Jordan Russ
Explore the representation of how women in video games are seen as damsels in distress with particular reference to Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us and Tomb Raider.
My research investigation explores the representations of women in video games with particular reference to Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us and Tomb raider. Throughout my research i have concluded that most video games stereotypically limit female characters to basic side roles. Additionally, game designers still manage to over-sexualize their bodies, whilst minimizing their personalities; to helpless damsels in distress who are "designed as stereotypically feminine"[1] . Furthermore, my research indicates that in some cases, video games challenge stereotypes but this is rarely the case. Although video games have massively developed and changed throughout the the 21st century, they still feed off female stereotypes, making them irresistible to their target audience.
Video games have only been out for 60 years, movies have been out for over a hundred years and music has been around for countless generations, and yet video games make "More Revenue Than Movies and Music"[2]. Video games have been influenced from the ever-changing world of which we live in, to a point where video games use, but challenge female stereotypes to suit there game and audience. This can be reflected by the video games ‘Bioshock Infinite (2013)’ and ‘The Last of Us (2013) ’. Both of the main female characters in these games are first represented as damsels in distress, and yet both characters challenge this stereotype by surviving on their own in most cases in later parts of theirs games. On the over hand, in the game ‘Tomb Raider (2013)’ the main character is a strong and independent female character who isn't limited to any stereotypes.
Video games take advantage of female stereotypes in a range of ways, either by following them, or by stretching the controversial views of them to entice player's interest. This is gradually represented in the flexi-narrative first person shooter ‘Bioshock Infinite’ where the player controls a stereotypical strong and brave male named Booker Dewitt who is the 'hero' that rescues the damsel. Booker Dewitt is opposite compared to the main female character "Elizabeth", because she is suggested to be a scared and harmless female, who requires a male to save her. But the game slowly reveals that Booker Dewitt is the person who needs rescuing in the end.
In Bioshock Infinite, Elizabeth does first appear as a stereotypical women who is attractive and feminine but througout the course of the game she overcomes those stereotypes and develops into an independent super-power who triumphs over any challenges in her way. For example, she murders and kills enemies who apposes her, even though she previously fled from the first sight of violence. She visually transforms from a “princess” trapped in a tower to a ruthless killer who fights for revenge against her farther. The princess stereotype links to the book ‘Critical reading: Media and Gender’[3] where it states that woman tend to mainly be limited to basic characters and damsel roles, like a princess in a fairy tale. For example; Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella Etc. All of these fairy tales demonstrate a damsel in distress female character which Elizabeth represents.
Women are over sexualized in most character roles throughout the media, especially in video games. For example, stated in the book ‘Critical Reading: Media & Genders’[3] they are stereotypical represented as ‘Barbie dolls’ who must fill out certain characteristics. This includes: white, attractive, impossible thin, long legs, large chest and fashionable. This brief list highlights the limitation of character choices for females. This over sexualisation view on woman links to the damsel in distress stereotype within Bioshock Infinite. The main character ‘Elizabeth’ is presented as a princess trapped in a tower, locked away by her evil farther. Although she challenges the female stereotypes throughout the game, she suits the over sexualizing stereotype list which the previous book entails. Even though she may fit into that stereotype bracket, the game does demonstrate that she challenges and contrasts the damsel in distress stereotype throughout the course of the game. This can be suggested by the images below, they demonstrate how Elizabeth has changed from innocent to cunning from the start to the end of Bioshock Infinite. The mise-en-scéne in the first image suggests a "cute" and innocent young girl with her life ahead of her, due to her slight smile and bright outfit. On the other hand, the mise-en-scéne of the second image suggests that Elizabeth is emotionless, with her cigarette and colourless outfit, which is opposite from her previous clothes. Although her outfit is dark, she wears a red bow tie which may link or symbolise her bright past.
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The poor representation of woman in the game could be due to the limited number of woman who made the game. The developers ‘2K Games’ of Bioshock Infinite have a majority of males working in the company, "14% of people working in the UK games industry are women" [4]. In addition to this, the image below shows the Bioshock Infinite front cover, it gives a complete contrast between the male and female main characters. This is due to the placement and emotions of Elizabeth and Booker. Booker; is the main character on the cover and he is represented as a strong, independent and deadly looking man wielding a shotgun, and he doesn't even seem distressed at all compared to Elizabeth who looks fragile, distressed and scared. Additionally, Elizabeth seems to be fleeing helplessly into the background whilst staring at Booker Dewitt in awe as he bravely stands his ground protecting her.
