Download Lange MoSS Paper Final 2013

Phenomenologies of Nostalgic Music and Sound
in YouTube Game Videos
By:
Patricia G. Lange
Assistant Professor
Critical Studies
California College of the Arts
[email protected]
Abstract: Vernacular video is often perceived as self-centered. However, genres such
as video blogging and remix can reveal cultural themes and forms of entertainment that
emotionally touch broad cohorts of participants on video-sharing sites. The present
paper argues that parodic, live-action enactments of video games also invite delighted
and sometimes wistful nostalgic readings of past uses of media. This paper examines
how music and sound generate feelings of nostalgia that are linked to past media
experiences. It applies Sobchack’s (1999) phenomenological analysis, which argues
that viewers’ perceptions of mediated subjects vary according to different dimensions of
experience. For example, in Sobchack’s analysis, family members see “through”
particular home movies, quite beyond the image itself, to imagine a flood of prior
memories of the photographic subject who is depicted in a home video. Similarly, in the
present case, music and sound also enable participants to move beyond the immediate
artifact and re-experience media memories from their past. The paper argues that
Sobchack’s analysis applies to sound, which facilitates nostalgic readings of media in a
way that participants can never relive but can re-experience through aural imaginaries.
In traditional analyses of classical Hollywood films, music and sound were meant to
be heard in the background, but not actively appreciated (Lerner, 1999). Gorbman
(1987) called this “inaudibility” which means that presumably, “music is not meant to be
heard consciously. As such it should subordinate itself to dialogue, to visuals—i.e., to
the primary vehicle of the narrative” (as cited in Lerner, 1999:104). Lerner points out
that just because so-called “unheard” music is not noticed does not mean that
audiences are not processing messages and engaging in experiences aroused by it.
More recent studies have examined how music and sound are processed in other visual
genres such as video games (Zehnder and Lipscomb, 2006). Today, it is “widely
accepted” that “music plays an important role in the overall experience of video gaming”
(Zehnder and Lipscomb, 2006).
However, many research questions remain, such as, do people experience music
and sound in videos games consciously, and if so, how do viewers indicate that such
sound is actively “audible”? How do people process the sound in parodies of video
games? What aural elements are important for enjoying live-action, video adaptations
as a genre? How does sound stimulate a feeling of nostalgia in video parodies of video
games? In sum, what are the experiential effects of music and sound in video game
parodies?
This paper draws on an analysis of three live-action parodies of a classical video
game, which I will refer to here using the pseudonym of Leo’s Adventure (Chapters 1-3)
The video parodies were posted to the global-video sharing site of YouTube. They were
created by a group of teenaged youth who participated in a two-year ethnographic study
that examined how young people communicated aspects of the self and asserted
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technical identities by making and posting videos online. In the three chapters of Leo’s
Adventure discussed here, the youth acted out the roles of the characters in the video
game. Donning costumes and enacting interactions in the game, they depicted the main
character Leo, and his adventures as he accomplishes particular tasks in the video
game, such as obtaining certain objects, and fighting and overcoming evil alien
characters. It is important to remember that the videos discussed in this paper are
parodies of a video game. Parodies are defined as forms of imitation, “characterized by
ironic inversion, not always at the expense of the parodied text” (Hutcheon, 2000:6).
Parody requires work and involves communicating culturally-recognizable stances to its
source material.
The humor of creating a live-action video of a video game may yield quizzical
reactions. Video game plots and actions do not necessarily lend themselves to their
depiction via actors in a live-action version. And yet, this is an essential part of the fun.
How are teenaged actors going to portray the characters and events in a video game?
Viewers are interested to see exactly how the live-action version as parody might adapt
elements of the game, including music and sound. Although parodies may invoke “ironic
difference” to that which is parodied, this does not imply that the video creators
disrespect the source material. For the creators of the Leo’s Adventure parodies
discussed here, the videos accomplish, as many parodies do, a kind of “oblique
homage” (Greene, 1982: 46, quoted in Hutcheon, 2000:10) to its source. The
adaptations must be done in ways that resonate with their fan-viewers, who alone can
appreciate the video makers’ aesthetic choices when translating the game through
parody into a video. Leo’s Adventures, Chapters 1-3 are a series of mediated valentines
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to a beloved video game, that through music and sound, brought intense nostalgic
feelings to viewers, some of whom posted their reactions in text comments to the video.
