نبذة مختصرة : This thesis aims to reflect the peculiarities of female iconographical types in video games. There are three major groups of iconographical types distinguished, which are predominant in video game culture. The first part of the thesis provides a general overview of female representation in mass media, in which it is demonstrated, how different kinds of media influence each other. This particular section contains analysis based on the male gaze, a term coined by film critic Laura Mulvey. This term and concept has a wide prevalence in many forms of mass media, video games included. Other parts of the work include analysis of female iconographical types, specific video games in which those types appear. The analysis suggests how those types have been constucted as well as what kind of inluence it has on the player. The mentioned inconograhical types include: Ms. Male Character and the Smurfette Priciple. Investigation is made on how these types promote heteronormativity, making the male gender the default, and the female gender the deviation. Furthermore, reinforcing a narrow outlook on female characters. This thesis examines the Damsel in Distress iconographical type, which reinforces the subject/object dychotomy, making the male character a subject, and the female character – an object. An approach is offerred on how the Damsel in Distress type is not about the female characters and their problems, but rather about the males and their struggle to perform their socially constructed role of a man. Nonetheless, a group of iconographical types, which show the female character as an addition to the male character, are investigated. These types include: Woman as Background Decoration, the Drop Dead Gorgeous and the Woman as Reward. This part of the thesis analyses how sexual objectification appears in video games, based on Martha Nussbaum‘s characteristics of a sexually objectified person, specific video games are chosen as an exemplification.
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