Tropes vs Women in Videogame is kinda right, bros.

Wait, are you saying that feminists think games are sexist? Get me the president!!

I think discussions of diversity are worthy of discussion in videogames.  I know when they are brought up  it causes uneasy feelings. The videogamer, the one who's into the culture of videogames enough to sign on to a forum strictly dedicated to the genre, is a creature that has been bred to fear criticism from all sources, because historically that criticism is ill informed about the industry itself.  And when you don't talk about it you feel good. You look at the newest shitty pop singstress trying  singing about licking your lollipop and the newest shitty patronizing rom-com and you go "well, we doing all right over here." And hey, in some respects, we are. But we can always be better.

 

If only so that we don't get complacent.

And so has the reaction been to a new series, kick-started out of the money of people willing to see it. It's apparently gotten, flagged and otherwise illegitimately attempted to be brought down by...I don't know. Assholes? You know, there's thousands of terrible videos of shitty opinions out there. At least this one is well produced and researched.

 

I always knew I'd end up using this panel. But I NEVER thought it'd be on my own kind.

Some of the initial reactions to things like this are more akin to "The Man" trying to "Make it PC" down here, but the way I see it, and I think I might have said this before, the point isn't to take away your swear words and boobs. As long as there is a market for schlock, and the game's industry as it is is more a market for schlock rather than  a field of varied artistic depictions. Don't fight it, just look at the top sellers this week.

But the more diverse the market becomes, the more it will thrive. Do you think Hollywoold does  cg kids movies because it likes kids?  For refferences sake, this are the Mainstreem  movies I can see in my cinema right now vs the games being released this week in my console of choice. Please  assign each one a target demographic, and while you're at it, describe what the protagonist does in the  tale.

Caribean Cinemas:

42

(The Jackie Robinson Biopic)

Admission

(A comedy, possibly romantic)

Dos mas Dos

(Some kind of sex comedy)

Emperor

(some kind of  post-WW2 thriller)

Epic

(Ferngully in CG and they put Pitbull in as a Frog)

Fast and the Furious 6

(I trust you to already know what this franchise is about)

I am the Director

(A mockumentary)

Iron Man 3

(About a B-Lister at Best Superheroe in a quest to continually humiliate DC comics)

Mi Primera Boda

(Comedia)

No

(histo-drama about Pinochet years Chile)

Oblivion

(Sci-Fi action)

Pain and Gain

(Action-comedy)

Star Trek into Darkness

(Sci Fi Comedy)

The Big Wedding

(Rom com)

The Place Beyond the Pines

(Drama)

Xbox

Metal Gear Rising: Blood Wolf

(Action shack and slash)

Dark

(well, it's not about a kitten's birthday)

Ride to Hell: Retribution

A racing game, no doubt.

Deadpool

(about a killer psycho that is also a parody of the industry that borne him)

Borderland's 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep

(I don't know what this is. Sounds refreshingly peppy.)

As you can see, movies catter even to different language speakers. The videogames can barely move  beyond their core male 18-30 demo. You want to know what's really killing the industry? That it hasn't really diversified. This is why comics are dying. One day there where all kinds of comics, including some for  ladyfolk. Archie sold millions. Fucki'n' Archie! Now DC and Marvel barely make ends meet by banging pots every year around the  chance  a character someone liked may die in a convoluted crosover event. I don't want one day that people are just making videogames to just "keep the dream alive" and trying to get movie deals. Do you?

 So what do  I think of the series? Well, it's certainly not  just frothing at the mouth feminism. Even though I appreciate the hosts "barely not barfing" face after some of the clips.

She either just saw a kitten torn apart by alligators or a clip from the Mario Anime.

 I certainly don't agree with everything, so I guess It's easier to just put down the parts that I disagree with. Less because I "think she needs to be shut down" and more to challenge some of you to maybe argue with points and not just try to drown out all criticism with a pillow. The industry is no longer helped by excuses and  insularity, if it  ever was. I want to make this perfectly clear: YOU GUYS ARE MAKING US LOOK BAD, AND I REVIEW PORN FIGHTING GAMES UNASHAMEDLY!

So, in general, the first two episodes focused open the Damsel in Distress trope. The eventual thesis that it depowered women, in order to serve as objects in  a male characters story. Which is interesting when you string a series of  images of women screaming "help me!". But I feel it's not entirely fair to  the games, in the sense that the stories of most games are, as accurately pointed out in the videos themselves, fairly crude and simplistic.

I mean, I could string together a series of stories that don't feature damsels in distress as a core gameplay story, and make an argument that videogames are seriusly holding up the status quo with it's save the world plots or something. In truth, while this tropes are fairly lazy writing, it's no more creative to have a woman rescue a man, or a manrescue a lunch or a pet. This stories, this KIND of stories, were not going to do much else with  women. It's like...it's like demanding reasonable female representations from porn. And... now I feel bad about myself.

