Research for my Micro-Project (26/2/2013)

Today we were told that our next project would be a Micro-Project in which we would have to use the library as our only source of information in order to write up on anything that we wanted to regardless of its theme. Therefore we needed to find a book which contained a chapter, essay or article that we found interesting and write about it. I will also need to consider what the ideas, themes and my reasons are for choosing the particular book.
 
The task itself was set so as to make sure we were not only using the library, but also knew how to use it in terms of finding out the information we were looking for.

Book Research:

This week was set for research whilst next week will be the write up session before a short presentation the week after that.

Unsure of what to write, I first looked over a couple of books based on Sci-fi movies before looking over the history of Manga. They both had interesting ideas in them, but none of them grabbed me completely. Therefore remembering that I am doing a lot of work on Cthulhu I decided to look for books based on H.P Lovecraft and even hoped to find poems by Edger Allen Poe as I am interested in reading his work. Unfortunately, there are none of these books in the library which is surprising and disappointing.

I turned my attention to books based on ancient Mythology. Interested I looked over a book entitled 'The Encyclopedia of Mythology' by Arthur Cotterell and decided to go with this choice. After reading over the sections 'Heroes' and 'Heroic Quests' I decided on the latter as not only do I love adventure, but I can also relate the myths themselves to video games, movies and the sessions of 'Dungeon and Dragons' that I go to as the myths have obvious influences over these examples.

Complementary Studies:

After Easter we are expected to take part in Complementary Studies in which we will have to choose any of the tasks available. I am unsure of which one to choose as even though I want to go into writing I may want to give something else a try so as to get other experiences. 

Ideology (11/2/2013)

For this session we looked at a power point presentation entitled 'Ideology'. You can read my notes on it below although, the lecturer pointed out that he wanted us to reread during reading week as there is a lot to take in (I agree with this).

• The lecturer is wanting us to think critically about what he says in order for us to form our own opinions.
• Ideology? What does it mean? Our nature and nurture perhaps?
• Ideology = You're not the boss of me. I'm the boss of me. I act on my opinions. My opinions are natural. Aren't they?
• Talked about 'The Panopticon', a round prison in which all the prisoners can't tell when they are being watched as the guards are in a tower in the middle. Therefore the guards do not need to be there 24/7 because the prisoners have to assume they are. This appears to force the prisoners to conform to behaving well all the time and as a result behaving becomes second nature. 
• Britain has 1% of the world's population and yet contains 20% of the world's CCTV cameras! Thus this similar to the prison example above as we can never tell when a security or speed camera is switched on or even working and therefore we have to assume like the prisoners that we are constantly being watched.
• People react to both written and unwritten rules almost as if it is common sense or logical e.g. you don't have to read the rules, but you are expected to.
• Context is a huge part of Ideology e.g. people can't murder someone with a gun without being arrested, whereas soldiers are allowed to kill enemy soldiers. Does this stack?
• Who is in control of my actions? Others? Or the system I have been brought up in?
• Looked at examples by Karl Marx, Gramsci and Althusser.
• During the cold war the Americans made sure to always paint the Russians as 'the bad guys' or 'evil'.
• TV is a really powerful Ideology or means of Ideology. I guess this is because its so influential and biased at times.
• Would Ideology exist without a class system?  
• Who owns Bagsy's art (a well established graffiti artist)? Bagsy for creating it? The town that owns the street with the graffiti on it? Or the person who owns the building it is drawn on? 
• The term Hegemony means 'Impossible to act against as its just there or happens'.
• 'Blackadder goes Forth' is a good example of classes in World War 1 e.g. upper class on the back lines and the lower class on the front lines.
• An easy and popular thing for most children to do is go to McDonalds as it is advertised so much and is a part of their lives. Although you could pay the same amount of money for better/healiter food somewhere else.
• Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs). RSA/ISA = Gandhi and Henry David.
• News: After the 'bad' news we then get the 'good' news which tends to make people feel less bad or better and prevent them from switching TV channels. For example, we often get the words "And in other news..." which is followed by something happy.   
• Looked at a quote by Tony Benn who is a part of the British Labour Party.
• Politics may be portrayed in a boring way so as to make sure the public doesn't pay attention to everything politicians do.

Using these notes I hope to one day put together a piece of work that will demonstrate my understanding of ideology. 

Analysing Gender Roles (5/2/2013)

As out lecturer was ill we were given the task of analysing two video games in terms of the gender roles for next week. Are they portrayed fairly or not? If so why? And how could it have been improved upon or made better?

