2B and the Male Gaze

(This short analysis is an extension of a much larger essay on the existentialist themes of NieR: Automata published on the 20th of December, 2022. The essay also exists in video format.)

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To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself.- John Berger (Ways of Seeing)

My brother saw me playing NieR: Automata the other day and, looking to agitate me, attempted to criticise the objectification of the game’s protagonist 2B by juxtaposing it with that of Bayonetta’s titular lead whom he said was “sexually empowered.” Whether or not women can truly be “empowered” through the male gaze is a discussion for another time, but I felt as if he (along with everyone who sexualised 2B online) was missing the point of NieR: Automata. It sought not to sexually liberate its woman characters, but rather to confront the male gaze in a far less playful manner than its witchy contemporary.

While both characters have their womanly attributes accentuated through their designs, the tones could not be any more opposite. The camera lingers on Bayonetta’s breasts, hips and backside as she stretches and poses, putting on a show for the player. The same cannot be seen for 2B, instead, the lingering camera is put in the hands of the player themselves.

Much of NieR: Automata is about the relationship between it and the player and how meaning and significance is entirely subjective. One such example is the objectification of 2B. It is important to recognise that a sexually attractive woman does not an objectified woman make; her body is not “alluring” and “tantalising” simply because she is sexy. The player, however, has the ability to manipulate her placement and the camera to look underneath her skirt. Her brushing the camera away is the only time she acknowledges the player’s existence in the entire game. She chooses what she wears (as any woman should), but it is when her consent is violated and she is made into an object of desire does she become uncomfortable. Choosing to repeat this ten times awards the player with the trophy “What Are You Doing?”

The game outright calls the actions “creepy.” Its rhetorical title asks the player what drives them to do this. This is not to say that NieR: Automata is divorced from eroticism, on the contrary, sexuality has been a prominent theme of the entire series. The horniness of NieR: Automata can be likened to that of Neon Genesis Evangelion; it is not playfully facetious, but painfully real and exposing for the viewer.

This trophy is important because there is a much easier way to see what lays underneath 2B’s skirt: self-destructing her. If the player can simply blow off her skirt, why would they ever feel the need to peak under her skirt?

By contrast, self-destruction is far more uncomfortable for both 2B and the player than the evasive peak under the skirt. A timer appears and counts down as 2B writhes and cries out in pain, being physically violated. While she showed discomfort with the player’s actions before, now it can not be seen as playful. Media has often used the discomfort of sexual violation (usually a woman being flustered and blushing, itself a way to further tantilise the male viewer) as a punchline to the point where the only way to present a criticism to the otaku is to juxtapose the normalised “panty shot” with genuine cries of pain. The player is forced to recognise how the woman is being stripped of her autonomy.

So why would a player choose to “discover 2B’s secret” ten times over self-destructing her? So they can avoid sympathising with the object. Through a conversation with the machine Adam and 2B’s companion 9S, the game asks the audience

You’re thinking about how much you want to **** 2B, aren’t you?

The text appears on a blank, silent screen. There is nothing to distract the player from the question. Nothing to indicate that it is addressing anyone other than them. How would you fill the blank space? How do you view 2B? As a rounded character? As a sexual object? We see 9S become consumed by his possessive love for her to the point where 2B ceases to be a person and instead becomes an idea: one of love, hate, spite, a representation of the machine network, of his failures, of his dark desires. He exists as a twisted reflection of the otaku with the controller in hand who views 2B as a representation of their own libido, hiding behind the familiar fun of the “panty shot” trope in Japanese anime.

Much like how 9S has deep possessive desires for 2B, the player may want to “discover 2B’s secret” to attain a sense of exclusive ownership over her. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself. By choosing to see what is hidden from the player in a way where 2B actively shows that she wishes for it to not be seen by them, she becomes a valuable piece of property, one that the player possesses.