Discourse analysis of the interactive series “Nayden_zhiv” (first season)

The article deals with the discourse analysis of the mythologization of time in the interactive web series “Found Alive” (first season). The author explores the formation of interactive cinema, considering its genre, stylistic and technological features. The principal feature of interactive cinema is to change the communication scheme typical for cinema, in which the viewer is assigned a passive role. Since the viewer becomes a participant in the narrative of the film and can influence the development of its plot, the discourse of interactive cinema acquires new features associated with the introduction of computer game mechanics into the structure of the film. The formation of the temporal structures of the film is enriched by the potential of game mechanics, which requires calibration of research optics. Choosing N. Fairclough’s discourse analysis algorithm as a starting methodological point, the author uses J. Bogost’s ideas about the work of object-oriented ontology in the study of computer games. She refuses to consider the interactive component of the series as an additional narrative and focuses on identifying the work of the aesthetics, mechanics and dynamics of the game inserts of the film to analyze the experience they form. As a result, the discourse analysis of interactive cinema involves three levels: a syntagmatic analysis of the cinematic narrative, a paradigmatic analysis of the interactive game and an appeal to the external nodes of the narrative. The author shows that the key element of the discourse of the series “Nayden_Zhiv”, reproducing the principles of the work of the search and rescue team “LizaAlert”, is time as the main factor in the effectiveness of the search for a missing child. The film’s discourse forms the image of time as an anti-force opposing rescuers, clashing two temporal strategies. The strategy of the cinematic narrative is aimed at gradually accelerating the subjective perception of time, leading to an acute experience of its deficit. The interactive strategy uses the potential of slowing down when mastering simulators and solving quests in the subjective experience of the player delays the solution of the basic goal of the film. The external narrative nodes formed by the creators of the series when contacting the press, online and offline audiences coincide with its internal nodes. According to the author, the complex discourse of interactive cinema enhances the mythologization of time.