Here's to anticipating another Metroid release this year. Since Super Mario Galaxy 2 was so amazing, I'm sure that Metroid: Other M will not be a let down! This will be the last microtheme... I promise!
Lets looks beyond Tomb Raider and Lara Croft for a moment, and acknowledge the Metroid series as the trendsetter in the realm of lead female characters in video games. Metroid was lauded by critics for being one of the first games to introduce a female heroine as the lead protagonist (Buffa 1). It specifically presents an alternative to the central white, heterosexual masculinity which surrounds video game culture (Kennedy). Metroid was released in 1986, alongside Super Mario Bros. (1985) and the Legend of Zelda (1986), and straight from the onset it has opposed the illusion of video gaming being a masculine preserve (Kennedy). Metroid holds its own when compared to these games and has had an equally long life-span accumulating just as much wealth and success (Wikipedia). Metroid is once again being released this year alongside Super Mario Galaxies 2 on May 23rdt and potentially Zelda, with Metroid: Other M on June 27th, simply proving that women hold an equal position in the gaming world.
(Image 2, Power Suit)
(Image 1, Gender Revealed)
(Image 3, Nude Samus)
The female protagonist, Samus Aran (a bounty hunter), was originally thought to be a male character in Metroid, but after completing the game, it is revealed that Samus is a female (as seen in Image 1). The developers of Metroid alluded to the fact that Samus was a male all along, depicting her in a very bulky and androgynous power suit who faces off against the Mother Brain (Grimes 8). Even in the instruction manual, it never gave any hints to Samus’ gender whatsoever, leaving the final reveal to be so shocking (Buffa 2).
I could not help but notice that Metroid was released during the same year as the film Aliens (1986), which was the second instalment in the Alien franchise. The movie and the video game are very similar in setting and plot; both are set in outer space with a female protagonist fighting aliens (Cameron). There was a shift in movies during the 1980’s from the hard-bodied males to female leads enduring and delivering just as much damage as their male counterparts (e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone to women like Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton). The reason I bring this up is to discuss Samus’ Power Suit (Image 2). The Power Suit is biologically entwined with Samus’ mind and body, and without it would not be able to defeat the aliens, Metroids, Space Pirates, or the Mother Brain. If Samus was left to fight without her powered exoskeleton, then the fate of the universe would appear to be doomed.
This is very similar to the case in Aliens where Ripley fights the Queen Alien. Ripley is only able to defeat the Queen by using an exoskeleton powerloader, allowing her to become a humanoid mechanised warrior. Ripley draws on this protective motherhood nature, but can only face the alien with a robotic body, which is ultimately just an extension of her own being (Clover 6, 7). This essentially critiques the female body, implying that the female human form is not superior enough to fight and reign victorious in battle, but needs some sort of extension to do so.
Samus’ Power Suit also includes many upgrades throughout the games to suit the situation for success, proving that multiple improvements to the female form are needed. Also, her arm cannon, with multiple functions, is very phallic in nature and continues to exemplify this extension of the female in a male way in order to succeed.
This supposed critique on the lacking female form is eventually defeated though when Samus appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as Zero Suit Samus. She can either fight as a regular female with a pistol or with the power suit (and has superior fighting skills in both outfits). This is where the somewhat gendered neutral character becomes highly sexualized. Samus’ femininity was expressed previously without appearing as a sex object, but now Zero Suit Samus showcases her flowing blonde hair, piercing eyes, and attractive curves (Buffa 6). As seen in Image 3, the sexualized nature has overcome the strong female character through revealing Samus nearly naked (the original picture was of Zero Suit Samus in her blue outfit, but has been edited to appear nude). Samus Aran is still a character with extraordinary skill and could easily stand toe to toe with the likes of Halo’s Master Chief or Gears of War’s Marcus Fenix, proving that there is a successful alternative out there to white, heterosexual masculinity in video games.
Works Cited
Aliens. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Sigourney Weaver. Twentieth Century-Fox: 1986. Film.
Buffa, Chris. “Babe of the Week: Samus Aran.” Game Daily. 04 Apr 2008: 1-11. Web. 7 Mar 2010. < http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/babe-of-the-week-samus-aran>.
Clover, J. "Dream Machines (James Cameron, 'Aliens')." Film Quarterly. Vol. 6, No. 2: (2007).
Grimes, Sara. “’You Shoot Like A Girl!’: The Female Protagonist in Action-Adventure Video Games.” Level Up: Digital Games Research Conference, (2003).
Kennedy, Helen W. “Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo? On the Limits of Textual Analysis.” Game Studies 2.2, (December 2002).
Metroid, Nintendo. August 6, 1986.
Wikipedia, Metroid, Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 2010. Web. Mar 2010.
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