If you were to ask many video game enthusiasts about their favorite female video game heroines, the answers you’d get would be very varied - some will say Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider series, others say Alyx from the Half-Life series, few say Jade from Beyond Good & Evil, a handful will vouch for Chell from Portal, and a lot of old-school folks might just say Ms. Pac-Man. However, there is another video game heroine who has managed to reach into the hearts of gamers, both male and female, proving that she was just as awesome as any celebrated male hero. However, for gamers who were sitting tight in front of their television sets, exploring the desolate planet of Zebes via their Nintendo Entertainment in 1986, it was widely assumed that the famed bounty hunter was male. At the end of the adventure, the big reveal was made - removing her helmet to signify a job well done, Samus Aran, protagonist of the Metroid series, was indeed female. For the purpose of this paper, we’ll analyze the heroics of Samus through three distinct analytical lenses: The Hero’s Journey (from Joseph Campbell), Carl Jung’s archetypes, and through feminist analysis.
Of course, to learn more about our heroine, we must first find out what drives her, what makes her tick, and her purpose as a bounty hunter. The story of Metroid stretches along 11 games, and various Japanese manga series, all of which follows Samus along her never-ending quest. Her role is to rid the world of Metroids, lifeforms which are being used as bioweapons by the Space Pirates, the main enemy of the Galactic Federation, of which Samus is employed as a formidable bounty hunter. In her pursuits against the Space Pirate menace (and also her bounty hunting), she uses her body as her weapon,...
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A Feminist Perspective of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing Unlike the title of this piece suggests, Hero did not undergo her transformation in Much Ado About Nothing through magic. Rather, Hero was a victim of the double standards and illogical fears that the men of Shakespeare’s plays commonly held. The following quote sums it up quite well. In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period. Instead, it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry.
In the first paragraph of Laurie Penny’s essay “What to do when you’re not the hero anymore” she tells the reader how she recently went to see the new Star Wars movie. To her surprise a female character, Rey, fought off a bad guy as an equal. Hollywood has incredible power in how messages are portrayed in books, TV shows, and movies. It is no secret that media representation normalizes the reality of white male power. Penny explores how it is becoming more common to see a women lead in books, movies, and TV shows, rather than the stereotypical male.
Leaper, Breed, Hoffman, and Perlman (2002) reiterates Junn (1997) findings that compared to women, men are overrepresented (Leaper, Breed, Hoffman, & Perlman, 2002). Leaper et al. conducted a time-based structured observational study by evaluating a total of 12 different child target television shows. They selected 3 shows from each of the following categories: traditional adventure, nontraditional adventure, comedy, and educational/family (Leaper et al, 2002). In addition, Leaper et al examined the number of characters in each film while also looking at the amount of time each character exhibited predetermined behaviors (talking fear, negative, physical aggression, victim, romantic, directive, politeness, and support) throughout the show (Leaper et al., 2002). At the conclusion of the study, Leaper et al. reaffirmed that female characters are underrepresented. In addition, however, Leaper et al. found that one genre, traditional adventure (“emphasizing a central male hero”) was more likely to contain gender stereotypical behaviors (Leaper et al., 2002, p. 1655). Ultimately, Leaper et al.’s conclusion can suggest to children that male characters’ overrepresentation in child-targeted media is because men are at the top of the hierarchy and are more important in society than women (Leaper et al.,
The heroic archetype is a creative expression borne of the individual's desire to know and to understand the uncontrollable and often chaotic world in which he lives. In the popular culture of America we can find many reflections of the heroic figure; in writing, in the graphic art of comic books, and most certainly in the aftermath of September 11th, heroes are ever present. Our cultural champions speak to our collective need to make sense of the nonsensical and to establish order in both our external and internal worlds. Indeed it is through the internal world of the psyche and the lens of psychological thought that we may gain a better perspective of the fusion of creativity and knowledge that we have come to call the heroic figure.
