Playing Dirty: Dracula wears eyeliner, part II
Every other week, Bonnie Ruberg contributes Playing Dirty, a column on sex and gender in video games:
Last week we looked at the changing art style -- and heros -- of the Castlevania series. From manly to effeminate, they've run the range. But there's more to consider here than a pretty face.
First off, let's take a look at their weapon choice -- or at least their weapons as they're depicted in the official game art. Old-fashioned Castlevania heros, the ones with rippling muscle and leather attire, are almost always depicted with a whip in hand. Later heros, the ones with lacy frills and high cheek bones, seem to prefer other weapons, like swords.
Now, sometimes a weapon is just a weapon, but when it comes to the peculiar case of these super-masculine, super-feminine protagonists, the issue bears a little reading into. The obvious cry would be "Phallic symbol!" But really, what weapon isn't? Instead, the interesting question here is what are these phalluses are up to?
Think about a whip: long and powerful. It starts out coiled and small, but then it extends out and attacks. A formidable phallus, to be sure. But consider it in comparison to a sword: also long and powerful, but this time straight and hard. Funny that, compared to the impressively piercing phalluses of the supposed girly-boys, those of the manly-men look impotent, limp.
Oh, the irony. But remember the inverted queerness of Castlevania we talked about last week. In the world of the gothic, all bets are off, and it's the vampires, and later the vampiricly gorgeous humans, who, despite their homoeroticism, end up most virile. What might a homosexually-charged vampire do with his superior phallus? That's for you to decide.
Vampire slash aside, there's a larger trend present in Castlevania that's yet again a staple of the gothic genre: the failure of heterosexuality. In this case, it might be better described as homosexual tension in the wake of heterosexual loss.
A number of Castlevania titles kick off with the death and/or kidnaping of the hero's beloved -- like Lament of Innocence, where Leon Belmont's fiancee is vampirized and then sacrificed, or Curse of Darkness, where Hector seeks revenge for the murder of his girlfriend, burned at the stake. It's only after these male/female relationships fail that the protagonists -- be they muscular or curvy -- enter the realm of man-on-man longing, the vampire's liar.
Which brings us back to the question, why switch back? In recent games, Castlevania's art has come full circle, back to a simpler aesthetic and a butcher hero, drawn -- surprise, surprise -- with a whip in hand.
Sure, there are obvious reasons: a new art director, a decision on the part of the series' creators to make the game more "normal-looking" so it could appeal to a wider, possibly anime-loving audience. But whether they realize it or not, Castlevania's designers have played once again into a gothic convention: queering the norm.
That's to say, if we take the evolution of the series art to date as one big story arch, it matches up perfectly with some of our favorite gothic novels, Bram Stoker's Dracula included. After a long struggle against the evil threat of homosexuality, life -- and its gender roles -- return to normal, not because there's any substance behind this supposed happy ending, but because seeing normalcy at the end of so much strangeness queers normalcy itself.
So the next time you think you've slain a vampire, saved a girl, or won the day, remember: that's the thing about the un-dead, they just keep coming back.
Bonnie Ruberg is a writer, researcher, and all around fangirl with a big crush on games. Find more of her work at Terra Nova, Gamasutra, or her blog, Heroine Sheik. She can be reached at
.
Last week we looked at the changing art style -- and heros -- of the Castlevania series. From manly to effeminate, they've run the range. But there's more to consider here than a pretty face.First off, let's take a look at their weapon choice -- or at least their weapons as they're depicted in the official game art. Old-fashioned Castlevania heros, the ones with rippling muscle and leather attire, are almost always depicted with a whip in hand. Later heros, the ones with lacy frills and high cheek bones, seem to prefer other weapons, like swords.
Now, sometimes a weapon is just a weapon, but when it comes to the peculiar case of these super-masculine, super-feminine protagonists, the issue bears a little reading into. The obvious cry would be "Phallic symbol!" But really, what weapon isn't? Instead, the interesting question here is what are these phalluses are up to?
Think about a whip: long and powerful. It starts out coiled and small, but then it extends out and attacks. A formidable phallus, to be sure. But consider it in comparison to a sword: also long and powerful, but this time straight and hard. Funny that, compared to the impressively piercing phalluses of the supposed girly-boys, those of the manly-men look impotent, limp.
Oh, the irony. But remember the inverted queerness of Castlevania we talked about last week. In the world of the gothic, all bets are off, and it's the vampires, and later the vampiricly gorgeous humans, who, despite their homoeroticism, end up most virile. What might a homosexually-charged vampire do with his superior phallus? That's for you to decide.
Vampire slash aside, there's a larger trend present in Castlevania that's yet again a staple of the gothic genre: the failure of heterosexuality. In this case, it might be better described as homosexual tension in the wake of heterosexual loss.
