In this essay I will be applying a semiotic analysis to both the Tomb Raider cover and the Metroid cover and how they both present females in two different ways. I will be arguing about the sexualisation of Lara Croft and how this links in to the Male Gaze and then the radical representation of females on the front cover of Metroid.

I believe the front cover of Tomb Raider takes advantage of Lara’s clothes and sexualises her in a way to get straight males to buy the game and focus more on her body than the actual plot of there game; the outfit she is wearing isn’t something that an explorer exploring ancient ruins and doing acrobatics would wear, and since games with female leads often sexualise them we could say this is a reactionary representation of females in video games and contributes to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze. However, I can also argue it is a radical view of women as Lara’s character isn’t something anyone would usually do- fighting off monsters, exploring ancient tombs; but i do believe this is undermined by her sexualisation, as the clothes she is wearing do not add any development of depth to her character and instead shows her as some ‘sassy’ ‘bad’ female lead instead of a courageous explorer. Overall I think the sexualisation leads to a negative stereotype which pejoratively affects the gaming community, more likely to see her as an object and ignore her character development.

On the other hand the front cover of Metroid completely covers the main leads body showing no representation of gender at all, hiding her identity and linking into character development instead. The costume she is wearing shows stealth, power and strength all at once hiding any connotations to gender identity, therefore no link to gender off of first glance can be made and instead wants to dig deeper into the character itself instead of the shallow view of sexualisation. I asked three people if they thought the person in the suit was a female or male to which all of them assumed it was a male character; this furthermore reinforces the reactionary view of women in video games how they’re not often promoted as strong, and therefore shows the cover as a radical representation and a counter stereotype towards women in video games. As much as a positive thing this representation is, it really highlights the idea that the gaming industry prays on sex-appeal instead of deepening female characters storyline. As Helen Brown said in the industry “It’s woven into the very tapestry of how the business works” relating to sexualisation and the male gaze.