Natalie Bookchin

By kristiner on September 14th, 2009, 2:25 am 1 Comments

The Intruder, 1999

The Intruder is an interactive Web project which is based on a 1966 short story “The Intruder” by Jorge Luis Borges. The story is about two brothers whom fall in love with the same woman, share her, and sell her to a brothel. It ends with her murder and the brothers’ reconciliation. Themes such as  prostitution, fraternal jealousy, and violence against women are depicted within the narrative.

Through a sequence of ten gaming levels, with the graphics  similar to Space Invaders and Pong, Bookchin tells a story through symbolic forms to reiterate the ideas of violence and sexism that are prominent in most games. For example in level seven the Pong ball is replaced with a women’s skirted silhouette, images of a nude female body in the background and a female voice reading excerpts from Borges story. This is to imply the role of the brothers and the act of exchanging the woman as an object. The Intruder develops a critique of patriarchal violence.

I tried playing the game, it was very interesting the graphics were very much like the old video games  such as ping pong, and space invaders. I find her piece to be quite amusing and intriguing because her criticism of patriarchal violence in video games I think apply more now then they did in 1999. I wonder if Bookchin had the chance to do this interactive web project again but this time in 3D, if the effectiveness of her critique would differ.

Category: blog | Tags: Borges game narrative network | Permalink: Natalie Bookchin