Well with the above in mind I decided that I wanted to pick one example that everyone would likely know and agree with. And another game that wouldn't be so obvious so as to stand out. I will use both to look into how their gender roles are portrayed and if there is any justification for them.

I recognise that the following isn't written in the usual formal academic style, but I deliberately chose to write it more casually as I felt this style of writing suited this task. Therefore I wrote it as one might read in a gaming magazine, and as this isn't necessarily an assessed assignment I thought it would be a good opportunity to try a different style of writing.

Analysing Gender Roles:

For my first game analysis I choose to look at an unusual example... 'Lego Indiana Jones'. No that isn't a typo, I am indeed using a Lego game as an example of gender roles which are not treated fairly. Now you may be asking yourself "How can a Lego game be bad"? Well, for those who haven't played a Lego game, you relive the moments of the franchise it is based on by playing as your favourite characters from them. Each one has their own abilities which the developers have mimicked from the franchise they came from. Therefore in this example, of course Indiana Jones has his signature whip that he can use to swing across gaps, pull out objects and even tie up enemies with. All very cool things that depict our manly hero.

However, the leading heroines from each of Indiana Jones' movies never had abilities that you could transfer into a game such as Indy's whip. Therefore the developers decided to make every female character in the game have the ability to double jump. Now at first you may not see a problem with this, but let me explain further. This is perhaps the only ability the females have and one that perhaps takes the whole 'women are more agile' thing to the extreme. Therefore when comparing double jump to say the ability to use a whip, fix things, blow stuff up or solve puzzles which many of the male characters can do, you may end up raising an eyebrow considering the female characters don't have any life skills, just reflexes. The only other ability displayed by the female character Willie (yes that is her name) is screaming so loudly that it breaks glass. Sure it's creative as it's taken her character's annoying trope from the second movie and made it useful, but it could also be seen as a sexist thing when all you can say is that her screaming is all she is good at. It also doesn't help that screaming is a role most women were given in past movies as their only role e.g. the feminent who needs a man to save her.

Now, am I calling 'Lego Indiana Jones' a sexist game? Of course not! Saying a Lego game is would be ridiculous. There are games meant for all ages and are not meant to be taken seriously. Overall considering the franchise the developers were given to recreate, which is nothing short than male dominated I feel that they did a good job in creating the abilities they did and making sure that each character had some use, whether male or female. It's just an example I thought I would use as even though it's a small flaw it is one worth looking at in the great scheme of video game gender roles. 

Now, for my second game analysis I choose 'Resident Evil 4' as while I know it is more of an obvious choice I feel that it is still interesting to talk about. For those who haven't played this awesome game, 'Resident Evil 4' is a game in which the player plays as government agent Leon whose mission it is to save the kidnapped president's daughter Ashley. Leon, being an agent is well equipped with numerous weapons and knows how to use them. He is also a good fighter and incredibly agile, thus he is able to get out of sticky situations without any hassle. Sadly the same cannot be said for Ashley who cannot defend herself and always ends up getting captured. When she does get captured she then goes on to screaming annoyingly until you save her, otherwise you have to start from your last save point. Therefore the player has to tell her to hide in places, otherwise she will end up getting in the way of combat.

Now, shouldn't the daughter of the president have been taught to defend herself if she was ever put into a situation like this? Sadly Ashley wasn't taught to defend herself as even when the player on the very rare occasions is able to play as her, she is still unable to attack and must always sneak around and hide from enemies.

It's interesting in a way as a female character named Ada also exists in the game and whereas you have to complete the game in order to play her side of the story, she is similar to Leon as she can take care of herself and doesn't require rescuing like Ashley.  

Therefore while the game does have at least one fairly portrayed female character, Ashley is still a character who is with the player for nearly the whole game and never learns to defend herself. Thus she doesn't rise to the occasion as it were which would have made for a realistic approach to her character with her overcoming the fears of being kidnapped and thus develop further as a character. Therefore the difference in the two gender roles really shows in both the game and even the image I found below of the characters stances. For example, the strong brave male who has to take care of the defenceless scared female.

Overall:

Even though the above two examples were not the most well represented in gaming, I feel that the representation of both males and females in video games are improving over time. Sure the concept of rescuing a 'damsel in distress' will most likely be repeated in future game story lines, and we will probably  continue to see both genders inappropriately represented as some developers do particularly in trailers just to get advertising of any sort. For example, in one of the first trailers for 'Hitman: Absolution' where the main male protagonist is shown killing scantily clad assassin who look like nuns (see below). Speaking of whom, these characters ended up only making one brief out of place appearance in the whole game.

