abstract€¦ · web view2014. 5. 15. · this study identifies reasons to further analyse race...

Race Representations In Battlefield 4: A Critical Analysis

Hakrul Islam

STUDENT ID: 3776539

ABSTRACT

This study identifies reasons to further analyse race representations within

contemporary video games, and the necessity for understanding the

implications of racial representations in new media technologies. The study

analyses one video game, Battlefield 4 (2013), to understand the ways in

which race is represented through creating and re-creating stereotypical

identifications of race within the video games. These representations are

highlighted through the positions given to each character white, black, Asian

etc. and analysed thoroughly due to the indications of previous studies, which

identified no negative representations of race. Visual methodologies are used

to analyse the video game Battlefield 4 (2013), including content analysis and

discourse analysis, in order to break down the text to identify race

representations and how they are formed. The results indicate that there are

indications of negative representations of race, especially the “other” in terms

of non- white within Battlefield 4 (2013).

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Dr Mafalda Stasi for her support, invaluable feedback and

help throughout my three years at Coventry University. Supporting me

through my studies and to be able to keep me laughing with her remarkable

and hilarious stories and hobbies, you are an educating ninja in my eyes.

Every APT I have had with you has been enlightening and comical as we both

can go off topic from what we are meant to be doing, I wouldn’t have asked

for a better tutor to guide me. Also I would like to thank the entire staff for

Communication Culture and Media course for an amazing experience and

irreplaceable teachings, you’re an amazing team and each and every lecture

has been strenuous but interesting due to your ecstatic nature for teaching

and learning. It has been an honour to work with you.

I would also like to thank Joshua Price, who even in his own predicaments

has always helped me through my second and third year of university

reinforcing my abilities. This was not only with university but also with my

personal life at home; I do not think I would still be in or finish university if I did

not have your support. You have become a close and amazing friend with a

big heart to never stop helping people and I consider you as a part of my own

family, as a brother, who I am indefinitely in-debt to you for your patience,

your compassion and your friendship. This will not be a farewell as I will

always be there for you as you have been for me and hopefully we will create

more epic memories such as Belfast. Holler at me homes.

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I would also like to thank all the friends I have made at university, to me you

are a new family I will miss, Adam Teighe who kept pushing me through first

and second year and our crazy overnight editing and vlogging. Jo Wilkins and

Liam Roberts for taking care of me, always were helping me with university

and at home. Also Team Belfast for sharing an amazing year and everyone I

have worked with in groups for an amazing experience with you that I will

never forget.

Also a big thank you to the creators of Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 3 for

creating an epic game that I have consumed weeks or months playing and

hopefully years to come. First Battlefield 3 as this was the game that got me

hooked, I absolutely will keep buying the games not only for the amount of fun

I have but also for being able to play the game as a way to get through my

time in university and for educational purposes.

Furthermore a big thank you to my older brother Moinur Islam, for always

supporting, recommending and advising me through my childhood and my

entire life to go beyond my expectations even when I was a hot headed little

devil. We have been through many situations, us against the world. You have

always been a role model to me and I will always look up to you even when

we exchanged blows but this has always made me and us stronger. I hope I

have made you proud of who I am now but I hope I make you proud of who I

will be in future.

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Finally, thank you to Heather Bradley for always being there, believing in me,

caring, loving and always helping me even if it was a small gesture. We have

been through thick and thin yet we always have prevailed. You have always

kept me smiling and taken care of me, thinking of me first when you should

have thought about yourself. Heather your heart has been my home away

from home, not just for university but also for everything. I can always trust

you to be there for me and with this degree I hope I can take care of you the

way you take care of me. I love you and I always will.

Table of Content

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s

Abstract...........................................................................................................2Acknowledgments..........................................................................................3Introduction....................................................................................................7Methodology.................................................................................................10Literature Review.........................................................................................14Analysis.........................................................................................................22Conclusion....................................................................................................51Reference List...............................................................................................55Appendix.......................................................................................................57

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Introduction

In this dissertation I will be looking at how race is represented within the game

Battlefield 4 (2013). Battlefield 4 (2013) was produced by Electronic Arts (EA),

an American company and the biggest games manufacture in the world for

2013 (Dietz 2014). I will be concentrating on the Campaign Mode, which is a

story mode for the game as there are online modes too. Analysing the

campaign mode will enable a more full understanding of the characters

established within the game, due to the ability to follow their individual

narratives and understand their representations and interactions. I will also be

looking at the technological shift and the affect that the rise of new digital

media platforms, such as consoles, have had on race representation. The

research I will be doing will be an up to date research project, differing from

previous research, as the game was released at the end of 2013 and

therefore no previous studies have examined the game Battlefield 4 (2013).

As the game is newly released and available on a variety of platforms

including the next generation of consoles, such as the XBOX One, it will be as

up to date as possible and keep the stage light on representations of race

both on old and new platforms. I will be playing the same game on the Xbox

360, because despite it now being out-dated by the XBOX One all game

content remains the same. I will be researching race representation within the

game Battlefield 4 (2013) by playing the game and using visual

methodologies and discourse analysis to give me qualitative data. My method

for analysis differs significantly from the majority of the previous research in

the field, which have largely yielded quantitative data and therefore only

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analysed numbers which do not give further meaning to the data or give

consideration to the affect which race representation can have on a wider

society. As a non-white researcher who plays video games regularly the

subject of race representation is important to me, as I am keen to understand

how racial stereotyping is perpetuated through new media platforms. The

work will only draw upon race representations within Battlefield 4 (2013)

specifically and therefore will not give an over view of race representations in

video games today, however with the game being both popular and recent it

will give an accurate view of some of the racial stereotyping perpetuated

within gaming. Previous research has found race representation to be

unbalanced statistically and similar to representations of race in old media. I

will therefore draw upon media artefacts, such as films and television series to

underline my findings as comparative. However, no previous research has

found representations of race in videogames to be negative, this is a

perception I am keen to explore as my previous experience with videogames

has led me to believe this is in fact untrue. I will discuss previous studies

further in my literature review in order to give the research a more grounded

context.

