Game Culture 8: Race and Sexuality

Stuart Hall

In today's lecture, a lot of attention was directed at Hall's paper The Whites in their Eyes that talks about the medias construction of ideologies on race, sexuality and gender. We are constantly being bombarded with images and ideologies through pictures, television, magazines, games etc. These ideologies teaches us about the world around us. It becomes a pre-language, a form of a common sense that we are constantly enforcing and that enforces us back. Ideologies are sets different from each other, and meaning may change from one set to another (e.g. the notion of freedom in a communistic and liberal society). We formulate our intentions within ideology. It's unconscious and seems natural to us, as the constructed positions of identification makes out conceptions "make sense".

Hall proceeds by applying his theories to the question of race and racism. He distinguishes between two kinds of racism:

• Overt racism is when people or the media openly speaks or addresses any “racist polict or view”
• Inferential racism is that factual or fictional representation embedded within the plot of and media form. This is often seen in television programs and movies where ethnic stereotypes such as the obedient/sly slave/servant, the proud/feral native and the clown/entertainer is still alive and kicking.

Inferential racism is especially relevant to his earlier theories as a great example of inferential racism is how media creates representation and "truths" about our world. If we do not have any representing e.g. a specific race, gender or sexuality in our everyday lives, the media fills the vacuum with stories about how the world works. So when a game is criticized as being racist, and the designers specify that they did not see how their content could be racist, it's a case of intention phallacy.

Case Study

Very little gay content can be found in games. Often it’s coincidental, restricted or ridiculed. Coincidental gay content is in a game because the source code does not distinguish between males and females. In the Sims games, it’s possible for the player to let their sims have a relationship with sims of both gender because they all share the same code. Restricted content seems to allow a certain amount of gay content, as long as it appeals to the average player. In Mass Effect it’s only possible for a female, gay character to have a sexual relationship with an npc. A gay male character can flirt with other male npcs, but cannot have sex with these npcs. Finally, ridiculed content uses gay content in a way that makes a situation/character/thing seem funny. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the police officers in San Fierro will say various things one would expect from a comical homosexual. There is also both a clearly gay employee working at the counter of an athletic apparel store who makes flirty comments towards the protagonist, CJ.

Another example of homoerotic ridicule can be found in the Japanese game Cho Aniki, which translates to “shit game”. Here players can battle giant men with artificial wombs, shooting penises and sperm-like substances after the player. The game is centered on the two main characters, the cape-wearing, muscular hero Idaten and sexy, blue-haired, busty maiden Benten. They are accompanied by two brothers Adon and Samson, both huge muscle men with a hole on their head that can shoot laser beams. The game uses homoerotic content such as phallic symbolism, suggestive poses involving several men and fight moves representing sexual acts, all pictured in a bizarre and silly way. But most of the sexual ridicule and silliness happens outside of the two main characters. Here, Cho Aniki becomes an example of use of racial differences in games as well. It is the side characters Adon and Samson that with their large smiles and exaggerated bodies and behaviors take on the roles of the goofy helper, very similar to the stereotypical “slave” character. Adon and Samson distinguish themselves from the main characters by being dark skinned and “alien” (They both have a hole in their head). They are not made so that the player can project himself into them; they are there for the laughs and can be subjected to homoerotic ridicule without any problems.

 

 

While gay and black clichés, stereotypes, and stock characters are deployed by videogames with benign aims, they generally perpetuate ideologies of heteronormativity and racism. The only alternative seems worse: the absence of discussion surrounding homosexuality and race.

 
With BioWare's strongly customizable protagonist, all of a sudden a new mode of communication must be accounted for. If one wants to play Dragon Age 2, one can do so with any fictionally represented skin color, sexuality and as either male or female. In March of 2011, a self-proclaimed speaker for the "straight male gamer" chided BioWare for "Forgetting their main demographic." He explained that Anders, a male mage in DA2, openly suggested that he and the player's male avatar become romantically involved. Obviously upset at having to assert his virtual-life (and most likely real-life) sexuality in his recreational time, the poster told BioWare that because more straight men played their game, they should be catered to. Lead designer David Gaider gave him a lesson on the evils of male privilege and in his politest words told him to fuck off. While one might consider that this is progress for gay rights in games, there are other, less scandalous, but equally problematic events that result from inclusivity on a tight budget. BioWare, it would seem, codes and constructs a story for a sexy white male, and as an afterthought allows players to skin the sexy white male polygons as they please. If one choses to make their character black, one must come to terms with the fact that the story presents you with a white sister, a white uncle and a white mother, without explaining why you are obviously unrelated by blood. Besides having to deal with the cognitive dissonance produced by the fiction, its presentation is also problematic.

An example of poor lighting when playing as a dark-skinned character i Mass Effect

Simply put, the game is lit for a white character and often one will only be able to see the whites of their protagonist’s eyes. Finally, if one choses to play as a female, one must contend with the fact that during sex scenes the protagonist’s body will grow to meet the motion captured animations of a male having sex. This means suddenly becoming taller and wider, but also behaving as BioWare imagined a male would behave during sex. So while feminine gendered clichés are gone, we now have to contend with the problems of simply inserting different races and genders into the roles of white men and watching them behave as such.


Today's readings

• Hall, “The Whites of Their Eyes” 
• Leonard, “Virtual Gangstas, Coming to a Suburban House Near You” 
• Shaw, “Putting the Gay in Games”