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).
No comments:
Post a Comment