Moral Panic

Daniel Shields

Resources, homework and revision for Mr Shields English and Media classes. Cover photo Kristina Alexanderson / CC BY-NC-SA

Showing all posts tagged "Representation"

Predestination and Gender Identity

Gender identity is all over the shop in this trailer for Ethan Hawke's Predestination.

Posted on May 24th, 2015

Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider is a 2013 action-adventure video game published by Square Enix . Tomb Raider is the fourth title developed by Crystal Dynamics in the Tomb Raider franchise. As the first entry in a new Tomb Raider continuity, the game is a reboot that emphasises the reconstructed origins of the lead character Lara Croft. Tomb Raider was released on 5 March 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and on 23 January 2014 for Mac OS X.

Crystal Dynamics began development of Tomb Raider soon after the release of Tomb Raider: Underworld in 2008. Rather than a sequel, the team decided to completely reboot the series, establishing the origins of Lara Croft for the second time, following Tomb Raider: Legend. Tomb Raider is set on Yamatai, an island from which Lara Croft must save her friends and escape while being hunted down by a malevolent cult. Gameplay elements focus more on survival, although exploration is used within the game when exploring the island and various optional tombs. It is also the first game in the series to have multiplayer and the first game to be published by Square Enix , after the latter's acquisition of Eidos Interactive in 2009. Camilla Luddington voiced and performed as Lara Croft.

After a delayed release from late 2012 to March 2013, Tomb Raider received much anticipation and hype. Upon release, the game received critical acclaim, with critics praising the graphics, the gameplay, Luddington's performance as Lara, and Lara's characterization and development, although the addition of the multiplayer mode was criticised. Tomb Raider sold one million copies within 48 hours of its release, and has sold more than 6.5 million copies as of 9 June 2014. An updated version, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, was released in North America on 28 January 2014 and in Europe on 31 January 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One containing all features and DLC.

Official Game Synopsis
Tomb Raider explores the intense and gritty origin story of Lara Croft and her ascent from a frightened young woman to a hardened survivor. Armed only with raw instincts and the ability to push beyond the limits of human endurance, Lara must fight to unravel the dark history of a forgotten island to escape its relentless hold.

Critical response
Lara Croft has been discussed as being a positive female role model and criticised for simply embodying the desires of the teenage-boy audience. Games critic and feminist Annemarie Schleuner states of the Lara Croft of the previous games that she was the ‘monstrous offspring of teenage boy’s spending power…an idealised, eternally young, malleable techno-puppet created by and for the male gaze.’

In the 2013 re-launch of the brand, Lara Croft was a less sexualised and more vulnerable heroine, seen crying and riddled with self-doubt. This however was to humanise her, not to weaken her. According to the designer, Rhianna Pratchett, this was not an issue of gender:

You can’t have bravery without fear…we’re so used to characters who can do everything. Male characters are often undercooked. We probably suffer from the fact that we don’t think about them as being human – they’re heroic and there’s not much else to them. That is a problem we tried to address. [With Tomb Raider 2013.]


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  1. Who is being represented, and how? Describe the mise-en-scene, including colour scheme, body codes, costume, and facial expressions.
  1. How does this representation appeal to the audiences of the game?
  1. To what extent does the text challenge or support typical representations of gender? (HINT: Or…does it do both?)

Explain your answer by referring to at least one other video-game to support your ideas.
  1. Evaluate whether this image could be said to be positive or negative. Why?

Intertextuality

Posted on March 16th, 2015

Manafactured Black male identity

A very considered and thoughtful insight by George the poet into the excesses of construction of identity by marketing on 5 live.
... and David Oyelowo speaks about the worsening 'white wash' in British broadcasting.

Posted on January 30th, 2015

Hollywood Whitewash Case Study

Hollywood have a poor track record with race with the casting of white actors in non-white roles. Way back in 2010 Paramount made the baffling decision to adapt Avatar: The Last airbender with an all white cast. Considering that the cartoon had characters of a largely pacific rim and Asian ethnicity this made no sense whatsoever. Only after massive pressure from Fans and the then newly founded Racebending.com did Paramount make any concesssions, casting Dev Patel star of Slumdog Millionaire in the role of Prince Zuko. In the cartoon this was an ambiguous role as Zuko was sometimes a villain and sometimes a hero. In the film advertising he became out and out evil, a binary opposition which is all the more troubling with the whitewashing of the rest of the cast. While fans were able to exert some pressure on the studios, the institutions seem remarkably resistant to change even if it ends up costing them at the box office. This has resurfaced recently with Exodus: Gods and Kings but has been simmering for some time with a spate of anime film remakes. Last year we saw All you need is Kill remade as Edge of Tomorrow transferred to an all white American cast and Tom Cruise in the lead role. This year we see Joel Edgerton as Rameses II and Christian Bale as Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings. Hollywood still hasn't quite got the idea that a layer of bronzing is no longer appropriate.

Ridley Scott has defended his casting robustly if somewhat disingenously arguing that the film wouldn't be made without a hot property.
The less said about Murdoch's tweets the better.

This is a particularly spurious argument considering Disney have cast the relatively unknown John Boyega in the Force Awakens. I'm sure that Scott would argue that Disney have an existing franchise to draw upon which lessens the "risk" of using unknowns. Ultimatley this argument doesn't really hold water, it is simply an example of the institutional racism that has become all too familiar excused by economic necessity.

Racebending.com where interviewed about the issue by CNN, Is Hollywood whitewashing Asian roles.
This sad tendency appears to be continuing and Racebending has a currently active campaign trying to put pressure on Warner Bros to reconsider their ill conceived casting, location and scripting decisions.
Actors currently under consideration for the roles of Tetsuo and Kaneda in Akira. Image Credit: IndiWire

Even TV still remains monolithically white, with hot properties like Game of Thrones being roundly criticised for its predominantly white cast and some uncomfortable racial overtones recent seasons.
Maine Facts for your Summer in Vacationland

We can see some light at the end of the tunnel Netflix have just released their historical epic Marco Polo , which is full of unknowns.

Posted on December 16th, 2014

In the flesh


How does the clip use the audience's knowledge of the Zombie genre to engage their interest?

How does the clip represent terrorism?

How does the clip build the world of In the Flesh?

Posted on June 18th, 2014