Utopias and Dystopias

Utopias and Dystopias

(http://tvloon.ca/2013/04/04/who-will-save-humanity-space-conspires-to-thrill-with-six-part-series-utopia-premiering-april-25/)

(http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Pyramid)

There is a fine line between the definition of a utopia and a dystopia, this is due to the fact that utopia's are ideals and cannot actually exist. Every ones idea of a utopia is very different, a place which to one person is considered to be a haven could be a hell for another. However, in general utopia's are places which are ordered and harmonious, in that everyone within the society gets along and there is no discrimination or issues which could have an impact on the sustainability of the infrastructure. An example of utopia is Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, although this could be considered predominantly dystopian I feel that in one respect the game is a utopia, but only one aspect of it. The game follows 2 characters, Monkey and Trip, whom at the start of the game are held captive on a slave ship, the first mission being to escape the ship and follow Trip in order to begin their journey. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world which was due to the result of a global war, 150 years into the future, with only a few humans and some war machines remaining from the disaster (Wiki). Although the world which the characters travel through is all that remains from what was once a beautiful world, giving the impression of a dystopia, underneath there is a type of utopia. Throughout the game Monkey experiences strange visions which have been provided to him through a headband. The visions which he sees are the memories of one man whom lived before the war. SPOILERS: At the end of the game the player is invited to see where all of the slave ships have been taking people, both of the characters arrive at a large pyramid. All that is left of humanity dwells within the pyramid, each person has a headband on and they’re all viewing this man’s memories. Much like ‘The Matrix’ they have been given an alternate reality, in that they can live out their lives in a perfect world and ignore all the grim reality which the war has left them with. For them this is a utopia however it is still a lie as they aren't in the real world.

(http://etherealpages.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/dystopia-fictional-society-built-in.html)

(http://www.impulsedriven.com/products/ESD-IMP-W483)

Whereas dystopia's are the opposite, everything appears to be perfect on the surface but underneath is it far from it or originally everything was utopian but then fell apart, therefore creating a dystopia. An example of a dystopia within a game is Mirrors Edge which is set in a city in the near future. In a society where crime rates have been high, they decide that this is something which has to change so they tighten up their surveillance and cover up any reminisces of crime. People are now ignorant to the new ‘perfect’ world which they live in, however Faith decides to take action. She becomes a runner in the hopes of gaining freedom from authority. On the surface the city appears to be very perfect, it is completely white and pure, however people no longer have their freedom. All communication is monitored and the media is being controlled, the people don’t have a say and anyone who does speak out is arrested. This is a perfect example of a utopian ideal, all they wanted was to rid the world of crime and death but by doing so they have encountered other problems and taken away the freedom of the people. 

Gender and The Gaze- Who's looking at who?

Part 1: 

Sex: Biological identity

Gender: Socially determined construct- isn't biologically fixed 

Binary- 2 opposites 

The historical male statues which we looked into were usually performing action poses such as throwing an object, so they were represented as strong and active. Where as the female in the painting was standing in an upright position whilst covering herself suggesting that she's more passive. 

In parenting cultural expectations and gender seem to merge. In modern times the father will do just as much parenting as the mother. 

(http://culturalsynergy.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/barbara-kruger-and-politics-of.html)

Barbara Kruger uses images and text which question the cultural idea of beauty and the female form. 

Utopia/Dystopia Game Idea

 In order to gain a greater understanding of utopias/dystopia's we were given a task to create a game (using any game space we please) with the main theme being either utopian or dystopian. 

A lot of peoples game ideas seem to merge into one as it's very difficult to determine the difference between a utopia and a dystopia due to the fact that utopia's are ideals are therefore cannot actually exist. 

We drafted out many ideas for our games and then ruled out the best ones. The idea was mainly a collaborative effort, however there were some ideas which were down to individuals in the group. 

The ideas which i came up with myself were: the character having to make choices in the game and those choices impacting the intensity of the dystopia's, a part of the characters main background story, the idea and design for the psycho meter, health bar design, some of the enemy designs, some of the level concepts. 

