In this essay I am going to apply a semiotic analysis to both the CSP 1 Tomb Raider and CSP 2 Metroid video games covers. In specific the relationship between the signifier and the signified (the thing/ idea being represented and the way the thing/ idea is expressed as a sign.

I will argue that  CSP 1 Tomb Raider is both a very violent and highly sexualised which I feel doesn’t represent a female’s capability in a positive or productive way for the gaming world views them. The signifier (the thing being represented) in the game Tomb raider, which is about shooting, is successfully depicted by some of the signified media signs that include: the main dominant signifier and the paradigm of images on the back of the cover. Lara Croft (the main character) is an iconic sign as to what the game will be based around.

Firstly, the way in which the female is depicted on the front cover having tight fitted clothing clinging specifically to her rear emphasising the dominant ideology that women should have a big bum, setting unrealistic expectations (an example of negative stereotyping) right from the beginning, leading women into feeling like they have failed if they don’t appear to be like these figures which are considered desirable and the voyeurism that men will experience at this sight. However, this could also suggest she is less capable and more likely to get in danger due to not being able to protect herself (supported with the way in which she is holding the guns down by her side: not looking ready to battle) and so the reason as to why she might be the main dominant signifier on the front cover is, as shown in the feminist frequency videos about “damsel in distress”. Suggesting that a women’s main purpose in a game is to keep the plot going by the man needing to assist the woman.

Furthermore, in both games covers, CSP 1 Tomb Raider and CSP 2 Metroid, the link between the signifier (being what the game is about) and the signified (being the characters and setting) is very clear. There is use an effective use of bold text for the titles top draw attention to the main media sign of the game (the name of it) especially in the Tomb Raider cover the anchorage between the image and title is very good. The lighting in the background is drawn to the title but also the main image of the woman with guns showing how everything links in together. “Women then stands in patriarchal couture as signifier for the male other” – quote from Why Diversity Matters.

Despite all the negative judgements that can be made about the character in Tomb Raider this aspect of the cover is efficient in showing how a woman has power by the light being focussed on her. It is a good representation of in some way how the world is changing and trying to challenge The Male Gaze view (Laura Mulvey) in which women are objectified and sexualised which can lead to violence as proved in the article about feminism where it states “52% of Hispanic people studied believed there was a link between violent video games and real-world violence.”- Feminist Frequency site. Especially domestic violence which isn’t what the signified was trying to represent from the signifier.

It seems unfair that in CSP 2 Metroid, the dominant signifier is a fantasy male with a muscular build and lots of fighting gear to present how he is very well prepared which agrees with the typical stereotypes of males being strong and independent. This is prejudice because there is still a clear patriarchy which shouldn’t be allowed in this year. To add  to the conveying idea there is also a transparent texture on the cover reflecting from the weapons, which indicates additional power and ability to actually work weapons compared to in Tomb Raider where the female is just holding the weapon down next to her thigh not looking as if she will actually know how to use it. But the guy in Metroid is stood in a firm position, strongly clenching on the gun and aiming it a specific point proving he is ready to shoot. Therefore, men are getting more of a supportive community with more recognition. Guantlett believes in the theory that you create your own identity through media inputs which would impact how men feel more forceful and women are shrunk into a smaller and less capable person due to the constructed identity.

Additionally, there is quite a strong use of hegemony in CSP 2 Metroid due to how there is no females to be seen on the front cover (this is an example of selective representation) implying they are significantly less important than the male characters. This could cause the audience of female gamers to have a lower self-esteem because they are influenced into believing they aren’t as worthy and as talented. In contrast this could also been seen as a positive because usually men are less likely to admit to their struggles so it might help them feel better about their selves. “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

In conclusion I strongly believe that none of the games cover (neither Tomb Raider or Metroid) have a positive representation of the relationship between males and females. More specifically the possible dangers in which women can encounter due to the influences that video games try to convey to the user such as sexual violence and disempowering them. These examples from CSP 1 Tomb Raider and CSP 2 Metroid effectively back up the theories by Laura Mulvey about the male gaze and the Guardian’s report on the outstanding impact games have on everyone. I think that all games should try to use more countertypes which would create positive stereotypes giving a more realistic expectation of a group of people whether it be male or female or different races.

 

 

 

 

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.