A number of Castlevania titles kick off with the death and/or kidnaping of the hero's beloved -- like Lament of Innocence, where Leon Belmont's fiancee is vampirized and then sacrificed, or Curse of Darkness, where Hector seeks revenge for the murder of his girlfriend, burned at the stake. It's only after these male/female relationships fail that the protagonists -- be they muscular or curvy -- enter the realm of man-on-man longing, the vampire's liar.
Which brings us back to the question, why switch back? In recent games, Castlevania's art has come full circle, back to a simpler aesthetic and a butcher hero, drawn -- surprise, surprise -- with a whip in hand.
Sure, there are obvious reasons: a new art director, a decision on the part of the series' creators to make the game more "normal-looking" so it could appeal to a wider, possibly anime-loving audience. But whether they realize it or not, Castlevania's designers have played once again into a gothic convention: queering the norm.
That's to say, if we take the evolution of the series art to date as one big story arch, it matches up perfectly with some of our favorite gothic novels, Bram Stoker's Dracula included. After a long struggle against the evil threat of homosexuality, life -- and its gender roles -- return to normal, not because there's any substance behind this supposed happy ending, but because seeing normalcy at the end of so much strangeness queers normalcy itself.
So the next time you think you've slain a vampire, saved a girl, or won the day, remember: that's the thing about the un-dead, they just keep coming back.
Bonnie Ruberg is a writer, researcher, and all around fangirl with a big crush on games. Find more of her work at Terra Nova, Gamasutra, or her blog, Heroine Sheik. She can be reached at
. 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anonymous @ Dec 21st 2006 6:47PM
I think the art style they've been using for the GBA and DS Castlevania is really awful. I didn't really like Ayami Kojima, but her art is superior to the garbage they've been using for the DS and GBA games (with the exception of Aria of Sorrow).
John Belmont @ Dec 21st 2006 6:55PM
Aria of Sorrow's was Kojima. They only switched to the shitty anime-look for the two DS games.
I couldn't care less, though. I can't tell who's male in any Japanese game anymore.
carg0 @ Dec 21st 2006 7:30PM
i remember the days when the Castlevania franchise was one of the most revered and respected. Then, like most (if not all) franchises made by japanese developers, it eventually succumbed to gender confusion and went downhill from there.
We got a taste of what should have been the proper evolution with Devil May Cry. You were basically a Belmont with a sword and guns. Unfortunately Capcom too lost their way by the sequel and the next-gen sequel will have you playing, yet again, as another gender-cunfused male.
The artwork is breathtaking, don't get me wrong. But remember the days when male and female characters looked idunno ... DISTINGUISHABLE FROM EACH OTHER?
Josh @ Dec 21st 2006 7:34PM
I really like Kojima's artwork and think it's the best out of the artwork in the Castlevania series. I wish they would go back to using her work instead of the garbage artwork for the DS games.
Allen @ Dec 21st 2006 7:47PM
I wonder if anyone complains about Yoshitaka Amano's work on the Final Fantasy series being too "homosexual".
Nick @ Dec 21st 2006 7:56PM
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with a couple of things the previous commentors have made, but first I will agree that the art direction has gone downhill as of late (especially, and most unfortunately, on the DS) That said, I don't think that "Gender Confusion" has anything to do with it. Implied homoeroticism runs rampant in nearly any gothic/vampiric tale and when the sexually repressed norms of Japanese society are added into the mix, one could really expect nothing less than a physically ambiguous hero and villain. What's more, I would have to say that the switching of hetero-normative roles ("who plays the woman") between the vampires and the vampire hunters allows for a deeper interpretation into what's actually going on here.
Much like in gothic literature, the hero is, in some cases, trying to destroy his "other self," whether that "other" is Hetero or Homo depends on the period of time in which the game was developed.
In this way I think we can see the Castlevania series as a wide sweeping statement about Japanese culture, using the Gothic story as a facade for condemning first the attempt of Japanese males to attain a hyper-masculine "American Ideal" in the eighties and early nineties, and then, condemning (in even harsher tones) the way that after the failure to attain hyper-masculine status, Japan (especially Tokyo [Most especially Harajuku and Rappongi]) reverted to an extremely femine-male ideal that saw the spawning of Age and Gender sex play.
I could be reading too much into this, and after all the Kojima art style is far superior no matter the motive, but I just thought I'd express my opinions.
-Nick Lundgren
Anonymous @ Dec 21st 2006 8:21PM
Allen: You must be confusing Amano's wispy anemic art with Nomura's mediocre, overly homoerotic, poorly designed art.
otakucode @ Dec 21st 2006 9:20PM
You don't think the whip is phallic? And perhaps the maschismo the characters exude might be a bit of compensation for the impotency suggested by their limp whips?
