Topic > Feminism: The Elusive Female Figure in Firewatch

The digital game Firewatch adheres to the adventure game genre by exhibiting tropes that align it with the story of the journey. The protagonist, Henry, takes a summer job as a forester in an attempt to escape from his personal tribulations. The game descends from the fantasy of an idealized heteronormative lifestyle to the tragic reality of Julia's early onset. Henry's Alzheimer's and DUI conviction. Henry is seized by society and confined to the watchtower upon arriving in the forest. Henry's only and elusive companion, Delilah, is never physically depicted on screen, yet she delegates Henry's daily tasks. Henry's predilection for frontier life is irrelevant as the game is structured as a walking simulation. The structure of the simulation becomes increasingly disturbing with the initial breaking of the window. (Campo Santo). The player is subsequently juxtaposed between two genders for the remainder of the game. The game recycles horror clichés to offset the placid nature setting. Firewatch resolves with the annihilation of the forest and the reemergence of Henry and Delilah into society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Firewatch implores the narratological lens of feminism in discerning the thematic aspect of the game. Campo Santo attempted to illustrate the process of male maturity through the challenges imposed by the incendiary terrain. Henry is forced to flee the environment when the metaphorical trials are completed. According to gender studies scholar Evan Watts, digital games set in anti-utopian societies with domineering male protagonists often replace male-influenced tropes of protectionism and assignment of control to foster female autonomy. Although Campo Santo appears to uphold the conventional clichés outlined by Watt as masculine idealism, the feminist perspective of empowerment subverts the initial imagery of masculinity. The dialogue options in Firewatch reflect an interplay between masculine tropes and the disillusionment of masculine tropes to provide a feminist critique of emancipation. The article “Ruin, Gender and Digital Games” by Evan Watts is central to the gestation of women's rights by subverting democracy in conventional digital gaming societies to expose their misogynistic norms. Watts uses three paradigms that demonstrate the fallacy of patriarchy in characterizing women: “Bioshock, Fallout 3, and Silent Hill” (Watts 253). The paradigms contribute to the generation of two integral concepts that characterize masculine idealism: protectionism and allocation of control. The notion of protectionism is the requirement of a male figure to preserve a woman's innocence from the corruption of society. The assignment of control addresses men's repression of women's desires to maintain their depot power over women. Dichotomous concepts are expressed in the feminist perception of Firewatch. In the preamble of Firewatch the player is given dialogue options that frame Henry's personality and systematic choices for the rest of the game. The framed narrative precedes with linear anticipation until the deterioration of Julia's condition accelerates. The game offers Henry the opportunity to duel to deal with Julia's serious illness. “You decide to place her back in a full-time care facility or you decide to take care of her on your own” (Campo Santo). The designated options embody the philosophy of male protectionism in men who wish to suppress the emergence of female independence. The repercussions of the decisionHenry immortalizes Julia's victimization. Julia's departure for a nursing home reinforces the importance of Watts's associations with femininity. “Marginalize women by forcing them into roles of domesticity, passivity, and subordination” (Watts 250). Campo Santo faJulia, victim of a terminal illness, investigates the defrauding of women through the denial of their vocal presence. This last option describes a similar example of female oppression, Henry plays the ubiquitous male protector role as Julia's caretaker. The protector model is governed by patriarchy in prescribing to men the inherited traits of strength, tenacity and infallibility; giving credence to their protection over women. Campo Santo defines Julia through Henry's perception by denying the revelation of Julia's feelings about her infirmity. Julia's transparency is systemic to a society that values ​​male intuition and hinders women's intelligence. The trope of subordination is the raison d'être of the Patriarchy in Firewatch and evolves to address Julia's outward obedience to Henry. Watts examines the digital game BioShock as an epithet to remedy the nefarious potential of male supervision. The presentation of female characters in Bioshock is that of children or “Little Sisters”. The Little Sisters embody the cliché of victimization in their artificial disfigurement and their need as children to be guided by a male parental figure (Watts 253-255). The Little Sisters parody Julia in their apparent return to the infantile stage. The metaphor of the little girl is adequate to satisfy a visual representation of women's inferiority. Firewatch is effective in subverting the conservative male model by replacing Julia as a burden to Henry. The uniform consequence of the previous scenarios is Henry's negligence in facilitating Julia's care. Henry's lethargy in rehabilitating Julia is symptomatic of the failed implementation of the patriarchal