Inhuman Music and the Monstrous-Feminine

Abstract

In video games, female characters have traditionally been meant to be seen and not heard, mirroring the history of women under patriarchy. Those female characters who reject their secondary and primarily visual role often become monstrous, and like Barbara Creed argues, this monstrosity is itself profoundly gendered. This paper focuses on two such female characters whose monstrosity, and also revolt, are indisputably feminine, as well as musical. Both the 2007 classic Portal and the 2017 cult hit Doki Doki Literature Club! feature central antagonists who are sentient artificial female monsters who both start off as the players’ guides through their respective games, their roles similar to those of gendered digital assistants in everyday life. While GLaDOS is voiced throughout Portal, Monika remains silent until the final credits of DDLC!, but the comparison between the two is never as evident as when they sing. Both games end with songs performed by these antagonists, after they have technically been defeated. This paper draws on feminist literary and film theory, as well as musicology and ludomusicology, to deliver both a comparative analysis of the two songs, and a broader formulation of the sonic representation of the monstrous-feminine in video games.