In class yesterday, we discussed games that portray historical events, such as the JFK shooting. Video games like JFK Reloaded accurately portray an event in the recent past. Because we are put in Lee Harvey Oswald’s shoes in the video game, we have the ability to reenact his actions on that fateful day. We can point the gun, look down the sight, and choose where and when to fire. This is different than if we watched a documentary on the JFK shooting, even if we viewed it from the perspective of Oswald.
Compare this to the movie Silence of the Lambs, which we saw in class back in February. The most climatic moment of the movie is when Buffalo Bill stalks Clarice Starling. The camera terrifyingly switches to the serial killer’s view with his night goggles on. This puts us in the shoes of a cold-blooded killer. We don’t have control of the killer as we do in JFK Reloaded. He cocks his revolver and swipes in an attempt to grab Starling on his own.
Nevertheless, do we still feel like we are somehow responsible for the attempted death of Starling? We were not directly involved in her attempted murder, but the movie still produces the effect of putting us inside the mind of a serial killer. In this way, it accomplishes the same goal as JFK Reloaded.
Additionally, we feel like we’re in a first-person shooter in the movie. We can see Buffalo Bill’s hands and the gun in his hand. If a video game was made of Silence of the Lambs, in which we played Buffalo Bill, what would the goal of the game be? For Starling to kill us or to successfully murder the rookie FBI agent? Would we be accurately portraying the movie (as it exists in history) if we allowed Sterling to kill Buffalo Bill?
I argue that for this to be a playable and successful video game, it would need to model Flight to Freedom. Different choices would be made available to the player (Buffalo Bill) throughout the game, but the final outcome would be the same. In this case, it would be death. But as in Flight to Freedom, badges, trust, and items could be acquired that could alter the storyline of the game. However, to be faithful to the movie and its writers, the inevitable end would not change.