In contrast to this, within the game ‘Tomb Raider’ the main character is female, and she is represented as a“intelligent, butt-kicking, gun-wielding, sexpot, ready to take on whatever comes her way” as stated by "Representation of Gender in Video Games"[5]. As shown by the image below, Lara is opposite to Elizabeth because Lara stands strongly within a dark and spooky cave whilst getting bashed by waves and wielding a deadly bow. On the other hand, throughout every game of Tomb Raider, her outfit is over sexualized, revealing and tight alongside her ‘Barbie’ like features. This is suggested in the game cover below because Lara's outfit looks dirty, rough and ripped. This may suggest that she has been struggling to survive with all odds against her. But the game designers may have deliberately presented Lara as this to draw a male audience, due to a attractive and young female on the front cover. The limited representations of Lara Croft could link to the limited female to male ratio in the company who actually produced Tomb Raider, perhaps the male developers just made Lara Craft a "dream girl" just to appeal to them and their audience, “the best of both worlds; adventure and pleasure”[5].
Throughout most video games, ethnicity is limited and represented poorly. Within Bioshock Infinite, the main protagonist characters are all white, but there is one black female character, named Daisy Fitzroy who is a strong and determined female character who inspires people to fight for freedom and hope against the racist leader who thinks that black people are linked to "criminality or poverty"[6]. Daisy Fitzroy is adverse to Elizabeth because Daisy is instantly represented as a fighter, who does anything to achieve what she believes in. This demonstrates that Bioshock Infinite represents black females as a more determined and capable ethnicity in comparison to the delicate and peaceful white females such as Elizabeth.
In the zombie-apocalypse world of the thrilling third person game ‘The Last Of Us’ women are mainly presented as independent fighters who can be just as good as any man who wants to stay alive. This game pulls the player in through the use of its unique and devastating environments, and corresponding genres of a thriller game with elements of sub-genres like a horror game. The player mainly controls the male character named Joel who is somewhat of a father figure to a young female main character named Ellie, even though Joel was just hired to smuggle Ellie to another location. Ellie is started off as being represented as a "vulnerable, but capable"[7] damsel in distress who relies on Joel in order to survive, but she turns out to be more than that later in the game. But in addition to this, another female character challenges the damsel in distress stereotype, this character is named Tess. She is a ruthless and unforgiving smuggler who stands up for herself no matter what. She cold bloodedly kills a man because he gave away her stash of guns to a rebel organization named fireflies, behind her back. And Tess destroys the infected with swift ease. Tess is also seen as heroic due to her last moment, where she sacrifices her life to buy time for Joel and Ellie to escape ruthless soldiers. She shoots two experienced soldiers for the price of her life. This overhauls the stereotype of how women are seen as damsels in distress, in video games. Also Tess is similar to Lara Croft in Tomb Raider due to her combat abilities and determination to achieve her goals. They are both independent women who can rival any man, which contrasts the damsel in distress representation which they may face. Additionally, Tess's bravery could forecast the character development of Ellie, it could represent what she could eventually become. Tess could be seen as a role model to Ellie and even the female audience in which they can do if they beat the damsel in distress stereotype.
In contrast to both of these games, the intense and graphically advanced third person shooter game ‘Tomb Raider’ truly emphasises how women could possibly do anything to survive and thrive in a remote and dangerous island, inhabited by vicious murderers and psychopaths. The main character who the player controls is named Lara Croft, she is a skilled and talented shooter with a bow, pistol, machine gun, and anything she can kill someone with. Lara Croft pushes the boundaries of women stereotypes and makes her victorious in any situation. Throughout the game she is not the one who needs to be rescued, she is the person who rescues, helps and dominates on the island.
Although she is breaking the damsel in distress stereotype, she is presented as over sexualised through the use of her revealing and tight outfits which gradually become torn and battered. This links to her as being represented as an object then an independent hero. But other than that, throughout the game she is highlighted as a strong and intelligent woman who can do anything which is necessary. In addition to this, in intense parts of the game, dark lighting is used alongside scattered fires to create a chaotic atmosphere. Furthermore, the range of fast space non-diegetic music, which plays in combat, makes the fights more tense and thrilling. Even Though these elements in the game are used to make us feel frightened and scared, Lara Croft gets past all of it, which dismisses the damsel in distress stereotype completely.