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975) -Laura Mulvey

(ref: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/art-history/our-staff/teaching-staff/mulvey)

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist whom is best known for her views on the ‘male gaze’. The ‘male gaze’ is the idea that the female form is sexualised through the use of cinematography and the role of the woman within the storyline. For example the film ‘Taken’ where the main characters daughter gets kidnapped by Albanians to be sold as a sex object, the film demeans woman and shows their bodies being abused. It adapts to the traditional storyline in that there is a female who needs rescuing, however puts a modern twist on it. This takes the power away from woman as it portrays them as weak and helpless, however it also portrays men negatively as they’re the one who are buying the woman to use them for sex. The main ideology is that the protagonist is depicted as a strong active male, who is both physically strong and intelligent.  

From reading the extract Mulvey seems to be saying that the females’ role is to provide the spectator with something visually pleasurable whereas the males’ role seems to be to push the narrative forward putting him in a position of power. The male is still attractive in that he is a role model for males but not presented as an object in front of the camera.

In a lot of cinema films are directed by men so everything seen on the screen is through the eyes of a man, hence why woman are filmed in such a sexualised manner.

What was very interesting about the extract was that she doesn’t mention the female viewers and how they might feel about how females and males are being represented on screen. As a female viewer I feel that having grown up with these images of sexualised woman people have become accustomed to them and it’s now considered the norm in today’s society. I still don’t believe that it’s right that woman are sexualised and portrayed as weak, however I think that in time this will gradually change.

(http://styl.pinger.pl/m/494900)

In film Noire (black and white films) where there is usually a fem-fatale, the cinematography focused more on the beauty of the woman, as it concentrated on the face, however now it seems to concentrate more on a woman’s body. So although it was still a shallow portrayal of women, they still had some element of respect which seems to have been lost as time has progressed. The narrative has also changed dramatically, altering the role of the female. They used to have a very obvious role in that they were a fem-fatale (dangerous woman) or a damsel in distress etc. Now they seem to be more have gained more powerful roles, such as Ripley in Aliens, who is a survival, a fighter and a protector. However she is still very butch in her appearance with the short hair and muscular body, so although she’s less sexualised she’s a masculine character.  

(http://ordinarygamer.co.uk/2013/04/03/i-whip-my-hair-back-and-forth-bayonetta-review/)

III. Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look

A. In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split

between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its

phantasy on to the female form which is styled accordingly. In their traditional

exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their

appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to

connote to-be-looked-at-ness. Woman displayed as sexual object is the leit-motif of

erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to striptease, from Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley, she

holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire.

In applying Mulveys' theory to my own practice I partially agree with what she has said in the essay/article. There are some games which seem to exaggerate and over-sexualise women's features, for example 'Beyonetta' which is a Japanese game (January 8, 2010), the main character wears extremely erotic clothing with very little of her actually covered. In some parts of the game (such as during special moves) her hair is used as clothing. However, I do believe that more recent games are showing women in a less sexualised manner, this is especially noticeable in the Tomb Raider franchise.  

(http://melodyaustin.com/2013/03/09/tomb-raider-2013-brand-identity/)

The Lara Croft character on the right is from the first Tomb Raider game released in 1996, this model is very sexualised as shown by the very tight shorts and a tight tank top which exaggerate her over emphasised breasts. Over time the design of Lara has altered drastically, the left image is from the 2013 Tomb Raider. Lara is now dressed in long trousers which are relatively loose and a flattering vest top which still show off her breasts but with less of an emphasise on them. 

(http://imgur.com/r/gaming/2hPnukU)

Tomb Raider’s past success was a reflection of the mentality of the gaming culture of the time. I spent hours hunting tigers and finding treasure with Lady Croft because she was confident, rich, and adventurous – everything the 12 year old me was not. It’s a common scenario for escapist to be attracted to a particular dystopian character, since they remind us of who we wish we were.

