Videogames: Horizon Forbidden West - Language & Representations

Our second videogames CSP is Horizon Forbidden West (2022).

This is another in-depth CSP so will require two detailed blog tasks over the next couple of weeks. We'll start with an introduction alongside language and representation contexts.

Horizon Forbidden West: introduction

• Released in February 2022 as a sequel to the highly successful Horizon Zero Dawn (2017). 
• Available on PS4, PS5 and Windows platforms.
• Horizon Forbidden West sold over 8 million copies in its first year.
• Excellent reviews including 9/10 on IGN.
• Developed by studio Guerrilla Games which is based in Amsterdam and owned by Sony. 

 

Background and media language

• Genres: Action adventure / Action role playing / Sandbox / Open world
• Protagonist/avatar (character player controls): Aloy 
• Setting: Post-apocalyptic future version of USA following extinction event caused by a robot swarm. 
• Gameplay: Exploring open world, completing quests using weapons against hostile machine creatures.

Official release trailer: 

Official gameplay trailer: 

Representation: social and cultural contexts

Horizon Forbidden West has been both praised and criticised for the representations of different groups. Driven by a strong, independent female protagonist in Aloy, the game has been held up as an example of how gender in videogames is changing.

Horizon Forbidden West also has an LGBT storyline which can be seen as further evidence of Gauntlett’s view of the liberalising influence of the mass media, particularly in recent years.

However, the game has also been criticised for its representation of indigenous populations and Asian Americans with the accusation of lazy stereotypical tropes.

Key scene analysis

Watch the key scene where Aloy’s love interest storyline develops and think about how representations of gender and sexuality are constructed:

Edward Said: Orientalism 

Edward Said (1935-2003) was a Palestinian-American cultural theorist and academic best known for his 1978 book Orientalism.

In it, he argued that the west – particularly colonising Europe – constructed a meaning of the east that suggested it was exotic, dangerous and uncivilised.

East v West

Edward Said argues that the Europeans divided the world into two parts: the east and the west or the civilized and the uncivilized. This was a totally artificial boundary; and it was laid on the basis of the concept of ‘them and us’ or ‘theirs and ours’.

The Europeans defined themselves as the ‘superior race’ and they justified their colonisation by this concept. Media to this day contains particular tropes associated with these views.

Horizon Forbidden West & racial tropes

Videogames website Polygon has highlighted racial tropes in Horizon Forbidden West: 

“A plethora of racist tropes emerge within Forbidden West’s world. There’s a stereotypical angry Black woman named Regalla, for example, who leads a rebel army and would rather die than seek peace. There’s also constant belittling between tribes, who call each other “savage” or “uncivilized” — terms loaded with racial undertones. There’s also plenty of Orientalism.”

Horizon Forbidden West: Language and Representation blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Horizon Forbidden West: Language and Representation' and work through the following tasks.

Language

Introduction

Read this review of Horizon Forbidden West in the Financial Times (should be non-paywalled but you can read the text of article here if needed). Answer the following questions:

1) Why does Guerrilla Games have 'a serious case of bad timing'? 

2) What is the narrative for the original game Horizon Zero Dawn? 

3) How is the central character Aloy described? 

4) What is the narrative and setting for sequel Horizon Forbidden West?

5) What does the review say about animation and graphics?

6) What do we learn about the gameplay and activities in Horizon Forbidden West? 

Close textual analysis

Watch the trailer for Horizon Forbidden West:

Answer the following questions:

1) How is narrative, character and setting introduced in the trailer?

2) How is the game's open world / sandbox genre shown in the trailer? 

3) What representations can you find in the trailer? 

AQA recommends watching the following gameplay trailer in their CSP booklet:

Watch the gameplay video and answer the following questions:

1) How does the game use media language to communicate ideas about narrative and genre?

2) What representations of people, places or groups can you find in the gameplay video?

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by this gameplay trailer?

Narrative and genre

Read this excellent Den of Geek article that addresses elements of narrative and genre. You can find the article text here if the link is blocked. Answer the following questions: 

1) Read the opening to the article. How can we apply Steve Neale's genre theory to Horizon Forbidden West?

2) How many copies did the Horizon Zero Dawn sell and why did this influence the design of the sequel?

3) How does the article criticise the story in Horizon Forbidden West? 

4) What do we learn about the gameplay? 

5) What is the article's overall summary of the game?

Representations

Race representations in Horizon Forbidden West

Read this fascinating Polygon feature on why Horizon Forbidden West isn't post-racial and answer the following questions: 

1) How does Horizon Forbidden West use narrative to create a fully diverse cast of characters?

2) What is orientalism? 

3) How does the article suggest orientalism applies to Horizon Forbidden West? 

4) Who is the player encouraged to identify with in the game and how does this influence how representations are constructed?  

5) Finally, what did the writer of the article (an Asian American) feel when playing the game?

Gender and videogames

Focusing on Aloy and the representation of women in videogames, read this Forbes feature on the topic. Answer the following questions:

1) What is the debate regarding Aloy in Horizon Forbidden West? 

2) What examples are provided of other female characters and representations in videogames?

3) What are the issues facing the videogame industry in terms of gender?  

Due date: on Google Classroom

A/A* extension tasks

Read this interesting CBC article on indigenous representation in Horizon Forbidden West. How does it present issues regarding representations of Indigenous people both in terms of in-game and in the inudstry?

