Man-eaters and Fan-dancers: Exploring Gender Representation, the Female “Other” and Geek-girl Alienation

The video game characters Mileena and Kitana, initially, in the 1992 Midway release Mortal Kombat 2 were created as an example of palatte swapping in game design, an economical alternative to paying multiple character models, and as a solution to technical limitations. Based on martial artist Katalin Zamiar, the two characters appeared identical, but for different coloured costumes and different weapons-choices. This was explained away in the games’ storyline as follows: Mileena was created as a mutated clone of Princess Kitana of Edenia. Thus, two of the most popular and longest-standing female game characters were created. Roughly eight sequels and two spin-off games later, these two characters feature as main playable characters in the newest of the Mortal Kombat games, released in 2011.