Ulysses’ mask: video games, narrative and masculinities

Abstract

The article relects on the relationship between game structure, narrative and symbolization of sexual diferences among three classic Nintendo games from the decade of the Eighties. An analysis is performed regarding the contributions of gender studies, ludology and narratology, and conveys how within the game strategies lies a symbolization of sexual diference of a masculine epic-heroic narrative, and how gender ambiguities are present in the binomial subject-player through the participation of the feminine.