Videogames: Women in videogames & Further feminist theory

Our second CSP gives us the opportunity to explore the representation and role of women in videogames.

Women in videogames: an introduction

The representation of women in videogames has long been considered sexist. Female characters are rarely playable and usually reinforce traditional gender stereotypes. Games that did feature female characters presented them as damsels in distress or sex objects.

Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider series is one of the most iconic characters in videogame history. But while she is a strong, independent playable character, her appearance and costume turned her into a digital sex object. In contrast, the character of Aloy in Horizon Forbidden West could be a sign of progress.

Tropes vs Women in Video Games

Vlogger and gaming expert Anita Sarkeesian has produced two series of YouTube videos documenting the representation of women in videogames.

Vlogging as Feminist Frequency, the series are an important example of digital feminism (and a superb resource for Media students). However, as a result, she has been a target for online abuse and threats – most notably as part of the #gamergate controversy.

Further feminist theory

We have looked at a range of feminist ideas earlier in the course including Laura Mulvey, Judith Butler, Liesbet van Zoonen, the concept of post- or fourth-wave feminism and more. We now need to explore this further with a deeper understanding of bell hooks and van Zoonen.

Notes from the lesson

Watch this short extract from Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox interviewing bell hooks at The New School in New York:



bell hooks is a highly influential radical black feminist.

She sees feminism as a struggle to end patriarchal oppression - it should be a serious political commitment rather than a fashionable lifestyle choice: “Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression”.

bell hooks also points to the importance of race and class when studying oppression.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is defined as the common point of two forms of oppression and how they work against a particular group of people. For example, black feminism addresses both gender and race discrimination.

bell hooks suggests that race is so significant that the experiences of gender, class or sexuality-based discrimination cannot be fully understood without also considering race.

This is important when analysing power in society. For example, men generally have more power then women – but white, middle class western women generally have much more power than women from non-white backgrounds.

Liesbet van Zoonen

Liesbet van Zoonen is an influential feminist academic and linked gender roles and the media explicitly in her 1994 book Feminist Media Studies. Some of her key ideas:

• Gender is constructed through media language
• These constructions reflect cultural and historical contexts
• The objectification of the female body is a key construct of western culture (building on Mulvey – male gaze)
• If women have to be like men to be treated equally, then equality itself is repressive

You can find the further notes on van Zoonen in this Google document (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access).

Women and videogames: blog tasks

Work through the following blog tasks to complete our work on women in videogames and further feminist theory.

Part 1: Background reading on Gamergate

Read this Guardian article on Gamergate 10 years on. Answer the following questions:

1) What was Gamergate? 

2) What is the recent controversy surrounding narrative design studio Sweet Baby Inc? 

3) What does the article conclude regarding diversity in videogames?

Part 2: Further Feminist Theory: Media Factsheet

Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or here using your Greenford Google login. Find Media Factsheet #169 Further Feminist Theory, read the whole of the Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What definitions are offered by the factsheet for ‘feminism ‘and ‘patriarchy’?

2) Why did bell hooks publish her 1984 book ‘Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center’?

3) What aspects of feminism and oppression are the focus for a lot of bell hooks’s work?

4) What is intersectionality and what does hooks argue regarding this?

5) What did Liesbet van Zoonen conclude regarding the relationship between gender roles and the mass media?

6) Liesbet van Zoonen sees gender as socially constructed. What does this mean and which other media theorist we have studied does this link to?

7) How do feminists view women’s lifestyle magazines in different ways? Which view do you agree with?

8) In looking at the history of the colours pink and blue, van Zoonen suggests ideas gender ideas can evolve over time. Which other media theorist we have studied argues things evolve over time and do you agree that gender roles are in a process of constant change? Can you suggest examples to support your view?

9) What are the five aspects van Zoonen suggests are significant in determining the influence of the media?

10) What other media theorist can be linked to van Zoonen’s readings of the media?

11) Van Zoonen discusses ‘transmission models of communication’. She suggests women are oppressed by the dominant culture and therefore take in representations that do not reflect their view of the world. What other theory and idea (that we have studied recently) can this be linked to?

12) Finally, van Zoonen has built on the work of bell hooks by exploring power and feminism. She suggests that power is not a binary male/female issue but reflects the “multiplicity of relations of subordination”. How does this link to bell hooks?

A/A* Extension tasks: TED talk

Finally, if you’re interested in some of these ideas, there is plenty more reading and watching you can do. For example, watch this TEDx talk by renowned Nigerian/American novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘We should all be feminists’:

A/A* Extension tasks: Anita Sarkeesian Gamespot interview

If you're interested in this topic and aiming for a top grade, read this Gamespot interview with Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency (this link may not open at School) and think about some of the following questions:

What reaction did Anita Sarkeesian receive when she published her videos on women in videogames? You can find more information on this on Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter fundraising page.

How does Sarkeesian summarise feminism?

How has the videogame landscape changed with regards to the representation of women?

What is the impact of the videogames industry being male-dominated?

Finally, to find out more about the online backlash and #gamergate, this Guardian feature links the online abuse to the American alt-right movement also credited with electing Donald Trump.

Deadline: Complete for homework - due date on Satchel One.