In this thesis my research question is to find out how the male gaze influenced the relation between representations of female bodies in video games and sexualisation and weakness. Firstly I look...Show moreIn this thesis my research question is to find out how the male gaze influenced the relation between representations of female bodies in video games and sexualisation and weakness. Firstly I look at what other scholars have written about the representation of female characters in video games and note how objectification and the sexualised representation of women implicitly tends to be associated with the negative role stereotyping and passive gender roles. In questioning this, I take a different approach compared to previous research. Drawing from feminist and gender theories, I analyse three female characters that each depict a different relation between the body, male gaze and power. I show how the two characters who appear to be lesser sexualised, Zelda and Samus, appear to suffer more severely from the male gaze than Bayonetta does. Bayonetta, in turn, can be analysed as a critique towards the male gaze and masculine status. From the analysis I will conclud that it is not exclusively the visual appearance that determines whether a character is portrayed as weak or not, but that the gaze plays an important role as well.Show less