Should I Skip This - Cutscenes, Agency and Innovation - Master of Arts Thesis

Sep 4, 2026

Uploaded by Rizky

The cutscene is a frequently overlooked and understudied device in video game scholarship, despite its prominence across games. This thesis challenges the dominant critical view that cutscenes are purely predetermined narrative elements. Using cutscenes from Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil, it explains how cutscenes complicate player-centric models of agency by highlighting oscillation between player and system. It also shows how cutscenes enable “technoattentive aesthetics” to standardize innovation and promote newer hardware and software technologies as inherently superior.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages94

Reading Time3 h 57 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Cutscenes and Agency

Agency in Video Games

The Cutscene vs. Gameplay

Graphics and Consistency

Agency and the Quick-Timer Event

Interrogating the Illusion of Freewill

Chapter Conclusion

Chapter 2: The Technoattentive Cutscene and Innovation

The Video Game Industry and Perpetual Innovation

Technoattentive Aesthetics

Graphics as Innovation

Full-Motion Video and Visual Inconsistency

Real-Time and Visual Consistency

Chapter Conclusion

Conclusion

Works Cited

Should I Skip This?: Cutscenes, Agency and Innovation Ben Browning A Thesis in The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Film Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada April 2016 © Ben Browning CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Ben Browning Entitled: Should I Skip This?: Cutscenes, Agency and Innovation and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Film Studies) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Chair Darren Wershler External Examiner Peter Rist Examiner Marc Steinberg Supervisor Approved by Haidee Wasson Graduate Program Director Catherine Wild Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts Date ___________________________________ ABSTRACT Should I Skip This?: Cutscenes, Agency and Innovation Ben Browning The cutscene is a frequently overlooked and understudied device in video game scholarship, despite its prominence in a vast number of games. Most gaming literature and criticism concludes that cutscenes are predetermined narrative devices and nothing more. Interrogating this general critical dismissal of the cutscene, this thesis argues that it is a significant device that can be used to re-examine a number of important topics and debates in video game studies. Through an analysis of cutscenes deriving from the Metal Gear Solid (Konami, 1998) and Resident Evil (Capcom, 1996) franchises, I demonstrate the cutscene’s importance within (1) studies of video game agency and (2) video game promotion. This thesis has two principal aims. The first is to argue that cutscenes complicate the player-centric models of agency that currently dominate the field. A close analysis of cutscenes from varying periods of its history encourages us to develop a more expansive method for understanding how agency operates in games, one that gives additional attention to the oscillation between the player and system. In this way, we move beyond the notion that cutscenes are simply predetermined and consider the precise means through which they are executed. This leads into the second aim of this thesis, which is to demonstrate how cutscenes implement “technoattentive aesthetics”, which is to say, aesthetic strategies that allow hardware manufacturers and software publishers to standardize innovation and propagate the notion that newer video game technologies (or consoles) are inherently superior to their predecessors. I argue that by supporting such ideas, cutscenes are key elements of the economy of perpetual innovation that the video game industry relies on. Dedicated to Jessica Mom & Dad Julie & Alyssa Hideo Kojima Acknowledgements Marc Steinberg Phillip Bédard Brad Warren Colin Arason Kaia Scott Table of Contents Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………………….vii Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..................1 Chapter 1: Cutscenes and Agency……………………………………………………………….24 Agency in Video Games…………………………………………………………………25 The Cutscene vs. Gameplay……………………………………………………………..31 Graphics and Consistency……………………………………………………………….35 Agency and the Quick-Timer Event…………………………………………………….40 Interrogating the Illusion of Freewill……………………………………………………44 Chapter Conclusion……………………………………………………………...............49 Chapter 2: The Technoattentive Cutscene and Innovation……………………………………..52 The Video Game Industry and Perpetual Innovation…………………………...............54 Technoattentive Aesthetics……………………………………………………...............60 Graphics as Innovation…………………………………………………………………..63 Full-Motion Video and Visual Inconsistency…………………………………...............66 Real-Time and Visual Consistency……………………………………………………...68 Chapter Conclusio

FAQs

What is the main argument about video game cutscenes in this thesis?

The thesis argues that cutscenes are significant devices that can reframe key debates in video game studies, not merely predetermined narrative segments.

How does the thesis address player agency in relation to cutscenes?

It shows that cutscenes complicate player-centric models of agency by emphasizing the oscillation between the player and the game system during execution.

What does “technoattentive aesthetics” mean in this context?

It refers to aesthetic strategies that help hardware and software publishers standardize innovation and promote newer technologies as inherently superior to predecessors.

Sep 4, 2026

Uploaded by Rizky

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