Stamp, Skin, And Gender: Case Study Of The Pacs

Stamp, Skin, and Gender: Case Study of the Pacs
Undoubtedly Ms. Pac Man using gendered imagery. This occurs on two separate fronts. The image of Ms. Pac Man, in the form of a logo, is stamped on the arcade machine. The sprite of Ms. Pac Man in game is merely a re-skinning of the Pac Man base. Ms. Pac Man is made into a gendered entity with all these social connotations we affiliate with femininity. However, Ms. Pac Man differs from other games internal representation based on a key missing factor, a factor that is found in neither Pac Man nor Ms. Pac Man.
By the mere act of placing a logo on an arcade machine, Namco made a marketing decision charged with socially constructed elements. Ms. Pac Man uses a logo designed to communicate with audiences through well-understood, socialized gender imagery. The use of red heels, curves, makeup etc. all emphasize femininity and
This is understandable in the real world. However, in games, this standard of power for characters is considered male because we attribute it as male. It is not intrinsically male outside of our social connotation. There is power, and there is strength. In rejecting the physical manifestations of power in characters, we are ignoring the fact that such games are designed to idealize this form, which is a hyperbolized person, a fantastic character, an Adonis figure that males and females are both measured against. Interestingly, neither Pac Man nor Ms. Pac Man utilize an idealized form. In the logo, yes, Ms. Pac Man is sexualized, but not in the game. So did Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man in tandem create gendered character dichotomies? Yes. But at least playing it doesn't cripple one's self esteem when players feel like they’ll never meet the standards of being a yellow, dot-eating hockey puck. Pac Man is not Nathan Drake, and Ms. Pac Man is not Lara