Despite Sega being a Japanese video game company, they wanted to represent Western culture because they believed it to be "cool"; after all, Sonic is supposed to be the coolest blue being known to man. This idea of Westerners being cool and full of action, gave Sega a creator basis as they wrote the story of Sonic Adventure 2. Sega began to provide characters and even settings traits of Western civilization, especially the United States of America. The game focuses on community representation, with the main characters being cool, snarky teenagers or old mad scientists. Even as they tackle topics of military sabotage and an unhelpful president, each aspect of Western culture is highlighted in a relatively good and obviously cool light. The most obvious aspect is Sonic jumping out of a helicopter, escaping the police, and landing on the ground with a piece of debris as his skateboard. He then "skates" down the streets of a city very clearly based off of San Francisco, California. Although Sonic is trying to evade the police and military who are actively chasing him down the beautifully designed San Francisco, the music is light-hearted and fun and even Sonic himself is shouting "yeah!" and "cool" to show how exciting his situation is. It appears that Sega was exoticizing Westerners to those outside of that society. On top of all of that, Sonic Adventure 2 exhibits many of the hero's story archetypes typically seen in Western society, such as the brave hero and the more complex anti-hero.
Stage 01 in Sonic Adventure 2: "Escape from the City"
Sonic, like most of his games, is depicted as a brave hero ready to save the day anytime. Beneath that, he is shown to be a rebellious, sassy, and carefree teenager. His construction is simple but effective. He is mostly blue except for a tanned arms, belly, and muzzle. He has large white gloves and large red shoes. The most notable thing however is his spikey blue quills that could be compared to a mohawk. This gives him the edge that Sega was looking for to represent the Western, and mostly American, stereotype of a spunky rebellious teenager. However, Sega uses the power of selection to show only the cool and fun parts of that stereotype to keep his character good-hearted and well-rounded. He is unafraid of any fight and will always help out his friends. He even has his own gang or team known as Team Sonic. It is comprised of his closest friends which also helps shove him into another stereotype of a ring leader of a strong cliche, gang, friend group, or simply just team that is seen in a lot of media about teens in the West. Although he has the spunk and energy of the rebellious youth of Western society, he has the ideals of a very American self-made hero. He works with others to rise against oppression, while valuing freedom and justice. Sega was able to keep his character interesting by combining the fun and cool side of the rebellious teenager and the adventurous, action-packed, good-hearted, side of the freedom fighter stereotype commonly found when depicting Western society. Sonic is running around, doing tricks, escaping capture, making quips with his rivals, saving the day, and all while having fun with his friends. It is all very exciting to watch, and all very exciting to him. He can give the image of a young snarky skater a cooler and better look.
Shadow the Hedgehog, introduced in this game, is a very popular Western archetype of the anti-hero. His construction is nearly all black with red stripes on his quills and white fluff on his chest. This can help the viewer identify through his look alone that he is a very deep, dark, complex, broody type with a soft spot. His dark aesthetic and design represent the Western stereotype of an "emo" or just a deeply edgy and hurt person. Shadow was created in space and was made to help save a young girl named Maria. He and her were best friends until their space station was raided by the military and Maria was shot in the process. Many of Shadow's memories were then lost, and even though he didn't remember everything, he knew he wanted to take revenge on the Earth for Maria. His amnesia is prevalent but very poorly represented, only really having it as background knowledge, nearly de-centering it. His memories are able to be altered/manipulated because of it and when he gains the original ones back, he changes immediately. It gives the viewer a poor understanding of how amnesia can be fixed and how it can affect you. Despite his anemia, he proves to be a powerful and great rival to Sonic, which eventually leads to another stereotype of Western society. Shadow joins Team Dark (Shadow, Rouge, and Eggman) which goes head-to-head with Team Sonic (Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails). This could be interpreted as the stereotype of two gangs fighting with each other. Throughout the game, Shadow has an existential struggle with himself about who he is, what he wants, and what to make of the world and the other characters around him. He's a constant ominous figure with a dark past but a secret soft spot. He is a perfect rival for the main character and has a misinterpreted mental condition. The perfect Western anti-hero.
The way women are represented in this game is limited. Rouge is the main female character and despite being very strong, she is also very sexualized and shoved into a very flirty stereotype. She is part of the flirty morally grey female stereotype. She is still a very interesting a complex character but doesn't really move outside the box of her stereotype. The two supporting female characters Amy and Maria are nearly identical. They were so identical that Amy reminded Shadow of Maria and made him realize the errors of his ways. On the one hand, Amy's sweet and caring personality was able to help save the world. On the other, Amy's and Maria's personalities are copied and pasted from each other for the sweet, nurturing, feminine stereotype. Both are still good characters, just very basic. Alongside that, all Amy is obsessed with is marrying Sonic, who has no interest in doing so. It is a fun character devise but it also continues to represent the idea that all women care about is getting with a man. Overall, these female characters are very enjoyable but are very limited through their stereotypes compared to the male characters who explore outside of theirs.
Amy reminded Shadow of Maria
(Please give it grace. It was made in 2001)
Good or bad, representation in media is everywhere, whether it be based on stereotypes or exoticizing cultures, it can be seen everywhere, even in video games created in 2001.
No comments:
Post a Comment