The portrayal of men and women in Zombie Media

Zombie media has traditionally been known for using various characters regardless of their backgrounds and demographics. From the black and white Night of the Living Dead to the colourful Army of the Dead, how these movies are made can vary on several levels. The Resident Evil franchise has long been known to utilise both male and female characters since its inception, depicting women as being police officers or skilled fighters that can snap the necks of these bioweapons. Specifically, we will look at Chris and Claire Redfield, siblings who have been the main characters in Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 2 respectively. We will abbreviate the game’s name to its official RE abbreviation.

The first main difference that needs to be pointed out is the role of each character in the game. Chris is often presented as the stereotypical action hero. His original appearance in the first game depicts him as an average-looking fit cop. However, upon his return to RE5, he is noticeably larger to the point that the two designs could have belonged to different characters. His character is also altered from a more tactical and simple approach to one over-reliant on brute force and bulging muscles. This is so overdone that he is referred to as “the boulder-punching bastard,” in later games. This references a meme where people couldn’t understand why the game developers had him punching a boulder in RE5. His masculinity is often tied with the need for him to prove himself which reflects the real-life urgency that many men have to prove themselves, as argued by Douglas Schrock and Michael Schwalbe, “be credited as a man, what an individual male must do, in other words, is put on a convincing manhood act,” Schrock & Schwalbe (2009). Claire, on the other hand, is a capable fighter but is presented as more empathetic and resourceful. She is often seen crying throughout the series and often plays the protector role by having to look after kids in RE2 and the spin-off games she’s a part of. Researcher Kilian Biscop argues that this is a consequence of the gaming industry being a male-dominated field, writing, “A consensus seems to be that, especially within mainstream gaming, a masculine culture systematically minimises or oppresses female and non-heteronormative perspectives,” Biscop et al. (2019). There is also an overall lack of development of her character as she remains relatively similar throughout the franchise, while her male counterparts have gotten clear character development and more screen time.

There are two main aspects shared by the characters: Their survival and combat skills, and their strong moral compass. Chris is meant to portray battle-hardened soldiers, in the original RE he is introduced to the audience as a member of a special police force known as S.T.A.R.S., and you are immediately shown how he is ahead of the rest in his combat skills by taking out a group of bioweapons singlehandedly. In later entries of the game like RE8, his character is adjusted to being a grueling war veteran who has seen everything. He often talks about his struggles with losing team members and the trauma he has had to face as a consequence of years of chasing justice and attempting to reform the system. Claire’s combat skills are mostly self-taught, however, she is shown to know how to handle firearms effectively and utilise hand-to-hand combat in dealing with bioweapons. Not fully reliant on sheer power, her combat is usually depicted with a little more elegance than just the snapping of a neck. Her moral compass is often depicted after the disasters take place, with her belief that no person is left behind and her actively volunteering in camps to help people.

Both characters do not have clear-cut romantic relationships throughout the franchise. Granted one of them keeps losing everybody around him. However, it is hinted through several different interactions that both are heterosexual. In one of the spinoff games, Claire is accompanied by a male character whom you noticeably see building romantic tension with her as the game progresses, ultimately ending in him confessing his love before he dies. Chris seems to have simply rejected the idea that he will ever be happy and noticeably tries to distance everyone away from him equally while struggling with trying to protect the people close to him. The centering of Claire allows men to gain a new perspective of how they view women, as they tend to get cues from video games, “If our modern, global, high-tech, and science-driven world does anything, it certainly gives rise to new semiotic domains and transforms old ones at an even faster rate,” Stanford (2006).

Overall, the RE franchise has done a mediocre job of representing varying characters. While there is an equal balance of both female and male leads in the games, there are still issues with how women are represented and the fact that they seem to have taken a supporting role even though they are selected as the main characters for their respective games.

References

Sanford, Kathy, and Leanna Madill. “Resistance through Video Game Play: It’s a Boy Thing.” Canadian Journal of Education / Revue Canadienne de l’éducation 29, no. 1 (2006): 287–306. https://doi.org/10.2307/20054157.

Biscop, Kilian, Steven Malliet, and Alexander Dhoest. “Subversive Ludic Performance: An Analysis of Gender and Sexuality Performance in Digital Games.” DiGeSt. Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies 6, no. 2 (2019): 23–42. https://doi.org/10.11116/digest.6.2.2.

Schrock, Douglas, and Michael Schwalbe. “Men, Masculinity, and Manhood Acts.” Annual Review of Sociology 35 (2009): 277–95. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27800079.