DW Review: Sarah Kerrigan of Starcraft

[Atari]

<A HREF="http://www.womengamers.com/dw/kerrigan.html"><IMG align=left width=150 height=123 SRC="http://www.womengamers.com/dw/kerriganlogo.gif" border=0></A>WomenGamers.Com member <A HREF="http://www.womengamers.com/members/bio.php?handle=michael%20b.%20english">Michael B. English</A> takes a look at Starcraft's female protagonist, <A HREF="http://www.womengamers.com/dw/kerrigan.html">Sarah Kerrigan</A>. <B>Please be aware that this digital woman review <font color="#990066">contains spoilers!</font></B><br><br><I>"Although in her current form she could never make a positive role model, Sarah Kerrigan remains one of the most convincingly tragic and enjoyably evil women I have ever seen in a computer game. She is every bit as imposing as Darth Vader, whom I am sure she would be more than a match for."</i>

[Cthol]

My partner and I read this review but felt somewhat awkard about about a couple of issues, In particular I think this review, on a couple of minor issues, may have missed the boat. This is particularly with regards to the fixatiion on positive role models. When I was a kid I, like most of my friends, pretended to be dinosaurs, stormtroopers etc not luke skywalker or the good guys. The reason for this, at least from on perspective, is that as kids the biggest to deal with is a lack of empowerment. In this light what many kids, and teenagers, fantasise about is being the evil character; a figure not restrained by the dominant interests of society and quintessentially empowered. In this light, what is important is whether or not the image of the feminine conforms to social stereotypes. Kerrigan in this case does not conform. Her power is not via sexuality but is through military, personal strength and force of personality. <br>
Identifying and coming to terms with the darker side of personality is just as important as identifying with the good characters. It enables an individual to come to terms with aspects of themselves and their own desires. <br>
I fully disagree with the claim that powerful evil figures from mythology served to instigate hostility against women, what about the far more common evil male figures. I also would wonder if these representations of powerful women in mythology also served as a means for identifying with the power of the feminine from the darker side. This is very important. <br>
My partner and I, after some discussion, came to the conclusion that the most central aspect of the Kerrigan figure was that she represented a dissident female figure of immense power that was not bound to typical associations of women gaining power via sex. <br>
In this light she could be seen as both inspiring to women and breaking boundaries. However this is of course restricted by the artwork on Blizzards calendar. <br>

[ShiningOne]

Sorry to nitpick but i belive that that picture shows Kerrigan giving the child a larva not a zergling. <br>
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Boy was i devistated when i found out what the crysalis contined. I was always suspicious of Kerrigan's turning back and wasnt really surprized to find out it was rotten. ALthough it is rare to find myslef agreeing with Aldaris. <br>
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Kerrigan is really a character you love to hate (especaily being a toss) and no matter what the plot says im gettting my revenge on her (several times) in StarCraft 2. Speaking of which her outlook for her dont look good. She may be "Queen of Blades" and "Oueen bitch of the universe" but she also managed to pissoff everyone in the game. Even Raynor no easy task consdering his obvious feelings for her. That plus the bad feeling she got at the end which was fairly obviously Duran's hybrids amke her death seem imminet. A freind of mine still sees the 'good' in her and thinks that with the mighty powers of the Dark Archons she can be reclaimed. Im not sure i would if i could. Killing her is right up there next to taking back Aiur on my list of important things to do. Im leaveing it to Zeratul in his not really so mysterious absencse to track down and take out the hybrid aboninations. <br>
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The looming question. What is Duran anyway? Could there be another contender for most powerful race in the universe, or is it the Xelnaga countinuing thier ancient experiment?

[Ben_Chavez]

Yes that is a point you two but in my own opinion I would just like to say that Kerrigan is good force (and not meaning good as good guy bad guy either because we all know she turns evil). But Kerrigan is that type of strong woman she can control tons of zerg. Also I would also like to piont out that there are other Digital women on starcraft than youy know.
1)Sarah Kerrigan
2)Raszagal The Female Protoss
3)Terran Medics
4)Terran Valkyrie Pilots
5)Terran Dropship Pilots
And two of them are important the others are Just unimportant (except for maybe the medic). Oh yeah and that photo you had of kerrigan on the bottom of youre article michael were did you get it from. Because the animated unit portrait of kerrigan(imn sure what Animated Untit Portrait means unless you didnt play the game)I have an example of what i mean right here. please write back <a href="http://www.womengamers.com/dw/images/animkerrigan.gif">

[Kurt]

I dont agree with the critisizing that Blizzard's artwork sexualizes Kerrigan. Blizzard is not that stupid to mess up such a successful character. Of course she does not have to be physically perfect to command military force, but as long as she is a imagined character rather than a real one, people will automatically imagine that she must be a beautiful girl. In the game, Blizzard does not show her out appearance to catch player's sight, but when they have to make a portrait for her they must cater to popular expectation. If she is portrayed as a fat woman, how are yall gonna like it? Also, her image is not as "radical" as that of Lara, she just meets common standard of "beautiful and healthy". Blizzard did not sexualize her.