In conclusion, my research has uncovered that video games require female stereotypes as a backbone to do further character development throughout the course of the game to show to the player how they have evolved and changed for the better or for worse to ensure that they can learn and survive. Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us equally challenge the stereotype of how women are seen as damsels in distress in video games. Both games do this by slowly revealing them as more confident and independent characters who don't require men for their accomplishments within the story of the game. This can be demonstrated in Bioshock Infinite. Elizabeth is seen as a damsel in distress when the player is first introduced to her, but the player witnesses Elizabeth turn from a princess to a ruthless killer who doesnt need a male hero, only herself. Although these two games show that women can overcome the damsel in distress stereotype, Tomb Raider doesn't even consider that stereotype and makes Lara a survivor who kills and destroys anything in her path to reach her goal. In my opinion, i think that video games cant help but stereotype women because most of the developers of the games are male, so they do not completely understand how to design females without these stereotypes in mind.
https://www.hastac.org/blogs/ezobel/2014/03/06/damsels-distress-female-representation-video-games
[2] Investing in Video Games: This Industry Pulls In More Revenue Than Movies, Music
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/investing-in-video-games-this-industry-pulls-in-more-revenue-than-movies-music-cm634585
[3] Critical reading: Media and Gender
https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rWT4AAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP14&dq=Critical+reading:+Media+and+Gender+book&ots=aVdVyR8LAA&sig=GOzzx39sdJSUb4pnEYL7vllnvew#v=onepage&q=Critical%20reading%3A%20Media%20and%20Gender%20book&f=false
[4] The video game industry has a diversity problem – but it can be fixed https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/15/video-game-industry-diversity-problem-women-non-white-people
[5] "Representation of Gender in Video Games"
https://mattdent123.wordpress.com/games-on-representation/tomb-raider/
[6] REPRESENTATION: CULTURE & PERCEPTION
https://perception.org/representation/
[7] ENDURE & SURVIVE: WOMEN IN ‘THE LAST OF US,’ PART ONE [IN-GAME]
https://femhype.com/2015/07/07/endure-survive-women-in-the-last-of-us-part-one-in-game/
Jordan Russ
Explore the representation of how women in video games are seen as damsels in distress with particular reference to Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us and Tomb Raider.
Video games have only been out for 60 years, movies have been out for over a hundred years and music has been around for countless generations, and yet video games make "More Revenue Than Movies and Music"[2]. Video games have been influenced from the ever-changing world of which we live in, to a point where video games use, but challenge female stereotypes to suit there game and audience. This can be reflected by the video games ‘Bioshock Infinite (2013)’ and ‘The Last of Us (2013) ’. Both of the main female characters in these games are first represented as damsels in distress, and yet both characters challenge this stereotype by surviving on their own in most cases in later parts of theirs games. On the over hand, in the game ‘Tomb Raider (2013)’ the main character is a strong and independent female character who isn't limited to any stereotypes.
Video games take advantage of female stereotypes in a range of ways, either by following them, or by stretching the controversial views of them to entice player's interest. This is gradually represented in the flexi-narrative first person shooter ‘Bioshock Infinite’ where the player controls a stereotypical strong and brave male named Booker Dewitt who is the 'hero' that rescues the damsel. Booker Dewitt is opposite compared to the main female character "Elizabeth", because she is suggested to be a scared and harmless female, who requires a male to save her. But the game slowly reveals that Booker Dewitt is the person who needs rescuing in the end.
In Bioshock Infinite, Elizabeth does first appear as a stereotypical women who is attractive and feminine but througout the course of the game she overcomes those stereotypes and develops into an independent super-power who triumphs over any challenges in her way. For example, she murders and kills enemies who apposes her, even though she previously fled from the first sight of violence. She visually transforms from a “princess” trapped in a tower to a ruthless killer who fights for revenge against her farther. The princess stereotype links to the book ‘Critical reading: Media and Gender’[3] where it states that woman tend to mainly be limited to basic characters and damsel roles, like a princess in a fairy tale. For example; Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella Etc. All of these fairy tales demonstrate a damsel in distress female character which Elizabeth represents.
