The gaming industry has come a long way since it first started off in arcade cabinets. In the past decade alone, titles have become increasingly cinematic, offering realistic portrayals of characters placed in often extraordinary situations. Though this should be the norm of an art form increasingly struggling to be recognised as such, damaging perceptions of sexuality, race and gender continue to worm their way into the stories told by developers, which have in turn rather sadly influenced the gaming community as a whole. Reacting with the basest hostility to even the slightest hint of progression or diversity, you won't be hard pressed to find those who are less than willing to react to criticism of gaming's portrayals of underrepresented peoples. This creates a terribly toxic atmosphere unwilling to accept those who wish to access the medium, the irony being that the longer these portrayals are seen as the norm, the longer the toxic atmosphere persists - implicitly aided by an industry failing to act on the matter. Ideas of gender and the way they have been represented in gaming have been a point of contention for many years. That's no surprise however, seeing as how the industry's male flagship characters have made their name rescuing damsels, whilst female protagonists have been over-sexualised beyond parody. Poor representation works both ways however, as men also stand to lose from the industry's insistence on masculine archetypes dominating narratives. Of course there is much to be said about games forming a part of a fantasy, but at what point do we draw the line?
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
