Sonya Murray, in her novel On Video Games: The Visual Politics of Race, Gender, and Space, provides a significant intervention into how race and gender are portrayed in video games. In On Video Games, Murray examines the intersection of cultural, visual, and game studies to understand games as cultural reflections and tools for cultural exploration.
In her analysis, Murray argues that Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation represents an instance of intersectionality in the politics of identity and digital representation. Murray’s close reading of Aveline de Grandpré, the game’s protagonist who is a creole mulatto from a slave mother and an affluent French father, depicts how the character uses her ethnic and racial identities to infiltrate different socioeconomic and racialized contexts.
In her discussion, Murray identifies Liberation as distinct from many of the other games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. She argues that many of the Assassin’s Creed games fall prey to Orientalism in their depiction of the Middle East - often putting forth an essentialized portrayal. Diversely, in Liberation, “the varied sites presented, the multiple origins of the primary playable character and even her shifting social roles during gameplay displace the possibility of essentializing Aveline or her story" (Murray,53). Liberation doesn’t make the same mistake as the other Assassin's Creed games. Through Aveline, with particular focus on her tripartite identity, players would be asked to assume the identity of a socially defined minority.
While I do agree that Aveline marks a significant intervention into the white, heteronormative male forms of identity politics that dominate mainstream games, I believe that Liberation does participate in essentialism. In the game, Aveline is able to switch between three different guises that represent three different social identities; an aristocratic Lady, a slave, and an Assassin. Each guise, depending on the social context, allows for the player to access certain mechanisms. Through this mechanism, the game is exploring both Aveline’s identity as a mulatto and what it means to “pass”. However, the game is offering only a single perspective of what is meant to be biracial in Colonial America. Aveline is a mulatto born to an affluent French father who chooses to claim her when her mother disappears. Her circumstance is rare as white fathers did not often claim their mulatto children and interracial children were automatically legally defined as pure black (Pilgrim). The game also sees Aveline the use different guises to help her better assimilate into varying situations. This makes it seem as if it was simple for mulattos to access various social contexts when in all actuality it was quite the opposite.
Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation presents a unique identity politics with its protagonist Aveline - "a complex character, rendered in a matter that takes into account her race, gender, class, and status" (Murray, 70). Despite this, Liberation fails to offer a multifaceted perspective on what it meant to “pass” in Colonia America. Yet, I wonder if it would even be possible for the game to do so.
Works Cited
Murray, Sonya. On Video Games: The Visual Politics of Race, Gender, and Space. I.B. Tauris, 2017
Pilgrim, David. The Tragic Mulatto Myth. Ferris State University, 2000
In our discussion section, we talked about the Hitman franchise and how a core mechanic in those games was the wearing of various disguises in order to navigate and infiltrate various scenarios. It kind of feels like Liberation is doing the same thing, treating her aristocrat costume and slave costume as mechanically no more than disguises to be donned and shed to fulfill a practical function. It's one thing to switch from a businessman's suit to a waiter's apron in Hitman – it's just two different jobs. But to assume one could so seamlessly transition between the roles Aveline does as if they were no more than disguises...like Andrew pointed out, these aren't just two random jobs, they're "racially …
I found this observation especially relevant. When modern media contextualizes itself historically, it can either seem to normalize inappropriate behaviors or ignore them. Although both can be harmful, I agree that the revisionism of pieces like Assassin's Creed Liberation is notably inaccurate. This representation may be for the sake of positivity and empowerment, but it seems equally likely that it was easier (and more marketable) than facing reality. I think both can be true at the same time - a work can let people "wash their hands" and pretend things were never that bad…
It's quite a politically charged discussion to be having around videogame; designing a character who is able to cater to either side of her background and commit partially to a role depending on her needs is a concept that does seem to only exist within a fantasy realm; particularly when those two backgrounds are both racially and class-based identity groups. What I find as an dynamic contrast is this third identity group of the assassin. The affluent aristocrat and slave woman correspond to the identities of her father and mother respectively, the assassin seems out of place or even more intensely, a rejection of both identities. I'd be interested to hear what aspect of her identity came to form …