Bayonetta: empowering or exploitative?
- January 06, 2010 15:36 PM PT
Leigh Alexander provides a woman's perspective on Sega's Bayonetta. Is the character too sexually charged? Or is she an empowering figure for female gamers?
Bayonetta's hardly a realistic woman. Her legs are probably twice the length of her body, she's disproportionately slender and yet possesses a butt that her character modeler confesses to having spent a lot of time getting "perfect."
Nor is she demure; Bayonetta fights enemies with the same magical hair she wears as clothing, which means vigorous combat leaves her naked. She blows kisses to break through magical barriers. She's constantly nursing a small lollipop, suggestively, for little apparent reason. Oh, here we go, video games are exploiting female sexuality again, right? Not so fast.
Game director Hideki Kamiya is known for distinctly stylizing his action games. The Devil May Cry franchise has always been about flair that often goes comically over-the-top, and characters that make players feel powerful just by virtue of how cool the heroes look. Dante, Vergil and Nero perform acts of almost elegant violence, an artistic approach to combat design that's always been a refreshing alternative to the blunt-force melee and the barrage of gunfire we see in other titles.
Thematic style is Kamiya's calling card, and with Bayonetta, he's said the theme he's going for this time is "sexiness" instead of violence. While his games have always featured strong, sexy women (Devil May Cry's Trish, Lady and Nevan) the ladies are more or less just eye candy, objects to be ogled.
Bayonetta takes the video game sexy woman stereotype from object to subject, and it's tremendously empowering. The title character uses the mantle of her sexuality as a power source. Between Bayonetta and her equally fierce rival, Jeane, it's a women's world -- the boys just play in it. The Umbra Witches aren't to be messed with. With this unique theme, the game itself is an artistic representation of the concept that female sexuality is its own kind of weapon. This stylized love letter to femininity is signed and sealed with all of the game's tiny details, from the kiss-shaped aiming targets to the subtle grace of Bayonetta's butterfly-shaped shadow.
For years, video games have struggled to define what constitutes a positive portrayal of women. We've learned what isn't, over our checkered history of anime panty shots, gratuitous cleavage and breast physics. And thanks to the likes of Half-Life 2's Alyx Vance, Beyond Good & Evil's Jade, Silent Hill 3's Heather Morris, and Portal's Chell, we've got some idea of what is.
But eager as we are to make progress beyond the industry's bad habit of reducing female characters to either sidekicks or sex objects, it's unfair to strip video game women of their sexuality completely, or to assert that if a character is sexual that she must be getting exploited. It's wonderful that our entertainment medium is developing more characters that bring more to the table than their looks -- but at the same time, we can accept that being mousy, tomboyish or turtle-necked is not the only way a woman can be considered admirable. Bayonetta's elegant nakedness in the fervor of battle is not in and of itself a bad thing.
But what about her unrealistic body, her gratuitous sashaying, the lollipop-licking? The hypersexualization of Bayonetta is intentionally unrealistic -- just as unrealistic as the superhuman aplomb of the Devil May Cry boys. Dante, for example, is a pleasure to play because of his unrealism, and Bayonetta is too. Both reject subtlety in favor of unrestrained, sometimes theatrically-excessive style in their own ways.
That emphasis on style over character substance isn't every player's taste, but it's not inherently unfair to women in this case. Kamiya's thematic choice for Bayonetta is an undercurrent that unifies the entire game, thus giving her sexuality context -- and context is the most important consideration in judging whether an element is appropriate or not.
As gamers, we don't always pick up a controller and immediately expect that the character on screen will be a representation of ourselves -- if we did, then it's possible that the overblown macho male characters we see in games with impossible strength and unbelievable musculature would offend male gamers. We must not assume that female players are so fragile that they view a stylized female body as a personal affront.
To prohibit a character like Bayonetta, and rush to cover her up in disapproval, is a rejection of her particular brand of femininity. Why do that? Because she makes men uncomfortable? If men feel uncomfortable with Bayonetta, maybe that means she succeeds.
As a woman, I haven't often been satisfied by female character options that effectively boil down to "the same thing as a man, just with breasts and a ponytail." Thanks to its innovative approach to the idea of female power, Bayonetta is the first action game heroine that's made me directly conscious of how cool it is to be a girl.
I already know that women can do all the same things men can. This time, I get to see a woman do plenty of things men can't. And I love it.
Comments [67]
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- Jun 07 2011 at 01:31:45:AM PST
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From Kratos to Dante, and many other fighting games, the females always appeared to be in trouble, and if they were powerful (if at all) they were always the evil, secretly deformed demonized visages of what evil characters always are. Seeing a woman in a game not only flaunt her skill, but sexuality in such a provoking manner is a breath of fresh air and I think people should really get over themselves.Soybean Oil Processing
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I agree. Could Bayonetta be the Madonna of video game heroines; not only being unafraid to use her sexuality, but using it to show her dominance over a predominantly male media culture? Perhaps so.
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I'm sorry, but you're just wrong.
Bayonetta was made to be a sex object. Any sense of female empowerment you get is from their small little nod towards a strong female character. Don't accept the small scraps of a half decent female character wrapped in masturbation fodder, demand a better, stronger female character, one that doesn't have to be purely for adolescent men.
