Sitting one night in my living room, I asked my 10 year old brother what five items would he like if he knew he would be able to get those five items. Of course, being a 10 year old boy, he listed some unreasonable items, such as all of the Final Fantasy video games (there are about thirty of these games). Finally, he composed the following list:
1. An X-Box 360 video game console with two controllers
2. A Playstation 2 video console
3-4. 2 X-Box 360 video games:
a. Army of Two: which he claimed was the best co-op game ever created
b. Devil May Cry 4
5. A Playstation 3 video game called Sly3
Looking at this list of games, an average person might not find anything wrong with it. They may actually think it normal for a young boy in America to be obsessed with video games, especially those that may seem like they might have some violence in them. This is not normal. Many young boys go through gendered socialization through their interaction with video games and other forms of media. Through these interactions they learn an exaggerated version of what it means to be man.
In today’s society, media is a very influential factor for young people to form their self identity and more so their gendered identity. Newman states children learn their gender identity in a way that is not passive. They do not simply absorb everything that they see. On the contrary, “children actively construct gender as a social category…they are like gender detectives searching for cues about gender, such as who should and shouldn’t engage in certain activities, who can play with whom, and why boys and girls are different” (Newman, 113). So, when my younger brother told me his selection of video games, I decided to do some detective work myself and see what these video games show young boys in terms of masculine acts.
Devil May Cry 4 contains a variety of characters, most of which are white men and women. The white men are tall, elegant looking. All of them look muscular with a feminine touch to them. The white women all, but one, have very revealing clothing on, mostly leather. They are big breasted and extremely skinny. They have an hourglass shape body. Within the character descriptions, they are described as having “exotic appearances”, being “a bit moody”, “voluptuous assets” and in one instance a female character was described as “a quick fighter” (www.devilmarycry.com/home.html). The only female character whose body is not objectified is Kyrie. She is depicted as being motherly and holy. This video game is rated seventeen and up on the basis that it contains extreme violence, sexual content, and language. When playing this game, the young boy would be killing zombies, competing with others, and attempting to save a maiden in distress. The message this game sends out is that men have to be violent, use explicit language, are sexual, and must always save the girl.
The next game, Sly3, seems to be the complete opposite. This game consists of characters that are mostly male animals, with only one female animal. These animals range from a raccoon to a turtle. Sly cooper, the main character, is portrayed as a very muscular, but lean, raccoon. He almost seems handsome. He is labeled as the thief. Bentely, the turtle, looks very geeky. Therefore, he is labeled as the geek. Murray, the Hippo, is very big and almost seems like he is fat. Due to this physical trait, he is the muscle. Penelope, the only girl animal, looks almost human. She looks close to geeky, always wearing big glasses and coveralls. It is hard to state what type of animal she is. She is labeled as the mechanic, RC car and chopper expert, and bi-plane co-pilot. Panda King is a Panda of course. He looks violent, aggressive, and very dangerous. He is given the task of demolition expert. Dimitri the slick frog is labeled as the Mega Pimp and the deep sea driver. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=z-dn2r7FPmk) This game could be viewed as a portal of the mass masculine identities within society. There is the thief, brains, muscle, engineer, violent being, and the hyper-sexual. This game is rated everyone, so it is accessible to a young audience. Starting at a young age, children would be able to connect violence, aggression, brains, and hyper-sexualness to being a man. There is only one girl in there that is able to do male-orientated things such as mechanics. Yet, she is only one girl making it seem women like her are one of a kind.
I saved Army of Two for last for a specific reason. When my brother claimed that this was the best co-op ever created, I was skeptical about the foundation of the game. I wanted to know the aim of the game, what was portrayed within it, and what types of characters were represented. This game is rated mature for intense blood, strong violence, and language. This game can be played by two players (hence the term co-op). The two players go through missions to fix the army’s mistakes, right the political wrongs, and kill millions of people who are deemed the ‘enemy’. The graphics are realistic and seen in a first person view. An analysis of this game could be read on gamestop.com. In the analysis, the creators state that this game is reminiscent of the Vietnamese war. A trailer of this game is also available at gamestop.com. To view this trailer, the viewer must prove that they are over eighteen by entering their birthday, which could easily have been false.
The trailer shows the controversy within the political party of the game and the increase in a ‘threat’ to the security of America. They then show three skinny Vietnamese looking characters running through a forest. The two men that are in the back get shot down. The last one standing turns around and shoots at the attacker, who casually stands up and lifts his skull mask. The attacker is a white male who looks vicious, angry, and violent. The Vietnamese look alike looks almost scared. As the two men look at each other, the second attacker comes behind and shoots him. Then the screen flashes “2 elite soldiers, 2 capitalists, 2 killing machines”. This game shocked me to no end. Not only does this game encourage extreme violence against the Vietnamese, but it also reinforces extreme versions of masculinity.
Games like An Army of Two are very dangerous for young boys to play, especially if they are still trying to figure out their own identity. These young boys are vulnerable to the extreme versions of masculinities that these games portray. Sut Jhally states in her article Image-Based culture: Advertising and Popular Culture” images that deal with gender “strike at the core of individual identity; our understanding of ourselves as either male or female…is central to our understanding of who we are” (Dines & Humez, 253). She goes on to state that since advertisements and images portray what it means to be a man or a woman in this society is fed to the audience in a glance, gender socialization becomes much more easier.
As young as ten years old, boys are being introduced to violent forms of masculinity and the sexual objectifications of women. Through video games, children gain information on what is the right way to act for boys and girls. Some research revealed that “girl toys still revolve around themes of domesticity; fashion, and motherhood and boy’s toys emphasize action and adventure” (Newman, 112). Some adults even agree that “the most male toys [are] guns, toy soldiers, boxing gloves, G.I. Joe, and football gear and the most female toys [are] makeup kit, Barbie, jewelry box, bracelet, doll clothes” (Newman, 112). If parents see no problem with buying games that reinforce the white masculinity to young children, then it would be even more challenging to show these young children that these forms of gender performances are formed on false pretenses. There is a long road ahead of us to deconstruct these gender norms and form expectations that are more reasonable. Until that goal is reached, we should attempt to censor the forms of media that influence young children the most.
Works Cited
http://devilmaycry4.com/home
http://www.gamecrazy.com/games/game.aspx?id=11802&LF=STL
Jhally, Sut. "Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture". Dines, Gail and Humez, Jean M.
Gender, Race, and Class in Media. A Text Reader"
Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc., 2003. pgs 249-257
Newman, David M. "Identites and Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality". Boston: McGraw Hill (2007)
