the m0vie blog

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the release of The Last of Us, it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about the show. In particular, what it says about the challenges of adapting a video game to another medium.

Hollywood has spent decades trying to figure out how to translate video games into movies, resulting a somewhat embarrassing list of adaptations: Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Wing Commander, and so on. Adapting video games to another medium often means erasing the immersive quality that defines the medium. While it’s impossible to replicate the interactivity of a player steering the protagonist, there is a sense that film is not a medium that can faithfully emulate that level of worldbuilding and progression. The Last of Us suggests that television is much more perfectly suited to that task.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: Television |