Intermediality and Video Games : Analysis of Silent Hill 2

Julien Lalu (1) , Matthieu Weisser (1) , Mehdi Debbabi-Zourgani (2)

1 CRIHAM [Poitiers] - Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires en histoire, histoire de l'art et musicologie [EA 4270]
2 UPD5 - Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5

This chapter proposes to study intermediality in video games in order to highlight media interactions. The purpose is to analyze some intermedia processes to illustrate how intermediality can create signification. The chapter is focused on the survival horror game "Silent Hill 2" (Konami, 2001). More specifically, it is about, but not only, two protagonists : James Sunderland and Eddie Dombrowski. Analyses follow three different intermediality levels that can be applied in video games to get a better comprehension of it. The co-presence shows what is played between video games and other objects in order to find how its language is created. Silent Hill 2, as a Japanese production, includes many Japanese symbols. The emergence reveals what creates the specific identity of the video game as a medium by observing the interactions between the different media composing it.

Domaines: Sciences de l'information et de la communication; Linguistique; Musique, musicologie et arts de la scène

Julien Lalu, Matthieu Weisser, Mehdi Debbabi-Zourgani. Intermediality and Video Games : Analysis of Silent Hill 2. Contemporary Research on Intertextuality in Video Games, IGI Global, pp.54-69, 2016, 9781522504788. ⟨hal-02463428⟩