Alien's Sigourney Weaver Hopes to See More Women in Games

[roseofbattle]

Alien's Sigourney Weaver Hopes to See More Women in Games

Sigourney Weaver calls out the lack of mothers in media and explains why she agreed to play a role in Alien: Isolation.

Sigourney Weaver has played a variety of roles in her acting career, and she looks back on Ellen Ripley as one of her more iconic characters. In an interview with The Mary Sue, Weaver says she believes video games are expanding as she sees Alien: Isolation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/alien%20isolation] making use of emotion.

Weaver reprises her role as Ellen Ripley in Alien: Isolation from the Alien movies, where she played Ripley in the four films starting in 1979. Ellen Ripley is playable only in the Nostromo edition of Alien: Isolation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-news-now/9530-Alien-Isolation-Pre-Order-Features-Sigourney-Weaver-As-Ripley], which was available for free as a preorder bonus. Weaver has been approached to get involved in other games, which are sometimes related to Aliens, and she decided to do Isolation because it used details from the movie's script while going in a new direction by featuring Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda Ripley. Ripley never reunited with her daughter in the movies.

Weaver found Alien: Isolation interesting because it has an original story that's also faithful to the movies while going in "an emotional direction."

"I think video games themselves are expanding to please a lot of different appetites - a lot of different kinds of gamers," Weaver said. "Maybe gamers who are more interested in story than, kind of, target practice. So I'm kind of delighted that this happened now, because I think that gaming is so sophisticated, that it can give you such an immersive experience, this is the perfect time for this game created from something that was made 35 years ago."

Weaver Crazy Taxi [http://time.com/3453689/sigourney-weaver-alien-isolation/], and she compared the feeling of immersion in games to how she feels acting as a character.

Weaver, who said she easily slipped back into the role of Ripley, is both stunned and isolated by her iconic role. Heroines are rarely mothers in movies or video games. She's proud to play different kinds of female characters, and she calls women "the glue that holds the world together."

"And it is women who are mothers, particularly - who are on the front lines of many things in life - they hold the family together, they change things in their communities, they run businesses."

Weaver was excited to enter video games for her role and hopes that games will continue to grow and feature complex characters of different genders. "I simply have seen a lot of women in strong roles in the movies, and I think if more games are made with a bigger spectrum that characters will get more complex, and I think that certainly will mean there will be more women characters," she said. "Men and women.

"There's so many great examples in the world of powerful, interesting personalities that I hope it's more - perhaps if more women choose to enter this field of creating games, that will happen."

Alien: Isolation launched today, October 7, on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.

Source: The Mary Sue [http://www.themarysue.com/the-mary-sue-interview-sigourney-weaver-ripley-alien-isolation/]


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[Fappy]

Mothers and fathers are the most important people in the world, so it's odd that they get so little representation in popular film and games. As the gaming demographic continues to grow (and age), we are getting more and more gamer parents. Remember how great it felt to step into the shoes of Lee and Joel? Let's get that for mothers too. And no, fridging their family doesn't really count for this.

Weaver hit the nail on the head here.

 

[synobal]

Eh, I think maybe Weaver just isn't familiar with games a medium. People love great story telling in games and while you might see commercials for the latest shooter only for every call of bullet modern war simulator we have a dozen story driven games with fantastic characters. The only difference between the two really is one has a marketing budget the other doesn't most the time.

 

[nevarran]

I wonder if she knows that her performance in the game is hidden behind the pre-order crap wall...

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Eh, I think maybe Weaver just isn't familiar with games a medium. People love great story telling in games and while you might see commercials for the latest shooter only for every call of bullet modern war simulator we have a dozen story driven games with fantastic characters. The only difference between the two really is one has a marketing budget the other doesn't most the time.

Some of us do love great story telling in games, but the medium as a whole is not sophisticated enough to please those of us that crave really good narratives on a consistent basis. It is just not about a lack of marketing funds, there is an actual problem with getting good narratives into games. Whatever Alien: Isolation has a good story is something I will have to get back to you on, as I am only about 3 hours into the game. But for every Spec Ops: The Line or Deus Ex: Human Revolution there are dozens, if not hundreds, of games that seem to use narrative only as an excuse to get the player into the action.

 

[synobal]

Eh, I think maybe Weaver just isn't familiar with games a medium. People love great story telling in games and while you might see commercials for the latest shooter only for every call of bullet modern war simulator we have a dozen story driven games with fantastic characters. The only difference between the two really is one has a marketing budget the other doesn't most the time.

Some of us do love great story telling in games, but the medium as a whole is not sophisticated enough to please those of us that crave really good narratives on a consistent basis. It is just not about a lack of marketing funds, there is an actual problem with getting good narratives into games. Whatever Alien: Isolation has a good story is something I will have to get back to you on, as I am only about 3 hours into the game. But for every Spec Ops: The Line or Deus Ex: Human Revolution there are dozens, if not hundreds, of games that seem to use narrative only as an excuse to get the player into the action.