Battlefield 4 (2013) is set in 2020, after its previous game Battlefield 3, where

conflicts between Russia and America are great and tensions have also risen

with China now also placed at war. Admiral Chang is positioned as the main

enemy trying to over throw Chinese government, with the Russians agreeing

to back Admiral Chang if he accomplishes his goal to then go up against the

United States. The character I play is Sergeant Daniel Recker also referred as

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‘Reck’ who is part of a special team called ‘Tombstone’. Reck’s team

members are squad leader Staff Sergeant William Dunn, with second in

command Staff Sergeant Kimble Graves also referred as ‘Irish’ and a field

medic Sergeant Clayton Pakowski also referred as ‘Pac’. There are other

characters in the game that I team up with as missions alter each time and as

the squad leader sacrifices himself in the first mission. The other characters

include a CIA operative called Laszlo W. Kovic who is a character from the

previous game Battlefield 3, another character who is from the previous game

is Dimitri Mayakovsky also referred as ‘Dima’ who, it is revealed, still lives

after the nuclear detonation six years ago in the previous game in Paris. The

last significant character who I team up with is a Secret Service agent from

China called Huang Shuyi also referred as ‘Hannah’. The team Tombstone

are placed through missions in different areas from Baku, Shanghai, South

China Sea, Singapore, Kunlun Mountains, Tashgar and Suez to stop Admiral

Chang and the Russians from creating war. Throughout the dissertation I will

analyse how these characters are portrayed both in their physical qualities

and through their interactions with other characters and their environments. I

will study closely how ethnicity is communicated to the audience and the

representations that are associated with each ethnicity. The findings of my

results will be analysed alongside screenshots taken from the game in order

to provide a fuller picture. As to the degree to which race representations are

significant in communicating character identities through personality traits,

emotional responses and actions.

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Methodology

The way in which I will be analysing the video game Battlefield 4 (2013) will

be through visual analysis of the Campaign Mode. The campaign mode is the

story mode of the game, which you play as a single player platform and not

online as a multiplayer platform. I will be conducting my analysis through

various visual methodologies, which will include content analysis and

discourse analysis; also as I will play the game it will be an auto-ethnographic

study. Throughout I will pay attention to theories of orientalism outlined by

Said (1979) and Nakamura’s (2012) notions surrounding the construction of

identity.

Discourse analysis will be conducted on Battlefield 4 (2013) through the

examination of the prominent representations of race in the game. A

discourse analysis will enable me to understand the wider implications of race

representations in society. Representations of race and their implications for a

wider society will be understood in relation to representations of race in older

media such as films. Foucault’s (1977) analysis of discourse as an encircling

power, indicated by Rose (2012:193), will be used to understand the structure

of power implemented as a result of the representations of race in Battlefield 4

(2013). As discourse is precisely about meaning and connotations the

intertextual approach and the analysis of discursive formation, with the way in

which discourse is connected through a ‘system of dispersion’ (Foucault

1977:37) of connections of the elements of discourses will be vitally important

to my analysis.

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The major perspective of research will be a qualitative method due to the

nature of the study, as I am looking for the implications of race

representations in a wider society as opposed to statistical analysis’

previously conducted. Glatthorn and Joyner (2005) identify the characteristics

of quantitative and qualitative research methods; identify quantitative research

to be of a positivist epistemology looking at the objective reality through

numerical data. Glatthorn and Joyner (2005) suggest qualitative perspectives

highlight a phenomenological interpretation, drawing on the perceptions of the

individuals. Using Glatthorn and Joyner’s (2005) definitions of qualitative

research means qualitative research is ideal for context analysis in order to

outline the meaning behind the context. Qualitative research can also give

more meaning to quantitative data, supplementing and evaluating the

interpretations of quantitative data. Therefore a qualitative research method

will help me examine the phenomenology of race representations within the

video game Battlefield 4 (2013).

Content analysis will allow me to look at how the specific content of the game

has been constructed to present the race representations existent in

Battlefield 4 (2013). In order to examine the content I will utilise screen shots I

took of the game whilst playing it. These will be analysed thoroughly using the

theoretical frameworks outlined above, drawing up on Foucault’s (1977)

understanding of discourse in particular to highlight the ways in which content

contributes to discourses of racial stereotypes in society. Content analysis can

help cognise symbolic qualities of texts or images, or as Berger (1972:9)

states ‘the ways of seeing’. Berger’s (1972) understandings are accentuated

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by Rose (2012) to understand the way we view something means that we do

not look at one thing in isolation, but rather the relationship we have between

the thing and ourselves. The way we associate the text to ourselves will help

me to identify the representations of race within Battlefield 4 (2013) through

the compositional modality. The construction of the images within Battlefield 4

(2013) will be analysed through the connotations being projected, and their

impact on discourses (Foucault 1977) in a wider society.

Auto-ethnography uses an ethnographic approach but also entails the

reflection on ones own position within the data, through personal experiences

such as feelings and emotions (Hesse-Biber and Leavy 2010). Taking an

auto-ethnographic approach will not only help strengthen the analysis of the

data gathered in regards to cultural values, but will also allow my personal

feelings and reactions made whilst playing the video game Battlefield 4 (2013)

to be taken into account, in order to discern potential meanings and

repercussions for western society more generally. Analysis of the qualitative

data through an auto-ethnographic approach will also give further meaning to

the data on top of the initial connotations. As it will also require me to be

observant of myself and enable a further expansion on the dominant and

normative perceptions of society as a way to disrupt the dominant was of

seeing (Berger 1972). This will enable me to further analyse the race

representations with the video game Battlefield 4 (2013), through me playing

the Campaign mode (Story mode) of Battlefield 4 (2013) and give me a better

understanding of the narrative of the game, by understanding the feelings and

emotions I encounter. Auto-ethnographic analysis will be enabled by me

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recording the game in full, in order to later extract screenshots and review my

reactions to specific scenes, thus giving further meaning to the data.

Through analysing the video game Battlefield 4 (2013) I will gather qualitative

data through the visual methods outlined above including content analysis

and discourse analysis. I will also turn to auto-ethnography through reflection

on my recording of the game in order to strengthen my content analysis and

discourse analysis, in order to help me to identify the ways in which myself

and other games may relate to the text, aiding me in identifying race

representations within the video game Battlefield 4 (2013). Discourse analysis

will help me understand representations of race through the images gathered,

to analyse the construction of the structures of power (Foucault 1977)

implemented in the representations of race in Battlefield 4 (2013). Combining

the three methods for analysis outlined above will add further meaning to the

dominant and normative perceptions of race in video games, and serve as a

way of disrupting the ways of seeing (Berger 1972) to give further meanings

to the race representations in Battlefield 4 (2013).

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Literature Review

Key authors such as Nakamura (2012) point out that representations of race

on the Internet are by default understood to be white, and I’m going to make

the argument that this applies in video games too. Existing research on race

representations in video games suggests that the characters within video

games are highly underrepresented in games, compared to the actual real

world population drawn out. Williams (2009) highlights this in “the virtual

census: representation of gender, race and age in video games”; Williams

(2009) focuses upon the US population and games that are created within the

US, which helps identify how or who is being represented in games in

comparison to actual populations in US society. Williams (2009) finds these

percentages to closely correlate with representation results found in the media

such as television and films.

