ANALYSE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SIGNIFIERS AND SIGNIFIEDS IN THE TWO CSP GAMES COVERS:

In this essay I am going to compare the two CSP front covers of Metroid and Tomb Raider using semiotic analysis. I am arguing that both games present their main character to be objectified due to them being female, however both games explore this in different ways. Metroid displayed their character as a masculine strong character which implies that females are less superior than males and Tomb Raider displays their female main character to be oversexualised with poses and body parts.

In the Metroid front game cover the main character “Metroid” is displayed to be a large shouldered, large armed masculine character, however the person controlling the metroid suit is a actually a female character, called Samus, that is unfairly made to be masculine which implies that men are stronger and better at defending themselves than women are, it also implies that the male suit is to defend Samus because she cannot defend herself. In addition to this the character specifically is meant to meet the reactionary belief of what a strong, independent character should be, this is shown to be a male character. The idea of a woman being a main character of a large title video game is a big thing and it gives a good view on the company releasing the game, however there are other ways to go around it to avoid the reactionary, negative stereotype of women being oversexualised. ‘For every forward step however, there is often a reminder of how far is left to travel‘(From an article called “Diversity matters”) – This shows that no matter how much effort or help that a company can put in, there is always more to go, or more to do before people are happy.

Within the Tomb Raider front cover, the character Lara Croft is the dominant signifier and is displayed to be looked at by men. This is called the Male Gaze which is the idea that men look at women as sexual objects. The character Lara Croft can be seen in tight, short cut, shorts that show off the characters behind which fits the presumed straight males voyeurism. Furthermore the character is positioned in a pose that turns her in a way to be able to show off both the characters breasts and back end, this further shows the idea of the Male Gaze displayed within video games and how the character is oversexualised to gain more male attention and achieve more sales. ‘Woman displayed as a sexual-object is the erotic spectacle’ – displays how woman are treated unfairly within the media from Luara Mulvey, this fits with Tomb Raider as the main character is displayed to be looked at.

As well as that, the character Lara Croft is shown to be a strong, independent woman who can fight and defend herself. However Lara Croft can be seen to be in a strappy crop top and a small pair of shorts which specifically show off her curves which are unrealistically curvy and creates an unrealistic expectation for females from the male view which goes along with the idea of a patriarchal society. As Well as this, in other games male characters have full suits of armour that defends the character and doesn’t show off specific parts of the character but when it comes to a woman they don’t need armour and mostly all of their body is shown off. This further displays how the idea of the male gaze is dominant in the video games industry.

In conclusion, both characters from Tomb Raider and Metroid are unfairly treated because of their gender. We can see Samus being represented as the opposite of her gender to display the idea that she cannot defend herself, therefore she needs to be protected by a big suit of armour that looks masiculine on the outside and we can see Lara Croft being oversexualised to fit the male gaze and identify her as a sexual object for the presumed straight male sales and attraction. 

I utilised a male in my front cover for a reactionary response as it aggress and goes along with the idea that men are typically soldiers in games.

I produced a Safari Warfare Game and I created a dominant signifying image that was a masculine soldier that fits with the reactionary idea and stereotype that men are soldiers in war. This goes against Toril Moi’s analysis of the distinction between female, feminine, feminist categories of representation (1987). Only in my production there is a clear focus on masculinity.

Further to this I have exaggerated the muscular attributes of my character by adding armour, overexaggerated arms, legs and chest. I also added a fighter jet and a attack helicopter that displays the on going theme of war, putting them behind the character, signifying his strength as a male leader. In some ways this inverts Laura Mulvey’s notion of the male gaze in that my main character is there to be objectified and looked at, in the words of Laura Mulvey he is a character “establishing ways of looking and spectacle” (Mulvey, p. 883, 1999). However, the notion of the male gaze is quite distinct as it relates to the sexualisation of the dominant signifier, which is not the case for my character.

However, I don’t think this is a positive representation of masculinity as I personally believe that the idea of a strong, leading soldier always being a man is wrong and incorrect in the current world where woman are coming to power and serving in the army. Perhaps inhabiting a range of signifiers that would connote a more feminine character, or a radical female character instead of the reactionary male character. I could do this by re-sculpting my character in terms of their physical appearance, their clothing, body shape and size, along with the hair. As such, I would be sending out a much more positive message (for me) about masculinity, ‘maleness’ one that used a positive countertype to present a radical and challenging representation which could help gamers to adopt a new ways of thinking about gender representation, with more positive role models for young people to aspire to. As Keith Stuart notes ‘the power of video games [is] a reflective, empowering and emotional influence on the lives of players’. (Why diversity matters in the modern video games industry, Guardian, 18 July 2017)