However, I feel that as developers recognise what players want from stories and characters in games we can expect to see fewer stereotypes and more fairly presented roles. Although some gamers will always want to play 'over the top' and nonsensical titles which isn't necessarily always a bad thing as sometimes you need some silliness in games in order to balance the more serious thought provoking ones.

Harvard Referencing: 

• Pierre, C. (2012) Assassin nuns [Online image]. Available at: http://playstationgang.com/new-hitman-absolution-cinema-trailer/ (Accessed: 5/2/2013).

• Romero, J. (2009) Lego Indiana Jones Screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://86bb71d19d3bcb79effc-d9e6924a0395cb1b5b9f03b7640d26eb.r91.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lego-indiana-jones-women-screenshot-small.jpg (Accessed: 5/2/2013). 
• Unknown. (Unknown) Leon and Ashyley [Online image]. Available at: http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100218024547/residentevil/images/thumb/5/58/3420Leon_and_Ashley_copy.jpg/287px-3420Leon_and_Ashley_copy.jpg (Accessed: 5/2/2013).

'Lara as Drag Queen' Review (1/2/2013)

Looking over the paragraphs entitled ‘Lara as Drag Queen’ within the article by Anne-Marie Schleiner (2001) I have to say that while I agree with it on certain points her lack of knowledge of the industry (e.g. hasn’t played a single game) and the fact that her evidence comes from only thirty individuals makes it a hard article to completely agree with. Especially since it’s unclear on how many of her respondents were male or female, their age and whether or not they told the whole truth or just what they thought she wanted to read.   

I believe a player will invest in an avatar/character of the opposite sex to a certain degree and maybe even copy some of their traits in order to ‘play the role’ (much in the same way that actors do so in a play when they empathise with the character they are portraying) however, putting yourself into ‘the shoes’ of someone else does not necessarily mean you wish to be them, or be the same gender if it differs from your own.

Playing as the opposite sex isn’t always just to fulfil sexual desires in video games either. After all, many gamers nowadays play as the opposite sex in order to play certain games multiple times from other perspectives, or to merely play through the game with the gender role that has the better voice actor as was noted by a friend of mine when they played 'Dragon Age II'.

The idea, that those unsure of their sexuality or either their gender might change their identity online through chat rooms or games interests me for as long as it isn’t for perverted reasons then I agree with the article when it says that it can help those needing to decide on their gender preferences. I think this is especially true when it comes to those of a younger age who in today’s pressurising environment might have difficulty deciding who they want to be. Plus it also gives them the chance to reflect back on their experiences and decide what they are happy with.

However, the idea of the player playing as Lara Croft much in the same way “a drag queen navigates her ultra-feminine form along a runway” (Schleiner 2001, p223) I think is complete rubbish. Games can be realistic in motion, but when playing a game you never think like that. Never have I or anyone I know or seen ever picked up a Lara Croft game and thought, “Good! A game in which you can finally play in drag as you would on the catwalk… perfect!”. No. Thus this is where this part of the article starts to fall apart as she clearly doesn’t have any first-hand knowledge of the game; she probably hasn’t even watched players interact with it either.           

The other thing about her quoting Carol Clover’s work about males watching the strong female character in horror movies as ‘a “stand in” vehicle for the male viewer’s repressed (never acknowledged) homoeroticism’ (Clover 1992, p223) I think is rubbish as well. The female character Ripley in the ‘Aliens’ movies is nothing short of ‘bad ass’ to many men, but I have never when watching her character or even the actress ever thought about homosexual desires. All I’ve ever thought was “I hope she survives” and “Man she’s awesome!”.

Harvard Referencing:

• Cooke, D (2012) Lara Croft [Online image]. Available at: http://dazcooke.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/playstation-all-stars-battle-royale-who-should-be-on-the-roster/(Accessed: 1/2/2013).
• Laura (2011) Ripley from 'Aliens' [Online image]. Available at: http://girlsonfilmblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011_02_01_archive.html (Accessed: 1/2/2013).
• Unknown (2011) Male and female Hawke from 'Dragon Age 2' [Online image]. Available at: http://milanj.tumblr.com/post/1085247592/dragon-age-2-female-hawke-is-badass (Accessed: 1/2/2013).

'Part 2: The Gaze' (29/1/2013)

This week we looked at the second part of the presentation on gender in which I took the following notes.

