By Msanaa Bosland, Jack Hughes, and Rayna Johnson In Space With Markiplier (ISWM) is a youtube original two-part interactive story, directed by Mark Fischbach; it serves as a sequel to A Heist With Markiplier. The two parts were released on April 4th and May 2nd of 2022, respectively. ISWM is filmed in the first person, with the audience assuming the role of ‘The Captain’ on a spaceship called the Invincible II, and primarily follows our interactions with Mark, the head engineer, as the ship progressively fails in every imaginable way. The story rationalizes its branching narrative via a wormhole caused by the ship's warp core which introduces a time-loop style story; this develops into more of a multiverse style paradox, which the rest of the story is focused on resolving. In Space is much less serious than many of the branching narratives we have discussed in class; however, it does contain many of the existential themes associated with the genre. Especially towards its end, In Space introduces ideas of finality through several monologues which illustrate the idea that the story has to end. This is reinforced by the endings offered by the story, in part two, there are two possible endings to the story, but only one provides a true conclusion while the other loops the viewer back to the beginning of the story. This choice, to only provide one real ending, is unlike many of the branching narratives we have discussed in class, and while it does give the story a much more linear feel to it, this singular ending works in its context to illustrate the idea that there is only one way forward and in doing so it actually removes choice from the viewer. In a similar fashion to the major, rather sudden shift to an existentially focused narrative, the mood of the story shifts with it. The interactive story begins with a rather cheery tone, which is supported by the humor that is often present in the chaotic background of the narrative. The clearest example of this occurs in the opening sequence of the narrative, specifically during Mark’s explanation of the functions of different parts of the ship, during which his attempts at assurance are sharply contrasted with the multitude of failures and issues that occur around the main characters. This both instills a sense of distrust towards Mark in the viewers and falsely sets the mood of the narrative in preparation for its subversion. As the media continues the instances of this humorous tone rapidly decreases in number as the monologues performed by characters such as Mark and Lady appear more and more frequently. As previously mentioned, these monologues are often used to further develop the existential theme present in the latter half of the narrative. This story is set apart from many other digital narratives by the drastic switches in the type of format which it takes on. The concept of the multiverse allows the story to go to very obscure places, such as a Pokemon-style video game, a top down Among Us-style game, a horror movie, and even several visits to a strange diner floating in space. The overarching narrative remains present and the same actions or actions that fit within the story still occur but it completely changes visually. Most of this also happens without the choice being made by the viewer, sometimes multiple times within the same line of story between choices. In Space uses its visual changes, not only to flex its multiversal setting, but also to change the way the viewer thinks about the story and their place in it.
By utilizing the much less serious medium of a Youtube original, In Space With Markiplier manages to create a branching narrative that hides its existential themes in a colorful and fast paced multiverse hopping story. It subverts typical branching media by utilizing a wide variety of visual mediums that create jarring differences in the experience of playing/watching through the narrative, explained away with the concept of a multiverse. It often falls into similar tropes as more critically acclaimed media, such as A24’s movie Everything, Everywhere, All at Once which premiered in March of 2022, and contains many of the same ‘ridiculous multiverse’ motifs. While these two media are not directly connected, their nearly concurrent release speaks to what was in the culture zeitgeist at the time of their conception and production. That being, existentialism driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, a focus on multiverses which allow for escape from the mundane, and the combination of the two as a tool to discuss finality and death.
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AuthorWe are the students of "Digital Literatures" at Millikin University. These are some of the digital narratives that entice, inspire, and challenge us. Categories
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