Was the 2005 Doom film 'Doomed from the beginning?': First-person shooters, subjective cameras and intertextuality in the critical reception of the film adaptation Doom (2005). (1st May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mizsei Ward, Rachel
• Is Part Of: Journal of adaptation in film & performance. Volume 11:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 57
• Page End: 70
• Publication Date: 2018-05-01
• Subjects: Film adaptations -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Motion pictures and literature -- Periodicals; 791.43605
• DOI: 10.1386/jafp.11.1.57_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1753-6421

Abstract

In 2005 the first-person-shooter computer game Doom was adapted into a film. As the defining characteristic of the game, a first-person-shooter sequence was included as a key section of the Doom film. This sequence is one of the most commented about aspects of the film. The majority of reviews mention it and have a definite opinion about it; although the consensus is divided. The first-person-shooter genre of computer game and this sequence in the Doom film can both be understood in relationship to the subjective camera shots used in cinema. However, I will demonstrate that the same technique had fundamentally different meanings to the audience because of the different relationships to narrative and character in films and video games.