Understanding the correlation of representation in videogames and older

media will allow me to utilise the work of prominent media theorists, such as

McLuhan (1967) to understand the extensions and amputations of new media

technologies, in order to assert that whilst there may be a correlation in

representation, new media technologies add additional problems to the

representation of race. McLuhan (1967) argues that each form of media

technology offers both an extension and an amputation, with the amputation

often not being visible until it is irreversible. In the case of video games we

can consider the distortion of the audiences reality as an amputation of

gaming technology. When considering the distortion of the audience’s reality

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as an amputation of gaming technology, it becomes even more apparent how

important research into the representations within video games actually is.

Said’s (1979) Orientalism looks at how the Europeans shaped perceptions of

Orientals though using the notions theirs and ours. Said (1979) explains that

in ‘othering’ Orientals, Europeans defined the Orientals as uncivilized and

therefore defined themselves, as civilised. Said (1979) describes how the

Orientals were labelled as lazy, irrational and uncivilized whilst, through the

Orientals ‘othering’, the Europeans labelled themselves as active, rational and

civilised. The Orientalist was exposed to the Europeans as very romanticised

and exotic through writers and poets. Looking at Said’s (1979) Orientalism, I

will be able to identify the ways in which the creators of Battlefield 4 have

romanticised and exoticised other races, such as the Orientals, through the

creation of the labels given to the Orientals and how the characters are

developed along side to match the stereotypical labels given to the Orientals

in older media representations.

Dill, Gentile, Richter and Dill (2005) confirm the findings of Williams (2009)

with their statistics, which show over two-thirds of the main characters in video

games, were white. When we consider the games analysed are largely

marketed to a worldwide population, as opposed to an individual country,

these figures are not representative. Dill, Gentile, Richter and Dill (2005),

along with Williams (2009), whilst noting the lack of non-white representation

in games generally, do not consider how the characters that are non-white

which are included are represented. In addition both studies are quite dated

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focusing on previous generations of consoles including the original XBOX and

PlayStation 2.

Ferdig (2008) indicates that there is limited research into stereotypical content

in video games and the impact of such content on players. Ferdig (2008) also

identifies how fewer studies have researched racial stereotyping in video

games, and that existing studies found game designers created non-white

characters race and ethnicity as rather ambiguous, where characters that are

non-white are portrayed as bad. Ferdig (2008) also stated that previous

studies have not discovered minority groups to be depicted negatively. My

own research contradicts these findings and builds upon them, because not

only are the studies, which Ferdig (2008) cites out of date, due to the next

generation of consoles such as Xbox 360 being released but the games,

consoles, and stories also change in time. Developments within technology

have improved image quality, but also characters are now created to depict

more labels or personas, let alone being good or evil. Another aspect to

consider is that if, as Williams (2009) claims, the representations in gaming

are comparably similar to those within TV and older forms of media, then

considering current representations of ethnic minorities in such media

platforms more attention needs to be paid to the portrayal of ethnic minorities,

alongside their visibility. The roles which are played and represented for non

white people in the media are usually the villains, for example in the movie

‘The Last Air Bender’ (2010) where entire cast was created as white and the

villain to be of Asian (Indian) origin, despite the fact that the original books

and the cartoons show all of the characters are of east Asian origin, showing

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the white washing the story by Hollywood film producers. Ferdig (2008) also

acknowledges that educators are now considering video games as a

dominant tool in educating (Gee 2004, Gee 2003, Van Eck 2006); if video

games are becoming a powerful tool then the assertion of stereotyping of race

should be considered highly as a tool to mould minds, and the importance of

research into such areas cannot be debated.

Dill and Burgess (2012) look at the identification of race within the character

role in a variety of video games, platforms, and other media texts e.g. music

videos, films, and sports. Dill and Burgess (2012) consider the way in which

we, the audience, associate ourselves with characters: they then observe how

audiences identify race and come to understand the perceptions we have of

race to be influenced from the representations we get through the media.

Using Dill and Burgess (2012) study I can underline the influences and

responses within the game Battlefield 4 (2013) through the content analysis

and the roles in which the characters play both hero and villain, including

race. Nakamura and Chow-White (2012) use a variety of sources to provide

an in depth understanding of race after the internet, drawing upon work from a

variety of theorists (Jenkins 2008, McLuhan 1967) to understand how new

media technologies have created new demographic categories for us to

associate ourselves with and define ourselves by. Understanding the

influence that new media technologies can have over the audience’s

perceptions of these new demographics will be key in my analysis of the

representations of race in Battlefield 4 (2013). Nakamura (2012) looks into

Social Networking platforms (SNS) and other bodies of influence surrounding

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the Internet within SNS platforms. Nakamura (2012) also took insight from

studies of students within schools and how those students would represent

themselves within the categories that are provided by SNS platforms. Through

utilising the work of Nakamura (2012) I will be able to give an understanding

of how us the gamers identify and categorise themselves and others within

the roles given in the Battlefield 4 campaign, specifically in regards to race.

Shaw (2010) discusses discourses surrounding video game culture and the

power dynamics, which are influenced by the media, press and academic

articles, which have previously limited the findings of studies into video

games. Shaw (2010) additionally believes and considers that video game

culture should be of its own category, such as cultural studies is, because

video game culture has its own set of ideologies. As the study of games

draws from cultural studies this can give limitations to defining video game

culture (Fullerton, Ford Morie, & Peasrce, 2007 cited in Shaw 2010; Kline,

Dyer-Witheford, & De Peuter 2003 cited in Shaw 2010). Drawing on the ideas

of Shaw (2010) I will be able to identify the influences of the media and other

bodies surrounding the video game Battlefield 4. Shaw’s (2010) study will aid

me in determining meaning and ideologies behind race representation within

Battlefield 4 (2013). Additionally as my analysis is heavily content based and

also draws upon discourse analysis, identifying where the limitations of

studies are will help direct and give a understanding to other directions or

theories to take in account that previous studies have not.

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Jenkins’ (2008) convergence culture examines the ways in which the shift of

new technology has taken place and the influences it has had not only to the

audience but also to other media texts. Jenkins (2008) perceives the Internet

to be a gateway to an infinite amount of knowledge and data, placed into the

hands of pro-sumers due to its accessibility from mobile devices. The shift in

technology has not only changed the way in which we consume information

but also the way that we interact with other people such as SNS platforms.

