We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Postmodern Medusa: The Monstrous-Feminine in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.
- Authors
Blomquist, Gregory
- Abstract
This article explores the representation of monstrous-feminine agency through the character of Kerrigan in the StarCraft series with emphasis on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Kerrigan's subjectivity as a player-character complicates her in ways that require a different application of the monstrous-feminine from those characters from literature, film, and video games that position them as enemies to overcome. The article begins examining Kerrigan through the lens of the monstrous-feminine and the abject before discussing how her hypersexualization ostensibly contradicts her monstrosity as an empowering force. The author then explores the obstacles Kerrigan must overcome and how this struggle reifies her disruption of and resistance against the symbolic order. The discussion concludes that Kerrigan's connection between the player and monstrous-feminine character is a significant paradigm shift for the female monster and how agency and empathy allow players to understand the monstrous-feminine in a new perspective.
- Subjects
STARCRAFT games; HYPERSEXUALITY; SUBJECTIVITY; ABJECTION; FILM studies
- Publication
Games & Culture, 2021, Vol 16, Issue 7, p885
- ISSN
1555-4120
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/15554120211005232