My thoughts on Gender

One of the subjects we have covered in the contextual studies lectures has been gender and the gaze. The gaze refers to how women are depicted in art and film as objects to be looked at and of male desire. Throughout art men have always been shown as active and powerful beings. This is most prevalent in ancient sculptures which tend to present male figures partake in activities such as discus throwing and, in one instance strangling a Python. 

Women on the other hand have been depicted as passive and submissive which is shown in paintings that display women being almost naked and not looking directly at whomever is viewing the painting. In the realm of cinema during the 20th century this didn't change much. The female characters in these movies tended to only fulfil the purpose of being a trophy and an object of desire for the leading male character. The concept of the gaze is most prevalent in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. In this film the male character has a broken leg and has to use a wheelchair, while he is confined the man uses binoculars to look in on the other residents of the apartment's lives.

 In the Alien films, this convention of the female character being passive is thrown out the window. I will only examine the first film in the series. This movie follows the crew of  the towing ship Nostromo as it returns to earth. After unintentionally bringing an alien on board the crew of the ship attempt to destroy it. Warrant officer Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver is unlike the other heroines due to the fact that she is a driving force for good in the story despite the presence of the male crew members. Ripley doesn't run to any of the male characters during the aliens' rampage.

In video games during the early generations of consoles, the theme of a damsel in distress prevails. Mario is a notable example of this. However, Metroid does away with this because the player, unknowingly until the end of the game is playing a female character called Samus. Coincidentally, Metroid was inspired by Alien from the strong female lead character Samus and down to the villan, Ridley named after the director of the first film, Ridley Scott.

During the mid-to late 90s another playable heroine arrives on the PlayStation, her name is Lara Croft otherwise known as tomb Raider. Recently the titular heroine has had a change of character in the recent instalment. She is no longer a sex symbol, now Lara is a more realistic character with proper characterisation and less sexualised. The damsel in distress motif seems to be less prevalent recently, maybe this is due to the rise of a previously small demographic of female gamers. The increase of women as gamers does come with the issue of perception and identity of the gender in gaming as a medium. While there are some very strong and independent female characters, these character traits are usually exaggerated far too much and don't provide a middle ground in which some female gamers can relate to.

Maybe an evenly balanced female character is a step in the right direction for equality of women in videogames.