Sure but that is true of any medium, I can tell you for every great work of fiction there is a thousand or million airport novels, whats your point? Its never been about percentages of good works its about if you have them or not. We have plenty of games with great story telling, more and more all the time now that Kickstarter reminded the industry that sometimes games as a story telling device sell well. Its just games take money and publishers are more likely to go for the less risky option when it comes to making a game. Its the same reason you get so many action flicks in hollywood or cheesy romance novels in fiction.

 

[tzimize]

Eh, I think maybe Weaver just isn't familiar with games a medium. People love great story telling in games and while you might see commercials for the latest shooter only for every call of bullet modern war simulator we have a dozen story driven games with fantastic characters. The only difference between the two really is one has a marketing budget the other doesn't most the time.

Some of us do love great story telling in games, but the medium as a whole is not sophisticated enough to please those of us that crave really good narratives on a consistent basis. It is just not about a lack of marketing funds, there is an actual problem with getting good narratives into games. Whatever Alien: Isolation has a good story is something I will have to get back to you on, as I am only about 3 hours into the game. But for every Spec Ops: The Line or Deus Ex: Human Revolution there are dozens, if not hundreds, of games that seem to use narrative only as an excuse to get the player into the action.

Ehm. What? Medium not sophisticated enough? I beg to differ on a large level. Shallow experiences abound in all media. For every rich experience there is a Call of Duty X, a Transformers 3 (the movie) a Twilight (the book). Games are as good as any media to deliver good narratives. Probably even better than most, because they alone can deliver agency to the consumer.

There are plenty of good stories in games. Planescape: Torment, Baldurs Gate 2, Witcher 1 (imo, mostly because of the fantastic ending), Psychonauts, the Legacy of Kain series and there are probably plenty more.

The medium is not the problem, the audience is. The majority of people are too stupid to recognize a good story when it being shoved down their throats. Also, good stories tend to take a while to get rolling, and in todays flashy and fast consumer market...it just doesnt sell as well.

 

[Callate]

Given characters as relatable as Ripley, there's certainly no reason that shouldn't happen.

 

[hermes]

Yeah... we can blame AAA budgets to that. Since games are more expensive to produce and market than even most movies, and game publishers can take huge hits for backing the wrong horse; they are not prone to taking risks, so the end result in most cases are the blandest, most generic stories and characters than any medium.

Luckily for us, in the last decade the indie scene exploded, and that is where the truly interesting stuff happens. Unfortunately, it is so small (profit-wise), that publishers and the public don't pay too much attention, so its not a surprise that Ms Weaver never heard about it...

 

[Karadalis]

As if ripley having a daughter in the movies ever played any role whatsoever kept for a small mention in ALIENS at the beginning.

Heres the problem i see: Youre damned if you do, youre damned if you dont.

If you do include mothers in gaming the SJWs will scream that you try to reinforce traditional gender roles

If you dont the SJWs will scream that youre giving women not enough agency and time in the spotlight.

Either way you choose you will have them yelling soddom and gomorra.

 

[FalloutJack]

I wonder if she knows that her performance in the game is hidden behind the pre-order crap wall...

Anyone who would try to keep that from her would have to have serious cajones. I think she knows, and her opinions on that are currently not known.

OT: I agree, there should be alot more roles that can live up to Weaver's performance in media. She's a woman who can appear anywhere and people go "Oooh, Sigourney Weaver.". (Actually, the refrain for Paul and The Cabin in the Woods is "Oh shit! Sigourney Weaver's the end-boss!".) We need more people to invoke this kind of feeling, because there will come a time when she is no longer here to invoke that herself.

 

[Something Amyss]

I've always respected Weaver a lot, she was an idol to me growing up (from the Aliens movies no less). And I think that as more and more developers are given the chance to honestly write good narratives, we will see better written female and male characters. But as it is now, not always but often with AAA writing is given a back seat to either graphics or budget or marketing or getting it out as quickly as possible, and so we get a sub par story, and one dimensional characters that while we can enjoy on a shallow level (like she said, target practice), we can't really dive into on a deeper level.

Yet, as I said, I think we may be slowly moving away from that and giving writers more of a chance to write better story, better dialogue, better characters, and when we have that, getting away from the standard tropes we've been using for games (good guy with gun goes in to beat bad guy with gun).

I'm not particularly sure we're getting better story. And with the demands for 4 thousand ps and 9 million fps per second, I somehow doubt we'll see more progress for a while.

But you know? Stupid action games are fun. I enjoy them. It'd just be nice if you could see more female leads. We don't need better writing for that. Better writing would be better, but I don't think the issues are codependent.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Well she did kick off a trend of aspirational female leads. (Even though Ridley Scott did technically. Seriously the guy has some of the strongest female characters in movie history in his library) I would like to see woman fairly represented and fair play to Weaver (and the gang, I am so happy to hear Yaphet Kotto again) for doing Alien Isolation. (for money) It felt awesome playing as her in crew expendable. Ripley has always been a great character because her toughness comes from her pragmatism and emotional need. She always has the plan figured out and only does brave shit either because it's the only thing to do or she needs to rescue her cat or adopted daughter. She is emotional in a very easy to relate to way. A lot of people who rip her off just write their characters as macho men with breasts. Ripley is not just a well written/ portrayed female character. She is a good character full stop.