For my games cover I produced a football game, and my dominant signifying image was quite masculine. This fits with the trend created in Toril Moi’s analysis of the differences between female, feminine and feminist categories of representation, released in 1987. The only difference is that my cover has a particular focus on masculinity. This is shown in the general posture of my character, being bold and confident, along with the sports-related clothing showing professionalism. I also exaggerated muscular features, such as the arms, torso and legs, which may come across provocative to some.

My character reverses the concept and idea of “The Male Gaze” by Laura Mulvey because of the fact that the dominant signifier is not one which would usually be sexualised by the stereotypical straight male video game player. However, you could say that the character is still there to be looked at and objectified, following a quote from the article “Why diversity matters in the modern video games industry” – “If you do not see yourself on Netflix, on Instagram, in games, in forums, where are you?” (The Guardian). This implies that “otherworldly” characters with too good to be true bodies are becoming increasingly relevant as time is progressing and their influence across the world is rapidly increasing as well, particularly because of the rise in use of social media platforms.

This considered, I think that masculinity is more commonly seen as more confrontational, aggressive and violent than femininity so in this regard my product could be considered a reactionary representation of masculinity, fitting in with what most people in society would consider everyday views.

On the other hand, this representation of masculinity may not entirely be one shown in a particularly positive light. I think this because in my opinion, a confrontational, aggressive and provocative mindset is not one that males should aspire to have. Because of this, if I were to recreate this product, I would replace the dominant signifying character of a male with one of a female, with features which do not fit the idea of “The Male Gaze” in that the character would not be sexualised by their design. I would do this by re-sculpting my character, using less revealing clothes, more realistic body features and a more regular posture. I think this would paint femininity in a much more positive light, providing a countertype and challenging everyday beliefs about females.

This ties into the broad argument of whether women’s football is a “true sport” and if it is entertaining to watch as male football. I think that both genders can and should play football as much as each other, but the vast majority of football games available focus on male football, so consequently this idea of a game cover would be radical. By changing my dominant signifying character, I think that a far less negative representation of football as a whole would be presented. This links to a quote from an article being “As a girl growing up playing games I was always like, why do I have to play as a boy?” (The Guardian) in that it would promote equality and provide younger people with more role models to look up to, particularly girls, as more elite female footballers would be recognizable in the game.