Video games have been rising in popularity and today has become a very profitable industry, beginning with the 1980s, from arcade classics like Asteroids, pinball, and Pac-Man to the postmodern console and computer gaming. (Sherman 243) With the rise of video games came the perpetuation of a gender disparity as a result of the emerged gaming culture and from the video games themselves. Sherman 245) This gender disparity is evident from looking at the female gamers, who often experience sexism from male gamers and apparent in the production of video game characters and how female characters can be subjected to over-sexualization and objectification by the developers.
Video games have often been considered something “men/boys do” and it is perceived as male dominated in the same way the industry is (Prescott 1), which could contribute to why female gamers are not given the same opportunity and freedom to play games or have accurate representations in games without gender becoming a factor and why there is often a mistreatment of female characters within many video games. This paper will first analyze the normalization of appealing to male gamers.
Second, discuss video games as a product of the male gaze as an integrated Freudian belief by identifying the audiences involved; the developers who write the settings and female characters, the artist who create the image of female characters, and those who play the games. Finally, utilizing the character, Princess Peach, will demonstrate the objectification of a female characters all the while portraying how young audiences are especially affected by her characterization. (Sherman 246) What would happen if Princess Peach were male? Would that change how she is characterize? Prescott 123-190) These questions will be address as we proceed. To start off, key concepts such as sexism, over-sexualization, objectification, and “the male gaze”, needs to be defined in order to comprehend their importance within this paper. Sexism is the stereotyping and prejudice based on an individual’s gender; primarily sexism is directed towards women. () The idea of women not being allowed to play or getting harassed if they do involve themselves is especially an issue, because then it genders one’s ability to have a hobby or occupation in this industry.
Over-sexualization is to make a person, object, or idea excessively sexual. () The attribution of female characters in video games as “being sexual” is not an issue until it becomes their only purpose in the game itself. Objectification is reducing a person to an object. () This commonly goes hand-and-hand with over-sexualization in the context of video games, because women are often over-sexualized and then used as plot devices by being killed or not characterized outside the idea of being a sexual object.
The “male gaze,” refers to how the majority of visual art and media are constructed around the male viewer and how women are often structured through the eyes of men. () This applies heavily to the video game industry, because the video game industry is male dominated (Prescott 123). Although the issues I have defined are not new issues (Prescott 123-130), the rationale of Marxist and Freudian principles all while projecting them through a new medium and displays how the game industry is dismissive of gender equality.
Appealing to men has almost always been the standard for creating entertainment media, but why has this become the standard in the video game industry? It lies behind who the developers are, the male audience, and the pervasiveness of over-sexualization and objectification towards female characters. (Henning) The majority of those involved in the developing process, from the producers and artists to the marketers, are male. () As a result, their collective interpretation of women in particular are not always representative. )
This means their decisions for characters are geared towards their own understandings of society, leaving out representation or proper representation minorities. Yet, this is not solely the fault of the developers, but also the male audience. () The audiences is the reason video games are as popular as they are, ultimately if the male audience is fine with how female characters or minorities are represented, then the developers will continue with the stereotyping. This creates an endless gender paradox (), if the male audience is complacent with female characters becoming objects to progress the plot of a game (e. . killing them to empower a male character), having underdeveloped or tropic characteristics, or being sexually exploited, then the developers will be complacent as well. Sigmund Freud’s ideas-albeit misguided in present day—contribute to the idea of the male gaze’s prevalence in the video game industry and thus neglecting and/or misrepresenting those who fall outside the male target market.
Freud’s general idea is that a man with a penis symbolizes power and satisfaction; where as women with a vagina represents inferiority and satisfaction for those with a penis (Men, in Freud’s view). O’Hara) Although, this idea is generally condemned for its transphobic and sexist commentary, in present day, it has been normalized to the extent where it remains unnoticed (O’Hara), or rather evolvedinto the “male gaze”, especially in the video game industry. To reiterate, video game characters are constructed and defined by three audiences, the producers and directors, the artists, writers, and marketers, and lastly those who play the finished game. The producers and directors have the final say on the overall quality and creation of the setting, gameplay, and representation of female characters.
The artist, writer, and marketers can construct the female character to their liking. The ience interprets the characters and the overall game. In these three circumstances, Freud’s ideas are constituted, because if the audiences are primarily male and are made to appease normative ideas of masculinity (male superiority, aggression, stoicism, power), then the representation of female characters will therefore be represented through a male point of view.
To see the gender divide, one must examine these issues first hand by analyzing a popular female character subjected to objectification. Although, video games provide an alternate reality allowing artists to express their ideas by creating a new world (McGonigal 1-14), if these “alternate world” impose a negative influence, people can be left with generalized, tropic, and normative impressions about people and society. Take the character, Princess Peach, who exemplifies a female character being objectified. Sherman 246-248) In the game, Super Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi play the archetype of the male hero protagonists who’s motivation is to save Princess Peach in order to restore order in their fantasy universe. However, the only way to win the game is by getting of Princess Peach (Sherman 243-258), thereby turning her into the prize and the subject of objectification by the player and the creators. While Mario and/or Luigi receive the title of a hero (Sherman 251), Princess Peach is solely constructed as plot device for the male character’s successes.
If the character saved was instead male, how would this change the perception of the character? Retrospectively, this would then seem more of a scenario where two male friends are saving another male friend, which does not provide the same gendered issue. Overall, this paper exemplifies the distinct inequality female characters face in representation by being over-sexualized by being designed with the intention of being eye candy due to male audiences and developers.
Objectified, with the heroprincess complex of the female character needing to be saved in order to complete a video game. Female characters have been shown to have imbalance characterization in compared to male characters due to the gender imbalance and representation in the industry. (Prescott 123) These illustrate the perpetuation of gender inequality by outright neglecting it as a legitimate issue. By men not acknowledging their biases of their masculine, and often hyper-masculine standpoint, they marginalize and generalize women through the characters and the female gamers.