My solution, as ever, is to craft these games instead of waiting (and basically asking) for them to be crafted. Becase there's a few games that have avoided the tropes I'm sure this series will outline as negative(I'm going to guess besides DiDs it will discuss sexploitation, and probably characters that are all about a man, and female villains, and games that leave the toilet seat up). Oh,  yes. Games like Beyond Good or Evil, and Urban Chaos. Games like  Mirror's Edge. Just in general games that don't sell enough. I'm not saying that those games deserved to sell just because they wern't aboug Groff Ankzt gunning down big boobed angels to avenge his mother's death at the hands of her ex- wife and rescue her daughter. In fact, Urban Chaos was a pretty shitty game.

What I'm saying is that this is not an industry that  prizes subtlety all that much. Square Enix is probably as we speak putting millions into a  game that ends with a girl keeling over dead while a guy yells no, because they don't think you'd buy it otherwise. If you don't buy it, they'll probably have to lay off hundreds of employees and be bought by a larger company. Again.

Objection! Nobody fucking bought it!

They won't believe it until it becomes "a thing" A thing where you can make a game of just Ms Arkeesian just shaving her armpits, and it won't bring bankrupcy and failure to the company. Someone has to make this games that women say they'd rather have (I mean...story games, not the puzzle games and such that they already play and that are not sexist merely by not having humans and stories in them) and  then women have to buy it. Begging Nintendo to change is going to do very little. Proving to Nintendo that there is money there is going to do a lot.

Another miss was that, as it tends to happen, games with multiple characters that include women. I'm not saying that the industry is not sexist because Chun Li. but to ignore many, many story driven games that feature multiple characters seems like a cop out. I'm sure those will come along mostly when they want to discuss the objectification of women, narrowing the dynamic of what the series considers desirable. What happens when your damsel in distress is saved by Blaze Fielding, Ada Wong or on co-op games that let you play as both genders on a quest to rescue a woman? If women in danger are inherently objectifying women as objects to men, is it less wrong when other women do it? When  Iron Patriot had to save The President of the USA  from being burnt alive, does that mean that the president belongs to him?   I know this is a short series, and that it's sticking mostly  to a specific dynamic.  My point is, that the concept of having to finally rescue SOMEONE is pretty common in videogames, and the general pervasiveness of "Rescue X" stories might be making it seem like more sexist than it is if you don't contrast it with what plots there mostly are.

 

The President's daughter can't wait until a team of feminists deems this acceptable.

Mario's one thing. Mario's basic plot is to rescue a Princess 99.9 percent of the time. But Sonic only rescued those 2 damsels. IN 20 FUCKING YEARS! I'm not trying to point out a counterexample to say it doesn't happen. I'm just saying if you take a franchise that's 2 decades old  and over 20 games strong and that  has plenty of female characters at this point, and some of them are not THAT stereotypical.... and point out the he twice had to rescue females... I don't know, It's practically cherry picking, and potentially a misrepresentation.

 

See, I don't need a crowdsourcing just to look at videogame cutscenes in Youtube.

But I think her assessment is mostly accurate. But that's just it. That's what I think. Maybe you think differently. You are free to  dissent from me and from her. However, I suggest listening to her before  you reach your conclusions on her. And if you can make a more valid point, by all means, do, please. Not because she deserves it. But because you  can't prove she's not right by shutting her down.  That only proves that you don't want to hear an opinion different than yours.

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5 female characters your girl could look up to(but you won't let her)

Grrr power!

Look, mom, we know what your thinking: Your girl can't grow up a self-respecting female in a world ruled by the patriarchy. And geek world...is one of those worlds.

More than half of all geek products are created by, approved by, and for the consumption of, men. And more than half of it is done without any heart at all, so it's no wonder there isn't exactly a thriving supply of such materials geared for, or even considering the possibility young girl could enjoy them.

There are such, but as you can read in my article, there is a force that tries to shoot down even those that get out. That force, is you, mom.

So while the next five characters could find their way to you girl's heart, you won't let her because they aren't JUST right. So tighten your flannel pants and put down the scissors, mom. It's 5 female characters that your girl would like, if you wern't so busy making her watch LMN movies and reminding her men suck.

5)Wordgirl
Never heard, huh? It's because Wordgirl is a children's show on PBS. It features a young girl from the planet Lexicon who in her spare time becomes Wordgirl, a pint sized Super heroine with a penchant for correct vocabulary, while maintaining a secret identity as Becky Botsford, a mild mannered bookworm adoptive child . This show is awesome, as written by some of the Saturday Night Live scribes. And no, the learning doesn't get in the way of the fun, Mr "I can't be caught dead watching a PBS cartoon".
Why your girl could look up to her:
Wordgirl is the female superheroine you always ask for, but who's comics you never read. Independent, smart, sarcastic, and strong but not in a "I'm always kicking men in the balls, I'm so empowered" way. Wordgirl defeast most villains without help from any other characters, except for her space monkey sidekick, Capt Huggy Face. I mean, he's a MALE monkey, but still.

Why You won't let her:

Because Wordgirl's weakness is cutesy, 'girly stuff', like cute cats, and a show ominously called "The Pretty Princess and Sparkling Pony Power Hour" . "What?" You'll ask." Can't she like more "scratched knees" activities(aside from punching robots)?"

He's probably saying a sexist joke about how many women it takes to stop a meteor.