Combining Jenkins’ (2008) work with that of Nakamura (2012), who identifies

SNS, as having created additional demographic labels and values we identify

by will enable a more theoretically informed analysis of video games than has

previously been conducted. Looking at Jenkins’ (2008) convergence culture

will help recognise not only how the media is consumed in today’s age of Web

2.0, but also how the game Battlefield 4 has moved forward from previous

studies inline with the technology shift. The technology shift has influenced

video game culture but also the technology itself as it is always advancing,

therefore as there is more definition, and detail given to every blade of grass,

so there is detail in our televisions and there are more definitions in the

meaning to the narrative and representations in the media, films, video

games.

Rose (2012) provides me with a variety of tools to implement in my framework

for analysis. Drawing upon Rose’s (2012) work in ‘Visual Methodologies’ I will

borrow from her frameworks for content and discourse analysis, to identify the

different potential perceptions that she discusses. Rose (2012) discusses both

dominant and normative perceptions within Visual Methodologies and both of

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these arise through first person shooter games, making Rose’s (2012) work

well suited to my analysis of Battlefield 4 (2013). The importance of discourse

analysis to Foucault’s (1977) notions surrounding power are highlighted by

Rose (2012:193) who states “discourse is saturated in power”. I will make use

of Rose’s (2012) work to provide a framework for my discourse analysis that

will enable me to understand the forms and structures of power implemented

and involved with race representations in Battlefield 4 (2013).

Observing previous studies of videogames has exhibited the overlooking of

negative representation of race as an important fact. The ways in which race

has been represented have remained unidentified or not seen, therefore not

all aspects of race have been studied, previous studies have merely focused

on the quantity of racial representations as opposed to the content of them

(Dill, Gentile, Richter and Dill 2005). From identifying this existing gap in the

current literature my analysis will be adding further studies into race

representation, identifying the ways in which race is represented both

negatively and positively. Additionally due to the nature of video games and

the technology shift identified by Jenkins (2008), the study on Battlefield 4 will

be significantly more up to date than previous research, as Battlefield 4 was

released near the end of 2013 and there is currently little to no research into

either Battlefield 4 explicitly or this generation of gaming consoles. Not only

will the research be an up to date study, but also as a non-white researcher I

will have a different relationship and understanding to the study than most

previous game researchers have had. Lastly as most existing researches

within video games have focused on quantitative research methods,

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producing statistics for their analysis, my analysis will be of a qualitative

nature, which will be rich in data, meaning unlike quantitative research

methods which do not give the full perspective and meaning behind data, my

research will. I will draw upon frameworks for analysis as outlined in my

literature review focusing heavily upon the work of Rose’s (2012) ‘visual

methodologies’.

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Analysis

Now using the methods outlined in my methodology and the academic texts

explored previously in my literature review, I will be analysing the screenshots

I collected from my campaign I completed in the game Battlefield 4 (2013). In

my analysis I will be paying close attention to the representations of race

within the game. I will first identify the main characters that I played as and

other team members or collaborators. Then I will turn my attention to how the

myself and audience identifies race and how the representations of race that

have been created for the characters draw upon the stereotypical discourses

prevalent in society. To highlight the prevalence of stereotypical race

representations in society I will draw comparison between representations

present in Battlefield 4 (2013) and representations of race in old and new

media artefacts.

When the game is loading, a short video is played of the heroes and some

action scenes (See Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 below). The introductory video

includes a white male soldier who is Sergeant Daniel Recker, the character I

play within the game Battlefield 4 (2013). The video also pictures soldiers of

the US army on foot and in jets. From the uniform you can see they are US

soldiers. Their nationality can be identified by the audience by the US flag

they have on their chest and arms. The audience can instantly recognise the

US soldier as white by their facial structure and skin tone, the soldier is

instantly recognisable to the audience as a key hero to the story and as

‘good’. As the game progresses, you play as a member of the US army,

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assuring that the player of the game has their identity set to white by default

(see figure 1), much in the way Nakamura (2012) describes default identity on

the internet as being set to white. Every member of your squad in the US

army, bar one is white, representing the dominant discourse of white people

as heroes and as powerful and governing.

Figure 1 (Battlefield 4 (2013))


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24

Figure 4 is the starting screen that is shown every time you play the game

Battlefield 4. The white male character in the middle is Sergeant Daniel

Recker who you play as the default character, which you cannot change, for

the entirety of the game. Recker is wearing military uniform and from the U.S.

flag on his arm and which you can see in Figure 1 and another US flag on his

chest which you can see better in Figure 3, the audience can identify Recker

as being from the US army. Recker is carrying a sniper rifle in his left hand

whilst holding a handgun in his right, he is also running towards you with

battle tank and infantry fighting vehicles, which are military vehicles driving

behind him with the entire image being blurred slightly and not Recker

therefore showing that he is the main character, the weaponry and military

tanks also connotes power as weapons are used for killing therefore a power

of taking life. Also another connotation that comes across is the American

idea where one man is all they need to fight enemies, as he is the only foot

soldier, shown in the image (Figure 4). Similarly in the American film called

Die Hard (1988) where the main character, which is a white male, and is a

police officer who single handily defeats the enemy (German terrorists).

25


The image above (Figure 5) is of a US soldier, who is white and male, named

Staff Sergeant Dunn. Staff Sergeant Dunn is on my team fighting with me

throughout the first mission. With short brown clean-cut hair and clean-shaven

face. This again reproduces the dominant discourses of the white male as

powerful, heroic and essentially ‘good’. Staff Sergeant Dunn dies in the first

mission and upon realising he is dying describes himself as taking one for the

team and frames his death as for ‘the greater good’. Sergeant Dunn’s death

portrays the white American as selfless, and courageous because he is willing

to sacrifice his own life for the good of his squad and country. Dunn’s act of

valour and courage can be seen as American patriots and especially in

American films, such as ‘The Matrix Revolutions’ (2003), where the heroes

are willing to sacrifice themselves. In ‘The Matrix Revolutions’ (2003) the main

character, the hero, ‘Neo’ sacrifices himself and is taken away by the

machines (enemy), which is a greater good for the world. Another recent film

called Red Dawn (2012) where the Chinese invades the United States and

take people hostage and the heroes father who is a policeman was captured

26

and forced to get his children to surrender, which he refused, and instead told

them to fight back and in turn sacrificed himself by being shot in front of his

children.


