Social Normativity
Among the most relentlessly trivializing visions of games ever produced in Hollywood is the romantic comedy The Break-Up (2006). Starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, The Break-Up is the story of a couple in the process of ending their relationship in part because Vaughn plays video games obsessively on the couch, while neglecting his girlfriend (Aniston). Ultimately, the two decide to continue cohabitating in their jointly owned condominium and proceed to torment each other - Vaughn by coaxing Aniston's male suitors to play video games with him rather than go out on dates with her, and Aniston by exploiting the fact that she is no longer sexually available to her former partner.
In Couples Retreat (2009), Vince Vaughn reprises his role as the quintessential video game obsessed dude, whose game-based homosocial bonding takes precedence over his heterosexual romantic relationship. This scene also continues a long tradition of cinematic depictions of showcase game play sequences that directly incorporate game aesthetics but provide little narrative exposition.
This extended sequence from The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) crystallizes many of the social tensions that surround depictions of video games on film, when stereotypical gamer dude homophobia is intercut with attempted heterosexual romance. This scene brings together multiple tropes in the representation of video games on film and television: hyperviolence, homophobia, social awkwardness, introversion, antisocial behavior, linkages between sex and violence, etc. The implicit critique of video games and the derogatory use of "gay" in gamer vernacular speech is muddled by the film's ambiguous attitude toward games and other artifacts that question the main character's masculinity.