Portal - A Literary Analysis
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Portal has a simple story, but tells it very well. Today we take a look at how it exemplifies a good few interactive storytelling techniques.
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Music:
Arcade Academy, by Pixel Head -
/ arcade-acadmey
Still Alive, by Jonathan Coulton
itunes.apple.c...
Art:
Jimi Bonogofsky-Gronseth - jimidoodle@blogspot.com
Footage:
World of Longplays - www.longplays.org
Pixel Head - / thecormmonster
Portal and the Deconstruction of the Institution -
www.gamasutra.c...
Website: www.gamesasliterature.com
Facebook: / gamesasliterature
If you want to know which games we'll be talking about in the future, take a look at the episode schedule: gamesasliteratu...
If you're inexperienced with video games and don't know some of the terminology in these videos, check out our Gamer's Glossary: gamesasliteratu...
Omg lolll. I had to pause and rewind because I kept staring at the background and thinking, are there more companion cubes? I feel like there are more and more cubes.. *stares harder*
;)
This whole time, my mind was on an endless loop every time he cut to a shot of his face
"Wait, is there more companion cubes than a second ago? I could've of sworn that there was less..."
I absolutely lost it when all the companion cubes popped up! LOL
it took me twenty minutes to realise that they were building up
I really love what you do. Your series has influenced me to start putting video games into my lesson plans as I go through college to become a teacher. I've also started doing my own youtube stuff that is heavily influenced by this series, but I look at other topics in the social science field.
Love your stuff!
Please, keep going!
I can't believe that such a great video doesn't have a great view counter too
Andrew Gorman A common curse upon this series. But it's growing, slowly but surely. Feel free to share and help out! ^_^
This video's a triumph!
Great video. You should teach an actual college course on games as literature. I'd register :D
Thanks! I did actually teach that class at a few charter schools around where I live, and it was a great experience.
+Games As Literature That's awesome! Come teach this course at my CC haha
I actually have this class in high school right now. I'm so lucky!
I always got the impression that the psychological aspect is fully part of the testing. You have to ask yourself what are they testing? The portal gun is pretty much functional, it never malfunctions in any way. The technology obviously is solid. So what do you actually do in the game? What is being tested? It's obviously you who is being tested and not the gun. Both physically and mentally it is a test to see how a person reacts to the portals and copes with it. Glados is programmed to use psychology in the testing for these reasons. It is also implied in the song that yours was the last test that was needed. And in fact it can be argued that the possibility to escape is in some way part of the test. And the glados you destroyed is in fact a dummy, hence why she is still alive after you destroy her. The song implies some level of affection for the player.
Great video. You should do Undertale at some point, it's a narrative gold mine
One of the best games of all time,
One of the best episodes of Games as Lit.
Thank you for doing this.
Aria Mohtadi Not a problem! I enjoy making it; glad you enjoy seeing it. ^_^
Awesome work.
Looking forward to upcoming episodes. :)
Personally, especially after playing Portal 2, I think the game has some very serious statements about intelligence and how if intelligence goes unchecked, it can potentially destroy everything around it
For me, video game immersion is when I think about how I am going to portal over to something behind a grate to pick up that cool bauble, or when I reach for the rewind button after dropping a bowl of soup. On that note, do Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
No movie has ever made me stop eating my snacks
The concept of a projection protagonist reminds me a lot of Crono from Chrono Trigger. I won't go into any spoilers, but that game would make for a pretty good episode of this show, imo
While we're on the subjects of analysis and Erik Wolpaw, how about some Psychonauts?
+Matthew Blizzard Hoping to do it at some point, but humor is such a huge element of that game and it's REALLY not my forte. So someday, but I'll need some sort of breakthrough.
This is awesome, Samwise! It's very interesting, even to a person who's not a huge gamer. You make some really good points. Do you show these videos in your class?
+Amy Knickerbocker I made this show partially because we moved away from where I was teaching, but if I was still teaching that class I just might. It's based on the same principles I taught in the class, so I'd probably use the same points and lessons in a more interactive format.
And thanks! A major goal of the series is to appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike (despite the latter not often actually seeing it), so that's encouraging to hear! Glad you enjoyed it. ^_^
Great video with a wonderful analysis!
