{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T14:32:07Z","timestamp":1777645927893,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,27]],"date-time":"2021-03-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1616803200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Games and Culture"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article explores the representation of monstrous-feminine agency through the character of Kerrigan in the StarCraft series with emphasis on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Kerrigan\u2019s subjectivity as a player-character complicates her in ways that require a different application of the monstrous-feminine from those characters from literature, film, and video games that position them as enemies to overcome. The article begins examining Kerrigan through the lens of the monstrous-feminine and the abject before discussing how her hypersexualization ostensibly contradicts her monstrosity as an empowering force. The author then explores the obstacles Kerrigan must overcome and how this struggle reifies her disruption of and resistance against the symbolic order. The discussion concludes that Kerrigan\u2019s connection between the player and monstrous-feminine character is a significant paradigm shift for the female monster and how agency and empathy allow players to understand the monstrous-feminine in a new perspective.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/15554120211005232","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,27]],"date-time":"2021-03-27T05:15:26Z","timestamp":1616822126000},"page":"885-906","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Postmodern Medusa: The Monstrous-Feminine in\n                    <i>StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7688-7857","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gregory","family":"Blomquist","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-15554120211005232","first-page":"130","volume":"4","author":"Aarseth E.","year":"2007","journal-title":"Proceedings of DiGRA 2007 Conference: Situated Play"},{"key":"bibr2-15554120211005232","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1555412015589175"},{"key":"bibr3-15554120211005232","volume-title":"StarCraft","author":"Blizzard Entertainment","year":"1998"},{"key":"bibr4-15554120211005232","volume-title":"StarCraft: Brood War","author":"Blizzard Entertainment","year":"1998"},{"key":"bibr5-15554120211005232","volume-title":"StarCraft user manual","author":"Blizzard Entertainment","year":"1998"},{"key":"bibr6-15554120211005232","volume-title":"StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty","author":"Blizzard Entertainment","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr7-15554120211005232","volume-title":"StarCraft II: Heart of the swarm","author":"Blizzard Entertainment","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr8-15554120211005232","volume-title":"Heroes of the Storm","author":"Blizzard Entertainment","year":"2015"},{"key":"bibr9-15554120211005232","volume-title":"StarCraft II: Legacy of the void","author":"Blizzard Entertainment","year":"2015"},{"key":"bibr10-15554120211005232","volume-title":"StarCraft: Remastered","author":"Blizzard Entertainment","year":"2017"},{"key":"bibr11-15554120211005232","volume-title":"Goddesses and monsters: Women, myth, power, and popular culture","author":"Caputi J.","year":"2004"},{"key":"bibr12-15554120211005232","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/3125.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr13-15554120211005232","volume-title":"Ready player two: Women gamers and designed identity","author":"Chess S.","year":"2018"},{"key":"bibr14-15554120211005232","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/493306"},{"key":"bibr15-15554120211005232","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/screen\/27.1.44"},{"key":"bibr16-15554120211005232","volume-title":"The monstrous-feminine: Film, feminism, psychoanalysis","author":"Creed B.","year":"1993"},{"key":"bibr51-15554120211005232","volume-title":"Blizzard Entertainment","author":"Dayton C.","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr17-15554120211005232","volume-title":"StarCraft: Frontline: Why we fight","author":"Elder J.","year":"2008"},{"key":"bibr18-15554120211005232","first-page":"533","volume-title":"The critical tradition: Classic texts and contemporary trends","author":"Freud S.","year":"2007","edition":"3"},{"key":"bibr19-15554120211005232","first-page":"841","volume-title":"The Norton anthology of theory and criticism","author":"Freud S.","year":"2010","edition":"2"},{"key":"bibr20-15554120211005232","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822398073"},{"key":"bibr21-15554120211005232","volume-title":"A casual revolution: Reinventing video games and their players","author":"Juul J.","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr22-15554120211005232","first-page":"2","volume":"2","author":"Kennedy H.","year":"2002","journal-title":"Game Studies"},{"key":"bibr23-15554120211005232","volume-title":"Powers of horror: An essay on abjection","author":"Kristeva J.","year":"1982"},{"key":"bibr24-15554120211005232","volume-title":"The seminar of Jacques Lacan, book II: The ego in Freud\u2019s theory and in the technique of psychoanalysis","author":"Lacan J.","year":"1988"},{"key":"bibr25-15554120211005232","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1555412010391088"},{"key":"bibr26-15554120211005232","first-page":"52","volume":"4","author":"Lurie S.","year":"1982","journal-title":"Discourse"},{"key":"bibr27-15554120211005232","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5040\/9781350987401"},{"key":"bibr28-15554120211005232","volume-title":"Monstrous bodies: Feminine power in young adult horror fiction","author":"Pulliam J.","year":"2014"},{"key":"bibr29-15554120211005232","first-page":"69","volume-title":"Digital gameplay: Essays on the nexus of game and gamer","author":"Santos M. 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