In my rummagings, I found so much that made me rabbit, I've decided to do a little mini-series of blogs about the portrayal of women in video games. I covered it oh-so-briefly in my last blog post, Gamer Girls and Porno Mods, even mentioning one or two female game protagonists by name, but that article centred mostly around the necessity to alter games to seemingly suit a need for sexual gratification.
Today, I will be talking about Samus Aran. Samus Aran was one of the first female protagonists in a videogame (Metroid). Moreso, she was one who wasn't overtly sexualised, and more than that, she was a strong, independent character. Throughout the game, Samus, a bounty hunter with very little background and this weird, oversized cyborg suit-thingy is jumping around shooting the ass off things, and turning into this awesome ball, because the suit is awesome. Then, right at the end, she is finally revealed to be a woman (you can watch it here). Aside from the fact that she is suddenly wearing pink and giving a cute little wave at the camera, it's still fairly cool that such a powerful, independent, ass-kicking character is actually female.
Metroid is now an extremely popular series of video games, with 11 games spanning 26 years. In 1986, when Samus was debuted (and eventually outed), female protagonists were limited to Ms. Pacman and, apparently, "Lady Master of Kung Fu". However, it must also be noted that in 1986 when Samus was debuted, there was a purposeful deception as to her true gender - the slightly ambiguous name, the armour (which is neither skimpy nor pink), and the general mystery surrounding Samus's past, all served to lull the core audience of male gamers into its usual sense of security - "Samus da MAN!". Samus was obviously a man, because he's kicking all this butt. In space. In non-revealing, practical armour. Women don't kick butt....and they definitely don't go to space. I heard it's something to do with their ovaries.
I can only imagine what the reaction of the original Metroid gameplayer was when Samus was quite calmly (yet with a distinct uplift of the 8-bit music....bit of key change, bit of a textural lift) outed as being a lady in a hot pink one-piece.
Whilst one can, and should, laud the fact that the developers chose to go with a female protagonist, I can't help but wonder if the effect would have been the same if the character was transparently a woman in the first place. I was a baby in the mid-80's, so it's not like I'm going to be an authority on gender portrayal around that time, but my guess is probably not. I think the slap-in-the-face factor of the chosen revelation could even be what has made the game so popular today. I liken it to the "Luke, I am your father" bit in Star Wars (I would give you a spoiler alert, but if you don't know what I'm talking about, then there's probably something seriously wrong with your life) - both are defining moments in their respective media, and is what made them each so revolutionary, and thus, most importantly, memorable. The developers themselves never originally intended for Samus to be a woman, but during the creative process decided it would be an intersting "twist". It would seem, that just as the gamers who played the game automatically assumed that Samus was a man, the developers did so too, until they saw a way of Samus's gender working to their advantage.
It is hard to imagine in the times we live in (despite the fact that I am here, virtually soapboxing about gender inequaliy in videogaming) that a reveal would have made that much of an impression; but when most, if not all, female representations in videogames prior to this, protagonist or not were just generally a bit wet, for a character who had proven throughout the entire game to be stoical, heroic and an all-round hard case to be revealed as a female when it had never been done before must have been quite astounding.
Now, at this point, I need to make a little confession....I didn't know that Samus was a woman until very deep into my Smash Bros. Melee playing phase. Even more shamefully, I can't actually remember how I discovered it (thinking back I think it was the quasi-sexual grunts she emitted whilst jumping around the screen and/or getting the shit kicked out of her - I play best as Jigglypuff). I do however remember it being a revelation. Even in the 21st century, I can see an ambiguously dressed character in a strong role (put it this way, in Smash Bros. Melee, Peach batters people with a fluffy parasol), and automatically presume that character is male. The fact remains that even now, the portrayal of women in games is almost rigidly defined, it can and does affect the gamers ability to be non-presumptuous in the face of a lack of definitive gender indicators.
Of course there have been some good strong representations of women in gaming of late, but interestingly, and unlike Samus, they are mostly played in the first person (namely Chell from Portal and Faith from Mirrors Edge). Is it easier to put these female characters in stronger roles because first person perspective makes it easier to forget that you are not playing as a man? Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but often women represented in the third person perspective are usually waiting to be rescued, or gawped at.
Samus Aran is easily one of the strongest representations of women in gaming, and the fact that it may have just been a gimmick to get people talking about the major twist at the end is irrelevant now because the more important thing is, they stuck with her, as she was (for the most part).
Hairwire
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