This Beatrice vs. That Beatrice

I grew up in a household where gaming wasn’t allowed, so on weekends I would trek over to my cousin’s house, plop myself down in front of his big screen, and play. I never understood why it was that video games were considered such a bad influence, as I loved gaming and never saw an explicit negative effect. Now that I have seen the walk-through of Dante’s Inferno I am considering changing my stance.

“The Middle Ages form a space in which theory and narrative, gaming and textuality, identity and society are remediated and reimagined,”(10) says Kline. I believe that to be true; we’ve been offered ample evidence to show that contemporary society views the middle ages with a kind of “double vision”(Kline 4), using modern day articles (such as a bathrobe) to stand in for, or be interpreted as medieval (bathrobe becomes a wizard’s cape). This reimagining of medieval times is discussed in length by Chadwick in his discussion of masculinity in Dante’s Inferno, in “Courtly Violence, Digital Play.” But the real question comes from when you pair Kline’s ideas with Chadwick’s; if the game is making a statement on our society today using the venue of the Middle Ages, then what in the SAM HECK is going on with women?

Chadwick barely glances over the fact that Beatrice has been pulled from her lofty role in Dante’s Inferno  as the pilgrim’s heavenly guide and benefactor to a “feminine object”(Chadwick, 153). This, to me, is a way bigger statement on society than our wish to return to the simpler times of real men! According to Pugh and Weisl, Dante in Dante’s Inferno, is a “new identity of a mythic warrior stitched onto the naked space of his iconic status”(19). Let’s then take a look at the “new identity” of Beatrice’s “iconic status.”

First of all, her entire involvement in this whole affair revolves around Dante and his inability to keep it in his pants. She is no longer a protector, instead needs to be protected, and throughout the entirety of the game is under the control of, or within the possession of a male figure. Even when she passes out towards the end, she is taken away by a male angel, in whose arm she lies limply. Chadwick stressed the point that courtly love has to do with “inborn suffering”(155), doesn’t Beatrice suffer enough to be considered for the role of heroine? Obviously not.

Beatrice in Henry Holiday’s painting “Dante and Beatrice”

 

Beatrice in Dante’s Inferno

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most other video games that I have played have not been about the dichotomy between masculinity and femininity. Instead they have been about the accumulation of power. Unfortunately in Dante’s Inferno and many other contemporary medieval sources we have viewed (including my final research topic, BBC’s The Black Adder), makes it distinct that the only people who can accumulate said power are men, and that this power is an inherent form of masculinity.

This is why I am choosing to reevaluate my views on video games in general, and participatory medievalism more specifically. Chadwick says that this game helps us evaluate “medieval masculinities and contemporary bodies”(157), but if it says anything about medieval femininities, all I can say is that I am glad I was born in the 20th Century.

Medieval Stereotypes and their influence on Modern Medievalism

One major topic of discussion regarding Eaters of the Dead is Crichton’s motives for writing this novel. In his introduction, Crichton states that he began writing Eaters of the Dead because of a challenge he received from a friend. Specifically, Crichton was attempting to adapt the legend of Beowulf into a more interesting story. This statement caused our class to criticize Crichton, as he appeared to be writing his novel for the purpose of pandering to consumers and not for the love of literature. However, I propose that Crichton, along with any other aspiring Medieval artist, are bound in their artistic freedom by modern stereotypes of Medieval themes.

In the modern era, we as consumers have specific stereotypes etched into our brains regarding various medieval themes. When we picture Vikings, we think of savage barbarians with horned helmets and axes, who pillage, plunder, and set things on fire as a way of life. When we imagine the knight, we think of a soldier in a gleaming metal suit, riding on horseback, armed with a lance, and adhering strictly to the code of chivalry. Whether or not these images reflect historical accuracy, these images are what the modern consumer perceives as true. Furthermore, when a consumer reads a book, watches a movie, or plays a video game, these are the representations that they expect to see, and if these expectations are not met, consumers will stop purchasing your book, movie, or video game. As a result, artists are limited in their freedom of choice because if they stray too far from these specific stereotypes, their work will not sell.

In my opinion, the video game industry provides the best examples of the constraints placed on artists by consumers regarding medieval games. While the gaming industry’s appeal to female consumers is rapidly growing, it has been a historically male dominated market, creating a very specific group of consumers with particular expectations. As a male consumer of medieval themed video games, I can say that what you expect to play as a large, strong male character with badass combat moves who can kill a variety of enemies to save the day. If this expectation is not met, I personally would most likely return the game after a just a bit of play time. However, these expectations clearly do not only belong to me, as the gaming industry continues to pump out games filled with these kinds of protagonists and content. For example, a new game, For Honor, was recently announced that continues to fulfill these expectations, demonstrating that they are common in the market for medieval games:

These Consumer expectations limit the freedom of artists, whether they be a game developer, film studio, or author, if they want their creation to be enjoyed by the masses. Coming back to Crichton, I think he too was limited in his artistic choices if he truly wanted to create a version of Beowulf that would interest a wide variety of people. We as consumers expect certain characteristics to be ascribed to Vikings, and if these expectations are not met, many people will simply stop reading. Crichton himself also points at these limitations, when he has Ibn Fadlan describe the northmen as “giant”, but uses a footnote to state that this was not the case, as the average height of a Scandinavian male was around 5’7″ in the tenth century. However, Crichton recognizes that readers think of vikings as massive warriors, so that is what he gives us.