Video games and the death of its in-equality

Danni Foley
critical perspectives
dissertation OGR
Video games and the death of its in-equality
 Within this dissertation i want to explore and plan to investigate how this idea
of in-equality within games exists and whether or not it is true or is it down to
the individual. how the women characters are portrayed visually and their
roles, and whether or not the same applies to male character within the same
game or other games.

Dissertation synopsis
Chapter synopsis
 Within this chapter i plan to investigate my main focus, video games, whats
within them, who's within them, their audience and views about their in-
equality. from here i plan to then investigate what types of video game genres
are commonly at the centre of this. following on, the next area to investigate
would be the technology behind it all, what makes it look so realistic and how
is it almost becoming real life with new technology such as Virtual reality
and what affects does it leave on us.

Chapter one
 In the second chapter i intend to explore the male gaze theory and how people
have applied it to games, and how realism within games visually has affected
how people perceive the male gaze and how it has affected characters. From
this i plan to then investigate into the history of the nude and how
historically art has always had this idea of the male gaze, yet people can
surpass this as it is historic art. I plan to incorporate baudrillards theories
of simulation and simulacra, applying it to how people have been consumed by
the idea that games are visually sexist.

Chapter two
 In the final and third chapter, i will introduce my main subject lara croft and
also discuss other female protagonists within video games and explore how
people view them as being a sexual object and how it can be argued that they
are not simply an object for the male gaze. with these characters i want to
investigate how people have made them sexual with over thinking and how this
has got worse over time. Overall i want to show how these characters aren't
sexualised intentionally, but the audience and non-audience are making them
out to be.

Chapter three
Research proforma
Author - Philip Carr-Gomm
critical position - Psychologist and naturist
title - A brief history of nudity and naturism
publisher - BBC, iWonder
place of publication - http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z96fsg8
date - 2008

potential
the article explores the history of the nude within different cultures
through time and discusses how it was viewed and praised at the time of its
creations.

Religions see it as a path to enlightenment and naturists extol the health benefits.
nakedness was the badge of heroes
Author - kurt lancaster
critical position - Film maker and author
title - Lara Croft: The Ultimate Young Adventure Girl. Or the Unending Media
Desire for Models, Sex, and Fantasy
publisher - The MIT Press
place of publication - Marylebone, London
date - 2004

potential
the text explores the successes of lara croft and her positive impact, it
explains how others made her into a sexual image

Lara was listed as one of the 100 most creative people in entertainment
Author - Miranda Sherwin
critical position - Journalist
title - Deconstructing the Male Gaze: Masochism, Female Spectatorship, and
the Femme Fatale in Fatal Attraction, Body of Evidence and Basic Instinct
publisher - Taylor and Francis
place of publication - United states of america
date - 2008

potential
Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, and Body of Evidence are three films that
forge a connection between the cinematic femme fatale genre and an imagistic
and narrative focus on masochism.
Author - Sven Joeckel & Nicholas DavidBowman.
critical position - unknown
title - Graphics and gratification: Exploring the link between technology and
enjoyment in video games
publisher - intellect
place of publication - bristol
date - 2012

potential
explores the development and improvement of video game images, something i
wish to explore in my dissertation about how the image and design
development has changed the image of games.