Figure 6 depicts a US soldier, black, male and is on my team fighting with me

through the missions. I am not given the option to play as the black male at

any point in the game, or given the opportunity to choose any other ethnicity

other than the assumed default identity of white. He uses a lot of swear words

or some slang terms such as above “Burn those motherfuckers” instead of

using terms white soldiers use such as take down the enemy. He is therefore

exoticised and stereotyped, his jaw is set as wide as is his nose and he is

represented in line with typical ‘old media’ representations of black males.

These representations highlight Williams (2009) point that video game

representations do largely correlate with the representations of ‘old media’

such as television or newspapers. The black character reproduces the

stereotypical ‘ghetto’ black male seen represented in western TV shows such

as Top Boy (2011) and films such as Adulthood (2008) where black males are

27

represented as overly aggressive and of a lower class than their white

counter-parts through excessive use of swear words, slang, body language

and general demine. In the movie Crash (2004) we see more stereotypical

representations of black males, when a white character questions a black cast

members speech and dialect, calling upon the director to assert that as a

black male he must speak in a certain way, to highlight his difference and set

him apart for white characters. Battlefield 4 (2013) ensures the preservation of

such stereotypes through the way the black character (Irish) talks, conducts

himself, and interacts with others and his surroundings.

In the first mission where Staff Sergeant Dunn, a white male character,

sacrifices himself for the greater cause relieves himself and puts Sergeant

Daniel Recker (Reck), another white male character, in charge instead of

second in command Staff Sergeant Kimble Graves (Irish). The appointment of

Recker as the new leader over Irish (who was previously ranked above him)

emphasises the dominant discourse of white supremacy within the game

Battlefield 4 (2013). In the military ranks are given to officers from Private to

Sergeant Major, with this in mind Reck the character I play is a Sergeant

whereas Irish is a Staff Sergeant who is a higher rank than Reck, this shows

that even though Irish is more qualified to take charge, Sergeant Recker a

lower ranked officer who is also a white male is given the role to take charge

of the team above a higher ranked officer which shows that white characters

have more authority and responsibility than other ethnic characters including

higher ranked characters.

28


All three men in the picture in figure 7 are US soldiers. The white man on the

right is a higher ranked soldier who gives orders to lower ranks such as the

men on the left. The two men on the left have the US flag on both their chests

and their arms. All higher-ranking soldiers and officers within the game are

white, demonstrating a narrative that only white people have the capacity to

make sensible decisions and preserve the life of their squad.


29

Figure 8 shows two men on guard. In the above picture (Figure 8) are two

U.S. soldiers, one man has a cap on the right and his face is slightly visible

and looks to be a white male. The man on the left has his face covered and

no skin showing so you cannot identify what race he is but you can identify

both men as U.S. soldiers by the U.S. flags on their chests and arms. This

scene humanizes the white characters, through the displaying of a hospital

scene in the background where we can clearly identify the white soldiers as

caring for the wounded. Such scenes try to show the compassion and

humanity of the American soldiers, showing that they have an emotional and

protective side, in trying to help others who are wounded. No such scenes are

shown of the enemy caring for their wounded, and the black soldier (Irish)

does not at any point participate in the caring for the sick, demonstrating an

attempt again to assert the default identity of ‘white’ as the ‘good’ or ‘better’

and other ethnicities as ‘bad’ or less important. This dehumanizes races other

than white by default, as through the omission of images of them caring for

their wounded the audience is left to assume they do not, despite the obvious

realties of warfare, which would suggest they do.


30

In Figure 9 is a black man wearing military uniform with the U.S. flag on his

right arm to identify he is US army. This screenshot is from a scene later in

the game, after the black soldier (Irish) rescues a large group of Chinese

civilians. This screenshot depicts Irish being chastised for this because he

was going against orders. The example of Irish breaking rules again creates

the stereotype that people who are non-white do not conform to societal rules

and regulations, as often in old media they are presented as villains or

criminals (for examples see Adulthood (2008)). Where as white people are

held up as heroes, despite the fact they would have left the Chinese civilians

for dead, because they are following orders. This screenshot demonstrates

that through his actions, Irish is ‘othered’ as being on the enemy’s side,

because he has saved them against orders. There is a strong resistance from

other members of his squad about Irish’s actions, saying that it wasn’t his

decision to make and that he has to follow orders (from his white superiors).

This also depicts other ethnicities as less worthy of recognition, and less

deserving of praise, despite the obvious good that Irish has done. Also

America has a known fear of communism, also known as the Red Scare for

the fear of a growth in communism, which could be seen by the actions taken

by the higher ranked offer creating the missions for Tombstone. The action of

penalising Irish as he makes a decision without clearance thinking its ok and

for the greater good which can be seen as a communist approach, also China

is a communist country and for Irish to save and take in civilians of China is

allowing communism to take place in the US military, which runs counter to

their goals to eradicate the enemy.

31


This screenshot (Figure 10) shows Irish again resisting instructions from his

white superior, by refusing to take along a Chinese agent on a mission.

Throughout the game at no point do any of the white soldiers question

decisions from higher up, indicating Irish’s deviance from the social norms of

the army. Irish continues this disobedience and deviance throughout the

game, so that despite his positioning as on the ‘good’ side, he is still seen as

deviant and strongly differentiated from the white members of the squad. This

can be tied in to Said’s (1979) notion of orientalism, which marks the

difference between the west and the east as the ‘civilized’ vs. the ‘uncivilized’.

Taking into account Said’s (1979) notion of orientalism we can understand

Battlefield 4 (2013) as positioning Irish as ‘uncivilized’ through his ignorance

of instructions, despite him being part of the U.S. Army and the ‘good’ guys,

so that he is still seen as less civilized than his white comrades.


32

Figure’s 11 and 12 are of a squad from the U.S. military. The first man with

the hat is a white male (Figure 11) and with the second man whilst you cannot

identify the ethnicity you know from the mans who’s face is covered (Figure

12), they are from the U.S. army because of the U.S. flag on the arm of the

person who’s face is covered. In Figure 11 above is a white man in military

outfit and hat. The audience can identify that he is within a garage because of

the red tool box in the far left and when I was playing I was dragged in

through garage door, which rolled up, and a back down. In figure 12 The man

in figure 11 is also present, with his team members in the back left, in Figure

12 below which is a close up of the man on the left in figure 11 who is working

on a laptop; the man is in military gear and helmet with his face covered and

goggles on and therefore the audience are unable to identify ethnicity, but he

has the U.S. flag on his left arm which indicates the team is U.S. army and

during the mission they were undercover in enemy territory collecting

information and deleting what they have already reported back to the U.S.

army. This identifies the U.S. army as proactive and conscientious in ensuring

that their intelligence does not fall into the ‘wrong’ hands, in this case the

33

hands of the other armies they are fighting against. This identifies the ‘others’

(who are distinctively different in ethnic appearance) as dangerous, uncivilised

and without the capability to gather their own intelligence, as the U.S. Army

perceives them to rely on stealing their intelligence in order to continue their

perceived attack. Avoiding the visibility of the characters face demonstrates a

dehumanization of him, and implies he is insignificant to the development of

the main story.



