Anthony Tan

"Breaking the Norm or 'Heavy' Stereotypes? An Analysis of Russians in Team Fortress 2"

Team Fortress 2. The famous multiplayer shooter video game that is still kicking even after fourteen years. This popular game, created by Valve in 2007, boasts nine different playable classes and is packed with fast paced action. Team Fortress 2 does not have a story mode like other games. Instead it has several multiplayer game modes, such as capture the flag, where players work together to achieve objectives. But perhaps the most iconic part of this game is its characters, specifically the Heavy Weapons Guy or “Heavy” for short.

Heavy is the “face” of Team Fortress 2, possibly because of how unique of a character he is for the first person shooter genre, and yet he is also depicted as a stereotypical Russian commonly seen in American media. Heavy is the largest character in the game. He is also very strong as he wields a heavy but powerful minigun as his primary weapon. These characterizations clearly show the stereotypes that all Russians are big and strong. While studies have shown that humans that settled in colder climates generally evolved to have larger bodies, not everyone from Russia lives in such a cold climate. This stereotype likely originated from Western propaganda with the goal of portraying Russians as terrifying in order to garner support for opposing communism.

Heavy is also characterized by the stereotype that all Russians love large weaponry. Heavy’s main weapon is a minigun. He has several voice lines that show how enthusiastic he is about firing it. Furthermore, he loves his miniguns to the point of naming them. However, this stereotype is completely unfounded as Russia has strict gun laws. This stereotype has come about because of Russia’s tradition of creating weapons. Starting in the late 16th century, self-taught craftsmen were ordered to specialize in arms production. Since then, many famous models have been popularized, most notably the AK-47, but along with it came the stereotype that all Russians enjoy weapons.

Heavy reaffirms many Russian stereotypes, but he also breaks others as well. Other famous video games, such as GoldenEye 007 and Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2, feature Russians as the main antagonists that are characterized as ruthless killers and evil strategists. They are portrayed as being incapable of making moral decisions. Team Fortress 2’s Heavy deviates from this pattern. Heavy is not shown to be an enemy but one of the protagonists. He is shown to be reliable and loyal from the way he protects his family to his friends. Even in the video game, this trait is expressed as his character is meant to be the anchor of any team’s offense or defense.

So while Team Fortress 2 does blow Russian stereotypes out of proportion in order to create an interesting and comical character, the game also breaks the norm of Russians as cold-blooded villains. In this way, Team Fortress 2 tries to humanize Russians and show its audience that Russians are not the enemy so commonly depicted in the media today.