Connecting Aliens With Metroid
In his latest article over at PopMatters, Tools for the Job: Asserting Femininity in Super Metroid, L.B. Jeffries takes on the task of examining the similar themes used between the Metroid and Alien franchises.
Starting with an article from The Escapist by Ray Huling, he looks at the statement that video games have borrowed many of the themes from the Alien franchise, excepting that of motherhood. He continues on to making points about how Samus Aran differentiates herself from some other female video game action heroes, and establishes that her sexuality, for the most part, is a moot point. She is Samus, after all, and best known as the intergalactic bounty hunter.
Then he continues to examine the design and motherhood themes in Super Metroid, where he draws the strongest comparisons to Lieutenant Ripley.
First, he establishes that Super Metroid does have strong themes of motherhood, drawing on the name of the station Ceres and Samus's own feeling of protectiveness toward the baby metroid she is seeking through the game--the tool for research and helping humanity continue. The adoption motif can also be found between Lt. Ripley and Newt, and as Jeffries describes, is present in the children before each boss fight.
At first I raised an eyebrow at this point--many of the bosses in the game are male, which would speak less to motherhood and more to general parenthood, but Jeffries quickly points how this is not to merely flood the game with mothers, but to set a thematic element and remind the player of Samus's own search for the baby metroid. While it does not establish a clear message of motherhood, it is present to connote, rather than denote, the already established connection between Samus and a child.
The argument that I have the most trouble fully accepting, and largely because I do not separate between traditionally feminine and masculine spaces, is his point that the exploration and puzzle-solving elements that have launched the successful Metroidvania (in this case more Metroid, less Vania) style of games appeal to a more feminine space, de-emphasizing violence and grinding (there is no experience or leveling in Super Metroid). This is a point that has held through the entire series.
Ending his article, Jeffries illustrates how and examines the method by which we even know Samus is female: by her body. Drawing a parallel between the moment in the first two Alien films, where Lt. Ripley is briefly seen in her panties before heading to the sleeping pods. This disrobing is oddly sexual in a space where a traditionally masculine space has already been present; until this point Lt. Ripley and Samus have not had time to show any stereotypically feminine attributes, and this reassures the audience that it is a suit (both metaphorically and literally) they both don, though it does not define them fully.
VorpalBunny
Posted to Miscellany, Video Games on 6 October 2009
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: aliens, critical thoughts, metroid, samus aran, super metroid
This is hardly a secret. Gunpei Yokio(sp?) specifically stated before he died that he based the Metroid series on Aliens
I take issue with the line about Super Metroid being the only one to show Samus in a "futuristic bikini", as there is a leotard outfit similar to it at the end of Metroid 1. (not to mention the "normal" bikinis she shows up in at the end of 1 and 2 if you are fast enough.) the article does a good job as a whole, but I kinda get the feeling it was almost written from an outside perspective.
I can't even begin to outline why L.B. Jeffries's article is complete crap.
Well, considering I sent you a rough asking to please offer any feedback, it would've been nice to point that out earlier.