34

In Figure 13 above the female soldier in the middle is a higher ranked officer

from the U.S. army. She is white and has military outfit on with the U.S. flag

on her arms. The woman on the left is a Chinese woman called ‘Hannah’

which you can see in Figure 24 better. Hannah is wearing a military uniform

but does not have any identification as to which military group she works for,

as she is a double agent working primarily for china and the U.S. against

Chang, the ultimate enemy. The depiction of an obviously east Asian

character as playing a double agent racially stereotypes them as deceptive

and again, deviant. This promulgates the idea that white people are trust

worthy and reliant; where as people of other ethnicities are not. Battlefield 4

(2013) enforces ideas of white supremacy through relying upon depicting

other ethnicities as deviant, less reliable and uncivilised like how Said (1979)

describes orientalism. The man on the left is ‘Irish’ from Figure 9, he is slightly

slouched and so is Hannah like they are lowering their head to their superiors,

as the white Female soldier in the middle is standing straight and firm like she

has authority. Although Hannah and Irish were running and fighting a few

moments ago, before the scene above, seen in figure 13. This demonstrates

35

the power that white people in Battlefield 4 (2013) are depicted as having,

even over their comrades, purely because of their ethnicity. People of other

ethnicities are continually depicted as reliant on their white comrades for

instruction and guidance, and as less worthy of recognition for their actions,

such as the American film ‘Anna and the King’ (1999) where the main

character has to have her head lower than the kings head at all time to show

the kings superiority is greater than everyone and this is also done in various

other cultures to show respect and bow.


In Figure 14 I was in a tutorial showing me what I can do to help me complete

the game, I had to tag the enemy to give my team the permission to attack/fire

at the enemy. In the picture above you are not able to identify what country or

army or who the enemy are as they are far away. Although from the uniform

36

you can see they are Russian, the team members also identified them as

enemies on encountering (explained in the subtitles) and then I had to tell my

team to engage by pressing RB (Right bumper on the control pad). The man

on the right is Irish from Figure 9 and the man on the left is Sergeant Dunn

from Figure 5 who is also aiming his assault rifle at the enemy, which was

another indicator for me to know who the enemy are. Throughout the game I

took instruction from white figures of authority and was reliant on them to

know what to do, and who to identify as a target. This demonstrated again

that Battlefield 4 (2013) asserts white males as dominant, rational and reliant.

There are no instances where I solely rely upon Irish for my instructions, and

no instances where characters of other ethnicities give me orders without the

approval of their white comrades.


In Figure 15 above, I was in a tutorial where I was told to engage the enemy

to shoot at them by my team members identifying by describing what direction

the enemy was coming from, this was to help one team member who was on

route to meet us. Although I was told to engage the enemy I was still unsure

37

to who the enemy was, until I was told which directions to look and when the

fire fight started and watching the enemy hide to fire at us. From the uniform

the enemy is Russian military. The enemy is always identified by them

opening fire, the Americans are never presented as engaging in fire first,

immediately identifying that they are superior and only acting in defence. This

again highlights other ethnicities as aggressive, violent and unnecessarily

intrusive.


In Figure 16 I used a gadget given to me by one of my team members called

PLD (Portable Laser Designator), which laser paints targets while lock is

maintained (Knight et al., 2013). The designator enables friendlies with missile

systems to lock on to the targeted vehicles. This also lets me identify the

38

enemies more easily and showed me where they are as you can see above

the orange figures with arrows on top. This was helpful because I still wasn’t

able to identify the enemy from afar until I got close range to them.

Technology like this demonstrates that for the U.S. army removing the enemy

is of paramount importance, identifying them as dangerous and a threat to the

wellbeing of the squad. Access to such technology also paints the U.S. army

out as being more well developed, advanced and sophisticated than the

enemy showing that they are more powerful over-all and supreme.


In Figure 17 above, the man I melee (which is defined as a confused fight or a

scuffle on the internet but in the game it means to stab with a knife) was a

Russian soldier. I could identify his nationality from the uniform he was

wearing with the Russian flag on his arm and he is also white and had a

39

helmet on. Additionally the noses of the Russians are larger, longer and more

defined than their U.S. counter-parts, marking them as different to the white

members of the U.S. army. The enemy is also quite realistic with good

definition to his face and shows a reaction of being confused and shocked as I

stabbed him. The enemies eyes are also looking straight at me as if they were

looking into my own eyes, which is rather disturbing or made me feel

distraught every time I did this to the enemy as I knew it was a game but the

realism given made me feel as if I had actually done this. Although the

Russian man is the enemy within the game I did not like the feeling of thinking

it was real, and the emotional value as if I had killed a real man. I believe no

one should kill no matter what has happened from how I have grown up, and

whilst I do not mind fighting, killing I am against, so the realism of me stabbing

in the game threw me off as I was only thinking it was a game.


In Figure 18 above I was in an elevator and on an undercover mission that

was accidently blown straight away as we encountered enemy by going to the

wrong floor. The way I identified the enemy was by the marker in the middle of

40

the screen, which is a slightly arched line, which follows the enemy in which

direction they are. The curve makes it easy to identify the enemy, making this

an important part of the game. Constructing the enemy as something

important for the player to identify renders them dangerous and necessary

targets to be killed. The enemy was also wearing a gas mask of some sort, on

their arms was the Chinese flag and they were also wearing the Chinese

military uniforms. The man on the left is Irish from Figure 9 who is wearing

casual clothing, as the mission was undercover. Irish is depicted wearing a

brown leather jacket buttoned up and is under cover behind the elevator wall

from the enemies in the building.


In Figure 19 is a man who I melee, he is a in the Chinese military which is

identified by the uniform he is wearing and the gas mask and the flag that is

on his uniform. The melee attack this time unlike the previous in Figure 17 is

less emotionally involving as the man’s face is covered and therefore not as

41

affecting when attacking. The enemy wearing a gas mask again dehumanizes

them and makes the loss of life less disturbing to the audience. The conveyed

importance of killing the enemy also ensures that the audience feel they are

fighting for the ‘good’ side, and therefore constructs the other ethnicities,

which must be killed, as hostile, inhumane and dangerous.


