Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
This week Irrational Games released the first piece of DLC for BioShock Infinite, the incredibly popular story-driven first person shooter released earlier this year. At the same time they announced the next pieces of DLC, a two-part noir-inspired alternate storyline called Burial at Sea that is far more interesting (to me) than the wave-based arena mode offered by the just-released Clash in the Clouds DLC. Burial at Sea features our heroes Booker and Elizabeth submerged in the world of the previous Bioshock games, Rapture, while the Randian sub-marine society is still thriving. It's an incredibly interesting twist with long-time fans of the franchise in mind, and it looks stylish as hell (as Bioshock Infinite itself was) in the trailer above. Better yet, in part 2 of Burial at Sea the player will apparently be playing as Elizabeth, making her the first playable female character in the series' history outside of multiplayer.
Suffice it to say that I am very excited about all of this, but I also have a few concerns. (BioShock Infinite spoilers ahead!)
As much as I like Elizabeth as a character, she's far from the best female companion in the history of gaming. She's beautifully realized (as I've mentioned before) but when all is said and done she acts more like an extended power-up/power set/piece of equipment for Booker with practically no agency of her own. Beyond being a clear example of a damsel, her chaotic, hard to control and highly dangerous powers are also a pretty common trope when it comes to female characters... Never mind that the only reason she has any powers at all is because of Booker's actions. Even when she seemingly solves everything at the end, it's only by erasing her own existence (with Booker's approval). Of course she's still worlds away from being the worst female character, but she could stand to be much better.
This is a discussion that's been happening since Infinite was released, and it's one that could make Burial at Sea truly amazing if Ken Levine and others working on it have taken the issue to heart. The early art does give me hope that this is exactly what's happened. Compare the early box art concept for Infinite pictured below with the promotional art for Burial At Sea pictured above:
There seems to be a pretty clear relationship between the two. In the Infinite art we have Booker looking grim and determined, backed by the massive open sky, brandishing a gun, standing protectively by Elizabeth's side. It's probably worth noting that when I see this picture I always think Booker's arm is around Elizabeth, his daughter, even though that's not the case. In the Burial at Sea art it's Elizabeth who's grim, determined, and armed, backed by a fathomless abyss of water, her free arm firmly around a Little Sister. It seems likely that this signals the intent to literally put her in Booker's role as agent and protector, and that sounds pretty good to me.
However the trailer for episode one is clearly pitching Elizabeth as a femme fatale, which is a role with its fair share of tropes, traps, and offenses within easy reach. I won't be the one to argue that it's any better or worse than the role of the damsel, but film noir's treatment of women is far from problem-free, and it would be easy to fall into the trap of paying homage without offering any critical perspective. It's possible that episode one will be narrated from Booker's point-of-view while episode two will be from Elizabeth's, which could offer some welcome perspective on anything that seems problematic on either side.
... Or maybe it will be much more straightforward that that. At this stage it's still too early to say for sure, but I'm optimistic. I'll be snapping up Burial at Sea as soon as it's available (though its release date has yet to be announced) so expect my thoughts on it in hopefully not-too-distant future.
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TweetIris Ophelia (@bleatingheart, Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.
I'm just excited to see Rapture in it's prime. But I don't trust trailers. Bioshock has a bad history of trailers that don't represent the actual game/feel at ALL. I don't know if they do that intentionally or not.
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Friday, August 02, 2013 at 04:51 PM