Animation vs. Arcade Games: intersections of narrative content between video games and animation

Abstract

Entertaining and narrating are two qualities of video games, which is why they are so popular and taken as inspiration to create stories in other media. Currently, what differentiates them is that independent creators have emerged, such as Alan Becker, who incorporate them into the narrative of their animations. This article aims to study Animation vs. Arcade Games, one of his most popular shorts that incorporates 9 arcade video games as part of its story. To investigate this crossover, a qualitative approach was used, applying the analysis of the film text, which made it possible to determine that some of the characters, actions, times and spaces incorporated in the video games transition between being modified, to be part of the new story, or being respected. in their original configurations, which implies the application of a transversal narrative balance that integrates all arcades to achieve a coherent conjunction of narrative interfaces.