«Science isn’t about WHY. It’s about WHY NOT»: Entre ciência e género na narrativa musical de Portal

Abstract

Played from a first-person perspective and centred around a mysterious device that creates portals, Portal (2007) and Portal 2 (2011), developed by Valve Corporation, are still regarded as some of the best titles ever produced. Their widespread success has also reached academia, inspiring research mainly in STEM fields, education, and science. From teaching to learning, Portal and its mechanics have been adapted for use in classrooms and labs, utilising the concept of portals to engage students with concepts in physics, mathematics, and communication. Alongside this versatile use, however, one of the central components of their popularity that has been relatively neglected in academia is their soundtrack.

This paper examines how Portal and Portal 2 make use of musical non-diegesis within a narrative arc based on the antagonistic relationship between the protagonist and the villain. The connection between

audiovisual literacy and player immersion through musical duality is closely tied to ergodic interpretation and the construction of meaning as the story unfolds through a one-sided dialogue that is both (ironically) empathetic and threatening. Within a feminist framework that questions identity and post-human femininity, the games' atmosphere is shaped by an underlying critique of scientific institutions, and the soundtrack is conceived not only as an affective agent but, primarily, as a narrative one.