She's the leading character : A comparative study of Lara Croft, Bayonetta, Emily Kaldwin and Billie Lurk

The aim of this essay is to examine how Lara Croft, Bayonetta, Emily Kaldwin and Billie Lurk have been portrayed in their respective games. The questions at issue have examined how these four characters have been portrayed by their appearance on the cover of their games and how they’ve been depicted in gameplay. A comparative study has been used to compare how the design on the characters have been differentiated not only from each other but also from the male characters in each game. The essay has also examined what the sex and gender identity have been of the character’s creators and if they’ve motivated their character designs. An analysis has been made to establish if there has been a male gaze present in the design process and the game and if this has led to the character’s being sexualized. Judith Butler’s performativity theory has been used for this essay along with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as well as an intersectional approach according to Kimberlé Crenshaw. Lara Croft, Bayonetta and Emily Kaldwin are shown to break gender codes while still upholding some of them; Billie Lurk is the only one that totally breaks with them and creates a sort of a “new woman”, as she not only breaks the Madonna-and-the-Whore-complex in which each of the other three can be put in. Billie Lurk and Emily Kaldwin are the only female characters which can be seen as not sexualized or steered by the male gaze, but instead they give the gamer an opportunity to live the characters’ stories through them with the first-person-shooter-view. Lara Croft from the games before Tomb Raider (2013) and Bayonetta are clearly sexualized female characters that are controlled by male desire and the male gaze. As these two games are played from a third-person-view it gives the gamer the power to control these women, putting them under the gamer’s will