Anti-Feminist Identification

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In A Rhetoric of Motives, Kenneth Burke explains how all human interactions are determined by perceptions of identification. How does one person identify with another? Burkean identification is formed through the processes of merger and division. When an individual believes that their interests are similar to or are joined with stimulus X, they are experiencing merger with that stimulus. Conversely, when an individual perceives discord or distance between their interests and a given stimulus, they are experiencing division. Burke believed that true identification consisted of a consubstantiation of both merger and division, but that individuals could be rhetorically persuaded in either direction: “Put [merger] and division ambiguously together, so that you cannot know for certain just where one ends and the other begins, and you have the characteristic invitation to rhetoric” (25).
          When applying Burke’s theories on identification to 3D Realms/GT Interactive’s 1996 bestseller Duke Nukem 3D (DN3D), it’s easy to identify the anti-feminist rhetoric. DN3D helped elevate the first-person shooter, as this type of game is called, to the enormous popularity is still has today. First-person shooters place the gamer inside the body of the hero/heroine; the action is seen literally through the character’s eyes. This game design allows for an almost complete merger with the character. DN3D players effectively become Duke Nukem for the duration of their gaming session.
          Female characters in DN3D are scarce, but anti-feminist imagery is almost constantly present. Duke (the gamer) wanders through a variety of urban environments, looking for alien monsters to kill. Many of the rooms Duke passes through contain monitors, depicting scantily clad women’s bodies, slowly gyrating. These women are faceless, which further de-emphasizes their humanity. As these screenshots demonstrate, this degrading imagery can range from an almost subliminal one small monitor to an overwhelming eight or ten screens.
          That’s not to say that there aren’t any “real” women in the game; there are. Unfortunately, all the women in the game are strippers and exotic dancers, like those seen here.
          Can Duke Nukem (and through the principle of merger, the gamer) interact with these women? Yes. Duke can approach the female characters and do one of two things: he can shake money at them and demean them by saying “Shake it, baby!” or he can use any of the many weapons at his disposal and destroy them, causing them to shriek and explode in chunks of bloody flesh. The rhetoric of DN3D clearly portrays women as the idols of men’s lust, to be discarded when male lust is satisfied.
          The anti-feminist rhetoric in an interactive narrative like DN3D is easily identified, and games of this nature abound on the PC market. Are there any E-games that contain strong female characters? Yes. Perhaps the most famous example was also a top-selling game in 1996, one of the first to feature a heroine instead of a hero.