The sun, that shines ever so brightly, wakes you from your deep slumber. It is noon. Exhilarating dreams of being a secret agent illuminates your mind, but cannot be expressed in the real world, so you close your window blinds. As you walk away from reality, a light bulb then appears above your head. You have an epiphany. You realize you can be the crime fighting, devious, secret agent you always wanted to be, but you must do one thing first—turn on the game console. You are now channeling yourself into a different world, where every fantasy you have ever had is considered normal. As you continue to dwell in your fantasy, you encounter a very submissive woman with enormous sized breasts, and other curvy features to match—features that then become expected in the real world. Although, there are others that disagree, this hypersexualization of female characters in video games is taking a toll on gamers, by portraying fantasy to be something real. Gamers are becoming more prone to objectifying, and expecting women in the real world to have unrealistic bodily features. Also, based on the negative connotation that these video games entail, females are discouraged to play such video games, because it leads to negative self-perceptions. Consequently, hypersexualizing female characters in video games should be discouraged because it teaches gamers to accept stereotypical views of women, desensitize them to interpersonal violence, and, worst of all, it causes female gamers to have negative self-perceptions.
This paper tries to express how sexism/chauvinism ideas have infected the virtual-world of video games, and resulted in a male dominated video-gaming industry. Now, being that 49% of U.S. households own a dedicated gaming console (E.S.A. 2012), it is imperative that we address this issue. Gender disparity in the gaming business is exceedingly one-sided. Female employees constitute less than 10% of the gaming industry, and even though that shortcoming females have contributed to the video gaming franchise. A small number of females have indeed contributed to the gaming franchise as a result of the industries no-girls-allowed mentality which strongly suggest that old saying boys-only. In this paper, I will examine current research relevant to the video game industry and its representation of the female gender, provide personal accounts of sexual harassment within the video game industry and offer my opinions of what could be done to begin the steps in an extraordinarily difficult journey.
Women have always been on the fringes of the science fiction writing community. Not only have there been few female writers, but few female characters of substance have explored the universe, battled aliens, or discovered new technologies. Even in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), considered by some to be the first science fiction novel, Elizabeth, who is the major female character, does little more than decorate Victor's arm, snag his heart, and eventually contribute to his self-destruction. Women were virtually non-existent in the Golden Age SF (1938-1949) writings; except perhaps as trophies to be rescued, or smoldering, sexual beings that really didn't contribute to the overall plot other than as the hero's love interest. However, the female characters of cyberpunk are not damsels in distress; nor are they the mother earth goddesses or cyborgs of the feminist SF writings of the `70's. These characters are not quite the equals of their male counterparts; and in some cases, objectification is still blatant. But in general, there is twisting of traditional gender and sexual roles in cyberpunk writing that helps set it apart from previous SF. Two characters that particularly embody these radical differences are Molly Millions of Gibson's Neuromancer and "Johnny Mnemnonic" and Lizzie from Tom Maddox's "Snake Eyes."
characters created to display a woman’s search for a way out of the bonds of her society.
A feminist movement in its own right has begun in the gaming community. Women are generally believed to be understand by members in many geeky, gamer or nerdy parts of today’s society. In the gaming industry women are statistical and cultural outliers. Gender stereotypes about girl gamers or ‘Gamer Girls’, the latter of which has begun to receive a negative meaning, keep many women from fully participating in the rich game industry culture. Female workers in the gaming industry get mixed signals from an industry that on the outside appears to desire gender diversity in order to attract the growing ranks of female gamers but on the inside it is resistant to change its sexist and discriminatory practices that make women feel singled out and alone. Females of the gaming community not only receive sexist and vulgar remarks from their male counterparts of the community but the very companies, making the games they love to play, single them out more than anyone else. Being that game development is a very male dominated job in the gaming industry it is understandable that women would feel a little advised not to pursue a career in gaming but the few women that do brave the doubts are met with criticism and dominating remarks. They are paid less than their male counterparts and are given less chances at promotions.
