Nathan Drake bears a striking resemblance to Joel from another Naughty Dog game, The Last of Us. Both protagonists are white, adult men with shaggy brown hair and grizzled beard scruff. Both bear the signs of fighting and exploring in their scarred skin. They have handsome, symmetrical features. In turn both of these characters are strikingly similar to other male video game protagonists.
Clearly there is something going on here. Why do we keep seeing the same images of men crop up again and again as video game protagonists? Why aren't video game developers creating unique, distinguishable protagonists? Why always the same kind of look?
It doesn't just stop at looks. Nathan Drake is also similar to other male video game protagonists in his personality. There are countless personalities out there that could have been chosen instead. We see the same type of male personality again and again because it has some kind of significance in our culture.
Uncharted is an excellent game to examine this archetype of the male hero because Nathan Drake represents it so purely. Also, this is a game mainly about a man fighting other men (like most games) so it gives us an opportunity to look at some of our cultural assumptions about men reflected in gaming.
Clearly there is something going on here. Why do we keep seeing the same images of men crop up again and again as video game protagonists? Why aren't video game developers creating unique, distinguishable protagonists? Why always the same kind of look?
It doesn't just stop at looks. Nathan Drake is also similar to other male video game protagonists in his personality. There are countless personalities out there that could have been chosen instead. We see the same type of male personality again and again because it has some kind of significance in our culture.
Uncharted is an excellent game to examine this archetype of the male hero because Nathan Drake represents it so purely. Also, this is a game mainly about a man fighting other men (like most games) so it gives us an opportunity to look at some of our cultural assumptions about men reflected in gaming.