Ways of Seeing Episode 2, by John Berger - Soulcalibur IV
This video discusses the female nude, how in old paintings women are often painted naked, "to be put on display" as such, more of an object then an actual person, and are done so for the male audience or even for the painter's own satisfaction. This basic summary alone can be applied to a large amount of games, in fact most of them, but I want to grab some of John Berger's quotes and compare them to the video game Soulcalibur IV, a fighting game set in a fantasy, medieval time with some very questionable designs.
"You paint a naked woman, because you enjoy looking at her. You put a mirror in her hand, and call the painting 'Vanity'. Thus morally condemning the woman who's nakedness you have depicted for your own pleasure, and thus indecently, repeating the Biblical example by blaming the woman."
This is similar to the idea as a whole behind the female character designs within Soulcalibur, but with a twist on it being their figure and outfits instead. As much as some of the fans of the game can say "why is she wearing a tea towel when armour makes so much more sense", the designers depicted these characters like this for both their own pleasure, and for the pleasure of the male audience. A large number of the female cast are in outfits not even remotely ideal for combat, especially that involving bladed weaponry. Only one of the female characters is armoured out of the fifteen playable with a couple more having some sort of armour like a gauntlet or shin guards, a large contrast to the larger male roster who are all armoured to some degree, and when armour is not involved then they have clothing that covers up most of their body (however a good portion of the men are shirtless). In fact, the only male character who obviously looks sexualised is the character Voldo, an man in his fifties in BDSM gear who's dialogue consists entirely of weird groaning and moaning, and even then this character is considered more of a creature and weird joke.
"Most nudes in oil paintings, have been lined up by their painters for the pleasure of the male spectator owner, who will assess and judge them as sights."
The female characters are judged by some of the male audience and will be liked purely by sight, as an object, as opposed to their actual personalities or play styles. Their designs will play on this for the pleasure of the spectator.
"Those who are not judged beautiful, are not beautiful. Those who are, are given the prize. The prize is to be owned, that is to say, to be available."
This is included within the designs of this game. The female characters are all depicted as small, thin, young and pretty with large breasts and/or hips, considered the 'standard of beauty', where as the male characters have a bit more diversity, ranging from huge, monstrous creatures, massive beings of pure muscle and old, powerful men. There are no monstrous female characters because it would not appeal to a male audience as much.
"...but the way her body is arranged has nothing to with that kissing. Her body is arranged in the way it is to display to the man looking at the picture. The picture is made to appeal to his sexuality, it has nothing to do with her sexuality."
This is played to some degree within the official artwork of the game. Most of the men are drawn battle ready, poised to strike or showing off their power. Whilst this is the same for a good portion of the artwork for the female characters, they are drawn in ways that show off their bodies as well. The breasts or buttocks are in pure sight to the viewer, the angles or poses showing them off (although the clothing does not help their case either), almost bringing those to the centre of attention. A couple of them are even drawn in a pose that does not make them look battle ready and shows off a more innocent demeanour.
"...For a similar reason, women in the European art of the oil painting, are seldom shown dancing, they have to be shown languid, exhibiting a minimum of energy. They are there to feed an appetite, not to have any of their own."
This is another one that can be applied but not to the full extent that Berger meant. Most of the male characters have artwork that either looks like they are in motion; about to swing their blades or strike down on a foe, or are in a powerful or confident pose that shows off a calmer or more passive personality. The female characters however, whilst some do look like they are in motion, overall have more static artwork. Most of them have poses that would not be ideal in combat, or even hint towards combat at all, and instead have been done to feed the male appetite.
"The nude in European oil painting is usually presented as an ideal subject....."
I think this can be applied to the female characters when compared to the males within Soulcalibur IV. Most of the men's designs seem to make sense, being large beasts, armoured warriors or at least clothed to a standard that can make sense, where as the female characters have designs that deliver heavy fan service to the male audience instead of making sense, showing them off more as sexual objects then actual people, and almost all of them have that 'ideal' body typically depicted throughout the media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1GI8mNU5Sg&list=PLlhSx0L1hpaGKfq1qXe1vWUhG1EgIN9Yf&index=2
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED335262
No comments:
Post a Comment