004)What keeps people going after an experience or encounter with an event that damages their sense of human vitality? The sense that is essential for a human organism to function properly: the will to live. The innate drive and joy of encounters and gleaning of skills which children own: the will to play. What causes the loss of one's possession of the will to joy; the curiosity inherent in the pursuit of the unfamiliar or the barely glimpsed; the production of fresh emotional responsiveness with which to claim an experiential event? What reduces the movement and modulations of emotion - e-modulating-motion - to an immobile point? An event that can cause the neural mapping of the traumatized body to return a message to the brain that says 'indifference' or 'despair', causing the body to undo its resident emotion of learned wonder. After a 'bomb sandwich', as Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf referred to the United States' practice of alternately dropping bombs and food over Afghanistan, what forms of hope or revelation could possibly be conveyed to the body of the receiver? The will to eat in the affective zone of probable pain, disability and death.
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ItemPluralising identity, mainstreaming identities: SBS as a technology of citizenship( 2004)This paper develops a theoretically and analytically informed response to recent public criticisms of Australia’s multicultural television service, SBS. To this end, it suggests how work on liberal ‘governmentality’ provides a basis for understanding SBS as a ‘technology of citizenship’ within a broader apparatus of liberal-democratic government. This framework is deployed in an historical analysis of how SBS’s performance of this role has been shaped by the field of political relations in which it is located. This analysis provides the basis for an assessment of SBS’s current situation, and the strategies adopted by the broadcaster in response to it.
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