A lot has changed in the gaming culture since Tomb Raider was first released in 1996.  Sixteen years ago, gamers played to witness cool adventures that they could control. Now the culture wants a more realistic experience to divulge in, we want something to filter our lives through. The same goes for our favorite characters as well. This brings up another aspect in the art of escapism attraction- we take in these characters to find ourselves.

(http://melodyaustin.com/2013/03/09/tomb-raider-2013-brand-identity/)

I read an article which compares the 1996 Tomb Raider to the 2013 one and found it to be very interesting. I completely agree with what has been said in the article in that they have Square Enix have developed the game in keeping with the times. As the technology and culture alters over time so do people’s expectations and desires. In the 90's games were only in early development with them being used as a form of entertainment and escapism. They were something new and exciting; developers were limited in what they could do with the technology they had so in one respect characterisation was more difficult. In one way they have over sexualised Lara because they wanted players to know that she is female as the model is so simple, but also as they were under developed and possibly didn't take as much thought into gender issues.  In modern times we want to be able to relate to the character and become a part of their story, to be taken on a journey. They have altered Lara to become a stronger female protagonist with more depth; she is still a hero but less of a fantastical one and more active.

(ref: http://beyondgoodandevil.wikia.com/wiki/Jade)

Mulvey’s theory can be applied to games; I have chosen to pick Beyond Good and Evil in which the protagonist is a woman called Jade. Jade acts as a motherly figure as she cares for several orphan children and when they get kidnapped by the government she makes it her mission to bring them back to safety. She’s also a very strong female who is relatively sexualised by her attire, i think that there are certain pieces of her clothing which could be considered to be more sexualised than others. The tank top is reveals quite a lot of flesh, however the loose combats are less flattering as they're not as tailored to her body shape, the hair style is also less feminine as typically men usually have a shorter hair style. 
The designers haven't tried to make Jade into sex symbol but at the same time they still wanted to emphasise her feminine features. 
Although she is the main character, Jade travels with her uncle, as he’s an accomplice he still plays a secondary role in the game however without him the main character wouldn’t be able to achieve her goals. 

Applying Gender to my practice:

For one of my modules I had to create a level/walk-through in udk, to go with the level i had to create a game design document and research file. Due to a majority of main characters in games being male I decided to choose a female protagonist for my game. I have given my protagonist a very strong role in the storyline, in that she's fighting for what she believes in and is willing to receive training in order to achieve her goals. In some games I think that the female character is usually portrayed as weak or vulnerable, playing a secondary role in the storyline or causing problems for the male character. However in another respect this isn't always a bad thing, for example in Mario peach gets kidnapped and his main objective is to rescue her. Although this is a negative portrayal of a female, if she didn't get kidnapped Mario would have no motivation/goal and therefore in one way she pushes the narrative forwards. 

Extracts from:

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975) - Laura Mulvey

Originally Published - Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18

http://www.jahsonic.com/VPNC.html

The Others: Theories of Post-Colonialism and Video Games Level 1

Post-Colonialism: 

              Western nations travel to other countries and become a part of that culture. When they leave the country which they originally colonised too there are noticeable impacts on the culture.  

Study of interactions between European nations and the societies they colonised too. 

An examination of the impact of the European conquest, colonisation and domination of Non-European lands peoples, and cultures.

An analysis of the inherent ideas of European superiority over Non-European peoples and cultures. For example Western culture portrays other cultures as less advanced. We even named most Eastern countries 'the third world', which defines them as being economically underdeveloped and ridden with famine and poverty. It gives Western countries a greater sense of power as it means that they're more dependent on us. 

Others: 

          Something which isn't the same as us (European) must be different. 

An analysis of the role of representation in installing and perpetuating such notions. The way in which the East was represented in the West. 

Key Concepts: 

• Representation
• Identity
• History

History- constantly changing and evolving

Identity- when in another culture people tend to lose their identity/their identity is less important within a different culture compared to their own 

Representation- we perceive other cultures differently to our own

Edward Said: 

1935-2003

1948 Israeli troops capture Jerusalum 

Flees to family to Cairo 

Move to USA

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Said.jpg)

The orient was seen as bizarre and strange as it was out of the norm. 