Women are over sexualized in most character roles throughout the media, especially in video games. For example, stated in the book ‘Critical Reading: Media & Genders’[3] they are stereotypical represented as ‘Barbie dolls’ who must fill out certain characteristics. This includes: white, attractive, impossible thin, long legs, large chest and fashionable. This brief list highlights the limitation of character choices for females. This over sexualisation view on woman links to the damsel in distress stereotype within Bioshock Infinite. The main character ‘Elizabeth’ is presented as a princess trapped in a tower, locked away by her evil farther. Although she challenges the female stereotypes throughout the game, she suits the over sexualizing stereotype list which the previous book entails. Even though she may fit into that stereotype bracket, the game does demonstrate that she challenges and contrasts the damsel in distress stereotype throughout the course of the game. This can be suggested by the images below, they demonstrate how Elizabeth has changed from innocent to cunning from the start to the end of Bioshock Infinite. The mise-en-scéne in the first image suggests a "cute" and innocent young girl with her life ahead of her, due to her slight smile and bright outfit. On the other hand, the mise-en-scéne of the second image suggests that Elizabeth is emotionless, with her cigarette and colourless outfit, which is opposite from her previous clothes. Although her outfit is dark, she wears a red bow tie which may link or symbolise her bright past.
The poor representation of woman in the game could be due to the limited number of woman who made the game. The developers ‘2K Games’ of Bioshock Infinite have a majority of males working in the company, "14% of people working in the UK games industry are women" [4]. In addition to this, the image below shows the Bioshock Infinite front cover, it gives a complete contrast between the male and female main characters. This is due to the placement and emotions of Elizabeth and Booker. Booker; is the main character on the cover and he is represented as a strong, independent and deadly looking man wielding a shotgun, and he doesn't even seem distressed at all compared to Elizabeth who looks fragile, distressed and scared. Additionally, Elizabeth seems to be fleeing helplessly into the background whilst staring at Booker Dewitt in awe as he bravely stands his ground protecting her.
In contrast to this, within the game ‘Tomb Raider’ the main character is female, and she is represented as a“intelligent, butt-kicking, gun-wielding, sexpot, ready to take on whatever comes her way” as stated by "Representation of Gender in Video Games"[5]. As shown by the image below, Lara is opposite to Elizabeth because Lara stands strongly within a dark and spooky cave whilst getting bashed by waves and wielding a deadly bow. On the other hand, throughout every game of Tomb Raider, her outfit is over sexualized, revealing and tight alongside her ‘Barbie’ like features. This is suggested in the game cover below because Lara's outfit looks dirty, rough and ripped. This may suggest that she has been struggling to survive with all odds against her. But the game designers may have deliberately presented Lara as this to draw a male audience, due to a attractive and young female on the front cover. The limited representations of Lara Croft could link to the limited female to male ratio in the company who actually produced Tomb Raider, perhaps the male developers just made Lara Craft a "dream girl" just to appeal to them and their audience, “the best of both worlds; adventure and pleasure”[5].
Throughout most video games, ethnicity is limited and represented poorly. Within Bioshock Infinite, the main protagonist characters are all white, but there is one black female character, named Daisy Fitzroy who is a strong and determined female character who inspires people to fight for freedom and hope against the racist leader who thinks that black people are linked to "criminality or poverty"[6]. Daisy Fitzroy is adverse to Elizabeth because Daisy is instantly represented as a fighter, who does anything to achieve what she believes in. This demonstrates that Bioshock Infinite represents black females as a more determined and capable ethnicity in comparison to the delicate and peaceful white females such as Elizabeth.
In the zombie-apocalypse world of the thrilling third person game ‘The Last Of Us’ women are mainly presented as independent fighters who can be just as good as any man who wants to stay alive. This game pulls the player in through the use of its unique and devastating environments, and corresponding genres of a thriller game with elements of sub-genres like a horror game. The player mainly controls the male character named Joel who is somewhat of a father figure to a young female main character named Ellie, even though Joel was just hired to smuggle Ellie to another location. Ellie is started off as being represented as a "vulnerable, but capable"[7] damsel in distress who relies on Joel in order to survive, but she turns out to be more than that later in the game. But in addition to this, another female character challenges the damsel in distress stereotype, this character is named Tess. She is a ruthless and unforgiving smuggler who stands up for herself no matter what. She cold bloodedly kills a man because he gave away her stash of guns to a rebel organization named fireflies, behind her back. And Tess destroys the infected with swift ease. Tess is also seen as heroic due to her last moment, where she sacrifices her life to buy time for Joel and Ellie to escape ruthless soldiers. She shoots two experienced soldiers for the price of her life. This overhauls the stereotype of how women are seen as damsels in distress, in video games. Also Tess is similar to Lara Croft in Tomb Raider due to her combat abilities and determination to achieve her goals. They are both independent women who can rival any man, which contrasts the damsel in distress representation which they may face. Additionally, Tess's bravery could forecast the character development of Ellie, it could represent what she could eventually become. Tess could be seen as a role model to Ellie and even the female audience in which they can do if they beat the damsel in distress stereotype.
