Lecture Library

The ideology of mirror shots. By Ryne Hodkowski

Ryne Hodkowski

CTCS 505 Lecture

At first, mirror shots in films may seem odd, out of place, or downright unnecessary.  Upon further examination, however, we can see their importance in the ideology of films, music videos, and commercials.  I will first show how video games go about achieving the awareness of control, and the fascination that comes with it.  Then, I will show how mirror shots in films attempt to give the same amount of fascination to the characters or viewers.

As Janet Murray would argue: “agency is the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices,” (Murray, 127).  As Galloway states: “video games … compel players to perform acts,” (Galloway, 84).  We have been compelled over this power since video games’ inception.  When we moved the joystick up or down, our paddle in Pong would move.  When we hit the joystick button in on our Atari controller, we would fire a missile at enemy space invaders.  Today, we choose what we want to say to an resident of Imperial City in Oblivion, and they respond accordingly. 

Throughout the history of video games, we have been asked to control or inhibit other characters or objects, whether they are a person, a spaceship, or a pong paddle.  In conjunction with that, we are constantly reminded that we are in fact controlling those entities.  Video games go about doing this in a variety of ways.

Our awareness of controlling a character is obvious in third person games or platform games.  We realize that even though we are controlling their bodies, that we are not Mario, Link, Sub-Zero, or Solidus Snake.  Despite this, we enjoy having control over them.  What about first person perspective games though?  While first person games, most notably the first person shooter, would like to create the perception, through the use of subjective shots, of events actually occurring to us, they are no different than a third person game in the sense that we are made aware that we are controlling another character. Let us see how different first person perspective games make us aware that we are controlling another person.

First, many FPS’s have third person cut scenes.  So while we do all our shooting and fighting from a first person perspective in Halo, we have third person cut scenes that show the Master Chief in full.  This is similar to the scene in Dark Passage, where we see the first five minutes through a first person perspective, and then we cut to see the person we have been seeing through.  When this occurs in video games, we are reminded that we are not actually fighting the covenant forces, but in reality we are controlling the master chief, who is fighting the covenant forces. 

Another way of bringing about awareness is to have a created avatar on display during a pause menu or other interactive menu.  Oblivion allows players to play the game from a first or third person perspective, but even if a player chooses to play the entire game from a first person perspective, the player cannot help but see and identify with his created avatar.  Accessing the game’s inventory, map, or character attributes, brings up the created avatar/character.  This is done quite frequently in the game, and is certainly unavoidable.  Below is a clip that shows a player going through his inventory, and showing of his characters’ statistics.  Notice how his character is on display at all times.

Even early FPS’s without cut scenes, menus, or avatar creation were able to make the player aware that he was controlling another character.  Doom and Wolfenstein 3-D both contain a picture of the marine at the bottom of the screen at all times (really, for no practical reason).  Also, the narrative of the game is given to us: we are told we play as a marine in the case of Doom, and as an American solider in the case of Wolfenstein 3-D.  Thus, despite the game’s primitiveness, we are told we are controlling another character, and the character we are controlling is on display at all times. 

Even when we do not see the physical make-up of the character we are controlling, we are given an implicit idea that we are controlling another character.  Bioshock, for example, offers no cut scene or depiction of the character you are controlling.  However, the narrative unfolds in such a way that you know you are controlling another person (a plane crash survivor named Jack).  This subtle, or not so subtle nuance makes us fully aware that we are in control of someone else.

At this time I should address the case of games such as Myst.  Myst provides no back-story, no depiction of your character, and comes the closest of any game in letting a player inhibit the protagonist.  Even still, we are aware of our control in the environment.  By pointing and clicking, we tell ourselves to move.  As Galloway points out, there exists a “single gamic act that concerns player expression.  Even a single mouse click counts here,” (Galloway, 23-4).  We are still aware that we are performing diegetic operator acts, namely: move, open, look up, etc.  Therefore, while Myst comes the closest to eliminating any identity of the protagonist, the interaction with the PC creates a barrier that prevents us from fully immersing ourselves in the world.

I have just gone over every case in which a video game makes us aware that we are controlling another person.  The mirror shot in cinema exists for the same exact purpose.  Whether it exists for characters in a film, or for the viewer, mirror shots attempt to bring about the awareness of control.  Since we are allegedly given control over another person, mirror shots are meant to bring about fascination as well.

