Whose narrative is this? A character's expression of Identity to counter a Hegemonic Narrative

Abstract

As author-driven stories enter the realm of interactive narratives and provide interactors with freedom of choice in narrative paths and endings, this often happens at the character narrative’s expense. Positioning this as expressing the character’s identity in the face of hegemonic agency, we draw inspiration from the final episode of Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series to explore how agency can favour the character’s narrative. Comparison is made with the player’s narrative and the role of identification in matching these together is ex- plored. This is framed in the context of three case studies: two indie games that have experimented with agency at the expense of the character narrative and an interactive TV episode that provided unreliable agency to favour the character’s narrative. We then draw seven lessons from these analyses to serve as guidelines for interactive narratives wishing to project character narratives as one of the perspectives presented to the interactor.