Claire Redfield

Concept and design

Claire Redfield was introduced alongside the police officer Leon S. Kennedy as one of two playable protagonists in Capcom's 1998 survival horror video game Resident Evil 2. Claire was developed from an earlier character named Elza Walker, the original female lead of the game's first prototype, In the middle of the game's development, newly-hired storywriter Noboru Sugimura felt the story needed a stronger connection to Resident Evil (1996). Director Hideki Kamiya and producer Shinji Mikami agreed with Sugimura's criticism, and Sugimura substantially overhauled the story, including reworking Elza into Claire Redfield, the sister of Chris Redfield.

Claire's appearance was designed by the artists Isao Ohishi and Ryoji Shimogama. To avoid sexual objectification of women in video games, Mikami refused to eroticize or portray women in Resident Evil as submissive; instead, Claire was characterized as independent. Mikami said: "I don't know if I've put more emphasis on women characters, but when I do introduce them, it is never as objects ... In [other] games, they will be peripheral characters with ridiculous breast physics. I avoid that sort of obvious eroticism."

Claire continued to be redesigned during the series. She was given a tougher appearance in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (2000) because her experiences in Resident Evil 2 toughened her and increased her confidence to handle situations. This characterization is emphasized in the opening scene, in which she appears in a John Woo-inspired action scene. For Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015), Claire was written as practical and aggressive to contrast with her partner, the young, immature, and easily scared Moira Burton. According to the producer Michiteru Okabe, they had not reduced the two characters to their gender and had instead given them unique personalities, which he said reflected positively on the video-game industry's direction at the time. According to Okabe, the director Morimasa Sato is a big fan of Claire so Okabe felt obliged to bring her back into the game.

In the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2, Claire was redesigned and modeled after the Canadian model Jordan McEwen. She was given a new wardrobe, and her original hotpants and cycling shorts were replaced with jeans and a long-sleeved jacket.

Voice-over and live-action actors

Alyson Court voiced Claire Redfield in Resident Evil 2 (1998) and reprised the role in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, Resident Evil: Degeneration, and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. In Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Claire was voiced by James Baker (Pseudonym), while Ananda Jacobs performed motion capture for the character. Stephanie Panisello performed motion capture and voiced Claire in Resident Evil 2 (2019), Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and Resident Evil: Death Island.

Claire is played by Adrienne Frantz in a commercial for Resident Evil 2 (1998) that was directed by George A. Romero. In the live-action Resident Evil film series, Ali Larter played Claire in Resident Evil: Extinction, Resident Evil: Afterlife, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter; and Kaya Scodelario portrayed her in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Appearances

In the ''Resident Evil'' series

The events of Resident Evil 2 occur in 1998 in the fictional American metropolis Raccoon City. Claire is a college student who is searching for her brother Chris Redfield, a member of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) team. Claire arrives in Raccoon City to find it overrun by zombies, for which the pharmaceutical company Umbrella Corporation is responsible. Claire escapes from the facility on a train, along with Leon and Sherry, before Raccoon City is destroyed by a nuclear strike as part of a U.S. government cover-up.

Mikami, the lead producer of both Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) and the concurrently-produced Code: Veronica, wanted each game to highlight an existing female character in the series. Jill is the protagonist of Nemesis while Claire is the lead character in Code: Veronica. Commentators said these decisions were made as a result of the success of the Tomb Raider series, whose protagonist is Lara Croft. Code: Veronica is set three months after Claire's escape from Raccoon City; she is apprehended while trying to find Chris and raiding a European Umbrella facility.

In Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015), Claire is a member of the counter-bioterrorism group TerraSave. The game follows Claire and Barry Burton's daughter Moira as they are kidnapped, infected with the T-Phobos virus, and trapped on a mysterious, abandoned, prison island. Claire and Moira, and Barry arrives to look for them and a young girl named Natalia Korda.

