Children's Video Games as Interactive Racialization

Cathlena Martin explores in her paper "Children's Video Games as Interactive Racialization" selected children's video games. Martin argues that children's video games often act as reinforcement for the games' television and film counterparts and their racializing characteristics and features. In Martin's analysis the video games discussed represent media through which to analyze racial identities and ideologies. In making the case for positive female minority leads in children's video games, Martin examines the games and franchises of Rugrats and Dora the Explorer. She argues that the influx of games with a greater diversity of minority female characters has only been a recent phenomenon in game production -since 2002 -and holds a strong correlation with the medium of television. Cathlena Martin, "Children's Video Games as Interactive Racialization." page 2 of 9 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 10.2 (2008): Thematic Issue, Racialized Narratives for Children. Ed. C. Richard King and John Streamas