Newly released screenshots of forthcoming book-to-movie-to-game conversion The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe remain among the most popular assets on industry site Gamespress this week. Based on the forthcoming Disney adaptation of CS Lewis' childrens classic, developer Traveller's Tales is, predictably, promising a third-person action adventure, featuring "remarkable characters, heart pumping combat and rich environments". The press release goes on:
"These four heroes must battle the evil forces of the White Witch by waging war against a vast variety of creatures, including, Minotaurs, Minoboars, Cyclops, Werewolves, Wraiths, Ankleslicers, Wolves, Boggles and more."
Funny, there's no mention of the book's overt Christian symbolism here - just as EA's Lord of the Rings conversions rarely seem to ponder over Tolkien's insistence that the trilogy was, "fundamentally a religious and Catholic work".
The thing is, a film maker will usually in some way attempt to communicate the thematic or symbolic undertones of a novel he is converting- if only to prove he's not some dumb hack. But do videogame developers share the same concerns? I mean, I'm not expecting them to put a little pointer above Aslan saying 'Look, it's Jesus!', but surely some kind of spiritual angle is quite important here isn't it? It's sort of quite vital to the book.
Nah, I'm being daft. I suspect the novel was combed for exciting set-pieces and interesting creatures - but underlying themes? I very much doubt it. Strange isn't it, that an industry which is increasingly desperate to buddy up to movies and get itself perceived as a legitimate artform, can only look at source material - whether we're talking books or films - in terms of strings of images? Maybe it's down to the essential primitivism of games. Perhaps when interaction gets involved, stories just have to be flattened out.
I'm not just talking about religion. When the forthcoming adaptations of Reservoir Dogs, Taxi Driver and Scar Face splutter into life, will they consciously explore themes of machismo, madness, guilt and sexuality like the source material? Or will we just get a few scenes ripped from the movies where we shoot people, and then shoot some more people with, like, cool music in the background?
Finer academic minds than mine have sought - and felt that they have discovered - depth in the videogame canon. True, I think there is a spirituality running through the Final Fantasy series; I think the makers of Resident Evil understand the satircal elements of George Romero's zombie nightmares; I get the environmentalism of Metal Gear Solid. But this is fundamentally an artform of surface meaning. I don't care much for Christian symbolism, but, come on, if Christianity was a cool set-piece or a weird monster, you can bet it would be in that press release - there for fans to tick off knowingly.
