Why Does Sonya Look Like That!?!
Pong. We’ve come a long way since then. Developers have created some of the most iconic characters of all time through video games. Super Mario, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Kratos the God of War, Lara Croft are just a few of these examples. Gone are the days of a white blob going back and forth between two white paddles on a black screen. No! Video games can now even be full of narratives with amazing gameplay and beautiful graphics.
Photo Credit: Play Station
However, there are some aspects of video games that still could improve to make games even better. Fewer glitches perhaps, less toxicity online, and maybe less sexism! While some games have a great amount of diversity and female characters, Tomb Raider being a great example nowadays, it wasn’t always like this and there are still some problems. I believe that a great example of sexism in video games would be Mortal Kombat. I mean, just look at some of the women in these games. Characters like Sonya Blade and Kitana are often sexualized for no reason other than to appeal to what is called the male gaze. In a recent Ted Talk, Melina Droumeva talked about the sounds women make in games such as Street Fighter, and while I didn’t notice it while playing the original, hearing the sounds women make in the new one is really not okay.
Even Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, one of the most iconic video game characters of all time, used to be overly sexualized, possibly because Angelina Jolie played her in the movies. Now though, when they try to make her more realistic, I see people online say that she’s not hot enough and that’s why they don’t like the game. People, you need to get over this because it’s important. Every boy wants to be Batman or Spiderman when they're a kid, and little girls need someone to look up to and want to be too. Even Super Mario bros started out with the stereotypical damsel in distress, but now you can actually play as the princess which is definitely progressing. Most people want to be or play someone in a game that they can relate to or feel real. Notice on the cover of Mortal Kombat they never have a woman on the cover because they look like...well you know what I mean. There are now a lot more female characters that are the leads now such as Star Wars Battlefront 2 or the new Avengers game.
Photo Credit: EA
These changes are important and need to be made. I’m not the type of person that says all men are evil and that women should dominate everything, but there needs to be more of a balance. There need to be more games where everyone has a character they want to play and everyone playing that game should be represented, whether it be gender, sexuality, or race.
Apr. 2018, store.playstation.com/en-us/product/
UP0002-CUSA12125_00-SPYROCRASHBUND01. Accessed 18 Dec. 2020.
starwars/battlefront/star-wars-battlefront-2. Accessed 18 Dec. 2020.
Dec. 2020.
2018. Ted Talk, www.ted.com/talks/
milena_droumeva_sounding_out_sexism_in_video_games. Accessed 18 Dec. 2020.
Riley, good use of your own knowledge to back up your points. Do you think part of the problem might be related to who is making video games or to the perception of who plays video games the most? Are there stats about that that would be helpful to see?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your Blog addressing this concern. Your points were well stated and I was interested in reading the entire blog-you kept my interest. I also liked the reference to multiple games and showing there are concerns with girls not having someone to admire and aspire to in many games.
ReplyDelete