“States of Exception”: The Paradox of Virtual Documentary Representation
Kris Fallon
Chapter from the book: Fallon, K. 2019. Where Truth Lies: Digital Culture and Documentary Media after 9/11.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Fallon, K. 2019. Where Truth Lies: Digital Culture and Documentary Media after 9/11.
This chapter considers the documentary capacity of video games and virtual environments for representing the various spaces and subjects impacted by the war on terror, including civilians, soldiers, and detainees. In particular, it compares the United States Military’s use of the video game America’s Army to recruit and train soldiers with the Gone Gitmo project created on the platform Second Life. While both texts skip the use of cameras and other indexical media, both offer non-fiction or documentary representations of different spaces and experiences, including the Guantanmo Bay prison camp, military hospitals, imprisonment, and bodily injury. The chapter concludes with a discussion of drone warfare as an example of mediated violence.
Fallon, K. 2019. “States of Exception”: The Paradox of Virtual Documentary Representation. In: Fallon, K, Where Truth Lies. California: University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.80.d
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Published on Oct. 29, 2019