In this essay I am going to apply semiotic analysis to both the game covers Tomb Raider and Metroid, the front cover for the video game Tomb Raider is misrepresenting reality, this is through how the dominant signifier is represented (Lara Croft), she is seen to be wearing clothes that will cause the male gaze and voyeurism. Another way the games producers have further tried to emphasise this is by placing the anchorage of the image on her waist, making the upper and lower part of the body clearer to the eye at first glance. As Laura Mulvey said “The ‘male gaze’ is something that sexualizes women by empowering men and objectifying women. In the ‘male gaze’ the women are objectified to fit the wants of the heterosexual male.” Ferdinand De Saussure’s ideology is still holding up in today’s world with the idea of the signifier (being the object itself) and signified (being the meaning of the object) this is clear as the way the signifier (the guns) is being signified with the dominant signifier holding them in both hands to suggest that there is and should be violence, which is not the case in today’s society and this makes a myth. On the other hand, Tomb Raiders front cover for the video game can radical as it goes against the patriarchal society. This game also goes against collective identity and suggests to women that you don’t have to a “damsel in distress” as the feminist frequency group put forward. Lara Croft is also a countertype as she goes against the traditional stereotypes set up with women. Girls as young as 12 or even younger if they are not listening to the age restriction will be playing this game and taking in everything about it without even know that they are doing that. As John Berger said “The book “ways of seeing” says in it that women from their earliest childhood have always had to survey themselves constantly. She is told that is it crucial on how she appears to men as it determines how successful she is in life.” This is true in the sense that the way Lara croft is dressed, suggesting that girls should dress like that. However she is also empowering girls as she is seen as strong and adventurous with the video game itself. Modern media is saying that (Leveling up) “Despite many video game companies being based in East Asia, most games feature white protagonists.” However, this is and isn’t the case for Tomb raider, on the first part their game was produced by the games company eidos which is based in Montreal Canada however on the other hand the game does feature a white caucasian being Lara Croft.

The front cover of the video game Metroid is a myth, its trying to represent a sci-fi like video game through the use of unrealistic guns and armour. The game is promoting violence with the signifier (the gun). He creates a constructed reality for people who want a breakthrough with reality this could be negative as it disconnects people from reality and facing their fears.  It also creates a constructed identity for the one who is playing the game as the person is controlling everything that character does using the controller. Samus being the dominant signifier is a icon to many with his gun being an index to samus and the title would be a symbol. There is no negotiated identity with samus, as the game creators get to decide this, you could see the creators being the hegemony of the video game which could be seen as a negative thing. However not everything about this game is negative, in fact there are many positives. You may get a patriarchal view at first with the dominant signifier (samus) with the suit, gun and male stance, but in fact the person inside the suit is female, this stops voyeurism for the heterosexual male as the character can be seen as female and male. When you realise that samus is actually a female you would think of samus as a counter-type. The game cover has also tried to show that this is a video game through using a syntagm in the front cover with the logo of the Nintendo game cube, the age rating and the games company it was created by. The front cover always warns it uses of how they should play the game by adding an age rating to it in the bottom left hand corner however if someone were to be less than that age they might not notice it as there is no colours such as red, being a dangerous colour, to warn them. It indicates that you should be at least twelve or more to play the game however there is nothing restricting someone who less than that age playing the game. This can cause big issues to audience playing the game as people who are less than the age are susceptible to inheriting these ideals and putting them into practice where they were to use a gun in real life and think its just part of the game. But as the fluidity identity of the audience changes as time passes they might take these ideals with them or push them aside and forget about them.

In this essay I have argued that Tomb raider is a game is created to please the sexual desire of the heterosexual man whilst also having a fun and creative side to the game as well and I have argued that Metroid promotes violence and how man should be in society whilst being able to creating a escape from reality.

In this essay, I am going to apply a semiotic analysis to both the Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Metroid video games covers. I am going to argue how both of the covers represent the modern day portrayal of women in the media today, which is a sexualisation of female form, by analysing the reactionary layout and design and other similar pieces of imagery. I will also go over the contents of both games themselves, how they back up some theories of how women are used as objects and how they go even further with the sexualisation of women.

