Video games + gender
Out of context: Reply #33
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well it does promote stereotypes and it also promotes archetypes...
to show a female in a videogame often you have a contrast between the outfits between males and females. where a male might be decked out in full gear, the female equivalent may be wearing much less, or at least far more revealing clothing. take for example, someone in this thread mentioned switching armor between male and female characters with obvious visual results. can this be construed as stereotyping? possibly. most likely its stereotyping the demographic and expecting that most males 13 - whenever want to see women like this. or expect to. but at the same time often these characters are seen as heroes (some aren't obviously there would be a different argument for eyecandy and secondary characters) btu when you are dealing with heroes and that kind of style you are going to have archetypal characters. these people are going to look like models. the guys are going to be lean and full of muscles, the females are going to be athletic, perfectly in shape and have curves. in a sense you could argue that the hero is a stereotyped character, because the everyday hero doesnt always look like a demigod. but there is a reason for this appearance. its understood and accepted. you see perfect people and especially strong abled people and you understand that they are a competent foe for the "baddies"
obviously not all heroes fall into the catagory of archetype. mario for example is far from archetypal though the main story line of damsel in distress, unlikely hero takes on seemingly insurmountable odds is. its actually kindof an interesting assignment, i hope you do well. there is virtually endless reference material. if you want to explore heroes any further i suggest looking into joseph campbell and his work with the hero's myth and journey.
creative also had it right by mentioning the manga styles and japanese sensibility for stereotypes, where obviously some places in asia the female is still considered a second class citizen.