Drawing on ideas from Meunier, Sobchack (1999) provides a particularly fruitful
phenomenological approach to analyze visual experiences. This paper will adapt this
visual rubric to the subject of music and sound in video games. According to Sobchack,
Meunier argued that film identifications are co-constructed by viewers according to the
experiences they bring to a viewing. A visual object is not an a priori thing to all
audience members—despite its official genre, such as fiction film, documentary, or
home movie. Whatever it is officially labeled, its interpretation depends upon the
viewer’s position with regard to the events and objects depicted within it. For example,
most people would process the situation comedy Laverne & Shirley as a fictional work
based on depictions of characters that do not exist off-screen. However, according to an
interview with actress Cindy Williams, who portrayed Shirley, watching old episodes of
her work functioned more as what Meunier called the “film-souvenir,” or what we might
roughly translate as “home movie.” Williams could recall certain highly personal
memories that were associated with the comedy’s creation and broadcast as a
television show (Sobchack, 1999).
To take another example, people who have no knowledge whatsoever of events
depicted in a documentary, or deny that such events took place, might experience a
documentary of real people or events as a fictional work. Such individuals cannot or will
not draw on past knowledge of the events to process something they are seeing in a
documentary film as something that really existed somewhere and sometime.
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One might think that to most everyone concerned, the live-action parody videos
discussed here are experienced as simply fiction. There really is no Leo, and the events
such as time-traveling characters battling evil aliens are “irreal” (Sobchack, 1999). They
exist in no time or place. However, for the viewers of the Leo’s Adventure parodies, we
will see that music and sound activate a nostalgic experience such that the videos
become film-souvenirs that bring back memories of using the original media and
enjoying the music and sound effects. For other viewers, the parodies function as
documentary, in which the details of music and sound become important indexes
(Peirce, 1995) of things that truly existed in the world, which were beloved video games
played in one’s youth. For some viewers, one of the strengths of the parodies are their
fidelity to small details such as incorporating the actual music from the original game.
These appropriated musical and sound snippets, once integrated into the parody, are
indexes, or signs connecting something in the past that existed to a parody with a
fictional story. The parodies thus document something in the real world.
The creators of Leo’s Adventures Chapters 1-3, make a number of aesthetic choices
to achieve playful parodic effects when adapting a game from their youth’s past for a
live-action version. Aesthetic choices can serve to display one’s technical ability (Lange,
2011) and connect, through video, with others in a cohort of people who share similar
interests and affinities (Lange, 2009). In this way, the games are not self-centered, but
strike a chord with other similarly-minded gaming enthusiasts. In an ethnographic
interview, one of the video makers, Fred (a pseudonym), told me that Leo’s Adventures
is a role-playing game that was particularly appropriate for adaptation to narrative video
because the game is not just about running around and shooting people, but had a
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funny and interesting storyline. Knowing which games are more easily adapted to a liveaction version shows a technical and creative ability in telling stories through video.
In the game, the main character, Leo, must gather a certain number of powers to
battle an evil alien and vanquish him before he is allowed to become too powerful and
wreak havoc in the future. The boys played the game in the mid-1990s when they were
about 6 or 7 years old. They began making a live adaptation of the video at the time but
abandoned the project. With the help of other friends, they finished the videos a decade
later as teenagers. They posted the videos to YouTube where they received a good
deal of positive attention and comments from fellow fans of a “cult classic” video game.
Many commenters expressed nostalgia for the original game when watching the liveaction, video parodies of the game. Although Sobchack privileges the visual in her
insightful appropriation of Meunier’s phenomenological approach, comments posted by
viewers suggest that these principles also apply to the aural aspects of the video game
parody experience. For example, several commenters noted that the videos brought a
deep sense of nostalgia for them. One commenter who posted to Leo’s Adventure
Chapter 1, noted, “Dude just hearing the music brings back memories. This rules.”
Another posting to the same video stated, “That was pretty brilliant. Thank you! So
much nostalgia.” Commenting on the music to Leo’s Adventure Chapter 2, a commenter
stated “music at [time index] 4:41 so retro-beautiful. making me feel all warm and fuzzy
insides.” Posted to Leo’s Adventure Chapter 2 are other comments about the
connection of music to nostalgia for the game:
[1] *intense nostalgic thoughts*
love the sanctuary part with the giant step, the music... ahh..
if only they make Leo’s Adventure for [handheld devices]... hmm
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[2] ...Marry me. xDD (J/k.) This is great. I love it. <3 ^_^ Nice effects and use of
sounds and music from the game. I love the costumes for the enemies and the
garbage digging part. That game is so fun... ^^ There will never be another like it.
These comments suggest that the musical and sound effect elements that the youth
incorporated from the game into the parodies were as important, and for some were
called out more directly, than the visual aspects of remembering. Adapting Meunier’s
theory, Sobchack (1999) argues that in the film-souvenir, a viewer not only processes
an immediate image of something from their past, but rather, they see “through” the
image to a flood of other memories that the single image unlocks. It is a kind of
metonymic, Proustian, aural madeleine in which a single sensory moment releases an
unexpected temporal floodgate of memory and emotion. One never just see’s one’s
child experiencing one moment at a birthday party home movie; one sees through the
image to many other experiences, emotions, and characteristics, such as a look or
smile over many occasions that a single image from a home movie brings forth.
