Looking back, I realize I followed my original research plans loosely, and spent far less time at The Strong than I had anticipated. Fortunately, I conducted a lot of research early on in conjunction with another pinball related project, and I noted sources that I might use for my thesis even back then.
The survey I conducted was challenging, but it revealed some unexpected characteristics of the female figure in pinball artwork. Here are some reflections on my survey and research findings:
Sexualized Attire
At times it was difficult to determine what sexualized attire entailed. And what if the male figures in the image were dressed similarly? Despite my primary focus on female figures, it became necessary at times to look at the greater context to determine if the attire was purposefully sexualizing, or if the attire was a sort of uniform worn by all figures in the image (or sometimes both).
Race and Representation
Few pinball machines exhibited people of color. Even when the background setting of the images implied the scene took place in a foreign country, many of the characters were white with culturally appropriated attire. A handful of games depicted African Americans, and only two games depicted African American females.
Unarmed Women
Often women were placed in dangerous situations. Often the male figures held weapons, but the female figures were left unarmed. The image of Lieutenant Uhura on Bally's Star Trek is a rare example of the female figure being armed, with as much agency to defend herself as her male counterparts (the other crew members).
Licensed Games
The trend of licensing games that began to occur with frequency in the late 1970s had an interesting effect on pinball artwork. On one hand, licensing reinforced the male gaze as it was used in film and television. On the other hand, games like Star Trek, based on a ground-breaking television show, introduced more progressive ways of representing females in pinball artwork. Licensed images required the approval of the actors they portrayed, which gave women like Nichelle Nichols (Lieutenant Uhura, Star Trek) some control over their depiction. Pinball artists, who previously only had to answer to their superiors in the industry, now had to answer to the real people being represented.
Symbolic Participation
Another common theme I found in the artwork was the blurred distinction between being an active participant or a passive spectator. In some instances, female figures were fully participating in the main activity being depicted in the pinball artwork. Sometimes, they played ancillary roles to the main action, such as when they filled the role of cheerleader while the male figures played football in a football-themed game. Finally, there was something I called symbolic participation in which the female figure might be present in the same scene, or in possession of a piece of equipment used in the main activity, but they are not full participants. Sometimes they were holding a pool cue, for example, but showed no indication of playing, with their attention and gaze diverted elsewhere.
Permissive Smile
The most interesting and disturbing element used to depict females in pinball artwork is what I called the permissive smile. The permissive smile could be found in images in which the female figure was placed in a dangerous or threatening situation, particularly in the presence of male figures, but instead of appearing alarmed or responding to the scene around her, she is smiling.
Generally, in candid photographic snapshots or real-life interaction, people associate a smile with happiness. But we need to be reminded that pinball artwork is constructed. Each element of the image is a signifier for something else. In this case, the smile indicates a passive acceptance or invitation. In one instance, a woman is tied to a stone slab or platform, presumably to be sacrificed in a ritual. Her smile is in stark contrast to the situation she is in. Before I conducted the survey, I thought it would be inaccurate to include something as seemingly innocuous as a smile as a sign of passivity, and it never occurred to me it could be associated with violence. After encountering instances of the permissive smile in pinball artwork, I better understand Erving Goffman’s 1976 analysis of the smile in his book Gender Advertisements.
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