Iconic Games and Their Lead Characters.

I'm now going to look at two games which have been very popular within gaming culture and are also widely known outside of game culture.
I will be looking at the box art for these games and how the characters are presented aswell as looking at movie posters for films adapted from the two games.

The first of these games is Doom (id Software, 1993).




















Game Image.
Film Image.

In both the image from the game Doom and from the film (Universal Pictures, 2005) we can immediately see an obvious continuation of the male archetypes we saw in movie posters from throughout the 20th century. The men in these images are depicted as gun wielding, muscular, assertive figures. In the game image in particular we can see the main character shooting at a monster with a fist clenched, his shirt ripped open to reveal a wound he seems rather unconcerned about and a very courageous expression on his face, shouting at the monsters as he shoots at them.

The second of these games is Tomb Raider (Eidos Interactive, 1996).




















Game Image.
Film Image.

The images here from both the game and the film (Paramount Pictures, 2001) are very similar. They depict the main character, Lara Croft, standing with her guns by her sides in her trademark outfit vest top and shorts. This seems to be somewhat of a change from the previously seen female archetypes in movie posters, the woman here is depicted as a strong, independent and assertive character. Her stance is confident, she has the means to protect and look after herself and doesn't appear worried or scared, but confident. There still seems to be a large emphasis on sex appeal which we saw emerging more and more throughout the 20th century in the movie posters, her clothes are tight fitting, showing off her figure, which is somewhat idealised to a desirable form.

So it would seem that some of the archetypes and trends of representation have certainly been carried over into games, particularly that of the male character. The female character still seems to retain an emphasis of sex appeal but the emphasis on a passive, reliant woman seem to have diminished as the female is being presented as the hero of the game rather than a supporting character for a male protagonist.

Both these games and their accompanying films are only one example of a male and female representation on games and are by no means definitive of gender representation in digital games as a whole. I chose them due to their popularity and fame inside and outside of game culture. Tomb Raider in particular was one of the first games with a female protagonist to become popular (many people have pointed out to me that Samus from the Metroid game series was one of the first female protagonists to appear in games, but due to these games being far less well known to the general public and Samus identity as a woman not being revealed until well into the games themselves I don't feel it carried the same weight to it as Tomb Raider did).

I will continue to look at more games box art and promotional trailers, looking at games featuring both male and female characters in the same game and wether trends and archetypes of their representation have carried on from other media.