Other appearances

Claire features in several of the Resident Evil films that were directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. In Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Claire is the leader of a convoy of zombie-apocalypse survivors who, at the end of the film, go to Alaska to find safety. She also appears in Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) Claire returns in the sixth-and-final film of the original film series Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), in which she teams up with Alice before an artificial intelligence called Red Queen attempts to destroy humanity. She also appears in the reboot film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021).

Claire also appears in the animated Resident Evil films. She plays a major role in Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008), in which she is reunited with Leon. The film is set seven years after the events of the game Resident Evil 2, and Claire has become a prominent TerraSave member. Claire has also appeared with Leon in the Netflix series Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021), in which TerraSave staff member encounters a mysterious image a young boy draws in a country she visited while providing refugee assistance. She is haunted by this drawing of a victim of viral infection and begins her own investigation. She returns in the sequel Resident Evil: Death Island (2023). Claire's youthful appearance in the film is said to be a result of the T-Phobos virus slowing her aging.

Claire is a playable character in several non-canonical Resident Evil games.Sources that cite Claire's appearances in games that are not canonical to the Resident Evil series include:

• She features in numerous Resident Evil mobile games, and is the protagonist of Resident Evil: Zombie Busters (2001) and Resident Evil Uprising (2009).Sources for Claire appearing in numerous Resident Evil mobile games:
• She is a playable character in the digital collectible card game Teppen (2019), and in a mobile game Puzzle & Survival (2023). Claire is an alternate skin in the asymmetric online multiplayer game Dead by Daylight (2016), in Fortnite Battle Royale (2017), PUBG Mobile (2018), and the action role-playing game Monster Hunter: World (2018). She has a non-playable cameo in the sports game Trick'N Snowboarder (1999), the browser-based hack and slash game Onimusha Soul (2013), and a robot dressed as Claire in the Astro Bot (2024).

Claire appears in novelizations of the films and games, and plays a main role in the third novel in a series by S. D. Perry, Resident Evil: City of the Dead (1999). Several comic books based on the games were released.Sources for Claire appearing in comic books:

• She is one of the main characters in Naoki Serizawa's manga Biohazard: Heavenly Island, which was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine in 2015; in this manga, Claire is a TerraSave investigator on an isolated South American island. She features in Bandai's Resident Evil Deck Building Card Game (2011) and Steamforged Games' Resident Evil 2: The Board Game (2017). The character was featured in a Resident Evil-themed attraction at Universal Studios Japan's ride Halloween Horror Nights. Claire's likeness has been used for merchandise including figurines, plushies, keychains, vests, and standees.Sources that cite Claire's merchandise include:

Critical reception

Claire Redfield has received positive reviews from critics for her personality and characteristics. GamesRadar+ described her as one of Capcom's best characters. IGN editors and Kimberly Wallace of Game Informer praised Claire; Wallace stating Claire is her favorite Resident Evil character, "caring, strong-willed, and a total badass". Critic Scott Rogers, writing for Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design described Claire as a perfect example of the theme "opposites attract" in Resident Evil 2 as a companion character who is capable of anything, while Sherry is a "defenseless little girl". Other critics praised Claire's role as a strong female lead character;Sources that praised Claire for being a strong female character:

• Syfys Brittany Vincent described her as a "strong-willed young woman who's tough as nails and ready to take on any challenge".

Critics have commented Claire is not oversexualized in her initial appearances, and she has been exemplified as a female character from the series who is not exclusively evaluated on the basis of her gender. The Digital media academic Esther MacCallum-Stewart said Resident Evils female characters have unique qualities, making them viable choices for players to select over their male counterparts, and that their combat attire helps avoid criticism for pandering to the male gaze. The feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian of Tropes vs. Women in Video Games criticized the Resident Evil series' trend of rewarding male players with unlockable outfits that reduce the oft-capable women into sexual objects, citing Claire's rodeo outfit in Revelations 2 being an example.Criticism of Claire's outfit from sources:

• The academic writer Jenny Platz said women in video games are generally not shown with any gender fluidity, and that Claire is reduced to a "sexless object" who is comparable with the "typical trope" of "a virgin or tomboy".

Notes

References

Bibliography

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