BioShock Infinite - Analyzing the Corset Scene

I’ve been thinking about one particular scene in Bioshock Infinite, close to the end, that really lays bare the relationship between Booker and Elizabeth. Go watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cAhaUTlMdo, from 7:50 – 9:17, then come back – this is going to be spoileriffic.

Also, be aware that this is a very, very in-depth look at storytelling techniques. Walls of text are approaching.

[Trigger warning, I’m partly going to be analyzing this scene from a sexual assault perspective.]

So this scene is pretty close to the end: The revolution is in full swing, you’ve been to the future and met Old Elizabeth, and you’ve just rescued her from the machine that was going to keep her suppressed until she could be made Comstock’s pawn. Following this, your objective is to kill Comstock, then destroy the Siphon to unleash Elizabeth’s full powers.

This article’s going to look into how the scene shows that Booker and Elizabeth are unable to escape dehumanization and pain.

I’m going to start off contentiously and begin by analyzing this scene from a sexual angle. This is as close as this game comes to a sex scene, and it’s right after a moment that reeks of sexual assault. If there were ever any question that this game breaks Elizabeth and leaves Booker powerless, this scene lays it to rest.

You’ve just saved her from a machine that, like Geiger’s xenomorph, has connotations of sexual assault. Look at the needle plugged into her back, the bruise and the puncture it leaves behind, the writhing she did while strapped down on a horizontal surface.

This is the only time in the game that her shoulders are bare. As the hero, you’ve just spent ~2 hours trying to get her back, fighting through time and saving her from her father. And now that that’s done, you proceed to restore her dignity to her by tying her corset, saved just in the nick of time before she’s permanently damaged. In a cheap action movie, the hero helps the damsel in distress stop shaking, then they screw to comfort her.

Even in that cheap action movie, that would be fucked up, but it’s even worse for Booker and Elizabeth. There are all kinds of surface-level sexual cues, but there’s nothing sensual about it. Hell, there isn’t even anything hopeful about it, and that’s the whole point. Everything that could be sensual about it is undermined and made sinister, from the pain of tying the corset to the bruises on her exposed back. Watch her body language, too: The only time that Elizabeth faces you square-on, with both her shoulders and her breasts visible (not blocked by a hand), is when she says “This is where you start moralizing, Booker?” The most outwardly-sexual moment is also the most despairing moment.

So, from Elizabeth’s standpoint, this is a moment of supreme dehumanization. One of the most human things imaginable, sexuality, is completely twisted: It’s brought out and displayed against her will (going through a pseudo-sexual situation), and it’s perverted and undermined by the situation itself. Without hope, without humanity, all that's left is for her to throw herself into her powers, and become a destructive force of the multiverse.

(Adding even more layers of significance to how much this dehumanizes her: Unless there’s something after the game, this is literally as close as she’ll ever come to having sex. One of the most human moments ever, and this twisted mockery of it is as close as she’ll ever get to it.)

If control of your own sexuality is part of humanity, on Elizabeth’s side, I’d also like to look at how this scene dehumanizes Booker. In this case, it’s more specifically the sense of powerlessness when it comes to helping others.

“I’ve got you, it’s okay. Okay, I’m going to fix this.” Booker has just fought through the asylum, come back from the future, and rescued the girl – and there is nothing he can do to fix this. The action hero would know how to comfort the damsel, to fix the problem, but all Booker can do is tie Elizabeth’s corset and help her to kill.

Also, it’s important to note that helping – literally, responding to the prompt to Help Elizabeth – has Booker hurting her, tying the corset. In restoring her dignity and comfort, he’s hurting her. The game emphasizes that this helping causes pain, and implicates the player in it, by prompting you twice – first to Help Elizabeth, then to Tie Corset. (Although the player doesn’t have a hand in it, there’s also the pain after removing the needle. Helping Elizabeth with that leads to a full five seconds of audible pain, and the next thing she says starts with a crippled, heartbreaking quaver.)

At this point, Elizabeth can’t be saved, can’t be fixed. All Booker can do, even when prompted to help her, is tie her corset – take away her nudity – and help her kill a man. He’s her father, and he failed her so much that this is what they’re left with.

All that Elizabeth and Booker are good for now is killing and suffering. And by the time the ending rolls around, they’ll have supported the cause of good. Any paragon of virtue would have sacrificed themselves in the same way, but that paragon gets to die with dignity. Elizabeth and Booker, they get no dignity, only guilt and blood on their hands. 

There’s more than just these elements, of course: I focused on things that were a layer or two down. The more obvious cues in this scene are absolutely amazing, including some astoundingly good voice acting, motion capture, and zombie-like black eyes on Elizabeth.

Theme song for this scene: “Hey Hey, My My – Into the Black,” by Neil Young.

Note: I’ve been thinking about Infinite a lot recently, but it’s been a couple months since I played. I take full responsibility for any inaccuracies in interpretation that may result.