In Figure 20 the man who I melee is a Chinese military which is identified by

the uniform he is wearing and the flag that is on his uniform. The enemy can

also be identified as Chinese in this case by the stereotypical facial features of

the slightly narrow eyes and wide nose, combined with the slightly tanned

42

yellow skin tone to construct him as different and unquestionably east Asian.

The flag on his uniform confirms to the audience he is Chinese.


Here (See Figure 21) the enemy is wearing a gas mask (also see Appendix’s

2 and 3 for different examples) and black combat uniform with the Chinese

flag on the left arm, therefore without seeing his face you know the enemy is

Chinese. The mask again serves to dehumanize the enemy for the audience

so that there are no facial expressions to read, and no person to become

emotionally invested in. The fact that the enemy is armed also enables the

audience to legitimize the killing as he is armed and presented as a threat to

the squad and to your own life. The fact that in the game we have to destroy

the enemy’s airfield shows that the enemy are heavily armed, and thus gives

them the ability to cause significant damage were we not to kill them. Again

this legitimizes the killing to the audience as they feel they are preventing

further loss of life and avoiding a threat to their own, white, country.

43


Here (Figure 22) I was able to identify the enemy on the left (the three people

standing two male and one female in the middle who is Hannah the double

agent) as previously in the mission I encountered the Chinese army, which I

was fighting. They were identified previously from the Chinese flag on their

uniform and the stereotypical facial features, which confirm their ethnicity. The

Caucasian person lying on the floor is Pac and the black man kneeling on the

floor next to him is Irish who are on my team as the heroes. The three

Chinese people on the left are pointing their guns at us and this shows

portrayal of power from the enemy over the heroes, who are injured or

knocked out and trying to tend to the wounded which portrays a negative

image for the enemy. The enemy here is presented as hostile and inhumane,

because they are armed and prepared to shoot someone who is already

injured. Due to the construction of the enemy throughout the game as

negative, and a force that must be destroyed, if the roles were reversed the

image would have significantly different connotations. The U.S. army would

likely be presented as being triumphant and committed to their mission to

44

ensure the safety of themselves and the wider American population, whilst

here we recognise the Chinese as being malicious and showing no human

compassion or value for life.


In the picture above (Figure 23) the man lying unconscious on the floor is on

my team as the hero, he is wearing military outfit with the U.S. flag on his left

arm. The people standing and pointing the guns at the U.S. soldier are the

enemies and have the Chinese flags on their uniforms. Irish is knocked out

45

demonstrating him as weaker than me, his white comrade, as he is the first to

be knocked down in the confrontation after Pac is injured.


In Figure 24 the woman on the left is Hannah who is a double agent; first she

was working for the U.S. as a Chinese spy, then as a U.S. Spy for china, but

at the end of the game she was again a spy for the U.S. The story

surrounding Hannah creates a mistrust of other ethnicities as she is presented

46

as deceitful and untrustworthy. She is Chinese and so presented as slightly

tanned. The soldier on the right can be seen immediately to be Chinese by

identification of the Chinese flag on his left arm on his military outfit, also from

his facial structure and skin colour you can see he is Chinese as he is

depicted as tanned. Hannah also apologises to me ‘Recker’ who I played as,

before knocking me out in this scene, as the team does not know she is a

double-double agent. This again creates an air of mistrust surrounding

Hannah and the Chinese, and presents her non-white ethnicity as dangerous

and misleading.


The man in front (see Figure 25) at first glance through stereotyping the

slightly narrow eyes and wide nose and slightly tanned skin you can say he is

Chinese, but through the story you also know he is Chinese. The man in the

back on the right is also a Chinese man but can be identified by the audience

47

as a businessman due to his dress, as in movies businessmen wear suits,

military men wear combat outfits and gears and black uniform and so on for

defining the Chinese people; such as Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) where the

stereotypical views of a Chinese businessman are typically wearing grey

business suits and the way in which the enemy is always depicted in the dark,

giving an evil ominous look to them such as the enemy ‘Doom’ in Fantastic

Four (2005) which creates the Identity of the enemy and in this way this

portrays the Chinese in Battlefield 4 as evil and ominous.


The man sat down behind the Chinese man depicted in Figure 26 is named

‘Irish’ he is identified as an African American by stereotyping his skin colour

as black and the uniform he wears and as he is also on my team the U.S. In

this scene Irish and I are interrogated. Irish is the only person to engage in

conversation, threatening the interrogator. Rather than presenting Irish as

brave and courageous because of previous representations in the game, and

racial stereotyping, Irish is instead constructed as hot headed, irrational and

48

unable to keep calm in difficult situations. My ability to remain calm and not

say anything is presented as a supremacy over Irish. The escape of my

character is presented to me by a white male, giving me a shank (a

sharpened blade), which is identified by Irish later in the game as Russian.

Here we are again reliant on the white characters of the game to overpower

the enemy.

Through the analysis and the data gathered for identifying race

representations in Battlefield 4 (2013), I have been able to draw out the

different discourses and stereotypical representations of race. There have

been a number of positive and negative discourses on race representations,

especially the negative representations of black male characters within

Battlefield 4 (2013). Which in contrast to previous studies where there has not

been negative representation identified, which has given a different perception

to how characters have been developed and especially through the

improvement in technology. The significant qualitative data about the negative

representations of other ethnicities, Chinese and Russian in Battlefield 4

(2013), apart from the white characters, the others are created to be negative

even within the team (Tombstone) of heroes with the black character (Irish).

Whilst the white characters to be selfless in the way they will sacrifice

themselves for the greater good, such as Staff Sergeant Dunn (Figure 5) who

not only in the first mission had to cut off his right leg, but also sacrificed

himself in the car in the water by telling the team to shoot the window to

escape and leave himself behind, this act of valour has been reproduced in

many old and new films like The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and Red Dawn

49

(2012) of the patriotic American. The enemies within the Battlefield 4 (2013)

are created into negative discourses and stereotypes and the way in which

the scenes are such as Figure 25, where the Chinese businessman dressed

up and in the dark not showing his face whilst interrogating the character I

play. Also in Figure 22 where the team Tombstone is captures and the

creation of the scene with the heroes on their knees tending to their injured

comrades and then ambushed and knocked out, as the enemies tower over

the heroes creating a negative image where as if it were reversed the

emotions would be different like triumphant Americans. Also the creation of

masking the enemy (see Figures 18, 19 and Appendix’s 2 and 3), to

dehumanize and legitimize the actions of killing the enemy taking away

emotion and reasoning from the player, and the thought to be the players

actions as “right”. The way in which the hero Irish the black male character in

team Tombstone is created to be not only a hero but also someone who

defies orders which are seen negatively by his superiors and comrades; the

way he walks and his posture typically of the ‘ghetto’ ‘black’ male characters

of films previously created such as Adulthood (2008) or close to the extreme

version of black males from the ghetto such as Mr T from the A Team (2010)

who uses slang words, physical and brute force, going against orders and

being a “BADASS” as I would say. Another extreme stereotypical film for

identifying the Chinese would be Team America: World Police (2004) that

created and used puppets where the facial feature such as the eyes to be just

lines because Chinese people have slightly narrow eyes or the business man

wearing grey suits and the way in which the Chinese puppets talk made fun of

and extremely overly racially stereotyped through their accents.

