Video game playing has become an increasingly popular interest for many people. Every video game is unique in its own way and how it is shaped to the audience at hand. With all the video game playing, this gives rise to possible concerns as to how the media portrays such aspects in a game. One debate about video games that is an increasingly popular subject to talk about is how gender is portrayed in video games for both men and women. In many video games, women are shown as having a passive role, while men hold a more dominant role. In the video game Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is a character this is being talked about because she is the main character and is a female. Previous video games have created the media representation that females are …show more content…
These characters are most of the time submissive players, which are characters who do not possess qualities of authority and gives up his or her power to help them achieve their own goal. The media and prior research on this topic of a female submissive character is all based on how each person interprets it. Jeroen Jansz who is a professor of communication and media at Erasmus University and his colleague, Raynel Martis, wrote an article discussing the role that females hold in video games. In the article titled "The Lara Phenomenon: Powerful Female Characters in Video Games," they go on to explain, “People actively interpret what they have seen in the media and attribute specific meaning to [it]” (Jansz and Martis 142). In this instance many previous games, like Super Mario Bros, shows Princess Peach as a damsel in distress and constantly needs help. People then do not want to actively see females hold any other role in a video game except for a submissive one. However, Lara Croft has created a new representation that people can interpret females, in fact, can hold dominant roles in games. Lara is dominant in Tomb Raider and escapes the media representations that surround females in games, and sets the new meaning to how females are interpreted in …show more content…
Jared Friedberg wrote an piece of work for Georgia State University, titled “Gender Games: A content analysis of Gender Portrayals In Modern, Narrative Video Games” which discusses the binary gender in video games and how gender was looked at in those narrative games. He states, “ Lara’s physical appearance…is far less emphasized than previous games” (Friedberg 82). The game developers toned down her appears and took out the sexualized root to her. This shows her to have an average body build and a realistic look by being able to get her clothing dirty and being able to get cuts and injuries to her body. Martis and Janez further also explain “The female characters were generally ‘hypersexulized’… [having] revealing clothing or partial nudity” (Jansz and Martis 143). This is not the case for the new Lara Croft as she has a realistic and simplistic body figure with her hair in a pony tail, and remaining mostly clothed, going against contrary portrayal as women being over emphasized with abnormal body figures and
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
Such conventions of hetronormative gender representation can be seen in all areas of the mass media today, such as advertising and film. The representation of both male and female bodies within the medium of video games reflects understandings of gender and sexuality, and it is important that we as players are made aware of these representations and what they signify. I argue that Grand Theft Auto IV, through its framing of both female and male bodies, promotes hetronormative hierarchal distinctions between feminity and masculinity, by encouraging players to adopt and act out a hypermasculine role, and by
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.
...an male gamer as opposed to a foreign male consumer because of the different cultural ideologies. While most foreign countries oppress women, the American culture pushes for women’s rights. The American society allows women to obtain more powerful roles and they are accepted in those roles much more than other foreign countries. Online gaming allows for consumers to see these differences within cultures through the play experience.
This journal article is entirely credible and written by two women who know what they’re talking about. This article discusses how video games form stereotypes about both genders and that they impact both gamers and non-gamers. Men are portrayed as aggressive and women are unsurprisingly portrayed as sex objects. A main issue with this is that video games are mostly played by the younger generation meaning these are the ideas being imbedded into the youth of the world. The...
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.
Gender roles refer to theoretical construction about how people who belong to different genders should speak, think, dress, act and interact within the context of community they live in. Moreover gender roles divided into two main elements, which are dependent on the cultural context as well as the personal preferences or tendency of someone. Gender representations in “The Hunger Games” represents classical shifts away from mainstream gender roles with some elements and reinforces established gender roles in others. Girls are presented as the fairer gender, with an inclination towards being emotional and kind and rarely have characteristics of toughness and strength as is characterized by boys. On the other hand,
Many video games portray women as objectified beings, purely used for sex appeal and to attract the larger male gamer population. We also see men idealised in a similar way as well – the males in video games are portrayed as muscly, brawny men. However, we rarely see a scantily clad man in a game, but there is a vast abundance of games which feature women wearing ‘sexy armour’, or a noticeable lack of substantial amount of clothing. This isn’t female-friendly as these games are made for men, causing women to feel alienated and uncomfortable.