In contrast to both of these games, the intense and graphically advanced third person shooter game ‘Tomb Raider’ truly emphasises how women could possibly do anything to survive and thrive in a remote and dangerous island, inhabited by vicious murderers and psychopaths. The main character who the player controls is named Lara Croft, she is a skilled and talented shooter with a bow, pistol, machine gun, and anything she can kill someone with. Lara Croft pushes the boundaries of women stereotypes and makes her victorious in any situation. Throughout the game she is not the one who needs to be rescued, she is the person who rescues, helps and dominates on the island.
Although she is breaking the damsel in distress stereotype, she is presented as over sexualised through the use of her revealing and tight outfits which gradually become torn and battered. This links to her as being represented as an object then an independent hero. But other than that, throughout the game she is highlighted as a strong and intelligent woman who can do anything which is necessary. In addition to this, in intense parts of the game, dark lighting is used alongside scattered fires to create a chaotic atmosphere. Furthermore, the range of fast space non-diegetic music, which plays in combat, makes the fights more tense and thrilling. Even Though these elements in the game are used to make us feel frightened and scared, Lara Croft gets past all of it, which dismisses the damsel in distress stereotype completely.
In conclusion, my research has uncovered that video games require female stereotypes as a backbone to do further character development throughout the course of the game to show to the player how they have evolved and changed for the better or for worse to ensure that they can learn and survive. Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us equally challenge the stereotype of how women are seen as damsels in distress in video games. Both games do this by slowly revealing them as more confident and independent characters who don't require men for their accomplishments within the story of the game. This can be demonstrated in Bioshock Infinite. Elizabeth is seen as a damsel in distress when the player is first introduced to her, but the player witnesses Elizabeth turn from a princess to a ruthless killer who doesnt need a male hero, only herself. Although these two games show that women can overcome the damsel in distress stereotype, Tomb Raider doesn't even consider that stereotype and makes Lara a survivor who kills and destroys anything in her path to reach her goal. In my opinion, i think that video games cant help but stereotype women because most of the developers of the games are male, so they do not completely understand how to design females without these stereotypes in mind.
Bibliography
[1] Damsels In Distress: Female Representation in Video Gameshttps://www.hastac.org/blogs/ezobel/2014/03/06/damsels-distress-female-representation-video-games
[2] Investing in Video Games: This Industry Pulls In More Revenue Than Movies, Music
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/investing-in-video-games-this-industry-pulls-in-more-revenue-than-movies-music-cm634585
[3] Critical reading: Media and Gender
https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rWT4AAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP14&dq=Critical+reading:+Media+and+Gender+book&ots=aVdVyR8LAA&sig=GOzzx39sdJSUb4pnEYL7vllnvew#v=onepage&q=Critical%20reading%3A%20Media%20and%20Gender%20book&f=false
[4] The video game industry has a diversity problem – but it can be fixed https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/15/video-game-industry-diversity-problem-women-non-white-people
[5] "Representation of Gender in Video Games"
https://mattdent123.wordpress.com/games-on-representation/tomb-raider/
[6] REPRESENTATION: CULTURE & PERCEPTION
https://perception.org/representation/
[7] ENDURE & SURVIVE: WOMEN IN ‘THE LAST OF US,’ PART ONE [IN-GAME]
https://femhype.com/2015/07/07/endure-survive-women-in-the-last-of-us-part-one-in-game/
Jordan Russ
Good investigation title and use of detail in your examples. It uses a lot of detail about the game. Perhaps you could take out some bits and make it more concise. Reread the first paragraph and this sentence "This results in Booker DeWitt to do prison break in attempt to rescue Elizabeth.".
ReplyDeleteAdd a wider variety of sources to strengthen this piece
and some more CCCEO
ReplyDelete