Personally, my absolute favorite thing about Portal is this: it's one of the few FPS games that plays well even when using a laptop mousepad. ;)
Yas. There is way more to talk about, regarding analysis, details, pychological aspects. But this is great already!
This is a fantastic essay, wonderful work!
great video, but tbh i hoped u would also talk about portal 2
Didnt notice the multiplying companion cubes in the back.
+imberribored That was the idea! :D
Lol that was really cute. XD
+imberribored Even cuter, all those were left over from my wedding. We used them to decorate tables, then stuck them into this episode. ^_^
+Games As Literature Now that is just precious. My heart...
I guess some of your guests didn't leave your wedding without a companion of their own XD
The every growing cubes were awesome.
LOL The Companion Cubes multiplying in the back :D XD!
Dope channel dude. Who folded all those companion cubes in the shot? Lol
My wife and I; they were originally created as table decorations at our wedding. Figured it only made sense to reuse them for the Portal analysis. ^_^
Glad you like the show!
Yeah, I subbed after I finished the SotC video. Great work. Happy to continue supporting!
Still Alive isn't relevant? It's GlaDOS adressing you directly and for the first and only time, sincerely. It couldn't be more important.
I spent a lot of this video waiting for the framed picture to become a picture of a companion cube.
With regards to the man vs. machine element, do you think it might be worth noting that GLaDOS is catty? What I mean by this is, the conflict seems to arise, as you explained, by the fact that GLaDOS's programming doesn't allow her to fully comprehend the nuances of the human experience, which results in some sort of chasm between her and humans; but the very fact of her behaving in spiteful ways kind of demonstrates that the humans and the AIs at Aperture aren't really all that different after all. (There's also the quirky politeness of the turrets as well). It shows that she is subject to character flaws that are fundamentally human and surprisingly psychologically complex once you start digging into it. Might GLaDOS's initial chemical attack on Aperture have been a response to the humans treating the machines as tools, in much the same way that she turns around and treats Chell as one? Is GLaDOS's abuse of Chell meant to hold a mirror to human abuse of AIs?
I'm sure I'm reading way too much into this idea since GLaDOS's cattiness was definitely more of a comedic device than a thematic one. Although I think perhaps this theme may have been a byproduct that was observed by the developers, since it continues to appear and is emphasized even more strongly in the sequel.
She might have actually been human once so it might be possible that Glados was a human lobotomized and turned into an ai, but due to it, she might have become homicidal due to her power or a side effect to it, might be the explanation of the personality cores
Or possibly due her position as an ai, the power could have gone to her head such as Wheatley but that’s less possible.
Also you just described Detroit become human but pretty much more interesting
The Weeb Ghost “might have” _sure_
The soundtrack is awesome.
I just found this series and love it! it's good to video games getting more credit for their stories and interaction, not just mindless violence.
Quick question though. Is that really how you pronounce Chell? I always thought it was pronounced "shell", as in short for MiChelle. Adds a little depth to the idea that she's just a vessel for the player to insert their personality in. No back story or purpose, no thoughts or feelings, just an empty Chell.
I have to disagree about the notion that games are the only medium that need to teach their audience how to approach them and that once you learn to read you can read any book in your language. While most writing and literary storytelling has become standardized there is still a lot of different methods that require different mechanics of reading. Just read any literature from a different era than your own and it requires a different style of reading to really understand it and there's a bit of a learning curve. Sometimes when I'm on, let's say, goodreads.com I see negative reviews from people who just didn't understand the correct way to read the book they're criticizing. And as a writer of strange and more experimental fiction I often find myself having to provide clues and lessons for the reader to learn how to read my particular work. And that's not getting into the mechanical differences between reading narrative fiction and reference nonfiction.
I know this is a 5 year old comment, but as an experimental poet myself, I believe his point was that games NEED to teach their audience how to approach them, a la beginning of the game tutorials. It's an inherent quality of games regardless of what game it is. This is not a problem that every writer/poet/screenwriter faces when creating a work of literature.
You forgot the best part of Chell being a projection protagonist. Her lack of personality means the player uses her as a means to an end without seeing her as an actual person. Just like GLaDOS.
