How Bayonetta Breaks Female Tropes in Video Games
The Bayonetta series has gained popularity since its debut in 2009. However, many SJWs criticized the game for being “fan service”. In fact, in a lot of ways, it is empowering women, from its design, its narrative and overall character development. While it is true that most female video characters are highly sexualized to market to a highly male demographic, Bayonetta, our heroine, is an exception for numerous reasons; 1) Hideki Kamiya, its creator, consulted a lot of his female staff, from the aesthetic design of the space to the weapons and accessories used in the game, 2) Bayonetta was designed from a female perspective as it was designed by Mari Shimazaki and 3) it is just sexiness done right.
Hideki Kamiya had a vision for another video game since Devil May Cry, but this time he decided on a female protagonist as there was already an abundance of male characters in video games. He finally settled on a gun wielding witch, with no memories of her past (only remembers being a witch), trying to discover more about herself. To give Bayo life, he entrusted Mari Shimazaki to design her. Aside from her physical aspect, they also consulted a lot of folklore, as Bayonetta has the ability to summon demons with her hair; this is a direct reference to European folklore, as it was believed that, witches draw their power from their hair, and the language used in her summons is invented by Queen Elizabeth I’s numerologist, John Dee, named Enochian. It is said that Enochian was the language used by Enoch to communicate with angels, however, some critics of John Dee, labelled them as a language used to summon and communicate with devils.
There have been a lot of female video game characters, however, it is only Bayonetta that has her own title. Sure, most of them are powerful and empowering in their own way, but they are not main protagonists of their own games. Aside from that, most of them result to “fan service”, meaning they serve to sell to the male demographic through oversexualization, such as the case for Ivy Valentine from the Soul Calibur series, where in spite being a noblewoman and scientist, her design does not match her noble status and academic stature, with that said, she, among others, is objectified. What Bayonetta did right, was that the narrative matches her design, yes, she was sexualized, but it was not used as a form of entertainment nor objectification, it sends a message that women can freely express their sexuality, but at the same time commanding respect. This what sets Bayonetta from the rest of the video game characters, she is empowering and fights her struggles without the aid of a male character, as most video games do, like Peach or Zelda.
To conclude my article, Bayonetta gives representation to empowered women, not only that, she also empowers other women to stand up for themselves. Aside from that, she is breaking the damsel in distress trope that has been the narrative for most stories, since the conception of western society. This paves the way for creating more confident, strong and independent female characters. Also, her sexuality is used as a power, rather than pleasing a certain demographic, this aspect makes her appealing, because for so long, western society has taught us to be ashamed and for a time repress it. To me, it is liberating to see a character use her sexuality as a superpower and it is beautiful at the same time, because like I said, she is not being objectified, but rather being respected for who she is as a character.