I’ll start off with Metroid, as Samus Aran (the playable character in the series) is actually a woman underneath her armour, most people would expect the character to be male as the game series is based off of a character who defends the galaxy from creatures known as ‘Space Pirates’. This is a major countertype example of the damsel in distress. During the storyline of various Metroid titles, more revealing clothing is available for unlock by multiple methods, including game completion, achievements and playtime. This is clearly trying to appeal to the reactionary gaming audience, being maturing teenage males. A radical part of Metroid is that Samus Aran is pictured as a muscular woman who stands 6′ 3″ tall and weighing in at about 90kg. This stature and weight would generally be associated with men over women. On the Prime 2: Echoes cover, Samus’ body is covered up by the orange battle armour. The image it portrays is completely different to what is ‘hidden’ underneath. The character is also pictured with a large cannon replacing her right hand and the description on the back side of the cover opens with, “Become the bounty hunter behind the visor once more!” This would direct most people in the direction of thinking Metroid is a male protagonist.

Continuing from this, the Lara Croft games cover is quite different, but represents the same concept. To start, she is stood at an angle where both her breasts and backside are visible, when they are on opposite sides of her body. This is the most obvious sign of sexualisation as there are not many angles from which both sides of her body would be visible, so somebody clearly designed and planned this beforehand. Some may see this representation as negative as a few of her most notable body parts (the ones mentioned previously in particular) have been extensively exaggerated. Even the way the light falls over her makes her curves look more pronounced than the games cover title image, arguably the most important piece of the cover. The decision to make this image the front cover has been made in order to create a reactionary response from the target audience, and links in with Laura Mulvey’s study of the ‘Male Gaze’ which is a stereotypical viewpoint for the heterosexual young male. She believes that women are used as objects of pleasure for the mainly male gaming audience. This was first written about in “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger. The fact that so many games now use these image portrayals of woman in this possibly negative way show the further audience that this is the standard design and layout for the covers of these games. This visual example also becomes what many women (especially younger) aspire to look like. Some even obsess with looking this way, finding it the only way for others to find them attractive, as it is so heavily used in many forms of media, extending far from some video games covers. The negative view continues over to femininity as Lara, the dominant signifier of this CSP, is pictured holding two handguns, with a third in her right weapon holster. This exposes users as young as the recommended age, 12, to the active and semi-constant use of weaponry in both games, which many parents and others alike will not see as healthy viewing material for their children.

Furthermore, I believe that the representation of women and the ‘Male Gaze’ are shown in an overall more positive way in the Metroid cover image than the Lara Croft Tomb Raider cover image. This is because there is some evidence of an effort to cover up the once again over-exaggerated body of the character. The armour she wears also creates a reactionary response within the audience as they are led to believe that Metroid is a male character, from what is displayed in the iconic sign. Neither of these CSPs support the ‘damsel in distress’ theory that I mentioned previously. This theory is described as how the female character in numerous storylines is more often than not the one who needs rescuing or saving from a typical antagonist by the male hero, more info is available about this theory on the Feminist Frequency website. These images and game contents are trying to point people in the direction of knowing that women are very able to defend themselves against themselves and others. This may not always be the case however. Once again the excessive sexualisation and violent nature of these video games may not have a positive impact on the audience outside the target. They don’t know what the cover actually represents, all they can see is obscene imagery and portrayal of women and the guns she is holding, convincing them that this is all the game resolves around.

In conclusion, I believe that neither CSPs present women in a good way. This is because of how their bodies are used as pleasure for the targeted audience, more so with the Lara Croft example. The Metroid cover does make some effort to cover up Samus’ body with the classic Metroid armour, as well as to cover up some of the contents of the game itself. Both games covers prove Laura Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze true. The use of these images can also bee seen as disempowerment. This can easily be improved by games cover designers creating countertypes of the covers. This would flip the negative effect they give on its head, making it positive. People in the further audience may then be more inclined to buy the products, increasing sales and revenue. Some other developers might take the same idea on board and follow along, the currently ‘over-the-top’ sexual exaggeration and representation of women overall may be improved over time.