Page - 148 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

148 | Frank G. Bosman and Archibald L.  H.  M. van Wieringen www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 145–171 nent Reader (TIR). The text-immanent author is able to act as a character in the text, e. g. in an “I”-narration. The text-immanent author is also able to address the text-immanent reader directly. Regardless of whether a text is written or spoken, these various communi- cation levels are present in it. In fact, all cultural products of expression can be considered a text in which these three different communication levels can be distinguished. Let us take the example of a painting. Every painting has a historical painter, the “real author”. The one who saw or sees the painting is the “real reader”. The figures in the painting are the “characters”, commu- nicating with each other. In the painting a painting-immanent director, the “text-immanent author”, enables the painted figures, the characters, to take their position in the painting. The painting-immanent viewer, the “text-imma- nent reader”, is the receiver of the communication from the painting-imma- nent director, the text-immanent author. In addition, we define video games as digital, interactive, playable, nar- rative texts.5 As a text, a video game is an object of interpretation; as a nar- rative, it communicates meaning; as a game, it is playable; and as a digital medium, it is interactive in nature. The close reading of Far Cry 5 is done by playing the game itself (multiple times), including all possible (side) mis- sions, in what is known as the game-immanent approach.6 We have chosen to address the different medial objects in their reversed internal chronolog- ical order, that is, to discuss the game first, and the trailer and the physical book second, even though the book describes Joseph’s origin story, the trail- er the growth of the sect, and the game the downfall of both. The argument for this particular order is that the trailer and the book are published as promotional material for the game, positioning the game as the core text of the three. The Book of Joseph in Far Cry 5 The Far Cry series (CA 2004–2019) is a loosely connected series of games de- fined by exotic locations, likeable villains, and a massive amount of creative violence. Far Cry 5 took the series to a fictional county in the American state of Montana, introducing a doomsday cult that bears a striking resemblance 5 Bosman 2019, 38–43. 6 Bosman 2019, 43–51.