Even though I found solace in the female video game characters of my childhood as these icons of Amazonian womanhood, with age I have come to realize that many of these female characters often rely on dated stereotypes. So much so, that many of these female characters become walking tropes, displaying only the most basic of female stereotypes: a love for shopping, makeup, and shoes. Anita Sarkesian, a feminist blogger who critiques anti-woman tropes in video games, created the name of this particular trope, the 'Ms. Male ' character. The 'Ms. Male ' character is defined as a female character with little-to-no personality or defining traits outside of traditionallly regressive “female” characteristics. This allows a game designer to take
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.
Tracy L. Dietz carefully analyzed 33 popular Nintendo and Sega Genesis video games and by doing so she has come to realization that the case she is studying requires to focus on every possible scenarios of the case and examining it contextually is the only way for it to be fully understood (Yin 546). According to the article, one of the most common theme of the studied popular Nintendo and sega genesis games were violence. The games were reviewed to determine whether or not aggression or violence was part of the game and if so, if it was a socially acceptable or normal form of aggression such as that found in sports, or if it was directed specifically at women. Dietz states that, “ The remaining 79% of the games included some type of aggression or violence , ranging from aggression found in sports games to criminal victimization (Dietz 436).” The quote shows that almost every game that was studied had violence as a part of the game, between both genders. Dietz also states that, “ Twenty-one percent of the games included some form of aggression or violence directed specifically at women. Typically these included the violent victimization of a woman that began the game (Dietz 437)”. The author follows it up with, “ Finally, nearly half of the games (N = 16) were found to have violence or aggression directed specifically at other characters. These games typically involved some type of fighting, however, several included aggressive activities that were directed at non-human like characters (Dietz 437)”. This two quotes can be supported by a very popular game called Mortal Kombat 2. The violence in Mortal Kombat 2 is quite graphic and very “realistic”.The game has numerous fighting features which are considered as too “graphic” for the players to handle. Even though this game provides the players to choose
In 2006, Videogames became the most dominate media source in America. They are a great source of entertainment, but gender differences exist in video games and it is important to consider stereotypes because of how society demotes one gender over another. Videogames were once considered “boys only” and is the most male dominated entertainment, in terms of players, audience, and character representation in games (Zorrilla). Many things make up gender studies on videogames such as the option to play as ether a male or female, the physical appearance of the character, the role of the characters, the mechanics of the game, and playing the game itself. The research gathered represents both “corporate display” and an “interior colonization” of Gender in videogames (Connell 69, Millet 25). Key figures and games have strong effects on shaping people’s perspectives on gender roles. Iconic figures such as Lara Croft are used to determine if gender roles exist in videogames. Her identity in pop-culture is viewed as both a sexist dream, and a feminist icon. The role of her character takes human to character interaction to a new level. Before Lara Croft, the common stereotype for females was ether the “Damsel in Distress” or the object of desire for the male hero. Females are constantly underrepresented and not much has been done to solve this problem. Feminist and Patriarchy theories will be bricolage to deconstruct videogames and to view apparent gender in and outside electronic entertainment.
Sexism is a very big topic with video games. People always make it so the girls have little to no clothes on. Almost never do they have the guys in video games like this. The guys will get some sweet looking gear and the girls get this little piece of fabric that barley covers the girl’s assets. Guys almost always get the main role in video games, some have where you can choose if you want to be a girl or guy but normally there are less options for the girls and you have to be close to naked. Now don’t get me wrong, there are a few games where the girl gets the lead, some examples are Metroid and Tomb Raider, but there are always games where the girls need saving and they can’t handle themselves. The men always have to go in and save them,
The first video games didn’t call for much attention to gender as there weren’t really any humans present. Games such as Snake or Asteroids were really just a revolution in technology. As time progressed, gaming consisted of male-dominated industry whose
Both mediums of mass entertainment, movies and video games, can severely impact the audience that is engaged in them. Video games require much more involvement of the player because the player of the game controls the avatars every move. Many games such as Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, or Grand Theft Auto involve extreme violence, in which the player is killing other players to achieve objectives or points. From a narrative role, videogames offer many different options in terms of gameplay and the overall outcome at the end of the game. According to Darren Franich, “Videogames have become more “filmlike,” with more realistic characters and complex plotting,” (Franich, 2011). Video games affect the younger generation immensely, which is important to recognize because the younger generations are the ones causing the most problems within society. There are kids as young a ten years old playing violent video games for excessive hours, daily. According to a recen...