essay prep (not finished)

For my video game cover that I have created is avoids the stereotypes of women in video games. The game is aimed for teenagers who are 16+ because of mild fantasy violence, mild language and suggestive themes. In the game a young female named Alice was captured by a gang of criminals but she finds away to escape. The game is based about surviving in the wilderness. From exploring temples to diving into to the deepest seas to fairies helping you through the enchanted forests. The character wears something a bit revealing but isn’t sexualised like most games. My idea of the game was to do something radical where the female isn’t the damsel in distress in this game and holding weapons that mostly male characters are seen holding in video games because they are know to be stereotypically strong.

The reason why I chose to do a female character instead of a male character is because most females in media are represented sexually to give satisfaction to the heterosexual male player. Most games enlarge the females breasts and butt and position them in an awkward angle, wearing tight or short clothing, my game I didn’t enlarge the breasts or butt to sexualise the character.

I think this is a positive game representation because my character is a strong independent female character which I haven’t over sexualized her. The female representation in my game game perfectly fits in with feminine frequency and Toril Mois analysis between female, feminine and feminist categories.

Key terms representation

Male gaze:

Looking at things through the eyes of a straight male, which can lead to sexualising and objectifying women.

Voyeurism:

Gaining sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity.

Patriarchy:

The belief that males are superior: a society dominated by men.

Positive and negative stereotypes:

The positive, socially accepted and negative, frowned upon aspects of different stereotypes. Positive examples could be men being good at sport and women being caring, whereas negative examples could be most Muslims being thought of as terrorists when in fact that is absolutely not the case.

Counter-types:

An idea that challenges a traditional stereotype, for example a princess saving a prince.

Misrepresentation:

False claims or ideas about how certain people of things that are not made by the people themselves. This can give others the wrong impressions and ideas about people.

Selective representation:

When certain groups or types of people are selected to feature in important positions more than others, for example when women weren’t allowed to vote at certain points in history.

Dominant ideology:

Ideas, beliefs and opinions shared by the majority of people in society.

Constructed reality:

When people interacting in society create mental beliefs about each other, and these concepts become somewhat reality out of habit.

Hegemony:

Dominance or leadership of one specific group of people over others.

Audience positioning:

How a designated audience might react to certain ideas, values or concepts.

David Gauntlett

Fluidity of identity:

The concept of identity changing because of time, for example maturity or change of circumstances.

Constructed identity:

The process of people developing ideas and beliefs about themselves.

Negotiated identity:

The process of people findning out “who is who” in society.

Collective identity:

The idea of fitting into certain categories or groups, perhaps based on interests, gender or age.

key terms around representation

MALE GAZE – The male gaze is depicting women and the world, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer.

VOYEURISM – The practice of gaining sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity.

PATRIACHY – a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.

POSITIVE STEREOTYPE –  encourages a certain attitude on how we see things and how things are accepted

NEGATIVE STEREOTYPE –  encourages a certain attitude on how we see things and how things are not accepted.

COUNTER – TYPES – a representation that highlights the positive features of a person or group.

MISREPRESENTATION – False claims or ideas about how people are represented. This can give the wrong idea about someone.

SELECTIVE REPRESENTATION – When groups or people are selected to important positions and represent the majority.

DOMINATNT IDEOLOGY –  values and beliefs in a group or social majority.

CONSTRUCTED REALITY – the way we present ourselves to other people is shaped partly by our interactions with others, as well as by our life experiences.

HEGEMONY – Leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.

AUDEIENCE POSTIONING – Audience positioning refers to the techniques used by the creator of a text to try to get the audience to understand the ideology of the text.

NEGORIATED IDENTITY –  refers to the processes through which perceivers come to agreements regarding the identities that targets are to assume in the interaction.

COLLECITVE IDENTITY – refers to all the affective aspects deriving from belonging to certain groups with which adolescents identify themselves and which place them within certain social categories such as ethnicity, nationality, or gender.

FLUIDITY OF IDENTITY – Having a fluid identity means having the ability to change how you see yourself, the world, and your actions.

CONSTRUCTED IDENTITY – individuals’ sense of belonging to a group.