Honestly, if you're going to delve into Freudian analysis of this stuff, you might as well do it right.
And to fellow gamers, if a feminine looking male character or a flamboyant gay character like Makoto in Enchanted Arms turns you off of games... well, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
.oncetwice. @ Dec 21st 2006 10:09PM
"After a long struggle against the evil threat of homosexuality"
As a gay male, who generally doesn't care or isn't trying to fight for social consciousness, that was pretty insult full. You've pretty much stereotyped the whole homosexual population. While I do agree that stereotypes do exist, you're not helping by adding your ignorance to the fire.
And for the record, I am a masculine guy who you wouldn't think was gay. And that's the whole point, the fact that society has said that homosexuality and "feminine" qualities go hand and hand. You might as well write an article on how black people should eat fried chicken and drink kool aid in all video games.
KiwiLord @ Dec 21st 2006 10:36PM
How is Japan sexually repressed? They advertise sex toys out on the streets, sell pornography alongside "normal" magazines and video, have sexually explicit shows on television, and have plenty of places for a guy to go to "unwind" (that bypass the anti-prostitute law). Japan certainly has sexual embarrassment (mosaics over genitals and not allowing foreigners into most Baishun), but ask someone who's lived there for a while (Peter Payne comes to mind), and he will tell you they most definately aren't repressed. Besides, the feminine look of the characters has nothing to do with sexual repression. Kojima is a woman, and with few exceptions, many female artists in Japan tend to lend a feminine touch to their male characters.
That aside, it's also been a popular trend to have sexually androgynous characters in Japanese games for quite a while. Who here has seen the original box art for "Akumajō Dracula"? The Simon we know from the American box art was most likely conceived after the game was exported here.
What's the problem with characters that are on the Androgynous side? They can't still be badass? You have to figure that the characters created by Kojima are still easily distinguishable from male and female by their faces alone. The long garments, eye liner, pretty boy sort of look for Alucard worked perfectly for his character, and suits the Gothic setting and time period that Symphony of the Night takes place in. Simon Belmont wasn't butchered in his re-imagining, he just lost some of that Conan the Barbarian that was crammed into him.
kittynboi @ Dec 21st 2006 10:52PM
How can anyone discuss the sexual implications of Castlevania weapons and not mention the S+M symbolism of the whip?
But seriously.
And its correct to say that the gender ambiguity, homoeroticism, androgyny, and all that have more to do with Castlevania drawing so much inspiration from vampire fiction and gothic fiction in general than anything else.
The problem with the anime look of the last two games if that its so generic, and the art doesn't look different than any other anime style art.
shadow @ Dec 21st 2006 11:39PM
"You might as well write an article on how black people should eat fried chicken and drink kool aid in all video games."
We don't?
Steve @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:07AM
Good grief, I knew there'd have to be a post condemning this article and there it was. Thank you .oncetwice. for your tired and oh so predictable reminder that in the 21st century there is absolutely no tolerance for anything less than utter worship of the homosexual community. I find it odd that people like you condemn everyone else for noticing stereotypes, but stereotypes are so bad wouldn't it be better for you to go back to your community and tell them to stop engaging in those stereotypes? You may see lots of homosexuals displaying traditionally male traits, but like it or not nearly all males exhibiting female traits are homosexuals.
I'm glad that I'm not alone in my dislike of that lousy anime artwork that the Castlevania franchise has been stuck with for the past decade. I think the worst was the intro to Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow that was an actual anime cartoon with the cast of (fe)male and female characters. Enough with the anime! I'm not just talking about Castlevania either; I'm sick of seeing those big eyed blue-haired goofy looking people anywhere I see them. Oh, and the 4 frame-per-second animation has gotten really old too.
Rubang @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:16AM
To say that all homosexuals are feminine is an insult to both homosexuals and women, and completely ignores the large homosexual community that is super-buff and waxed and basically perfect and could kick your ass. Been to Hollywood? I'm sorry you only see feminine Queers on your TV. And to say that all feminine males are homosexual is an insult to anything Queer and anything female. Why is gayness bad? Why is girlyness bad? And what the fuck do they have to do with each other?
Thank you,
Rubang
kittynboi @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:13AM
""""I'm glad that I'm not alone in my dislike of that lousy anime artwork that the Castlevania franchise has been stuck with for the past decade.""""
ITs only had anime artwork since 2005.
The previous artwork was not anime influenced in any way whatsoever and does no resemble anime at all.
That was one of the whole points of this post, that the anime artwork was only adopted for the two most recent games.
Blue @ Dec 22nd 2006 9:10AM
Actually, Castlevania has had anime-style artwork from time to time. Legends, Rondo, and CotM also had such art.
