How Cliché Can Demon Slaying Be

In the popular Capcom game series Devil May Cry, the two most major characters are Dante and Vergil. These two are twins descended from the demon known as Sparda, who rebelled against his own kind for the sake of humans and sealed off the demon world with his sword. The game's ranking is based on how much ass the player can kick while doing it in a stylish manner, so aesthetics are important. The designs of Dante and Vergil are meant to show their respective philosophies. Dante wears a red trench coat and pulls off gunslinging tricks that would put Neo from The Matrix to shame. His outfit symbolizes his rebellion (also the name of his sword) from his demonic heritage. Vergil wears a blue priestly overcoat and fights with an extremely stylized form of iaido with no reliance on modern technology. His appearance is meant to show his acceptance of his demonic heritage. Their opposing opinions on humanity and goals cause the two to fight each other almost every time they cross paths. Their conflict in the series makes for one of the best love/hate relationships in video games. However, there is a running trend in the franchise. The playable female characters for each game wears a ridiculously sexualized outfit. Each one simply wears something and uses something that draws the male gaze, whether it be clothes or weapon. There is Lady from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening. She wears what is best described at skimpy, stereotypical, school girl clothes while toting a rocket launcher armed with a massive bayonet as her weapon of choice. Lady is mainly characterized by her murderous hatred towards her father and her hatred of anything demonic, as well as being the only full-blooded human to be able to be able to pose a threat to Dante and Vergil. She actually gets the most character development of the three female leads because of her realization that not all demons are bad because of Dante. The female lead in Devil May Cry 2 was Lucia, an artificially created demon who is as unremarkable as the game she was featured in. All she really has going for her is that she is a ninja who can turn into a bird demon and is sad that she is a clone. And saving worst for last is Trish from the original game. She wears ridiculously skimpy clothes that seem to distract from how bland she is as a character. Her only job in the game is to get Dante to go Mallet Island so that her boss can be revived. The only reason she was able to do this was because she was created to resemble Dante's deceased mother. She barely develops as a character and only serves as an annoyance in the scenes she is in. Capcom really screwed up their chances to have powerful female characters who can become interesting because of how they develop and not how revealing their clothing is, which is truly a shame. 

Comments

  1. Meda WrightApril 16, 2018 at 7:44 PM

    The sexualization of female characters in video games is something that significantly bothers me, as well. As an avid female gamer, seeing almost every female character created be nothing but fanservice grates on the nerves. I remember being ESPECIALLY pissed off when Sanzaru games took over the Sly Cooper games from Suckerpunch, and promptly sexed the TWO main female characters up. I won’t say Carmelita was dressed like a nun before, but they took a policewoman who was almost reasonably dressed and put her in a tiny mini skirt, and made her so skinny you could see her ribs. As a woman who is known for her feats of acrobatics, a miniskirt was so impractical they had to REMOVE that aspect of her from the 4th game. No acrobatic feats for her there, but we did get to see her dress up as a belly dancer against her will, yay? Here’s an image showing the design changes throughout the games, and here’s another showing how skinny they made her in the 4th game. I could go on and on about how they ruined her character in the 4th game (a common complaint is that she's more of a caricature of her previous self) but I think I'll just leave off here.

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    1. Meda WrightApril 16, 2018 at 7:45 PM

      When I wrote it in word the hyperlinks worked, here's the first image:
      https://vixcoon.deviantart.com/art/The-Evolution-of-Carmelita-Fox-517598829
      and the second:
      http://slycooper.wikia.com/wiki/File:Carmelita_Montoya_Fox_Sly_4.jpg

      Delete

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