Bayonetta's Ideology: Underlying Subtexts in Video Games and Gaming Culture

Video games have increasingly become a part of the cultural landscape in recent decades and this form of media has been dominated mainly by men. However, in the past several decades, the number of women that play video games has increased; causing many video game developers to try to reach and appeal to the female demographic. An example of one of these games that may be interpreted as appealing to the female and/or male demographic is Bayonetta. Bayonetta's image on the front of the cover box for the PS3 and XBOX 360 gaming consoles are a perfect example of Barthes' theory on the Photographic Message, Dyer's theory on lighting and ideology.

The image on the front of the box contains an attractive woman holding guns in a skin-tight leather outfit. She is also lit in certain areas facing the moonlight, but the right side of her face and other areas of her body have a shadow cast against her. The lighting on the front cover of the box says many different things. One way to interpret the lighting on the left side of her face and the shadow on the right side, is that she has a good and evil conscience. Another interpretation would be that the darkness of the night and the light of the moon bring a more balanced reflection of the light and shadows that surround her. This exemplifies that she is balanced in terms of all things that are “good” and “evil,” which are other forms of ideologies that exist in the realm of cultural and historical knowledge. It is interesting to note that Bayonetta is glowing in the moonlight, which brings a quote from Dyer's The Light of the World into mind: “Idealised white women are bathed in and permeated by light. It streams through them and falls on to them from above. In short, they glow. They glow rather than shine.” In the ideology of female protagonists in video games, they are often white, mainly European or Asian and are mostly dressed in skimpy outfits. Bayonetta's image is the “ideal” message because she is seen as attractive due to her glowing within the moonlight, appearing distinctively European and in a skintight outfit. The reality of this image is that some women and men do not feel the same way or hold this “ideal.” For instance, some men and women may ask “why does she have to be in a skimpy outfit if she is the heroine,” or “why does she have to be white or European when she can have darker skin and a different ethnic background?”

Some would interpret this image as a woman who is powerful and in control, while others would read the image as a form of violence that is sexualized since she is holding her guns while wearing her black, leather outfit. Within the ideological sphere of feminism, specifically third wave feminism, a woman who uses a weapon that is seen as a phallic symbol, is considered powerful and in control. Barthes' describes the symbolism of certain objects in images in the Photographic Message stating that “the interest lies in the fact that the objects are accepted inducers of associations of ideas or, in a more obscure way, are veritable symbols.” The guns act as objects that contain many different meanings to many different people. The guns that Bayonetta is holding represents what many interpret as a phallic symbol or a tool of violence. Guns in the cultural and historical context symbolize different things. Guns can be seen as dangerous, powerful, evil, masculine, violent, authority, respect and in some cases, sexual. One can see Bayonetta as being powerful, sexy and an authority figure because she is holding guns or can be seen as dangerous, evil and masculine.

The overall goal of the game itself is to appeal to a wide audience, especially women. The image on the other hand sends many different and conflicting messages, one of which can be seen as appealing exclusively to men and reinforce the ideas of patriarchy and misogyny.

-Maricruz Gonzalez