Women in video games

In our lecture we have been looking at the role of women in video games. Today i'm going to talk about two games that show women as a trophy for the troubles of the protagonist.

Resident Evil 4

The plot of Resident Evil 4 is about a federal agent, Leon who is sent by the US president to rescue his daughter Ashley. Already we have the basic story about rescuing a damsel in distress. Leon has to fight through infected villagers, giant bugs and other creatures in order to rescue Ashley. At parts in the game the player has to escort Ashley through a few levels, commanding her to hide when the player encounters enemies to reach the end.

 The player must make sure that no enemies carry her off which results in a game over, however, during cut-scenes Ashley sometimes runs away from Lean (for some reason) or gets captured by the enemy (this happens more than once) which in turn results in her being next to useless. This relates to men being active and women being passive.

In contrast to the damsel in distress there is another female character named Ada who is more independent than Ashley. The player first meets Ada during a cut-scene when a gun is pressed against Leon's back, Ada orders him to not move in which Leon retorts "Following a ladies' lead isn't my style". This quote seems to reflect the notion that only men are the ones who give orders.

The Gaze can be applied to Ada in respects to her attire. She wears a red, slightly revealing dress, very odd choice for a secret operative to be wearing. This effects Leon in one instance in which Ada gives the player a lift to the final phase of the game, when the boat pulls up to the island Ada grapple hooks on to the island which distracts Leon causing him to loose control of the boat.

After the last boss, Ada betrays Leon by forcing him to hand over the cure he had acquired earlier, but due to his assistance she gives him the keys to a jet ski to escape with. The portrays the notion that woman only impedes the mans' progress in his quest.

Ico

Ico is about a boy whom the game is named after and a young girl named Yorda. The player controls Ico who is imprisoned in a castle due to being born with two horns. The player happens upon Yorda who is imprisoned as well, the player must lead Yorda; usually by the hand through the castle, solving puzzles and defending her from shadowy creatures that can carry her away. This is very similar to Resident Evil in which the male character is in charge and the female character is commanded around.

Ico deviates from this however because of the fact that the player needs Yorda to complete puzzles, activate player sensitive objects and to carry on to the next level. The game allows a bond to be created between the player (Ico) and Yorda which helps to detract away from the fact she is scatterbrained and unable to defend herself.  This reletates to the female being the incentive for the player but this is averted slightly due to the fact that the relationship between the characters is that of friendship. Also Yorda isn't completely useless because of her integral role to the story and gameplay.

Orientalism

In our lectures, we were looking at Orientalism and the Other. The subject of post colonialism was brought up first which was about the impact and aftermath of European domination and colonising of non-European countries and its people along with its culture. Subjects such as art, literature and thought have been effected by the colonisation of other countries because of the idea that westerners want to spread their ideals on the natives which in turn removes its people from its roots and cements the colonists rule.

Next we were introduced to the works of Edward Said, especially his book Orientalism. Here he talks about the representation of the Orient and how it presents the notion that the west is right and east is wrong. For example; the west has its own history while the east has it imposed on them, the west is rational while the east is irrational and the west has masculine demeanour of activity and domination while the east has feminine features of submission and possession.

Afterwards we looked at how the west visualises the east through art and and other media. We looked at a painting by Rudolf Ernst called "A sultan with a tiger". As the title suggests, the painting has a sultan astride a tiger under an archway of an eastern palace. The problem is that the image is a mixture of elements from different parts of the east, the painting is supposed to represent India. This is known as a Pastiche. Another example is from an old P&O poster depicting a decorated elephant with an equally colourful procession. It helps project an exotic impression but falls short in the truth department. From these examples i think that the east lost their identity and tried to emulate what the posters were displaying and advertising.

Then we looked at the "other" which means how the east has helped the west in creating contrasts in image, personality and experience. The other refers to the differentiation between what is familiar to the west and how it perceives the east as different and unconventional. This gives colonists the excuse to pry into the "others" land and changing the east to suit the west's needs. A closing statement from Said mentions how imperialism imposes history on the country and how it destroys the culture and ethics of the land and creates an order that the imposing force finds pleasing. I think this is how stereotypes come around.

We moved from history and art to Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" and how it deals with orientalism, colonisation and agency. Blade Runner is set in the early 21st century where highly advanced robots called Replicants are used as slave labourers and planet exploration. The film is about a squad of special police called "Blade Runners" in which their job is to execute Replicants who have recently been declared illegal on earth. Empathy tests are used to root out Replicants from the crowds of humans entering the country/planet, the examiner asks a theoretical question which will incur a emotional response.

The message the film conveys is about how colonialism creates it own culture from a mix of other cultures, most prominent is Oriental. This is very similar to the colonialisation of America due to the mix of different nationalities such as the Irish, German, English nationalities and many others. In the Film there is character named Gaff who is more or less a physical manifestation of the language in the city. Gaff speaks in a language that is a mix of European and Asian dialects. The culture in this future is what happens when the west changes  the meaning entirely of an eastern culture and amalgamating it into one entity. This removes the original meaning and creates a hollow and meaningless culture. A good example of this is the blue dragon. the west associates it with a Chinese restaurant.

The subject of Agency is brought up in film through the Replicants. Agency refers to how a culture or colony are able self-represent. In the film, the Replicants return to earth to seek out their creator in order to increase their life spans that are 4 years long. The leader of the androids only wants the best for his kind even if it is very violent. I think that agency is best explained in this movie.

Overall i think that Orientalism and post-colonialism theory does somewhat ring true today in the media and society. A good example for Orientalism in society is Chinatown. It is a vision of the east from the west's perspective, it is a form of entertainment at the expense of the east and it is a pastiche of China. To those who have travelled from China to the west probably would find this hodge-podge of Asian artefacts in one small space either hilariously or offensively inaccurate and misinformed.