Head Over Heels - Rife With Complex Symbolism?

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamestudies.org research paper claiming to chart 'interactivity and signification' in classic '80s videogame Head Over Heels. This academic paper notes the presence of a Prince Charles sprite in the classic puzzle/platformer, explaining: "There are puzzles where Head or Heels move a chess piece suspiciously similar to the crown prince of England. On the first semantic level of the game this act is metonymically self-reflexive, referring to the act of playing the game... on the second semantic level, the puzzle metaphorically refers to the way in which Charles has been manipulated to marry Diana." It concludes, marvellously, in finding "...an allegorical reading of the game in terms of love and marriage which for a contemporary English audience may have carried references to the failed marriage between Charles and Diana."

Comments

You've got to be kidding me.

[redfiveneo]

Next thing you know, we'll be calling Boomer (SOCOM 1) George Bush, and someone will write a paper on it.

Bloody Hell

[Gleng]

I used to play this game so much back in the 80's. The cassette never left the tape drive of my Amstrad CPC 464. Well, it was either that or Elite.

I specifically remember that the "Prince Charles" piece that this guy is on about was supposed to be some kind of robot/vampire I think, and didn't look much like Prince Charles at all. I can imagine Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond would be shaking their heads in bafflement over that whole article.

I think someone needs to remind this guy that the shiny side of the foil goes on the outside.

Right, those screenshots have made me want to go and fire up my 464 emulator.