Bravo! Proud of you and J for following your dreams!
great lengthy documentry.
A+
you should do dark souls. its all environmental storytelling.
Great video dude! Loved it.
have you played "the talos principle"? maybe you can do some episode about it
I might be the only person in the existence who didnt like portal but i absolutely ADORE the storytelling in games like portal and halo! In my humble oipinion it is the best possible way to to tell story in videogame. I mean frigging enemy placements in halo 1 convey more information(to the observant) than most boring exposition charachters!
And thanks for defending silent protagonist non-charachters. They get too much flak but i've always liked them. It is so much easier to invest in charachters motivations and emotions when they are my motivations and emotions ^^
Where did you even get all those companion cubes?
Realize that Glados is actually a gagged and blindfolded woman in a straightjacket hanging upside down and that she is actually teaching Chell how to get out of the facility and the story takes a whole other meaning. Its actually a mother letting go of her daughter story, while dealing a very heavy dose of condescention and passive agrresiveness. Yeah, Im not joking. Portal 2 supports this.
Hatt Hanz Glados looks like a gagged, hanging woman, however she isn't as proven by the second game in the series.
im not sure I understand what you are trying to say
You should think about starting an online class for Games As Lit. I know you've already taught before and I'd totally sign up.
You gotta do portal 2!
Great stuff. Thanks for this!
I love your analyses, they're so good
Lord Retro Yay! I'm glad to hear it. If you can be entertained and hopefully learn a bit about the game I'm talking about, all my goals have been met. ^_^
Games As Literature All of your goals have been met don't worry about that ! :)
But I learned something very great with your analysis on bioshock : objectivism, I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged, the story is great but god if you follow main caracters' philosophy, god you'll end up being a **** x)
I wasn't sure about the philosophy that was developed in Atlas Shrugged, now I am ! (I couldn't read anything about the book otherwise I would have been spoiled I think)
Lord Retro Yeah, that seems to be the majority conclusion (though there are people who will argue otherwise; there was a good conversation on that topic in this very comment section). I'm personally not much a fan of objectivism, if only because it seems really good until you get into the deeper implications of such a worldview, but philosophy is always more complicated than it seems.
Games As Literature Yeah I agree, and even if you apply this philosophy to you only, you quickly become a sort of monster to your friends and family
Hello! I was wondering if you have any suggestions for academic resources for other Analysis of Portal? I'm writing an essay about GLaDOS as an Unreliable Narrator and was struggling to find a reliable academic source (Aside from yours) Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!
Where is portal 2?
You forgot to show the Curiosity Core's "Do you smell something burning" line that it says. Right before you throw it into a bit of fire. Otherwise, good video.
Yeah, it's a funny line, but when one is summarizing, not everything can make it in. Glad you enjoyed it otherwise!
Do you plan to do a video on Portal 2, or maybe just a video on the Co-op section of the game?
I'm certainly considering it, and I've gotten plenty of requests. Issue is that most of what I talked about in this video was the storytelling, rather than the story itself and its meaning, which means I'd be retreading old ground if I took the same approach with Portal 2, and I'm not sure there's quite enough narrative depth for me to shift focus. But I'll replay it at some point and consider it. In any case there are a number of games a bit higher on the priority list at the moment.
I would like to ask, final thing. There is a couple games I would like to see you do, and I would like to know if any of these are on your list. Alien: Isolation. Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Soma, The Talos Principle, Dishonored, Half Life Series.
All of them are potentials, but none are currently scheduled. I definitely want to do Half Life and The Talos Principle at some point, and the others are definitely all on my radar.
I must also point out that Patreon supporters of a certain level can make me analyze a game of their choice.
4 hours!? Lol I beat it in about 1.5hrs the first time I played it. I fell in love and never looked back 💗
Not to mention Still Alive was on Rock Band 2 lol
Or was it 3? ...I don’t know, either way that’s badass
Has Portal been analysed to death? Does anyone know of significant work done on the games, other than this video? I haven't found that much.
What about Rat Man?
Love your vids, subscribed. Do one for Limbo!
+WhenCornAttacks Been thinking about it! Unsure whether I can fill out a whole analysis (much of Limbo's discussion is theorizing, and this show is more about analyzing and interpreting), but I'll cover it sometime one way or another. :D
Can you do Portal 2, please?
