Electronic Gender Politics – Part 1 of 2
A good friend of mine recently wrote a two-part article for a quite enjoyable blog, the second part of which focused on Hollywood’s depiction of female superheroes. It got me thinking: how do we evaluate some classic female game characters, from the perspective of how do they stack up as role models, how fairly are they treated compared to similar male characters, and how many traditional female character stereotypes do they fall into? Hey, since I loudly espouse the virtues of video games as a storytelling medium, it’s only fair to judge it by the same standards we’d apply to film or literature. In doing so, I was aware I’d probably encounter a lot that didn’t make me happy, but the more I thought about some of these characters, holy crap the more depressing it got. The following is that journey of discovery.
Also, no, dammit, Cortana and GLADOS do NOT count as female characters. They are robots. Although it’s possible I could be persuaded on the matter of the Companion Cube. Anyway, here we go:
Princess Peach – Princess Peach is a walking stereotype. Quite literally her only purpose for existing is to get kidnapped so her overweight Italian plumber boyfriend can come rescue her. That’s not an epic saga, that’s a romantic comedy centered around the Staten Island Mafia. Aside from getting kidnapped, Peach doesn’t even have a character; if Bowser was instead repeatedly stealing Mario’s favorite plunger, it would literally make no difference whatsoever to any Mario game. I don’t think there’s anything else you really need to say about Princess Peach, nor is there anything I particularly want to. Yes, I’ll play Mario Games and enjoy them, but it damn sure isn’t because of the story or the characters.
Unless we’re talking about Luigi. There is always something compelling about heros who are inherently cowards.
Princess Zelda – Zelda, despite also being a princess, is a step up from Peach in that at least the game series is named after her. Also, her outfit doesn’t look she had an unfortunate accident involving a lawnmower in a bubble gum factory. See, look:
It was either this or use an image from Wind Waker, and I didn't want to give all of you Ocular Herpes.
I guess those things count as progress, but her cause isn’t aided when she spends the first several games repeatedly being kidnapped by a large green and red individual (this and Bowser from Super Mario Brothers lead me to believe Shigeru Miyamoto may have been assaulted by a Christmas tree as a child). She was ultimately reinvented as somewhat of a badass action hero in Ocarina of Time…only in order to pull it off, she had to pretend to be a man. This could be a scathing social commentary about the standards of how we judge differing genders in identical roles, but given that Miyamoto is the same guy responsible for Princess Peach, I’m inclined to believe it’s less broadminded than that. On balance, since Zelda is pretty much the only character in any of the games who seems to have the vaguest notion as to what the hell is actually going on, I guess she’s ok. Not great, but ok.
Bastila Shan – You know, as bad as Princess Peach is, and as much as I love Knights of the Old Republic (the first one – THE FIRST ONE), Bastila might ultimately be worse than Peach is. Sure, Bastila’s a Jedi, and sure, she’s intelligent and assertive, but I can’t help feeling like the character was intended as a Bioware writer’s passive-aggressive way of getting back at his wife. Christ, in practically every image you can find of her, she looks like she’s about to start berating you for forgetting to take out the space garbage…which is pretty much accurate to the way she acts in the game itself. She spends almost the entire game nagging at you, actually, and that only stops when she gets kidnapped (are we noticing a theme by now?) and then develops Sith Stockholm Syndrome and turns to the dark side (sidebar: if I had a dollar for every time this exact scenario happened in the Star Wars expanded universe, I’d have enough money to hire someone to follow George Lucas around and shout obscenities at him all day). Bastila is so many negative images of women rolled into one that you could have a field day picking all of them apart. Kreia in KOTOR II is just as bad (only she’s the “crone” stereotype rather than the “priss” one), but since we’re all aware KOTOR II was written by people wearing their underpants on their heads, it doesn’t count.
Lara Croft – Oh God, where to begin. You know, the problem with Lara Croft isn’t that she’s more physically unrealistic than a Barbie Doll. Sure, her hips would instantly explode were she to try to stand up, and that’s definitely a problem, but it isn’t the real problem. The real problem is that she is a complete and utter sociopath. I’m serious: if I were forced to confront either Lara Croft or Ted Bundy in a dark alley, I would have to seriously consider Bundy. Lara Croft either murders or threatens to murder virtually everyone she comes across, usually with little to no provocation. Is this really the nascent male fantasy of most video gamers? Look, I’ve dated a sociopath before: I don’t care how good she looks in a corset, it is ultimately a terrible idea that will end with her threatening to make a wallet out of your skin. And if that’s not the fantasy, is that what game developers really think women are like? Sure, there are a few of them out there like that, but you’ll get crazy terrifying people in any race/religion/gender/shoe size; ultimately what equality means is that everyone on the planet, regardless of any of the aforementioned categories, is equally capable of being an asshole. Lara Croft is thus so far from an accurate representation of a human woman that she might as well be a male iguana.
Capcom Games – Bayonetta, Devil May Cry series, Resident Evil series – Get out of my office, Capcom. You’re fired.
First, Bayonetta. If you’re not familiar with Bayonetta, this is her:
There are so many problems with this character that I honestly have no idea where I'd even begin.
Be aware: that is the least sexualized image of Bayonetta I could find. Her special attacks involve her tearing off her clothing. When a game bothers me so much that I can’t even try to mine its achievement points, you know there’s an issue. And I’m not even a member of the gender being objectified.
The Devil May Cry series, meanwhile, is just one hundred different kinds of fail, so the only thing I’ll say is that in the half hour I played Devil May Cry 4 before I finally declared it beneath my dignity, I encountered only two female characters: one whose entire purpose was to stand there and look frightened before running away to where the big strong men could protect her, and another whose every single move in combat involved her doing the splits. I hate you, Capcom.
Then there’s Resident Evil characters. At first it seems like they’re trying with main characters like Claire Redfield (who kicks ass) and Jill Valentine (who kicks ass, although her costume also frequently makes her look like a prostitute). Hell, even RE: 5′s Sheva Alomar, despite having the AI programming of a lemming under time constraints, isn’t that bad of a character under the standards by which we’re going: she’s a successful Africa-based agent for an international group that works to stop bioterrorism. Ok, I can go with that, she seems pretty independent and intelligent and-
OH COME ON!
…holy crap, Capcom, are you fucking kidding me? That’s Sheva’s unlockable alternate costume. Leave it to the Japanese to multitask with both sexism and racism in one go (the racism in video games article will show up at some point). And we haven’t even discussed RE: 4′s Ashley, who’s basically Princess Peach if Peach couldn’t stop shrieking at you like a harpy. Just…fuck it…I give in…
Every Female Metal Gear Solid Character – No. NO. We are NOT discussing Metal Gear Solid’s characters in ANY capacity. Why?
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
That’s why.
Coming up in Part 2 – Alyx Vance, Samus Aran, and Jaina Proudmoore