For some video games, the fascination of inhibiting and controlling the characters is obvious.  Goldeneye finally lets players play as James Bond, one of the most beloved and envied protagonists in the history of cinema.  Even in other cases, however, it remains more enjoyable to play as a nameless marine sent to Mars, or as the now iconic master chief, than it is to assume the identity and play as yourself. 

The mirror shot in cinema is able to give that same enjoyment to the character that we experience when playing a video game.  In Being John Malkovich, Cameron Diaz crawls through the portal, into Malkovich’s body.  When she enters him, she finds herself in the shower.  She finds drying off enjoyable, and when she sees herself in the mirror, she calls “herself” sexy.  By entering through that portal, she has control over John Malkovich, and she finds it so fascinating that she lets the potential of possessing Malkovich take over her life (as do all the characters in the film who enter).  She is fascinated with controlling Malkovich in the same way we are fascinated with controlling a video game character. 

The casting of John Malkovich is important to note here.  Malkovich is not someone who is thought of as overly successful (other characters cannot seem to identify him, but incorrectly note that he was in a movie with a bank robbery), or otherwise overly famous, attractive, or known to live a lavish lifestyle.  He is not the most obvious person that one would want to embody, like James Bond might be.  Despite this, characters are obsessed with entering and controlling his body.  This certainly makes the desire for control more notable.  Furthermore, once in possession of the body, the characters do not do anything extraordinary.  John Cusack controls Malkovich to launch his career as a puppeteer, while Cameron Diaz wants to control Malkovich to make love to another woman.

Mirror shots help us identify who’s body we the viewer are in possession of.  Early on in the “All Falls Down” music video, we see Kanye West’s reflection in the limo’s window.  From here on out, despite the fact that we will see everything through a first person perspective, we know that we are seeing things through Kanye’s eyes; we are inhibiting Kanye.  While this is meant to fascinating, we cannot control what he does in the music video, such as how much to tip the bellhops, and therefore watching the video falls short of playing a video game in terms of enjoyment.   

What’s worse in terms of enjoyment is the Nike Soccer ad.  We are not given any control in the advertisement, AND we are not given a mirror shot.  Because of the lack of mirror shots, we are meant to assume that this soccer player is us.  This leads to frustration when we cannot control what the person does.  First off, we are white, evident by our calves and forearms.  Then, we are handed an Arsenal jersey; we are not given the choice to sign for any other club team in the world.  The commercial assumes that if you were a superstar player, Arsenal would be the club of choice. Even worse, at the end, we are assigned the nationality of Dutch, as we are seen running around in the famous orange jerseys.  How can we fully empathize with this character if we are not Dutch?  No matter how many Nike products we purchase and use, how hard we train, and how good of a soccer player we are, we will never be able to play on the Dutch national team unless we were born in the Netherlands.  Playing a game such as FIFA 10, however, gives the player the options to make his created player play for any club team, specify his player’s skin color, and let the player come from any country.  This makes for a much enjoyable experience than watching the commercial does.  So while we may disagree with Kanye’s choice to tip the bellhops a few hundred dollars, it is okay because we realize we are not Kanye.  It isn’t okay that we sign with Arsenal and are Dutch, because we do not get a mirror shot, and are not aware that we are inhibiting another body.  If when getting out of the limo, we see that we are embodying David Beckham, the commercial would be another story, (provided they made it so we played for Man U, LA Galaxy, and England, etc). 

By the very nature of video games, you are constantly reminded that you are controlling another entity.  It is fascinating to control anyone else other than yourself, whether it is a marine, James Bond, John Malkovich, or as the Ralph Fiennes character in Strange Days would advertise, an eighteen-year-old girl.  When a character in a film is inhibiting another person, and sees, through a mirror shot, their control, they are as fascinated by it in the same way we are fascinated when we play video games.  Mirror shots alert us to our inhabitance, such as the Kanye video, and offer up a small sense of enjoyment by getting to see the world through Kanye’s eyes (if only we could control him!).  Video games are able to constantly remind us of our control, and that is why they have become a popular medium.