When William M. Marston, creator of fictional heroine Wonder Woman, asked a girl which female superhero she aspired to be, the girl retorted, “Aw, that’s girls stuff! Who wants to be a girl?” And that is the point; just as the young comic enthusiast suggested, our world has become a dominantly patriarchal society, ranking men over women in the social hierarchy. While some might argue that there is more gender equality in our world now than in any other moment in American history, we still find nonetheless in our culture these continually degrading attitudes towards women. Women today are still only represented as icons of male sexual desire and are only viewed as valuable insofar as they can satisfy that sexual desires. This value is often tied to their attractiveness through their physical qualities, and superhero films offer the medium to accentuate the representation of these qualities. More specifically, superhero movies have become subjected to the male gaze, which proposes that movies are filmed specifically for the heterosexual male audience. This has continued to lead to the falsely characterized perception of women, intriguing the viewer through her hypersexualized style of clothing. Some may claim that superheroes do not relate to actual society and teach us nothing about human nature because they are too fantastical; however, I would suggest that these narratives imply, though indirectly, some theory of human nature. By examining female superhero icons such as Wonder Woman, we can investigate the ways the creators of superhero characters thought both about human nature and the nature of sexual difference. In essence, the portrayal of women is superhero film perpetuate...
Gender roles are something that society has only more recently brought to light, by the standards of basic human history. However, despite the every lasting desire for equality between men and women, the role of the man has been more dominant in a leadership or heroic role in entertainment business for as long as anyone can remember. This is clear in all forms of art and entertainment forms, from cartoons such as Superman to many historically famous books, like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, that the reader/viewer sees a man taking on the major role as the entertainment purpose of the story. This is also evident in the 1956 science fiction thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as the basic plotline follows a man out to save the world that
Since the introduction of Tomb Raider video games to the world in October 1996, Lara Croft has proved to be a laudatory heroine within the world of gaming. The strong, determined, and fierce character provides her audience with the opportunity to immerse itself in an environment of mystery and daring triumph. Although traditionally Lara Croft is portrayed as an unfaltering adventurer, her most recent performance demonstrates the human and vulnerable side to her character. Tomb Raider (2013) reimagines the familiar heroine through her origin story; one filled with tragedy, sacrifice, and wavering morals. Through the strife now discovered within Croft’s history, one may question whether Lara Croft still portrays a character of great heroism. Lara Croft’s portrayal in Tomb Raider’s storyline and gameplay influence her transition into a dynamic, relatable character; thus it is through the obstacles faced in her backstory that she becomes a laudatory heroine.
Since its emerge as a genre of science fiction in the 1980s steampunk has transformed into a sub-culture with developing fan communities all around the world. Its distinctive features based on Victorian fashions, recreation of this fashion with modern tools and equipment, and solving modern day’s problems with steam powered, bronze coated unrealistic machinery. (Ferguson 66). Although the elements that created steampunk were mainly based on fashion, Rebecca Onion expanded this idea by claiming most steampunk works based on aestheticism, and a relationship of visuality between retro-Victorian style and contemporary technology (Onion 138). This relationship between style and technology helped creating a unique connection for popular entertainment of today and became intriguing for the generations of modern age. As one of the most popular ways of entertainment, video games were the most suitable choose for answering public demands and steampunk games started to be published by game developers. The children of the modern age showed their interests almost immediately and steampunk themed video games became one of the most loved genre for video game enthusiasts.
During the late 20th century, Japan experienced the rise of feminist movements who desired to change the feminine historical narrative. How did Japanese women become empowered? The paper will demonstrate that the empowerment of Japanese women shifted the representation of them within the medium of anime films, during the late twentieth century. Specifically, it will analyze the female characters of Ghost in Shell, Princess Mononoke, Naussicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Patlabor. The reasoning behind these chosen films is that they each have a strong female character that have many differences and similarities, when one compares them to each other. Also, they were made within a ten year lifespan between the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties.
Gaming has long been considered a male-dominated activity. There have been numerous scientific studies conducted to analyze the impact video games have on an individual and vice versa, however one of the most common discussions concerning the gaming community is sexism. With today’s growing audience and the popularity of smart phone gaming, it is a mystery as to why gaming has managed to keep its male-minded stereotypes. Most games reflect the sexist gender roles imposed upon gamers by society, however today’s response is a heated protest, some more dramatic than others. Most gamers are demanding more female protagonists, and developers are listening, but it’s a slow climb to equality in the world of pixels and fantasy. Let us discuss the surrounding influences of the video game community, some setbacks and remarkable breakthroughs in diversifying, and the ways gamers shape the games they play.