I created this presentation for part of my case study for A2 Media Studies. It explores the different ways in which female characters are represented in video games, identifying both positive and negative presentations within the game in comparison to similar representations in other video games. Including media theory.

1. RESIDENT EVIL

2. WHAT IS IT?
• Resident Evil is an action, adventure, horror fiction video game based media franchise
created by Shinji Mikami and owned by the video game company Capcom.
• Game first released in 1996.
• The franchise focuses around a series of survival horror video games, but has since
branched out into comic books, novels and novelizations, sound dramas, a series of live-
action films and animated sequels to the games, and a variety of associated
merchandise, such as action figures.
• The overarching plot of the series focuses on multiple characters and their roles in
recurring outbreaks of zombies and other monsters.
• Five live action films have been released under the title of Resident Evil. These films do
not follow the games' premise but do include game characters.
• 2012 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition described it as "the most successful
movie series to be based on a video game.”

3. THE WEBSITE
• http://www.residentevil.net/en/
• When the site opens, the user is asked to input their date of birth. This is because the
website has an 15+ rating so it rejects the user access if they are younger than 15.
• This feature is also used on other game websites such as Grand Theft Auto and Bioshock
Infinite.

4. Website Homepage

5. Although it is assumed
that the majority of
Resident Evil players are
male, it is proved that
the female audience is
becoming more and
more predominant in the
online video gaming
community.
On the PlayStation3
World Record
leaderboard, there are 2
female players in the top
3.

6. GENDER STEREOTYPES IN VIDEO GAMES
• Compared to female characters, male characters appear more
frequently, talk significantly more, and engage in noted
behaviors more, such as achieving and showing leadership.
• In addition, these video games provide distorted representation
of women and minorities, therefore exposure to these distorted
images can have a negative effect on users’ perception of
women.
• For instance, women are usually perceived as subordinate,
passive and dependent on men, with sexual relationships as a
central aspect in life.

7. Resident Evil
magazine cover
This magazine cover adheres to the stereotype of
female game characters being subordinate and
passive, as we can see the woman is positioned
behind the male character and is looking away,
therefore the readers attention is drawn more to the
man in the foreground.
Bioshock Infinite
magazine cover
Similar to the Resident Evil cover of the PlayStation
magazine, XBOX 360 feature a cover of the Bioshock
Infinite game, which also appears to adhere to the female
character type - the female character seems less important
as she is positioned behind the male character.

8. RESIDENT EVIL: REVELATIONS 2 -GAMEPLAY
TRAILER
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpsAYj3P
wM4

9. SHINJI MIKAMI - CREATOR OF R.E
• "I don't know if I've put more emphasis on women characters, but when I
do introduce them, it is never as objects. In some games, they will be
peripheral characters with ridiculous breast physics. I avoid that sort of
obvious eroticism. I also don't like female characters who are submissive
to male characters, or to the situation they're in. I won't portray women in
that way. I write women characters who discover their interdependence as
the game progresses, or who already know they are independent but have
that tested against a series of challenges."
• The initial female characters that Mikami created abide by his description of how he
wanted to portray the characters; they are strong, independent etc.
• However, as the game has progressed through the years and social expectations have
changed, the characters have been more and more influenced and have therefore
become more sexualised and fallen into the stereotype of appearing to be weak and
dependent.

10. STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS
Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield
prime examples of Mikami's mandate for
strong, independent protagonists.
- goes against gender stereotypes of
video game characters
- masculine, dominant and active
characters
- dark, practical clothing
- neutral hair and make up

11. COMPARISON TO OTHER GAMES
(STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS)
• Lara Croft - Tomb Raider
Although Lara Croft's characters has previously been
portrayed in a sexualised manner in the older versions of
the Tomb Raider games, the newest representation of her
character has changed in a way to suggest that her
character is now taken more seriously: she is wearing a lot
more clothes, less make up and there is less emphasis on
her chest/cleavage.

12. SEXUALISED FEMALE CHARACTERS
Ada Wong and Excella Gionne
- highly sexualised characters
-glamourous dresses and heels
-perfect make up and hair
- still appear to be independent and capable
of fighting (always have guns)
These types of characters support
McRobbie's Post Feminist Icon theory,
suggesting that although the characters are
strong, independent and in control, they also
utilise their sexuality.
The characters sexualised representation also
appeals to Mulvey's theory of the 'Male
Gaze'.

13. COMPARISON TO OTHER GAMES
(SEXUALISED FEMALE CHARACTERS)
• Women used to represent Grand Theft Auto V

14. WEAK FEMALE CHARACTERS
Ashley Graham and Rebecca Chambers
- Weak and submissive
- Subordinate (often irrelevant characters, with
very little/no dialogue)
- Dependent on male characters
- More emotional and sensitive
"If I had to name the woman character I most disliked in my
games it would be Rebecca Chambers. She's submissive,
she's not independent. I didn't want to include her but the staff
wanted that kind of character in the game, for whatever
reason. I'm sure it made sense to them."
Shinji Mikami, Creator of the Resident Evil Game
These types of characters can be used as examples
to support Propp's narrative theory that 'women in
video games are passive and should be portrayed as
damsels in distress'.

15. COMPARISON TO OTHER GAMES
(WEAK FEMALE CHARACTERS)
• Princess Peach - Super Mario games
Princess Peach's character in the Super Mario franchise
video games often plays the damsel in distress within the
series, being kidnapped frequently, leaving the
predominantly male cast to rescue her from the evil
villain.

16. THEORIES & VIEWPOINTS
• Anita Sarkeesian (Feminist view): "An overwhelming number of computer games
seem to paint a picture of a video landscape populated almost entirely by male
heroes and passive female characters who are there to be rescued and romanced."
• Angela McRobbie (Post Feminist Icon theory): Although the female characters are
strong, independent and in control, they also utilise their sexuality to appeal more to
a male audience.
• Steve Neale (genre theory): Genre as Repetition and Difference - "Genre is familiar
to audiences through the repetition of conventions like a physically strong, dynamic,
violent, male hero in Action Adventure Video Games like Assassin's Creed and GTA
5 but is challenged by a female lead character in Tomb Raider and Beyond: Two
Souls. Other conventions are the same however, despite this key difference and
serve to maintain interest in an apparently evolving genre".
• Propp (narrative theory): 'women in video games are passive and should be
portrayed as damsels in distress'.
• Mulvey (Male Gaze theory): female characters are there to look at - 'the tendency of
works to present female characters as subjects of implicitly male visual
appreciation.'