If you were to take the hypodermic needle theory literally
then the game would influence players to become more racist, violent and leave
them questioning reality. This is because Skyrim’s main storyline is based off of
a civil war in the homeland of a race called the ‘Nords’. The empire has
entered the province and because they have sided with another faction, the
‘Thalmor’ a faction made up of ‘High Elves’ from another province. The Thalmor
have recognized one of the Nord’s gods as false, because of that the Empire,
(made up of all races from another province which the previous Elder Scrolls
game was based in) have taken on that view of the false god and outlawed
worship of him. This is the main drive behind the main storyline, which is
obviously based upon religion and freedom to choose who to worship. The Nord’s
are not all a part of the rebellion against the empire, some are in favor of
it, the rebellions are known as the ‘Stormcloaks’. From playing the game and
interacting with the Stormcloak characters the player can see that they are
oppressed by the Empire and they are trying to gain back free reign of Skyrim.
From this the game makes the player think about oppression
in reality, and those who are told who they can and cannot worship and are
being denied of free right of worship. This is known as the Agenda Setting
media theory. The game also involves heavy racism against others races, for
example the Thalmor do not like anyone who isn’t a High Elf, and the
Stormcloaks do not like anyone who isn’t a Nord. Upon entering a city in the game,
the user encounters two Stormcloaks harassing a Dark Elf (Another race) and
making accusations of the character. After this the Dark Elf forces conversation
with you and asks if you to hate the Dark Elves. In which the player can
respond negatively or positively.
In the same city as mentioned last, there is a character
that underpays his labor workers, which are another race, the Argonians. In
which there is a quest to help the workers achieve better pay and equality.
This too makes the player think of equal rights and treatments of other races in
reality.
One of the main flaws of the game is how repetitive the NPC
(Non playable character) conversations are when passing them. So much so that
there was a well-known line that the fan base of the game exploited and made a
joke out of online, the line is now one of the most iconic phrases associated
with the game. This means that players of the game can interact with each other
from using NPC speech, just by saying one well known line can start a
conversation or give an opinion of a person. It also shows they play Skyrim.
This is known as the Uses and Gratification media theory, of users fulfilling
social needs from using the media, for example using an NPC line to start a
conversation or make a joke.
Because the game is based upon role playing, there are many
non-human races of which you can play as an encounter throughout the game. There
is very little racism in game directed at the human races, however there is a
lot of racism aimed at the non-human races, for example Dark Elves, Khajiit and
Argonians being the worst. This is because each of these races comes from
another province and far away from their homeland. This can be related to
people who migrate to different countries and areas in reality.
Because of the vast variety between races there are
different colours and shades of people, literally there are characters which
are completely different colours to the last you see. For example, Argonians
can be any colour, being a reptile based race it does not look out of place and
fits. As far as racism due to colour of skin goes in Skyrim, there is only the Dark
Elves which are referred to as “gray skins” because they are, as the name
states darker toned elves.
There is not obvious sexism in the game either. There are
females and males doing the same thing. Throughout the various guilds and
factions in the game there are both female and male characters involved and you
encounter both important males and females throughout the main storyline. There
is no obvious sexism stating that women should be doing a certain thing. For
example in one of the cities there is a male chef, in another quest there is
another male chef.
In conclusion The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim does not appear to
be sexist or racist against any real life races/ethnicities /religions.
Although there were some issues with Christian parents before about the ability
for two males to get married which caused outrage from some parents. Aside from
that, there have been no major issues with the game. It displays genders
equally and makes the player think about their play style as the game involves consequences
for actions.