practice of paternalism. Campo Santo provides options that outline Julia's rescue from a male overseer who traps her in a state of desolate incompetence. “Put a chair in front of the bedroom door or you can trust him to sleep like a log” (Campo Santo). In the first option presented, Henry's paternalistic influence is limited; instead of frequently surveilling Julia and preventing her from leaving the room, he grants Julia limited autonomy to arbitrarily seal the room. “Put a chair in front of the bedroom door” (Campo Santo). Julia is temporarily stripped of her metaphorical childhood as she has the potential to escape the room. The beneficial repercussions of Julia's exit from the room coincide with the patriarchy's digression on the constraints imposed on women. The chair functions as a metaphor for increasing female mobility despite the ever-present obstacle of patriarchy. The chair is subsequently dichotomous of defined and indefinite barriers in the hypothetical potential to contain or hide Julia. According to Watt's deconstruction analogy. “The demolition of such a building signifies a liberation from an oppressive culture” (Watt 250). Henry's weak strengthening of the door is the beginning of the destabilization of the patriarchal injunctions that transform women into the position of devoted family members. The second paradigm deposed by Campo Santo orchestrates Julia's absolute liberation from the paternalism that the room symbolically provides. “Trust me, he sleeps like a log” (Campo Santo). Henry undermines the security purpose of the door in his ineptitude to ask for the lock. According to Watts “The absence of existing architectural boundaries coincides with a deficiency in suppressing women from a harmful society” (Watts 250). Henry's faith is restored inJulia, believing that she is capable of existing independently of a designed symbiotic paternalistic relationship. The reemergence of trust in women means the need for men to conform to the role of protector is diminished. Women are elevated to the status of individuals and are removed from their trivialized interpretation of children. The game digresses into the extent of male protectionism with the simultaneous progression of the narrative. Firewatch shows consistency with BioShock in underlining the theme of misogynistic protectionism as the narrative progresses. According to Watts, the game overturns the practice of male power jurisdiction that has confused society and returns supremacy to women. “The overtly patriarchal image of the woman needing the protection of the male is disrupted by the fact that the Big Daddies are subordinate to the Little Sisters” (Watts 255). The fetishization of women as helpless offspring is transcended by the game's mechanics to make women the overseers of men. Firewatch uses a metaphor to attribute the reallocation of control to women and, in turn, grant them supremacy over their male counterparts. In Firewatch's first day module, the game catalogs dialogue options that explain Delilah's presence. “You killed three husbands. You're a black widow. Stay here until the heat calms down and then you will kill again” (Campo Santo). Henry is seemingly aligned with a patriarchal agenda by equating Delilah with a spider of misandry. The comparison to a spider dehumanizes Delilah by transforming her female figure into a repugnant imaginary image. Delilah stops Henry's defamatory illustration and usurps control by forcing Henry to follow her commands. Campo Santo transcends Henry in the role of symbolic inferiority to show the rise of female ascendancy. Watts pleads for a final paradigm in extrapolating the male inferiority complex in his evaluation of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. In which the player embodies the male protagonist and is paralyzed during the action sequence by the female manipulation of the game mechanics. “It is an approach that forces the player into the position of victim in the situation rather than dominant over it, and therefore requires recognition from the players” (Watt 260). Silent Hill subverts conventional expectations by discriminating authority against an absent female character and dismantling the male protagonist's ability to mount a counterattack. The game forces men into the preordained roles of servitude that once characterized women. Silent Hill resembles Firewatch in that the survival of the male protagonist depends on the omnipotent female character. Firewatch subverts the male infatuation with control and limits the sharing of power to that of women. Firewatch offers a close reading of the above metaphor to set a precedent for female empowerment in validating women's carnal desires. Delilah's comparison to a black widow connects to her predatory instincts. “You killed three husbands” (Campo Santo). The predatory nature exhibited in women bears witness to the onset of autonomy over their promiscuous desires and, in turn, chastises prevailing male desires. The dialogue option is a precursor to the development of a potential flirtation and involves a subset of Henry's romantic disappointments with Delilah. Delilah has dominion over their current intimacy and disrupts the traditional male sexualized reverie. The black widow analogy makes the male spider expendable, for the leniency of the female spider and disillusioned by the false premise of a domestic vision. In Silent Hill, men's fantasies are responsible for women's sociable advances. "To.