ABSTRACT
This chapter offers potential strategies for analyzing meaning in videogames. It examines the figure of the Canadian soldier in war-themed videogames and argue that it is a powerful rhetorical device for encapsulating key characteristics of nationhood and identity. Although the Canadian public does not quite share the same degree of reverence for the soldier as the American public, the Canadian soldier remains a generally positive figure in Canadian imagery, embodying many desirable traits, including duty, honor, strength, resilience, and excellence. Whether in film, television, or videogames, the Canadian soldier figure is typically presented as courageous, resourceful, and strong, but also white, masculine, and heteronormative. The chapter examines a number of war-themed games which feature Canadian soldiers from the two World Wars and the war in Afghanistan. To identify games featuring Canadian soldiers, the authors conducted an Internet search of war-themed games which feature Canadian troops as playable characters.