The West understands the East from what Western culture has written about it, so therefore nothing which we read is necessarily accurate as it has been written from a biased point of view and the way in which someone wants to perceive it not how it actually is.  

Orientalist Pastiche: 

(http://hiddencities.wordpress.com/category/syria/)

Orientalist- Eastern countries are represented in the way Western society see's them, for example in a majority of paintings they're wearing bright and exotic clothing. This is a typical portrayal of their culture as we see them as 'The Others' we believe that everything must differentiate to our own culture. 

Pastiche- A portrayal of something which already exists. For example the modern interpretation of the film Romeo and Juliet is an example of a pastiche as the the story already exists and it stills follows the same generic conventions such as the language used, the basic storyline and the characters, however there is a modern twist put onto it.

(http://seanfergusonscorneroftheuniverse.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/william-shakespeares-romeo-and-juliet.html)

Blade Runner

(http://drnorth.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/letters-of-note-blade-runner-will-prove-invincible/)

Despite the fact that a majority of the signs/iconography is oriental we're still unsure of where the film is set. The culture isn't clear. 

During the film you can hear a mixture of languages being spoken including Hungarian, French, Chinese, German and Japanese. 

It's set in a Western city which is allowing Eastern cultures in, however Western culture is still dominant. 

Post-colonial theory

Plundered: 
What we take/choose/select from other cultures (music videos) 

Agency:
The ability/freedom to self-represent 

Hybrid culture: 
Where as a pastiche lacks respect for the original culture a hybrid culture does respect it. A hybrid culture is a mix of different cultures for example Latin American which is a mix of Spanish, African and indigenous. 
(http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080911063301AABlSQ1)

My Response: 

(http://www.experiencepoints.net/2010/06/princes-story.html)

Even within fantasy video games the characters are represented in the way in which Western culture perceives Eastern culture to be. So the visual interpretation isn't accurate but still encourages us to believe that the way that the East has been represented is true to the real world. This image is from the Prince of Persia (game) and is a prime example of orientalism, the character is wearing what Western society would consider to be very Eastern. For example he is topless and the clothing which he is wearing doesn't look very durable, this could imply that we assume Persian culture is undeveloped, as a majority of English/American characters in hard hitting games are usually suited up with a lot of armor (e.g. Gears of War). The weapon which the prince is holding could suggest that our culture perceives the East to be less advanced as a majority of games nowadays equip the main character with a gun of some kind. The player is unable to equip a gun at any point in the game. 

(http://www.iwallscreen.com/wallpaper/1024x768/2013-awesome-gears-of-war-wallpaper-16287.html)

This isn't just seen in video games like the Prince of Persia where the character's wear scarf's and flowing bright coloured clothing, it's also seen in art and literature. For example in this painting: 

Both of the men are wearing headscarf's, robes and bright colours. Although this is a Western representation it could also be argued that their attire is also a part of their culture/religion. In this painting they have been represented in a relatively negative light as they're trading in weaponry which suggests that Eastern culture either has high crime rates, is violent or that they're very relaxed about crime. 

I think that most of the imagery used in Eastern based games are what Western culture perceives as typical to that culture however it is used to such a great extent that we have become desensitised to it, it has become the norm. Also the East isn't just represented as brutal and barbaric place, it's just that we take all the negative portrayals of the culture and use them to make our own look more positive. The fact that we don't go deeper into the culture means that we don't see a realistic view of it but merely scratch the surface. 

History in Games

For this Presentation we were asked to pick an issue such as race, sexuality, genre, culture, gender, historical settings and discuss it using examples from games. 

From a lot of the presentations i learnt that we need to bring in different theoretical perspectives on the issue and use quotes from essays. 

 

The Part of the presentation which i researched and presented was on how the game Assassins Creed includes elements of history which are inaccurately portrayed. If i was too improve the research which i did i would definitely have gone into a theoretical perspective on the topic.