Immersion and the Sublime in Video Games
Environmental Awe from Romanticism
to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Mathieu Cardosi
A dissertation submitted for the degree of
Art & Philosophy BA (Hons)
Under the supervision of Professor Frank Ruda and Philip Braham
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
University of Dundee January 2023
Abstract
Drawing from art history, game studies and the aesthetic philosophies of Immanuel Kant and Edmund Burke, I argue that in their interactivity and immersion, video games encourage particularly visceral encounters with the sublime. I take inspiration from Zach Jurgensen in emphasising how gameplay, rather than taking away from video games’ artistic potential, can contribute to their poignancy, but also make a point of contextualising video games in the broader history of immersive and sublime art, with particular attention to Romantic painting.
I start by comparing video games to other forms of immersive art and discussing what kinds of gameplay effectively contribute to immersion, with reference to Jenova Chen's writing on flow theory and Clint Hocking's concept of ludonarrative dissonance. I contrast Gris (2018) to Celeste (2018), arguing that though the former is a visual and thematic masterpiece, it falls flat in terms of its gameplay. I then focus on The Legend of Zelda series, and particularly Breath of the Wild (2017), to argue that in the immersion and scale, open-world games are particularly effective at confronting audiences with the dynamic and mathematic sublime, making them especially poignant at addressing climate change and other existential topics.
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