50

Conclusion

The study that I have conducted in regards to race representations within the

video game Battlefield 4 (2013) has shown stereotypical representations of

race also found in older media texts continue to be promoted, through video

games such as Battlefield 4 (2013). During my analysis I have used methods

for analysis including visual methodologies, discourse analysis and contrasted

representations of race within Battlefield 4 (2013) with those found in older

media texts to assert that stereotypical representations of race continue to be

prominent within Battlefield 4 (2013). I have highlighted problems with

previous research into race representations in video games, which previously

found no negative representations of race where present. I argue that

negative representations of race are prominent within Battlefield 4 (2013) and

therefore more research should be conducted in the area, to understand the

ways in which negative representations of race are conveyed through new

media such as video games. I have come to my conclusions through the

utilisation of rich qualitative data collection, gathered through an auto-

ethnographic account of my experiences playing Battlefield 4 (2013), and

through visual and discourse analysis of screen shots included in the body of

my text. Throughout I have underpinned my findings with cultural theories

surrounding ‘otherness’ (Said 1979) and representations of race online

(Nakamura 2012) in order to understand the way in which the representations

I have found impact a society, giving my research a more ground context. The

research that I have conducted has been self-reflexive due to my specific

subject position, where I am situated as a researcher and as a non-white

52

video gamer. My subject position has contributed to my research as I am

drawing upon my own experiences to interpret the analysis of the race

representation within Battlefield 4 (2013).

Through the analysis I was able to highlight key signifiers of race

representation, which were constructed and reproduced within Battlefield 4

(2013). The masking of the faces of non-white or non-American enemies

created an emotional detachment for the game player and served as a way to

legitimise their killing. The use of masks to cover the enemies’ face was

repeatedly created to enable the audience to feel less emotional connection

with the person being killed. The audience is disconnected in emotion,

through dehumanising the enemy and therefore legitimizing their killing. This

coincides with old media stereotypical representations, as commonly enemies

are signified through the wearing of masks, such as “Doom” in Fantastic Four

(2005). Masks serve to hide facial features, so you cannot identify them.

The ways that the enemies are created in Battlefield 4 (2013), not only

visually, but through narrative too, serves to further enable the legitimization

of eliminating the enemy. The narrative of the campaign mode in Battlefield 4

(2013) shows the enemy possessing powerful military forces which they

intend to use to attack the United States, creating a fear and threat so that

killing the enemy becomes a heroic act and a way to protect America and

innocent civilians. The way the narrative is visually communicated through the

graphics humanises the U.S. Army so that the audience develop an emotional

attachment to the characters; far more detail and depth is shown in their facial

53

expressions and structures. Examples of the humanising of U.S. soldiers

include when the heroes fall and show humane compassion and care for their

comrades, as shown in Figure 8 & 22. In this sense the U.S. army, and the

gamer’s specific squad, Tombstone, become constructed as humans, whose

lives are less expendable.

The recreation of the patriotic white American male models demonstrated

through Battlefield 4 (2013) as the characters fighting for the “good cause”, to

defeat terrorists and enemies which are a threat to their nation is also

prevalent in many old media artefacts, such as in the films Die Hard (1988),

where there is a one man team against all evil. When Die Hard (1988) is

contrasted with Battlefield 4 (2013) we can see this one man now being

presented as one team; one team to eliminate and defeat the animalistic

enemy who are depicted as having no emotions, and being a major threat to

national security, as they are the against the U.S. The White male characters

have been created to follow orders and be selfless and die in the act of valour

as a patriotic American.

Irish is the only black character in Tombstone, and the only black character at

all in the game Battlefield 4 (2013). Irish is signified as black to the audience

through highlighting stereotypical race characteristics also prominent in old

media artefacts. Irish’s speech is less polished and more aggressive than his

white comrades, and his actions are often portrayed as reckless and risky.

Irish was created and portrayed to play as a soldier for America, who opposes

and challenges the authority of his white superiors within the video game

54

Battlefield 4 (2013). The ways in which Irish opposed his superiors was in his

view for a good cause to save lives or to keep his team safe, but throughout

the game Battlefield 4 (2013) Irish’s decisions are portrayed as ‘bad’,

dangerous and irrational. Irish was the only person to oppose orders or speak

out against authority, making sure everyone knew his opinions were put

through and known. In this way Irish’s personality was also constructed to be

a key signifier of his non-white ethnicity, with repetitive actions of defying

orders from the heroic, patriotic, white male characters portraying him as

deviant and defiant. We can compare Irish’s deviance to Said’s (1979)

description of orientalism so that we can consider Irish as ‘othered’ and

‘marked’ as different through his racial representation.

Through my analysis of Battlefield 4 (2013) I have observed how default

identity is set to white within Battlefield 4 (2013), much like how Nakamura

(2012) describes identity online. I have also been able to see how Battlefield 4

(2013) conforms to stereotypical old media representations of race, and how

these representations are created and re-created through both visual and

narrative signifiers within the game. In this sense it is clear that issues present

within both old and new media platforms converge in video games to

compound problems for stereotypical race representation in the media. My

findings have indicated that more research into representations within video

games is necessary to understand the new implications for racial

representation within new media technologies.

55

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Appendix

Appendix 1 (Battlefield 4 (2013))


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In the picture above (Appendix 2), from the uniform you can see the enemy is

Chinese military from the gas mask and the previous images shown, but you

cant see the skin colour and from the uniform you can only identify them.

Again masks and military uniform are used to dehumanize the enemy and

legitimize their killing.


In the image above (Appendix 3) the enemy pointing the gun at us are

Chinese from the stereotypical features as skin colour and eyes you can see,

also the Chinese flags on there military outfits. The two on the right are

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wearing black gas masks and the one with the shotgun on the left of the

masked men has no mask.

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abstract€¦ · web view2014. 5. 15. · this study identifies reasons to further analyse race...

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