Can the Subaltern Speak about Zombies?

Both the group presentation as well as the subsequent discussion revolved around the somewhat sensitive issue of racial representations within computer games such as Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 2 as well as Resident Evil 5. Different researchers in the game studies discipline have throughout the last decades attempted to approach the racial representations within computer games from a media studies perspective, which Stuart Hall’s ideas about the persuasive ideologies behind the modern mass media could be able to illustrate for the reader. In the article The Whites of Their Eyes Hall goes on to argue that the modern mass media still attempts to remediate a number of the classic racist tropes such as the slave, the native as well as the entertainer, since “[…] the media construct for us a definition of what race is, what meaning the imagery of race carries, and what “problem of race” is understood to be. They help to classify out the world in terms of the categories of race.” Hall furthermore points out that the racial presentations within the mass media either could revolve around a so-called overt approach, which is “[…] when open and favourable coverage is given to […] spokespersons who are […] elaborating an openly racist argument […]”, or around a more inferential approach that “[…] enable racist statements to be formulated without bringing into awareness the racist predicates on which the statements are grounded […]”. One can therefore argue that the black gangster persona could be understood as a more modern incarnation for Hall’s ideas about the racial tropes within mass media such as films, music videos as well as computer games, since he often has been depicted as a trigger-happy criminal from the suburban ghetto. In the article Virtual Gangstas David Leonard has for instance argue that the computer game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas attempts to equate the common black man with the criminal gangster, which is why “[…] the values and morals offered through playing GTA: SA […] pose a treat to the national fabric, just as those who inhabit those real-life communities pose an equal danger.”

The classic racist trope of the native could furthermore be found behind the computer game Resident Evil 5 from Capcom Studios Japan, in which a muscular causation male wearing militaristic clothing throughout the narrative must eliminate several hundred black zombies within the poor African environments. One can therefore argue that Resident Evil 5 in fact remediates the narrative discourse or trope from famous colonial novels such as Heart of Darkness, since the white man’s burden should become to civilize the primitive natives inside the dark continents by means of both cunning as well as industrial power. Several computer game critics therefore went on to criticise Resident Evil 5 for being overtly racist in the stereotypical depictions behind the bestial black natives with machetes, and the game journalist N’Gai Croal even pointed out that “[…] clearly no one black worked on this game.” The postcolonial theorist Edward Said has introduced the concept of orientalism in order to encapsulate the historical process, by which western painters, authors as well as filmmakers throughout the decades have managed to create a stereotypical as well as twisted depiction of the so-called orient. One can therefore argue that Resident Evil 5 becomes another example of modern orientalism within the mass media, since the Japanese computer game developer Capcom has tried to construct a credible depiction of Africa from the stereotypical tropes or discourses found within western movies, pictures as well as novels. Furthermore, some people in Japan could in fact be unaware of the sensitive history between the imperial nations within Europe and the colonized countries in Africa, which is why the game designers from Capcom probably didn’t intent to produce a racist computer game in the first place. Hall wanted to point out that the inferential ideologies within the mass media could become so pervasive or natural that the cultural producers remained unaware of their influences on the media artefact, and racism must therefore be understood from within the specific sociocultural context that birthed it in the first place.

The literary theoretician Gayatri Spivak has within the essay Can the Subaltern Speak? attempted to build upon Said’s ideas about orientalism, since she pointed out that the cultural differences between the East and the West hindered the so-called subaltern cultures from speaking for themselves inside the mass media. The cultural producers of mass media in the Western countries have therefore tried to speak on behalf of these subaltern cultures, which is why the excessive racist misconceptions behind for instance Resident Evil 5 could come into existence in the first place. One can argue that the subaltern cultures therefore should learn to speak for themselves inside the mass media in the future, and the African author Chinua Achebe has for instance begun to enrich the western readers with a more realistic as well as varied picture of the African continent within his novels. However, the commercial computer games still constitute one of the most expensive media forms to produce, which is why the subaltern cultures in for instance Africa still could have a difficult time speaking through them in the future. The indie game communities have in the last decade however made it much easier for subaltern cultures to produce computer games in small independent teams, and the African computer game developer QCF Design has for instance won the award for Excellence In Design at the 2011 Independent Games Festival. 

Simon Mikkelsen

Gender and Gaming II

What the Colour of Your Nintendo 3DS Says About You!

