Intertextuality - where a media product makes reference to another media product. This can be explicit (for example the explicit reference to The Breakfast Club) or more vaguely. There are several references to the video game Outrun In San Junipero. And the metanarrative of videogames in general, and Outrun in particular, can help us to understand how the complex narrative of San Junipero actually works!
Metanarrative - a story about a story, or a story beyond the story.
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| Yu Suzuki's infamous and genre defining driving game Outrun presents a hyperreal representation of the West Coast of America. The palm trees, the wealth, the blonde hair. California dreaming encoded in to pixels and scaled sprites. San Junipero operates on the same mode of intertextual relay, though by referencing these aspects through the metanarrative of Outrun, it ends up becoming a copy of a copy of a copy. Baudrillard referred to these 'referents without referent' as a simulacrum. It is a representation of something that has never existed in the first place! Outrun is a Japanese construction of California, made after the producers hired a car and went on a crazy road trip together. And Black Mirror is essentially a British simulacrum of an American ideal... yes, this is very complex indeed. And fun! |
Ways in which Outrun is implicitly referred to San Junipero
- The bright red Ferrari is a fairly explicit reference to the car in Outrun
- The player often crashes in outrun. However, unlike in real life, in videogames, crashing the car or losing a life is a minor setback. This is referred to in San Junipero, where Kelley crashes the car top ‘commit suicide’. However, she is respawned completely OK the next week
- The beach is aesthetically pleasing, with real sand, grass and palm trees. This infers a tropical, hot setting, a hyperreal representation of California
- The gentle winding road connotes a peaceful sense of escapism
- Black Mirror is British in origin. Outrun is Japanese. Yet both media products represent California, a stereotypical perfect version of America
- A similar game is played in the arcade in San Jun
- Yorkie is paralysed in a car crash
- Kelley drives a red Ferrari, much like the one in the videogame. Additionally, the show is set in an idealised 80’s style beachside setting. The game and the show are set in a strange, hyperreal version of California, and the MES of palm trees, and stereotypically winding roads reinforce this reference. In outrun, the player plays a brunette man with a blonde girlfriend, which seems to resemble Yorkie and Kelley in the final montage. Finally, in Outrun, the player crashes dramatically throughout their experience, however, the player is given the opportunity to keep playing. This is particularly similar to the scene where Kelley deliberately crashes the car to reset her game experience. There is no possibility of death in San Junipero.
Why is Outrun implicitly referred to throughout the narrative of San Jun?
- Outrun was released in 1986 and was a huge hit. It constructs a nostalgic mode of address for the target audiences, even if they have no knowledge of the game or what is being referred to. This provides audiences many ways to negotiate this episode.
- The game uses stereotypes extensively, just like the town of San Junipero.
- Outrun operates under the stereotypical hegemonic and heteronormative assumption that the player is heterosexual. However San Jun break 8s heteronormative stereotypes and constructs a conflicting and subversive representation of sexuality.
- Themes of simulation and simulacra. In both situations, the simulation is better than reality.
- Themes of cutting edge technology
- Themes of capitalism. Arcade games require an upfront payment. It is heavily inferred that Kelly and Yorkie are rich
- By referring implicitly to Outrun, the producer accentuates the themes of simulation, by referring not to real life events, but videogame iconography. It reinforces the ideological perspective that videogames are perfect escapist worlds.
- It reinforces and foreshadows the themes that are later explored in this episode
- It provides an exciting mode of address to videogames fans, in particular retro game fans who will become very excited by the intertextual references
- Outrun as a frame of reference provides a metanarrative to the audience, and informs them they are traveling on a journey with exciting twists and turns and deaths!!
- Outrun is a romantic game that features a clear heterosexual relationship. However, in 1986, it hegemonically normalised for only heterosexual relationships to exist in games. San Junipero is therefore quite unconventional, and subverts the heteronormative assumptions of the 1980s. Therefore, the producers of San Junipero have made a perfect, more fun, more tolerant version of the 1980s, where homophobia and absolute financial collapse do not exist
- The closest frame of reference to a simulation is a videogame, and the use of videogame references allows the audience to understand the narrative more effectively
- Implicit generic intertextuality is utilised in San jun to not only target a much wider audience it also makes the world of the narrative (diegesis) far more real and relatable to the audience. Finally, it also makes the complex narrative far easier to understand.
Intertextuality is used in a complex and satisfying way to construct meaning for a variety of audiences.
Other games that are featured in San Junipero:
- Pac Man - Filled with ghosts, just like San Junipero! Trapped in complex maze!
- Bubble Bobble - Yorkie lives in her own bubble, protected from the rest of society. Yorkie has been living in a bubble her entire life!
- Dance Dance Revolution - dancing is a huge theme in this episode! Kelley and Yorkie love dancing!
- Donkey Kong - A horrible evil world filled with hardship… just like The Quagmire. OR: Kelley is the princess who must be rescued! Overcoming adversity!
- Space invaders - Yorkie’s space is being invaded…. Yorkie tries to keep herself separate from other people!
- House of the Dead - Most people in San Jun are dead!!! San Junipero is ‘a house of the dead
Conclusion
While these references help enjoyment of the show, they are not essential to understanding it. They are a fun intertextual easter egg for fans to become engaged with. However, there are many other things that audiences can end up enjoying.