Week 4: Stereotypes &Tropes

Stereotypes

        For this week's reading, the authors discussed how video games often use stereotypes and tropes and how it is noticeable and still used in a majority of them even to this day. 

    In the video game series, Dishonored, I believe one of the central characters, Emily Kaldwin, is an example of a character that has both reinforced and broke the stereotype of being the "damsel in distress." In the first game, Dishonored, Emily Kaldwin was a teenage princess who was kidnapped by the main antagonists at the beginning of the game. She would stay in their capture until the main protagonist, Corvo, freed her at the end of the game after defeating the final boss. Unfortunately, she doesn't get any real character development other than the fact that she's just the goal that the player is trying to achieve to complete the game (Sarkeesian, 2013). If I were to play with different tropes, I'd invert or subvert Emily from the innocent girl to more of a surprising savior role instead. Funny enough, this inversion of the trope actually occurs in the next game.

        In the game's sequel, Dishonored 2, set further into the future when Emily becomes a full-grown adult. In the sequel, the player has the choice to either play as Corvo or Emily for their entire playthrough. If the player chooses to play as Emily Kaldwin, Corvo then becomes the 'damsel in distress' as he gets captured and taken hostage by the antagonist. In this case, Emily Kaldwin now inverts the stereotype of being the previous damsel in distress and is this time the main protagonist and savior of the game. What the sequel also does well is fleshing out both Corvo and Emily thanks to the use of lore, voice acting, and backstories that are told. This helps make the characters more interesting and gives us a reason to invest our time understanding more about them (Wawro, 2018).




Bibliography

1.     Feminist Frequency. (2013). Damsel in Distress: Part 1 - Tropes vs Women in Video Games. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6p5AZp7r_Q&ab_channel=FeministFrequency.

2.     Wawro, A. (2018, February 8). Shatter stereotypes to write better, richer game characters. Game Developer. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/shatter-stereotypes-to-write-better-richer-game-characters.




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