Character and Sexuality in Bully

If the characters in Bully are satires of real-world gender stereotypes, is the issue with how sexuality is represented debatable? Sometimes issues presented in a playful manner can be dismissed as a joke and nothing more, and while characters in Bully play on stereotypes, they are only characters acting in their world.

Bullworth Academy appears as a traditional old-fashioned school, complete with neo-gothic architecture and a sanctimonious principal. Chivalrous behavior is enforced to some degree—harming girls will cause the player’s violence meter to max out, and prefects will horde around Jimmy to detain him. Girls do not instigate fights but may stand at the perimeter of a scuffle and cheer. Girls use surreptitious methods to get what they want, rather than dealing with problems by physically fighting as the boys do. Beatrice suddenly falls in love with Jimmy after asking him to help her once. Pinky is a spoiled princess who dumps Derby for Jimmy after Derby is three minutes late. Lola seduces boys into giving her gifts and doing her homework, then tosses them away when she no longer needs them. Revealing blown-up photos of Mandy get posted all over town. Zoe complains of being hit on by the gym teacher, who at one time sends Jimmy on a panty-collecting mission. When Jimmy helps girls with tasks, he may receive a kiss as a reward. Passing Jimmy’s art class builds up Jimmy’s ability to talk to girls and receive a kiss for a health bonus. Jimmy, as one of his misbehavior options, can pinch female characters’ buttocks, including Miss Danvers. For male characters, the option is replaced with a wedgie. Basically, female characters are mostly targets for romance or sexual-related missions while the boys have more variation in the missions they give to Jimmy.

Because of the game’s sardonic nature, are these female characters and the situations they find themselves in degrading to the female population? Are they harmless jokes? In many games and media, romance and sex are depicted through female characters foremost, rather than through male characters. Does seeing a girl or woman, whether in games or out of games, make one think of sex because that is how the media portrays them? Even if girls are objectified—in this case, objects for power-ups and kissing scenes—the stereotype could be seen at a different angle. Why are the girls protected by the game mechanics and not the boys? Why do they have a responsible hall monitor in their dorm while the walls of the boys’ dorm peel away in neglect? One reason might be the concept that girls need protection because they cannot protect themselves. Another reason might be the concept that boys are naturally in trouble and messy while girls are naturally obedient and clean. Whatever the reasons, these questions invite answers that lead to more stereotyping of the sexes.

For a game that plays on stereotypes, Bully does not always follow other games’ interpretations of people. Allowing Jimmy to kiss boys is one option that many Western games do not include or would cut during translation from the East. The boys Jimmy can kiss will also kiss girls, so their bisexuality is not apparent until they talk to Jimmy.

In the “Movie Tickets” mission, the player catches Trent and Kirby on a date at the movies. Seeing them holding hands did not affect me until my sister, who was watching me play, said, “Are they holding hands?” immediately before they ran away. At first I thought Jimmy scared them when running up from behind, but only afterward did I realize I had been unaffected because the boys were behaving in a “normal” way in relation to a straight-minded society. They were not dressed in flamboyant outfits, they were not hitting on other passing boys, and they were not speaking with lisps as many media portray gay or bisexual characters. They were simply holding hands. Did the game developers assume I would react differently when seeing two boys together and understand why the boys fled, or were the characters of the game only acting in accordance to their defined personalities? Kirby is a closeted bisexual, and being seen with Trent would have indeed scared him. The player will know he is bisexual because he is one of the boys Jimmy can kiss, and Kirby even shows his nervousness when kissing Jimmy.

The depictions of female and bisexual characters fit in Bully’s satirical world due to characters having their own personalities that make them more believable instead of mere objects. The option for kissing boys counters other games where such has been forbidden or removed, and kissing boys results in equal bonuses as kissing girls. Bully plays with stereotypes, but it does not appear to have the intent to reinforce them.