“In this essay I am going to apply a semiotic analysis to both the Tomb Raider and Metroid video games covers.

I will argue that the Tomb Raiders game cover and Metroid cover display the same relationships, similarities and differences between signifiers. I will also argue the challenge of the way females are being represented and their place in society today. I strongly believe Tomb Raider doesn’t represent women in a positive or productive way in the gaming community as both covers are extremely sexist and degrading to women with the way they are dressed and the way certain features of their bodies are enhanced.the way women have been presented in these games covers creates unrealistic ideals of a female to the males eye, creating stereotypical standards that they believe all women must look like. Although people may think that Lara Croft has was defeating gender stereotypes buy being a strong main female character, she does not rely on a male character to complete her quest which then creates an influence on the males who play these games allowing them ton think it is okay to be encouraged to be more open minded in the way females should be perceived in games then to how they really are in real life.

 This reflects upon Laura Mulvey’s notion on the male gaze in that the dominant signifier is designed in such a way that she appears sexualised. In the words of Mulvey, she is a character whose “appearance is coded for a strong visual and erotic impact” (“Visual and Other Pleasures”, 1989). Laura states that women are presented as sexual objects for heterosexual male gratification, she believes this due to the abundant mass of females in the media being objectified to please men and to entice them to buy products.  

From the game Metroid, the main character who is seen as a rather large robotic character is known a radical character in the media as she is defeating the gender stereotypes (enlarged butt and boobs, smaller torso) by being a main character who has not been sexualised for the male gaze. The way she is not sexualised is a good way towards making a change in the media as the dominant signifier suggests a sense of power and independence the character brings out on her own. 

in conclusion, both Metroid and Tomb Raider describe two  representations of female protagonists in a way that they are both presented as radical roles due to the bravery and independence they are portraying. 

This Maybelline advert promotes it being okay for men to wear makeup and this advertisement for Maybelline was the first of many of a gay man selling the product. Promoting their product with the first gay male is widely making their advertisement more known and potentially promoting the product to reach more people.

Having more diversity with the promotion of the product is much better for creating a positive side to the brand and not labelling who and who cannot wear makeup, having a women of colour also being in the advert promoting the product is also a positive act as that is also not very commonly seen nowadays.

Having well known people in an advert is a very good way of selling the product as other competitors normally find it harder to compete.

The advert does have some cringey parts but that is a good way of it getting stuck in your head so you end up being the product out of spite. The colours that are also used in the ad are gold, this represents wealth, satisfaction, pleasure and happiness symbolising how the buyers may feel after using the product.

I am going to make a game cover based off of the film ‘mean girls’ as I will portray the characters differently, one will be stereotyped as a ‘dumb ditsy blonde’ who’s outfit will emphasise her upper and bottom half of her body and the other as ‘strong hard working woman’ who is wearing baggier clothes which don’t hug to her physique claiming she does not feel the need to fit in to todays media based stereotype.