Gender Representation Through the Horrors of Fatal Frame (2001)
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nrik v He d a apa l sk Ma GENDER REPRESENTATION THROUGH THE HORRORS OF FATAL FRAME (2001) Textual analysis into female gender representation in the Japanese survival horror game, Fatal Frame (2001). Master Degree Project in Informatics One year Level 22.5 ECTS Spring term 2021 Vanja Waller Supervisor: Björn Berg Marklund Examiner: Rebecca Rouse Abstract Gender representation in the horror genre has many interesting discussions surrounding it through multiple perspectives such as psychoanalysis and culture. This article intends to expand the investigation of how female characters are portrayed in horror games. The research on female representation will investigate the potential connections between horror cinema and horror games in the survival horror game Fatal Frame (2001, Koei Tecmo), the first title of a series that is iconic f0r drawing inspiration from Japanese mythology and horror tropes while simultaneously using a large cast of female characters. To gather information about the audience to support the game analysis, an online survey will be released targeting players of the games. Thereafter, recorded, non-commentary footage of the first game, Fatal Frame (2001), will be observed and textually analysed through a framework with data points, based on the background of psychoanalysis, horror cinema, culture, and game theory. Keywords: horror games, gender representation, female gender, horror cinema, female protagonist, Fatal Frame, Japanese horror, survival horror, audience analysis Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 2 Background ........................................................................................................ 3 2.1 Psychoanalysis and the Horror Genre..................................................................... 3 2.2 Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema .................................................................... 5 2.2.1 Continued Research and Critiques on Mulvey ................................................................ 7 2.3 The Horror Cinema and Women ............................................................................. 8 2.3.1 The Audience of Horror ................................................................................................... 9 2.3.2 Idenfification in Horror ..................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Japanese Horror Film ........................................................................................... 11 2.5 Female Representation in Video Games – Lara Croft ........................................... 15 2.6 The Fatal Frame Series ........................................................................................ 16 3 Problem ............................................................................................................ 18 3.1 Method .................................................................................................................. 20 3.2 Methodology on Game Analysis ............................................................................ 21 3.2.1 Methodology, Representation, and Games .................................................................. 22 3.3 Game Analysis Framework ................................................................................... 25 3.3.1 Constructing the Player-based Online Survey .............................................................. 27 3.3.2 Ethics ............................................................................................................................. 29 4 Results .............................................................................................................. 30 4.1 The Online Survey Data ........................................................................................ 30 4.2 Analysis Framework Results ................................................................................. 37 5 Analysis ............................................................................................................ 39 5.1 Scopophilic and Cinematic Horror Theory ............................................................. 39 5.1.1 Character Development ................................................................................................ 39 5.1.2 Identification with Miku Hinasaki ................................................................................... 40 5.1.3 Visual Representation of Game Characters ................................................................. 41 5.2 Aspects of Scopophilia and Player Agency ........................................................... 43 5.2.1 Fixed Cameras, Tailored Gaze ..................................................................................... 44 5.2.2 Cinematic Cutscenes and Horror .................................................................................. 46 5.3 Going Beyond Scopophilia .................................................................................... 48 5.4 Vengeful Ghosts and Culture Theory .................................................................... 51 5.4.1 The Strangling Ritual ..................................................................................................... 51 5.4.2 The Blinded Maiden ...................................................................................................... 52 5.4.3 The Rope Shrine Maiden .............................................................................................. 58 5.4.4 The Mono-No-Aware and the Ie System ....................................................................... 64 6 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 70 6.1 Summary .............................................................................................................. 70 6.2 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 75 6.3 Future Work .......................................................................................................... 77 References .............................................................................................................. 78 1 Introduction When a world of horror is created, it is easy to wonder what kinds of elements it will contain to create fear in its audience. Who is the hero, the villain, and the victim? Horror as a genre is hard to define by one word and could be more expressed in a more accurate manner by subgenre. Viktória Prohászkov’s (2012) paper on The Genre of Horror makes use of the definition of: “a genre that represents the need for suppression if the horror shown is interpreted as expressing uncomfortable and disturbing desires which need to be contained” (Prohászkov, 2012:132). The research made in this paper intends to go deeper within the constructs that define the frightful scenarios in horror. Specifically, this paper will analyze the female gender in horror and how the women in the Japanese survival horror series, Fatal Frame (2001) are represented their fictitious world. While the study will be centred around female representation in an iconic Japanese horror game, it will also be executed through the perspective of a researcher who is Scandinavian and a woman. This means the previous theories and discussions on female representation, horror, and Japanese culture will be interpreted through the mindset and understanding of a woman born and raised in Sweden which may, of course, influence the analysis. Any contributions this study may provide will be presented in the attempt of being objective towards the game analysis and through the understandings of previous research. A lot of interesting literature and research has already been made into horror cinema and its complex relationship with women and gender in general. The research made in this paper will investigate those texts for a deeper understanding of the past and other popular media but will then move on to a focus into video games, or specifically horror games. The intentions of this study are to add more information into female representation in different contexts, such as horror and video games, to gain greater understanding into how potentially such representations may have been developed through past media, cultures, and societal structures. Video games and film could be considered to have a close relationship, but one clear difference separating them from each other is interaction. Looking into the horror genre of digital media, some connections could be drawn between horror film and the transition into horror games to see which similarities there are in the trends of gender representation or stereotypes. The research background which will primarily be of focus in this paper are theories on female representation, firstly through the context of cinema. Psychoanalytic theory usage in horror will be investigated, as well as Laura Mulvey’s (1973) theories on scopophilia and the male gaze is a good foundation to start the discussions on and have been a highly reoccurring topic, not only in feminist film theories but, also, in discussions on the expansive ranges of horror film. Moving on, the background will look into cultural aspects such as the different discussions of horror cinema and Japanese horror film. Finally, previous research into the Fatal Frame series and methodology on textual analysis, the analysis method of this