Date of Award
2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Young, Jessica
Area of Concentration
English
Abstract
This thesis proposes Brecht as a way for analyzing games that break the fourth wall through an analysis of Doki Doki Literature Club! (2017) In Chapter 1, I introduce the visual novel and discuss immersion and choice in video games before expanding this to the theater through the ways video games utilize catharsis. In Chapter 2, I definite Brecht’s concept of the epic theater and show examples of it through four video games: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2005), The Stanley Parable (2013), Undertale (2015), and YOU and ME and HER (2020). Chapter 3 contains a close reading of Doki Doki Literature Club! in which the epic theater is deployed to analyze the themes and aesthetics of the game.
Recommended Citation
Taraschi, Scarlett, "“YOU DO KNOW I’M AWARE THIS IS ALL A GAME, RIGHT?”: AN EXPLORATION OF BRECHTIAN VIDEO GAMES THROUGH DOKI DOKI LITERATURE CLUB!" (2021). Theses & ETDs. 6153.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/6153