Although Sobchack privileges the visual, the comments posted to these videos
suggest that aural phenomena trigger similar metonymic memories in relation to playing
a beloved game from their past. Many viewers’ comments indicate that what is a
fictional live-action story to outsiders and non-fans, becomes for them a kind of “filmsouvenir,” not only because of the visuals, but because of the choice of music and
sound, which produce intense feelings of nostalgia.
For some viewers, the parody videos function not as a film-souvenir, but more as a
kind of documentary, in that the videos portray specific facts from a past video game
experience. For Fred and his friends, part of the fun of the parody meant attending
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closely to and incorporating small aural details from the video game into the live action
video. It is notable that when the sound or music in the parody video did not map to
viewers’ and listeners’ memories or expectations, fans called these discrepancies out in
comments. For example, in response to a perceived musical error in Leo’s Adventure
Chapter 1, a commenter notes, “the music used for the [robot] is the wrong one, just
pointing it out,” while another posting to this same video stated, “oh, and the coil snake's
song was incorrect lol.”
Commenters also expressed regret and disappointment when favorite music or
sound that they wanted to hear was missing, as in the comment posted to Chapter 3,
“aww, you didn't play the best part of [a certain character’s] theme,” or a similar
comment posted to Chapter 1, “um.. ..the next chapter had better include more samples
of the [music] after a battle has been [won].” The documentary experience of the parody
as depicting a series of facts about the original game is also suggested through
comments that request clarification or titles of music, as commenters did in posts to
Leo’s Adventure Chapter 1, saying, “Does anyone remember when that ending song is
played in the game?”, or “What is the music at [time index] 4:30 called?” A kind of
curiosity combined with geeky precision prompts questions about musical details that
shift the experience from fiction or film-souvenir into documentary where precise details
that cannot be recalled on one’s own are requested. The viewers’ comments suggest
that the parody should document such details with fidelity, in order to produce an
accurate and respectful record of the original, aurally-grounded source material.
Commenters also took note when the music and sounds were executed well. For
instance, in response to the video, Leo’s Adventure Chapter 3, one commenter noted,
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Omg this is freaking awesome. Why haven't you finished this yet? D: The live action
with the original [game] sounds over it is brilliant. :D” while another stated in response to
Chapter 3, “Also, great job using the music. Really helps put things into context! :D”.
Another commenter posting to Chapter 1 noted, “Awesome, the music adds a lot. Keep
it up!” Two commenters on Chapter 2 noted the video makers’ technical skill at
integrating the music into the game:
[3] That was actually ALOT better put together than other little fan vids of video
game spinoffs. I mean...you guys actually edit the right way and match up your
sounds to the actions. Pretty nice =D
[4] This, for all intensive purposes, is quite good. I really enjoyed the title sequence.
The inclusion of the [original] music and sound effects made it phenomenal... I like
seeing stuff of this calibre.
For fans of the original Leo’s Adventure game, music and sound were hardly
“inaudible.” They were processed in conscious and deliberate ways, and their execution
in the parody videos affected fans’ pleasure and enjoyment of them. For those of us
who never played the original game and are not familiar with it, the Leo’s Adventure
parody videos are simply fiction. We know that these aliens do not exist and it matters
not whether the actual sounds or music from the game are “accurate” or come at the
right times and places. In fact, if executed well, poetic license and discordances may
even heighten our enjoyment if, for example, more complex or different sounds or music
were substituted in ways that facilitate how viewers and listeners processed the
narrative. However, to those who experienced the parodies as a form of a documentary
of a real game, such substitutions are anathema. Substitutions of music or sounds, or
incorrect renderings in certain places within the live action version, threaten to disrupt
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the pleasurable nostalgic experience and index a potential disrespect of the original
source material. Viewers who need additional information about the music, such as the
title or other references, also indicate that they are receiving the videos as documentary
of a real experience that includes playing a real game, with real sounds and music that
will forever be associated with it.
Many viewers/listeners/commenters process the videos as aural forms of the filmsouvenir, in which music and sounds allow them to see through any single aural
passage to a larger set of gaming experiences that are associated with these aural
phenomena. The comments posted to these videos provide tantalizing samples of the
kinds of memories and nostalgic feelings that are unlocked by music and sounds.
Perhaps future ethnographic work might open the flood gates further, to delve more
precisely into how game sounds evoke particular memories and experiences. Calling
out the aural memories of both the original game and the video parodies suggests that
video game sounds and music create a larger interwoven aural imaginary, that together
with visual images, yields a more complex, shifting, and layered phenomenological
experience of online media than the oft-used, but bland terms such as “viewer” or
“listener” can ever connote.
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