By suggesting a way of triangulating discursive, narrative and multimodal theories, this thesis sets out to investigate, whether videogame commercials can be used as an indicator of the subcultural annexation of what is normatively thought of as being ‘nerd’ or ‘geek’ culture, into a pop cultural setting in which videogames create meaningful, comprehensible and seamless discourse.
Through an application of Cognitive Narratology, Discourse Analysis and Multimodal Analysis, such as semiotics, to TV-commercials for videogames, the findings suggest a progression in the way these commercials try to convey a rational and sound selling argument. Rather than displaying the actual videogame the commercials appear to present a narrative and a universe based upon the videogame, creating a discourse in which the act of gaming becomes secondary to the modern tradition of disembedding and reembedding of oneself into narrative universe. The commercials progressively presume a seamlessness wherein semiotics can be used to cater to the fan base, whilst still maintaining a neutral or even gaining an elevated position in regards pop culture; the commercials progressively disclaim metatextual references to themselves and their placement between the subcultural and pop cultural, which suggests a full-fledged annexation to the latter.