Browsing by Subject "medium"

Tutkielma käsittelee videopelin kerronnan keinoja multimodaalisesta tekstintutkimuksesta käsin. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää, miten videopelin rakenneosat ilmentävät ker-ronnan keinoja. Tutkimus haastaa klassisen narratologian sekä yksinomaan kirjoitettuun ja puhuttuun kieleen kohdistuvan tekstintutkimuksen. Multimodaalisen tekstintutkimuksen avulla avataan videopelin semioottisten rakenneosien kertovaa funktiota. Analyysin tukena on luonnollisen narratologian ajatuksia. Tutkielman aineistona on vuonna 2017 julkaistu toimintapeli Hellblade: Senua’ Sacrifice. Aineisto on valikoitunut multimodaalisuutensa, tarinallisuutensa ja tuoreutensa ansiosta. Analyysissa huomioitavia aineisto-osia ovat lajityypilliset rakenneosat, mediumit sekä aisti-kanavat. Aineisto koostuu multimodaaleista tekstinosista eli äänestä, kuvista, liikkeestä ja kielestä. Kielellinen aines on englanniksi. Analyysi ei keskity englannin kieleen. Tutkimuksen teoriapohja on poikkitieteellistä, ja siinä yhdistyy multimodaalinen tekstintut-kimus ja erilaisia narratologisia suuntauksia. Multimodaalinen tekstintutkimus toimii analyy-sin pohjateoriana, joka suuntaa tutkimuksen havaintoja aineiston tekstinosiin. Luonnollinen narratologia sekä muut narratiiviset tutkimuslinjat ovat mukana tulkinnassa ja päätelmissä. Tutkimuksen vertauskohtana on ludologinen pelitutkimus, jonka asettamia ehtoja tutkimus pyrkii haastamaan. Tutkimuksessa osoitetaan, että videopelin rakenneosat toimivat kahden funktion osana. Toi-saalta ne toimivat peliä edistävällä tavalla, toisaalta ovat oleellinen osa itse kerrontaa. Raken-neosat toimivat kerronnan keinoina pohjustamalla ja avaamalla tarinaa, mahdollistamalla tarinalle spatiaalisen ulottuvuuden sekä vetämällä vastaanottajaa lähemmäksi pelin kokemus- ja tarinamaailmaa. Kerronnan keinojen toteutuminen on riippuvaista oikeanlaisesta me-diumista sekä kaikista aistikanavista. Videopelin rakenneosat toteuttavat kerrontaa kokemuk-sellisuutta herättävällä tavalla. Tutkimus osoittaa, että videopeli tekstinä voi kertoa tarinaa kokemuksellisuutta herättävällä, immersiivisellä tavalla. Siinä havainnollistetaan, miksi videopelit tulee sisällyttää osaksi mul-timodaalisen tekstintutkimuksen ja narratologian kenttää. Samalla tutkimus perustelee, miksi tekstintutkimuksen tulee laajentua kattamaan muitakin semioottisia elementtejä kuin kirjoitet-tua tai puhuttua kieltä.

This thesis analyses the position of working-class women in Victorian Spiritualism, and how they transcended class positions using their role as mediums. Spiritualism was a religious movement that was popular in both North America and Europe during the Victorian era, and women were especially important to the movement because of their “innate” connection to the natural and supernatural realms. As the movement primarily focused on communication to and from the spirit world, women acted as intermediaries by using their bodies as “vessels” and through this attained positions of power and respect. Recent scholarship has mostly focused on the contributions of middle-class women towards this movement; however, working-class women were also greatly involved in Spiritualist circles. Working-class women were held to a different societal standard however, due to sexual and moral qualities that had been prescribed upon them by the middle class. There were many working-class women Spiritualists but how they were introduced to the movement and how they operated within it differed to their middle-class peers. This thesis examines why Spiritualism was appealing to working-class women, because they would not have used the movement to gain access to the public sphere (as was the case with middle-class women). Working-class women were already present in the public sphere and thus there must have been another reason why they were drawn to the movement. As is shown in the thesis, many Spiritualists also identified as Socialists; the two movements shared many similarities, including a vision of a utopic future where classes and genders were equal as well as a distrust for the middle-class Christians of their society. Another question examined is how working-class women viewed their own position in Spiritualism, which brings forth issues of agency and consciousness. Through examining sources from the mediums themselves as well as newspapers I am able to construct an understanding that working-class mediums knew that in order to be respected in the Spiritualist community they had to downplay their own involvement as well as emphasize their lack of interest in worldly goods. A portion of this thesis focuses on the differing treatment of public and private mediums – those women who were private mediums were commonly regarded as less likely to be fraudulent and more respected than those who were public – public, in this instance, meaning those mediums who took payment for séances and extended their circle beyond that of their family and friends. Working-class women in Spiritualism remain emblematic of contradictions that were so prevalent in Victorian society – the body of the working-class woman was thought to be her strength and her connection to the spirit realm, but it was only through giving up her agency and acting as a mouthpiece for these spirits was she respected and taken seriously. Research methods I have used include an examination of historical sources, mainly being newspapers, accounts from people present at séances and an autobiography from one of the most prominent mediums of the time. I have also included a brief overview of intersectionality and why it is important for this thesis, as well as an analysis of power. From my thesis I hope to show the Spiritualist movement from the perspective of working-class women as well as how they used it to attain their own agency.