Both the discussion as well as the presentation during the class revolved around the differentiated gender expectations that exist around the medium of the computer game. During the nineties a number of game researchers such as Brenda Laurel as well as Henry Jenkins attempted to design so-called pink computer games that should inhabit special female values and norms, which hopefully could make the girls more interested in the technical aspects behind the computer. In the article Complete Freedom of Movement from 1998 Jenkins would for instance argue that the pink computer game movement should be “[…] prioritizing character relations and “friendship adventures” […]” rather than “[…] rapid response time […]”. However, more recent scholars within game studies have throughout the last years tried to problematize the separation between the clear-cut male and female norms as well as values in computer games. And in the article Maps of Digital Desire from 2008 Nick Yee for instance argued that “In talking about gender and gaming, we often hear assumptions that men and women […] prefer different kinds of games […] Talking about game play simply as a function of desire ignores the fact that legitimate social access to video gaming differs for men and women.” Instead of looking at girls and boys as distinct biological creatures, whom the designers could attempt to accommodate for in different ways through the gameplay mechanics, Yee demonstrated that the gender division surrounding computer games in fact should be understood as a result from broader social issues such as access points and computer game cultures. In the article Body, Space, and Gendered Gaming Experiences Holin Lin likewise managed to demonstrate that the female players often would be limited by various cultural expectations as well as social actors such the restrictions within the home, the cybercafés as well as the dormitories, which in the end made it impossible for them to create an actual female game culture. But even though the scholars within the game studies discipline have attempted to utilise the sociological concepts of female masculinity as well as hegemonic masculinity to problematize the biological distinction between male and female gamers, the commercial computer game industry is nevertheless still stuck within the outdated idea about the pink computer game movement.

For instance, the commercial computer game developer Nintendo still upholds the clear gender distinctions between pink computer games for girls and blue computer games for boys, which the launch titles for the Nintendo 3DS portable game console could manage to illustrate for the reader. The different handheld game consoles from Nintendo such as the Game Boy as well as the Nintendo DS have been marketed both for girls as well as for boys, and the Nintendo 3DS was for instance released with the following launch titles back in February 2011: Steel Diver, Super Street Fighter IV, Madden NFL Football, Pro Evolution Soccer, Super Monkey Ball 3D, The Sims 3 as well as three different variations of Nintendo Cats and Dogs. While the first couple of titles from the launch line-up constitute typical blue computer games for boys, both The Sims 3 as well as Nintendo Cats and Dogs should instead be understood as clear examples of Jenkins’ ideas about the pink computer game movement for girls with female values and norms. In the real-time pet simulation game Nintendo Cats and Dogs the player must for instance utilise the touch-screen on the Nintendo 3DS in order to stroke her dog, play frisbee or football with her dog as well as feed her dog with different titbits, and not one single title from the launch line-up can manage to challenge the typical gender distinctions between blue computer games for boys and pink computer games for girls. Furthermore, Nintendo decided to produce the actual Nintendo 3DS game console in a female red colour, a masculine blue colour as well as a more neutral block colour, which likewise should reinforce the normal gender division between male and female computer gamers for both the parents as well as the children themselves.   

The cover for the Nintendogs game on the Nintendo DS

 

The three different colours for the Nintendo 3DS

One could therefore argue that the commercial computer game developers such as Nintendo, Electronic Arts as well as Activision often attempt to oppose or ignore the more nuanced gender research within for instance game studies, since the computer game titles will be much easier to market for an oversimplified or homogeneous implied player model. While the great variety of play activities or modes within massively multiplayer online roleplaying games such as World of Warcraft as well as Rift sometimes could be able to afford for both the male and the female gamers, the designers behind the games have nevertheless still constructed the ludic experiences around an oversimplified masculine implied player model. So even though the research communities within game studies for a long time have been demonstrating that the undiscriminating distinction between blue computer games for boys and pink computer games for girl might be somewhat inconsistent with the actual social realities, the commercial computer game developers still make good money from these oversimplified masculine implied player models. In order to make them challenge the undiscriminating distinction between male and female players in the future the commercial computer game developers must somehow need to understand that more gender neutral or challenging computer games actually can become a profitable business in the long run. However, one could argue that computer games such as Angry Birds as well as Plants Versus Zombies for the modern generation of smartphones already have managed to challenge both the social as well as the cultural distinctions between the male and the female players. These computer games for the smartphones have somehow both made it more socially acceptable for the female players to identify themselves as gamers within public spaces as well as diminished the cultural restrictions for the access points such as the homes, the dormitories as well as the cybercafés.

Simon Mikkelsen