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| Gender in Halo 2 (response to DanteThePoet) LONG | |
| Posted By: Cody Miller | Date: 1/10/07 9:32 p.m. |
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I just found DanteThePoet's critique of gender usage in Halo 2, and thought that is was actually a pretty fascinating topic. I was suprised that the thread wasn't longer. Seeing as how he wanted feedback, I thought I'd chime in with my own thoughts. Dante seemed to give the game a glowing review when it came to gender equality and stereotypes. I'm going to throw out my thoughts about the three females he analyzes (Cortana, Miranda, and the female marines.) At first it would seem that women are given equal status in the Halo universe. With Halo 2 in particular, we fight along side female marines, and no particular fuss is made. These marines are not sexualized; in fact they closely resemble their male counterparts. However, it is quite ironic that in order to gain equality, women must take on traditionally masculine roles. The female marines do not seem to have much femininity left, as many such feminine traits are obscured by their costumes, and military behavior. The very idea of a soldier and a fighter is traditionally masculine, and so while these women gain equality, they do it at the expense of their feminine identity. The marines still equate femininity with weakness ("Did you forget your purse?" and other remarks), reenforcing the notion that femininity is undesirable. Bungie does do something very smart with the female marines when the player (through the male gaze) looks at them for long periods of time. They give the player comments, such as "The last guy that looked at me like that? I kicked him right in the nuts" and "Eyes downrange, not down shirt". With these comments, the male gaze becomes apparent and attention is drawn to it. While the game is still designed around the male gaze, at least attention is called to it, similar in its satire to a bikini clad woman explaining that her sexuality is being exploited. In this situation however, the player himself is being indicted, which is why it is effective. Cortana's change in image is quite simply to make her more attractive. While the female marines lose their femininity, Cortana become more feminine, purely for the purpose of being more attractive visually. It is very difficult to design games (or any other visual art for that matter) in which a feminine figure is not subjected to the male gaze, due to the male's propensity to fetishize the female form. In this sense, it's tough to create a character whose femininity is not exploited for male visual pleasure. This is why when trying to avoid this, most female characters are either very masculine, or mostly de-sexualized. This is something inherent in all visual media, and is no way solely limited to Halo 2. Miranda Keyes is somewhere in between the female marines and Cortana. She retains a feminine image physically, with her long hair and visible breasts, but it is not flaunted for our pleasure in quite the same way as Cortana. Her uniform is gender neutral, according to The Art of Halo. She carries respect, is resourceful, decisive, intelligent, and embodies femininity, but does not use it to titillate. Unfortunately, Miranda Keyes becomes the typical damsel in distress by Halo 2's end, being captured and dominated by Tartarus. The index is decidedly phallic, and her refusal to put it into the slot on the control panel despite being forced to do so by Tartarus can be seen as a rape motif. It very well could have been her that escapes and drives the scarab, but instead it is Johnson (whose name is slang for penis, again implying male superiority). She ends up in a situation that is similar to a woman in a patriarchal society: helpless and under the control of men. This is not to say that Halo 2 completely misogynistic; in fact a lot about Miranda Keyes implies quite the opposite. I think Bungie should be mostly commended for their treatment of women in a hyper-masculine shooter. I just have one question: why'd you have to sex up Cortana?
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