Women in Horror Video Games: Agency and the Complication of Monstrosity
Open Access
Author:
Harris, Paige
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Christian P Haines, Thesis Supervisor Matt Tierney, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
video games feminism horror gender agency
Abstract:
Modern horror games such as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Outlast 2 include female antagonists whose monstrous behaviors and appearances reflect fears stemming from patriarchal ideologies. In this thesis, I examine how and why femininity is depicted as monstrous in horror games as well as the role that agency plays from both a narrative and mechanical perspective in upholding or subverting inequitable gendered power dynamics. I analyze the methods by which misogyny is perpetuated or challenged through the characterization of women within these games, and how the player’s sense of agency or lack thereof in their gameplay interacts with the perspectives that the games’ narratives reinforce. I argue that while the complication of feminine monstrosity challenges certain conventions of the patriarchy such as the devaluation of women, disempowering female characters to create sympathetic monsters ultimately reifies existing social hierarchies by failing to subvert the social and power relations central to patriarchy’s maintenance.
