Next I will look at one of my favourite designers, Vivienne Westwood. These wonderland inspired outfits from her Spring/Summer 2010 Ready-To-Wear collection are almost the complete opposite of the last collection I looked at, as they are over-the-top and messy. Westwood’s designs seem to capture the insanity and quirkiness of Alice in Wonderland. Most of the designs remind me of the Queen of Hearts and The Mad Hatter.
Like the context of my game idea, I want my protagonist to be inspired by Alice in Wonderland as well. However, I still want my character to look original and contemporary. Rather than looking at how Alice is shown in book illustrations and animations, I wanted to look at how the wonderland theme is expressed in the fashion world. After studying textiles and fashion at A-level, I have always been interested in the latest collections and I hope this comes across in my designs.
Firstly, I wanted to look at the Luella Spring/Summer 2010 ready to wear collection. I am reminded of Alice in Wonderland because of the ribbons in the hair, pastel colours and an emphasis on the silhouettes of the dresses. I like these outfits because it’s almost like a very mature and subdued version of Alice and Wonderland. These garments also remind me of the rococo architecture I looked at, because of the pastel colours.
Here are some common characteristics of the style that I can use in my work:
Notable artists: Robert de Cotte, Jacques Ange Gabriel, Francois Boucher
Next, I will look at art styles that influence my game and idea. Unlike the art I looked at before, these artists don’t reference Alice in Wonderland.
Firstly, my project’s style is primarily influenced by Japanese artist Junko Mizuno. I first dismissed Mizuno’s art as another cute, but creepy style, but after looking into her work further, I found that her art uses some very interesting themes, such as pregnancy, maternity and sex. I also found that there were feminist messages in her comic books that she had written. For instance, the women in the comics were often poorly treated by the male characters. Mizuno says that “In Japan, today still, men use to judge very strictly women who are not pretty.” So maybe this is some kind of reaction to the treatment on women in Japan. Mizuno’s characters are also very strong-willed and independent, representing the kind of woman she aspires to be.
Her work also links in with my study on narrative as she likes to base her work on famous western fairy tales, but change certain aspects of them to make them her own. For example, in her comic “Cinderalla” the protagonist is a waitress and prince charming is a zombie pop star. Rather than leaving a glass slipper, she leaves an eyeball behind. She also wrote her own version of Hansel and Gretel and a little mermaid style story.
I really like the style and themes that Junko Mizuno uses and I would like my own game to take inspiration from it. Her overly feminine imagery would be perfect for my target audience.
I also came across some artwork of hers that would make interesting platform level aesthetics. One is from her “Mizuno Garden” website and the other is stationary:
Recently, I had a very constructive tutorial with Sharon Sage, who helped me with my game’s narrative. I want to expand on the narrative of my game, in order to strengthen my project. After explaining the basic concept of my game, its aesthetics and target demographic, Sharon seemed to understand my intentions of making this game and was interested in helping me come up with ways to communicate storytelling, rather than action/violence for its own sake.
Firstly, after explaining how I want my narrative to express a kind of Alice in Wonderland theme, she suggested that I read Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales that have female characters. I am interested in reading (or in some cases, re-reading) Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Cap(Little Red Riding Hood), Little Briar-Rose (Sleeping Beauty), Snow white and Rose Red and The Girl Without Hands.
Sharon recommended that I may watch a few Disney movies, as well as Shrek to see how adult themes and humour can be worked into these classic fairytales. Sharon also stressed that I should read (or listen to) Angela Carter’s Puss in boots Radio play.
I was also recommended to read some of the Arabian Knights stories. These stories have episodic narrative and a “Frame story,” where a story is told within a story. These two narrative structures would be interesting in a game. For example, each level could tell a different short story (or fairy tale). I am also interested in how these stories use satire and parody.
Next, I will read a few short stories from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. Many of these stories are about love and tragedy, so they might inspire good ideas for developing a narrative that appeals to women. Like the Arabian Knights stories, The Decameron is structured in a frame narrative. Sharon advised me to play particular attention to the character Fiametta and reading the stories based around her, as I may want to base my main character around her. It will also be useful to read some stories of The Decameron because of its use of themes – a new theme is in each story. When I first spoke to Sharon about a story that I want to create, she stressed the importance of themes. These stories also use multiple viewpoints, which maybe an interesting narrative device to use in my game. For example, seeing everything that is happening in the protagonist’s world, even if they cannot see it themselves. Sharon also advised me to read or watch “To Kill a Mocking Bird” and pay particular attention to its storytelling.
Lastly, I will look at the short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez which have elements of magical realism. From what I understand, magic realism is a literary movement where magical elements are blended into a realistic atmosphere or environment, almost like an altered reality.
Reading List:
Panda Land is a Swedish indie game that reminded me of Miracle Girls, due to the fact that the player throws food at their enemies to defeat them. It was created by Svante Danielsson using Game Maker, a free program many people use to make short games.
The game is set in Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden, where you play as "indie pop girl" Amanda Panda who tries to save her friends from an evil lizard. Your enemies are "tanned upper-class brats from Östermalm" and you replenish your health with various items, including cake, beer and iPods.
It was useful to look at Pandaland because I think its cute graphical style would appeal to girls and the game is also quite humorous.
I will now look at a few platform games that exclusively target a female audience, in order to inspire more themes and gameplay ideas.
Firstly, I looked at Miracle Girls a Japanese game for Super Famicom, developed by Takara, 1993. While researching for my dissertation, studies have shown that girls typically do not like violent games; therefore, I am looking out for platform games that aren’t violent. In Miracle Girls, which was aimed at a female audience, the two protagonists don’t hurt their enemies. Instead, they throw sweets at them, which make them friendly for a few moments before going back to normal. Also, if the main character loses all her health, she doesn’t die, she just cries instead. Finally, unlike most platform games of this time, which had a boss fight at the end of every level, the bosses of Miracle Girls are simple mini-games.
Although Miracle Girls isn’t an excellent game, it was interesting to look at how it goes around using violence for the sake of its target audience. I especially like how the character throws sweets at enemies, rather than killing them.
