Tough Female Characters & Femme Fatales in Film & Video Games

A discussion of the rise of the female hero character with a focus on film & video games. Joanna Robinson

A representation is use of language/images to create meaning.
Representations always construct a viewpoint
Types - Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Sexuality, Class, Religion/Beliefs
“ Ideology is a production of representations”
Presented as common-sense/self-evident
The Hollywood movie camera has a “male gaze” (Mulvey)‏
Different representations will appeal to different viewers

Representations are an Ideologically inscribed form of [powerful] discourse. Kellner & Durham (2001). Social construction of gender (& race & sexuality) – the media as social institution 'Nature versus nurture' & 'Images of women' debate in cultural studies, film studies, sociology and psychology – these images serve as heroes and R ole models. Female characters for women and male for men. There is a history of problematic gendered representations in popular culture They may reproduce various inequalities and beliefs/ideas/ideologies, that negatively impact women and discourage their participation Video games introduce women to technology. Increasingly women play anyhow, but there is a large 'forgotten' audience that is not being catered to!

Gender Stereotypes associated with Men:
Aggressive
Assertive
Dominating
No Emotions
Loud
Messy
Athletic
Math, Science & Tech Oriented
CEO
Money Maker

Gender Stereotypes associated with Women:
Weak
Fragile
Submissive
Emotional
Quiet
Neat/Clean
Clumsy
Artsy
Housewife
Child rearing

The villain — struggles against the hero.
The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.
The princess — marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative.
Her father — Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
False hero/anti-hero/usurper — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess. (Propp, Vladimir 1929).

“ men's domestic adjuncts”
“ dependent on men”
weak, powerless
“ sex objects”
“ unintelligent”
victims to be saved

Film Noir 40s,50s
Influenced by German expressionism
“ one of the few periods of film in which women are active, not static symbols, are intelligent and powerful, if destructively so, and derive power, not weakness, from their sexuality

1950's
Douglas Sirk – key director
Domestic, family, emotionally charged themes
Bright, natural colours
Sensitive men, strong women – Rock Hudson
Sweeping musical soundtracks

This figure is not necessarily “new” - eg Artemis in Greek Myth, Wonder Woman
“ tough girls” or “action chicks” (Inness, 1999)‏
Hybrids of attributes traditionally gendered masculine and feminine
Can offer empowerment through new visions of female role models
Romero's revision of Barbara, Night of the Living Dead
1968 1990

The current state of our media is participatory culture
Audiences have the opportunity to participate in their media, producing as well as consuming - prosumers
Co-creative media, Emergent or free play
Participants can shape and perform their own representations of heroes

Alyssa

New user built environments and characters, same old (horror) story?
Resident Evil in Second Life

* A variety of representations...

Online gaming/virtual world communities are both cultural artefact and site of (ongoing) culture
As digital media creators, it is important to understand the language of character representations in order to harness their power in engaging this participatory audience.
There many identities (& their stories) yet to be represented that may attract an even wider audience to games.
As online game texts are co-created by the audience they seek to entertain, we see the beginning of what may be an exciting era in media history - the controller in the hands of the audience.

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Tough Female Characters & Femme Fatales in Film & Video Games

by Joanna Robinson on Nov 21, 2008

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