Honestly, I have no problem with the current art, and I think everyone's spoiled for complaining as much as they do. Of course, maybe that's because I remember the days of the NES, when games like Megaman had art that went from plucky little robot to gimpy middle-aged man.
Just so long as the art doesn't look like THAT.
Also, I think anime-style art suits 2D sprites better. There is a level of...etherealness?...detail that the current level of sprites have been only able to capture in the slightest sense. Sprites are made colorful in order to stand-out, and that's just more color than Kojima's goth-elves would wear.
James @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:18PM
Jesus, you really can hand pretty much anything to a "feminine studies" student and have them find the hidden "queer culture" in it. "That Frosted Flakes box! The tiger's tail is such an obvious phallic symbol? And just what are the 'flakes' supposed to be 'frosted' with???" Get over yourself.
Yes, vampire stories started as allegories of sexual tension and lost virtue, etc., but in pretty much all the old stories it was a hypnotic (male) vampire preying on *females*, usually young virgins. It was a black-and-white analogy where the vampire represented the "beast" inside all men, the primal desire that Victorian sensibilities told us to repress. The horror stories warned young men of what could happen if they allowed the beast to roam, and warned young women to be alert for the beast hiding within apparently-human men. [For that matter, the "young virgins as victims" meme goes back into the years BC with Greek and Roman mythology, usually with the same moral.] After centuries of vampire fables, the monster became a stock charcter, and the sexual nature of the monster-victim relationship was lost in time. The vampire became a simple symbol of generic *evil*, and victims could be of either sex, as long as they represented *good*. Only in the minds of Queer Studies professors and students has the vampire's lair *ever* been "the realm of man-on-man longing."
As for the sword/whip thing -- yes, everybody and their momma has compared just about every weapon to a penis. Welcome to third grade. Just because they look kinda similar (if you squit, with your glasses off) does not make the symbolic connection relevant in all cases.
There are a number of perfectly logical, simple explainations (which Occam's Razor would suggest is correct) that do not involve hunting for the cock connection. The first Castlevania for NES could have given Simon a whip because it was more plausible than a sword of the same length (we hadn't yet seen FFX's Cloud -- I'm sure the "PHALLUS PHALLUS PHALLUS" talk flowed freely about that one), and giving the player a shorter weapon would have made the game substantially harder. A little IMDB search tells me that the first two Indiana Jones movies had come out a few years previous, so the idea of a whip-wielding adventurer was fresh in peoples' minds.
At any rate, "find the penis reference" might be a fun game to play at college, but in the real world, sometimes a rose is just a rose (not a symbol of the vagina/womb/"sacred feminine").
Aaron @ Dec 22nd 2006 6:05PM
I think making a big deal about whether the hero looks girly or not is beside the point. What matters is that the games (SOTN specifically) have beautiful artwork and phenomenal game play. Alucard is by far the smoothest, best looking, most fun to play, animated hero sprite ever created. I submit to you that he is a badass--not because he looks like hulk hogan--but because he is strong, fast, lithe, and smooth. Dante from DMC is cut from much of the same thread.
I don't think these games are homoerotic, in fact, I feel these heroes are badasses. Its not the clothes that make a man, its confidence, and masculine behavior. Independence, strength, agility, and character--These are some of the masculine characteristics that these heroes embody. Much like the uber-male Kratos from God of War, these guys don't take shit from anyone. The only difference is a lack of scars, more respect for women, and some fancy clothes. To me, the velvet and silk in their costumes are a way to artistically represent sophistication rather than femininity. Kratos was brought up as a warrior: thus he was represented artistically with scars and rugged features. Alucard and Dante were brought up in the wealthy aristocracy so they don a finer line of attire and physical traits. These characters are feminine only in their delicate facial features and elegant clothing. Everything else is all man. To me, preoccupation with this superficial androgyny and the subsequent labeling of it as homoeroticism is a manifestation of an inner shortsighted homophobia.
Arguably, homoeroticism could be characterized as masculine physical characteristics with inner feminine behavior--at least as manifest in western homosexual culture today. This scenario is the exact opposite of Alucard and Dante, who embody a refined external appearance with an inner masculine demeanor.
ari @ Jan 28th 2007 6:17PM
honestly, i dont think that it has anything to do with homoeroticism, gender confusion, or the like. they chose kojima for her dark and detailed art style. its simply the way she draws. i kind of feel like this whole thing is being fed, too far into. it may well be there, but her art style is simply that..
her style. its the way she draws. also, the androgenyous nature of the characters may be due to that, or their roles in the game. The vamipres, as you said, in humanly beautiful. Soma, given his role in the game, it makes sense. Alot of the images are fashion oriented also, as was said.
Its lovely work, either way, and as a fan of kojima, and of art itself, it should just be enjoyed. it suites the game, i think, and even if not.. its still lovely art, and is, indeed better than what is up there now. :/