Abstract
Both historically and in the present day, video games as a medium and an industry have been aligned with the forces of hegemony and empire. Toxic gamer culture has come to dominate popular discussions of games. Is the child-friendly game company Nintendo addressing these issues through the sound and visual design of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? This study attempts to find answers on the following questions: Does the sound that frames Mario Kart 8 Deluxe queer stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity? If so, what are the gendered characteristics that result in aspects of self-identification? And to what extent does sexuality and sexual preference have an underlying effect on the relationships created? These questions are approached from the interdisciplinary field of popular musicology, and involves addressing theories from queer studies, game studies, and audiovisual studies.
The study does not attempt to provide definite answers to the key questions. Rather, the purpose of this thesis is to address a range of critical issues regarding queer representational politics in modern games from a range of perspectives that are framed within a transdisciplinary context where music and sound are prioritised.