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I already know that women can do all the same things men can. This time, I get to see a woman do plenty of things men can't.
Isn't this somewhat sexist? Making a distinction to put one gender clearly over the other? Yes, I think that is the definition.
I liked the article up until this line. I'm sure if I said the same sentence with roles reversed, there would be a lot of people who would immediately call me sexist.
I understand this gives you a nice punchy closing line, but I think it goes against much of the headway made here.
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As a woman gamer; or "Gamer Girl" if that's the term you prefer...
...I'm finally proud to have a character in this genre that I can relate to and cheer on as she destroys men, demons, and angels alike. From Kratos to Dante, and many other fighting games, the females always appeared to be in trouble, and if they were powerful (if at all) they were always the evil, secretly deformed demonized visages of what evil characters always are. Seeing a woman in a game not only flaunt her skill, but sexuality in such a provoking manner is a breath of fresh air and I think people should really get over themselves.
The Greeks would be ashamed of us for appreciating gore-fests more than we appreciate the human anatomy.
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blockablock wrote:
Also? Bayonetta is NOT "hyperfeminisation". It is hypersexualisation. Of women. There's a huge difference. Master Chief and even characters like Ezio Auditore and Cid Highwind are stereotyped characters, plucked from a bag of male character bases - yet they all have more than ONE character trait (and only Ezio has "LOL SEX" as one of them!). There's nothing wrong with making female leads attractive, or sexually appealing, but to mould and sell a game based purely on that aspect is stupid, though not unexpected.
You cannot masculinize or feminize anything without sexualizing them. Male and female are the sexes.
The major difference is that female sexual characterization tends towards appearance and manner, where as male sexualization is more... goal oriented, perhaps? I suppose would be as good as any way to describe it. There are alot more contradictory goals that go into female mate selection than male mate selection. IN short while looks are important much of male sex appeal is tied up in what he can do rather than how he looks.
Its a complex issue and treating it reductively isn't really all that productive. Nuance helps to a point but its too thorny for many to treat objectively.
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I love your article, and I love Bayonetta. I'm a female, and enjoyed the game for so many of the qualities you spoke of. Mostly for how well the game played and how breathtaking the visuals and graphics are.
I think in general, we'd probably find that many women who play games with avatar choices, tend to initially steer towards the female character. Why? Because it's what we relate closest to. So we've played our Devil May Crys and Ninja Gaidens, but there hasn't been the counterpart to these where I can feel cool... like the boys.
So with what Leigh speaks about Bayonetta being an empowering character -- a sexy, badass fashionista who destroys any man, demon, or angel that gets in her way -- I'd say that that feels about right.
And Leigh's article is not about being feminist for the mere sake of stirring controversy, it's about bringing that feminine aspect to light. For those who enjoy sh*ting on a thought-provoking editorial, go back to your couch, and leave the commenting to adults.
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What does Bayonetta do that sets her apart from her male-counterpoints (Devil May Cry)? Bayonetta is Dante with all the lavish of femininity lathered on top. In essence, she acts like a male, mirroring every typical masculine characteristic like resorting to aggression or emotional detachment. I don't see how that empowers female sexuality. In fact, it dilutes the differences between male and female, makes them less significant. Men and women are different and contribute differently, as per the dictate of evolution. Bayonetta is really only a woman on the surface.
Though it's compelling to call Bayonetta's ability to stack up in the violent domain of masculinity a strike for gender equality, it doesn't do the female gender justice. The game is a showcase of traditionally masculine traits, only performed by a woman. Is that in any way liberating?
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The closest she ever gets to becoming full-fledged nude is during (what I think they're called) "Final Climaxes". They're kinda like the nail in a boss' coffin. She's still covered up by her hair as it swirls around her, or when she turns away from the camera. The most you get to see is the fact that she is naked underneath, but no nudity.
As for "Sex sells", I can't deny that, but I can say that the torture techniques and her using four guns at the same time were just as big of selling points for me as her being a female lead was. I'm not saying that I wouldn'tve gotten the game if the lead was a male instead, but you gotta admit: seeing a male do even half the things she does would more than likely deter gamers from purchases (or even rentals) rather than attract. Overall, it's a very enjoyable game to play. The pleasure one gets out of the visuals as well is, more or less, icing on the cake...
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The closest she ever gets to becoming full-fledged nude is during (what I think they're called) "Final Climaxes". They're kinda like the nail in a boss' coffin. She's still covered up by her hair as it swirls around her, or when she turns away from the camera. The most you get to see is the fact that she is naked underneath, but no nudity.
As for "Sex sells", I can't deny that, but I can say that the torture techniques and her using four guns at the same time were just as big of selling points for me as her being a female lead was. I'm not saying that I wouldn'tve gotten the game if the lead was a male instead, but you gotta admit: seeing a male do even half the things she does would more than likely deter gamers from purchases (or even rentals) rather than attract. Overall, it's a very enjoyable game to play. The pleasure one gets out of the visuals as well is, more or less, icing on the cake...
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