A Feminist Prospective on Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Viewed with contention by feminists since their widespread popularity of the late 80s, video games have gained a reputation as a bastion of sexism and patriarchal values for the greater part of two decades. Thanks to games such as Grand Theft Auto and Tomb Raider, women have consistently been devalued and sexualized by video game designers. Feminists take great offense to the constant sexualization of women and the misrepresentation and lack of female characters with in the world of video games. Although there is a veritable sea of anti-feminist games on the market today, some games have portrayed women as professional, highly capable, strong women. In this essay, I will argue that Command & Conquer: Red Alert portrays women in a largely feminist manner, whether it was the overt intent of the designers or not.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real time strategy game that was released in 1996. Although the game is nearly twelve years old, its legacy lives on as arguably the most popular RTS ever created. Red Alert was the prequel to the original Command & Conquer, a game in which one builds bases and commands armies to destroy their enemies. Red Alert follows this prerogative and the entire game is played from the perspective of a gender-ambiguous commander of either the Allies or the Soviets in a view above the battlefield. Feminists should note that there is only one female unit in actual game-play; all other units have masculine voices.

Female characters are central to the game’s storyline, which is presented through two different campaigns (Allied and Soviet) as short films interspersed between actual game-play. The game takes place in an alternate 1950s timeline accidentally created when Albert Einstein tries to prevent the Second World War by eliminating Adolph Hitler from the timeline. This causes unseen consequences which result in an aggressive Soviet Union invading Western Europe. Depending on which campaign the player chooses the storyline changes as the player continues along either campaign. Unlike most games where women are portrayed as weak or over-sexualized (or not at all in some cases) (Dill 116), Red Alert features women who are in positions of power. During the Soviet campaign, Nadia, the Chief of Stalin’s NKVD is the player’s direct superior and the most cunning of all the Soviets portrayed in the game. She is personally responsible for the deaths of her rival in the game, General Gridenko. The mere fact that Nadia is head of the Secret Police is a statement on her competence and the fact that she is Stalin’s most trusted advisor makes her one of the most powerful players in the Soviet hierarchy. She is also Stalin’s mistress, and although this relationship is not played on in-game, it is hinted that she is his mistress out of fear as she kills Stalin in the final cutscene. Although she is thought to be Stalin’s mistress, she is never represented in a way that could be interpreted as sexual; she is always seen in uniform and never seems to have the red, pouting lips of contemporary feminine heroes such as Lara Croft. She openly breaches the gender divide because she is a strong feminist female character in a traditionally male genre. By creating this character, the developers have created a strong character who is both attractive to male and female players (Cassell 29).

Tanya Adams is the only other woman in Red Alert, and although she is portrayed as a commando, her appearance can be likened more to Lara Croft rather than Nadia. Like Lara, Tanya, although a “Special Forces Commando,” wears a form fitting tee-shirt and carries dual pistols. Unlike Lara, however, Tanya wears combat boots and combat fatigues, yet it still could be argued that she represents the sexual fetish of “Chicks with Guns.” However, despite Tanya’s sexualized appearance, she is the Allies’ best commando and is spoken highly of by her male counterparts. A strong woman, Tanya is even seen overcoming her Soviet interrogator when she is captured (and subsequently rescued by the player). However, despite the obvious assumption that Tanya is a strong woman, it is interesting to note that when she can be commanded on the field not only is she the only unit with a female voice but she shouts “Shake it, Baby!”, a quote and homage to Duke Nukem, one of the most well known anti-feminist titles. Duke Nukem says the line himself when he enters a strip-club to one of the dancers (Richard 283).

Red Alert cannot itself be considered a feminist media because of the nature of the game itself as a wargame that rewards violence. Some have even claimed that it encourages a disregard for life because of its very nature (Dill 123). Its role as a wargame places it as a masculine game: part of the “norm” in gaming. Its nature of exploring the map and destroying the enemy places it within the typical boy’s play; Henry Jenkins in his essay on gender calls this part of the essential parts of masculine play. He asserts that masculinity, since the 19^th Century has consistently placed an emphasis on violence and the nature of exploring (Jenkins 189). It is so deeply entrenched in a male gendered role that when a player encounters a female player online, he is often surprised. This could be because public leisure spaces (such as the internet and online game lobbies) have traditionally been claimed to be highly gendered as masculine, placing constraints on any female players (Bryce 195).

Although Command & Conquer: Red Alert was definitely not designed to be a gender neutral game or meant to appease the feminists, one can still find feminist strengths throughout the women portrayed in this game. The fact that women were featured in this game is unusual for the time period when it was rare for women to be included at all. Because it places women in positions of power, and portrays them as powerful, strong women who are able to hold their own against their male counterparts, Red Alert shows it’s relatively few women in a mostly positive, feminist light. Although Tanya can be seen as sexualized, she is still the most able unit in the game and a strong woman throughout the cutscenes. The Soviet Nadia definitely embodies feminist ideals as she ascends up the power structure in Red Alert. Although the game is without doubt constructed for the masculine mindset, the feminist characters in this game change the storyline from a standard masculine driven story to a more progressive incorporating powerful women.