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"Foul Tarnished, In Search for" Norm-breaking Gender Representations:: A Study on the Construction of Female-gendered Characters in the Fantasy World of Elden Ring
Jönköping University, School of Education and Communication.
2024 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (professional degree), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Gender stereotyping and the creation of heteronormative gender representations can affect how people view gender. In games and in the gaming culture, which is believed to have a predominantly male audience, some games tend to construct female-gendered characters (characters that portray women) in harmful ways. Heteronormative and stereotypical constructions in games portray women as dependent, passive, and insignificant, and their primary purpose as being sexy, attractive, and supporting, which can come to enforce and strengthen stereotypical and heteronormative ideals. This paper will use stereotypical and heteronormative constructions of female-gendered characters as a framework to analyze the characters within Elden Ring (2022). Characters will be brought forward and used to illustrate how they challenge stereotypical and heteronormative constructions. Furthermore, the narrative structure, plot, and discourse of the game as a whole, will be used as a source of information to illustrate further how the game at its core challenges stereotypical and heteronormative gender constructions. The analysis of Elden Ring tells of a game in which characters have been constructed in a way that portrays the female gender as diverse, powerful, and actively partaking in the story. The characters are assembled so as to have purposes and goals, and to be meaningful, thus adding to the story of Elden Ring in different ways. Furthermore, the characters who have been given the biggest roles in the story of Elden Ring are female-gendered, which contributes to cementing the space that they have been given within the story world.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 26
Keywords [en]
Elden Ring, gender, women, construction of gender, portrayal of gender, power, heteronormative, stereotypical
National Category
Gender Studies Studies of Specific Literatures
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-67332OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-67332DiVA, id: diva2:1939009
Subject / course
HLK, English
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Available from: 2025-02-21 Created: 2025-02-20 Last updated: 2025-02-21Bibliographically approved

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Gender StudiesStudies of Specific Literatures

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
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  • Other style
More styles
Language
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  • en-US
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  • nn-NB
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  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
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