• At the end of this subject we will have a greater understanding of gender representation in games. 
• 'The Gaze' means 'The Look'.
• Referenced an interesting and hugely discussed book 'Ways of Seeing' by John Berger (1972). A man who spoke of the power of relationships. 
• Always balance my own ideas with others. Do they scale or do they conflict? 
• The paintings 'Nell Gwyne by Lely' and 'The Venus of Urbino by Titan' both have women in them in passive positions. These paintings were clearly meant for male buyers in order to show off to males guests in their homes. Not as pornography, but to show they had power and could afford to buy such art. 
• Some older paintings show naked women looking at themselves in mirrors which as a result made them objects of desire.
• Edouard Manet's 'Olympia' caused an uproar as the naked women in the painting is looking directly at the viewer, thus suggesting dominance and lack of coyness, and not looking to the side as was usual (see above). She is also a prostitute and therefore it was frowned upon for a lady of her occupation to be in a picture meant to portray beauty. The public also found it difficult to accept a change and debate about power since she is looking at the audience and therefore becomes a subject and not an object as she is engaging with the audience.
• Berger says "men act and women appear". This is something we still sadly see today. 
• A lot of debate occurred when our lecturer said that many people remember the male characters in past movies for being active, whilst the women were often forgotten as they were just passively viewed.
• Is there sexual imbalance in our world as Laura Mulvey said in her article? I would like to say no, but I think that sadly I would be lying. 
• Could be argued that both women and men are portrayed badly in video games as men can be overly masculine in contrast to the girls who are overly sexualised.  
• Some Hollywood movie actresses were sadly only in older movies to play 'the object' e.g. to be looked at by both actor and audience.
• Scopophilia (literally the desire to see) linked to sexual attraction. 
• Alfred Hitchcock's movies were used as constant examples in this presentation. For example, 'Rear Window' was a recommended watch as the lady who looks after the wheelchair bound photographer is still objectified by looking beautiful.
• In the original 'King Kong' the woman was depicted as weak and completely submissive.
• Whilst some Bond girls are empowered many still end up being weaker than the main hero as he generally over powers them in some way. 
• One interesting example brought up by someone in the group was that even though the class difference between Mario and Peach is very different as one is a plumber and the other a princess Mario still somehow ends up 'on top'.
• 80's action movies were perhaps the most male oriented ones around. However, the female character Ripley in the 'Aliens' franchise is not only depicted as bad ass, but also as a mother figure to Newt the child, her cat and even the male crew. Ripley drives the plot forward regardless of the males who end up needing rescuing. Therefore you could easily say that Ripley is masculine and that the second movie is a great example of gender reversal e.g. tough girl, weak men.
• Sarah Connors from the 'Terminator' franchise and Princess Leia from 'Star Wars' also have masculine moments.
• However, going back to 'Aliens'. The female character Vasquez is almost comically masculine by being overly masculine.

The 'Male Gaze' has three different looks:

• The camera which records the event. 
• The spectator as they watch the final product. 
• The male characters within the screen.

One thing I wanted to touch upon more was the following as I found it very interesting:

The camera removes us from the person e.g. who they truly are, rather than just an object of desire. This is especially so for the prime example he used of Marilyn Monroe as people would always represent her as a sex symbol. She even said once “People have a habit of looking at me as if I’m some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn’t see me , they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.” Even though she knew that she was being subjected she decided to stick with it anyway as she felt that they were worse things to be remembered as. 

Overall its a shame that I didn't know about Marilyn Monroe before this lecture, I only knew her as the girl holding down her skirt from an air vent. Therefore I wish to look further into her background as she sounds like a very interesting person. Especially since (and I shared this with my lecturer) her statement drew great similarities to the character Rise Kujikawa from 'Persona 4' as both are idols who are sadly only looked at as images of desire and never for who they are, yet both know this and continue with their careers. Rise even stated in the anime adaptation of the game "The girl everyone makes a big fuss over isn't the real me. Risette the Idol... shes just another packaged product they created to sell. Nobody actually sees the real me...ever.". 

This was an interesting similarity I noticed and therefore wonder if the developers of 'Persona 4' used Marilyn Monroe's life story and quote for research in order to create such a well developed character.  
You can see images of the two characters below.

Referencing:

• Shaw, S (1954) Marilyn Monroe posing during the famous subway grate scene from The Seven Year Itch [Online image]. Available at: http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/files/2012/06/Gratescene_SamShaw_6-031.jpg (Accessed: 29/1/2013).
   
• Soejima, S (Unknown) Rise Kujikawa [Online image]. Available at: http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-08/art/p4-rise-kujikawa1.jpg (Accessed: 29/1/2013).