Hey hey I'm watching this without ever playing Portal. I'm a rebel who doesn't play by the rules.
Are you gonna do the sequel?
+Payton Holmes At some point, perhaps, though I'm honestly not sure there'd be that much more to say. The story is enjoyable, but I'm unsure how much meaning I could get out of it. We'll see.
One of the big things about Portal 2 is that it rewrites the backstory (without actively contradicting anything from Portal itself) - Cave Johnson and Caroline and the archaeological Aperture Science facilities are not so much as hinted at in Portal (arguably because they hadn't existed at that point) but they are central to Portal 2's story. That speaks to the role of a sequel in expanding and reinterpreting the original.
Great video! :)
+AWESOMEO Thanks!
15:33 fin.
Yay
Why don’t you want Wheatley’s help? *D:*
Portal 1 may not have a lot in the way of themes to be digested as literature, Portal 2 absolutely does and I don't think that should be forgotten. Portal 2 is a game that seems to have a lot of feminist tones running through it from me looking at it at a surface level. Consistently the female characters are the competent ones in the male characters are basically idiots, in addition to that you have the moon which is often been associated with femininity being a pretty big deal to the story and shown to have quite a bit of power
The suit is a lie.
do god of war. not ascension tho. just the trilogy
at the very least the first one
+Sean Brogan Might do the first at some point. I honestly didn't even make it through the second one; reducing the entire plot to, "KRATOS MAD AT GODS FOR STOPPING HIM FROM BEING DICK TO HUMANITY, KILL GODS NOW" didn't sit well with me in the slightest. But the first one's a possibility.
Side note, you can make me analyze stuff on Patreon. Don't want to be that guy who's shoving his Patreon in everyone's face, but it's a legitimate option and it helps me out, so I may as well mention it. :P
I hear you I might need some money myself i'm a student. The fiirst Gow however was way more deep than '' Im pissed and I will kill everyone'' You could compare the first and the second games.There are loads of character traits that people forgot about the first game
+Sean Brogan Oh yeah, the first one has plenty of depth. Heck, Extra Credits did a great episode comparing the first game to a Greek tragedy and lamenting the lack of redeeming value in the followups. So yeah, I'm not personally too connected to it, but I might take it on sometime.
And I hear you on the student thing. I'm not in college anymore (graduated), but still dealing with loans. No fun.
+Games As Literature seriously? loans are really that bad, huh?
+randomguy6679 That depends on how you handle it. My mistake was going to a private university.
Can you do Team Fortress 2 ?
+Kavit Trivedi Um... maybe? I mean I know Team Fortress 2 has narrative background, but I've never seen it expressed in the game itself, so far as I'm aware it has about as much story as a particularly lore-rich game of Monopoly. Unsure how much analysis I can get from that.
why not deus ex: human revolution?
+randomguy6679 Actually, because I haven't played that series yet. Working on it, the list is just really long.
CUBES
The beard is a lie.
Sadly now, Extra Credits videos, even ones on game design, are all overwhelmingly political.
Everything is political, friend. Better to acknowledge it than pretend it's not true.
@@GameProf No. Incorrect. Everything exists through the lens of our CULTURE. That's not the same thing as everything having to do with who to vote for .
Politics is far more than who you vote for. It's how we run our society. It's an inextricable part of our culture, our ideologies, and the art we create.
@@GameProf You are confusing one thing for another. Politics is logistics. Policy with other nations. Culture is the lens through which we comprehend reality. This reminds me of the toxic argument "love is selfish" which that is the opposite of love, once love becomes selfish, it ceases to be love. Culture and politics are two separate animals. If we just say everything is political, then we become blind to it. And that is incredibly dangerous. A story that is about rock that is just a rock has no domestic policy, no foreign agenda. It's just a story about a rock being a rock. If we say everything is political, we loose sight of art for art's own sake.
Fair enough, but I still disagree that the two can be so cleanly separated.
For that matter, I doubt your original statement meant that EC literally told you to vote against Trump or something (though, let's be honest, it'd be hard to call that political either; just basic common sense and human decency).