Also, Wordgirl adopts a 'friendly' approach towards some of her male foes(Dr Two Brains, The Butcher) but not as much with her female rogues(the awesome Lady Redundant Woman and Granny May). There's a special place in hell for women who like some men better than some women.

This is not related. I just like this picture.

4)T. Bonne

T. Bonne is a pirate and rogue from the Megaman Legends series, who has also ha her own game and cameos elsewhere. She's part of a family of pirates. I didn't make that too far into Legends, but I know she builts robots and other machines to perform her devious tasks, which include thievery.

A face worthy of a most wanted list.

Why your girl could look up to her:

She is 15-16 year old genious, and mostly clasilly dressed too.
Bolted, metal panties over pants. That's some symbolism right there!

T Bonne is one of those few Megaman characters that get their own game, and that's badass.
Why You won't let her:

Because of her secret crush with phallic symbol-armed Megaman Volnutt.You know what they say about big feet? Well, that can't possibly apply here.

Not only is she in love with a man, but a man who is willing to shoot her laser blasts in the face? Gurl, that's wack!

3)Mitsuko(Bloody Roar)
If she's a smart fighter, she becomes a cerebral boar!

Bloody Roar is a fighting game where humans turn into muta-animals halfway into the match. Don't ask why. Mitsuko is one of the game's less prolific characters(because of the patriarchy!), a big old Japanese woman in overalls whose transformation is a boar.
Why your girl could look up to her:
She's huge and unseemly and dressed in overalls. She's not attractive to your average man. Turning into a boar just seals the deal: she's a lesbian. The only kind of woman that isn't weak, by femi-standards.
Why You won't let her:
Because it turns out, she's not a lesbian. She's just looking for her daughter. Oh, no, traditional family! It BUUURNS! Goddess help us!

Also, she turns into a fucking boar. That's just stupid, no matter your gender. Boars suck.

2)Amanda "The Wall" Waller Rule 34 exception.

Amanda is not actually the main heroine most of the time, which is amazing, what with being a black, overweight female comic book character. What she IS most of the time, is a handler for various teams in the D.C. universe. She would also be in the Supermax film and the Suicide Squad film, if those where ever going to be done.
Why your girl could look up to her:
Amanda Waller is the most bad ass motherfucking burocrat the world has ever seen. She will do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission. I've seen the bitch stare down Superman.

Seriously I LOOKED. NO HENTAI OF AMANDA WALLER EXISTS!

Seriously, she is mostly known for running the team "The Suicide Squad", which coerces villains into doing missions for the Governmate agency Checkmate, and occasionally jettisons them into another planet to die. While it doesn't usually have the most powerfull villains in it's unconstitutional employ, it still takes some balls to bark orders to insane, murderous villains that never tired of being punched by Flash.

From Left to Right: Guy who BROKE BATMAN, Amanda Waller, Guy who tried to shoot at Batman, Monster who could crush Amanda Waller whenever he wanted.

If Amanda Waller lived in the world of Pokemon, she could be a master in seconds, and already be commanding armies of Mews to kill take down all all the Team Rocket Cells. Not only does she have to convince Psychos that can shoot laser out their armpits to fight other psychos, but she has to coordinate those psychos so they don't fail the mission, even though they are expendable(well, it's called the Suicide Squad, and not because it was created by Albert Suicide).

Why You won't let her:
Well, exactly what makes her so good! Amanda Waller is not without emotions or conflicts, but most the time, if the order is to pull the trigger, she will. Well, she won't, but she'll order someone to do it. She's kind of amoral when it comes to work. And work is getting Deathstroke to work with Poison Ivy in some third World Country.

Don't test her pimp hand, bitches!

With female characters, that kinda amorality doesn't make you look like a conflicted antihero. It makes you a look like bitch. Just don't tell her that, cause she'll send the Weather Wizard after you!

If berating counted as a Superpower...

But can you blame her for being straightforward? She's probably had to read pages upon pages of documentation about how some guy punched reality out of whack or how Supergirl was really an earth-born angel instead of a liquid metal being from another dimension or Superman's Cousin. She's got a job, orders, and the willingness to execute them. Which I guess means she isn't empowered.

1)Lara CroftFlatchested was the big breasted of the PSX era

Well, maybe you've spent too much time watching Rachel Maddow on MSNBC if you don't know, but Lara Croft is the lead and protagonist of a games series called Tomb Raider. She's a millionaire adventurer and treasure seeker. An expert marks(wo?)man and a mountain climber. She is...the most interesting woman in the world.
Why your girl could look up to her:

If your girl ever grows up to be a millionaire, she could do worse than trying to imitate Lara Croft. Say what you will about her, she's a strong, resilient character who doesn't constantly need a man to save her, or even a love interest. Always looking for fun, not by shopping, but by looking for the Holy Grail and punching alligators in the process.

She was also played by Angelina Jolie in the films.

Why You won't let her:
She's got breasts.Big ones too. And as we all know, things that are atractive to men are anatema to being strong, independent or even a feminist. Men suck, so of course, the more like a man a woman looks, the more independent and strong willed she is. Right?


Now that's a woman right there! I don't mean the empire making, millionaire, socially concious one, either! She's got breasts too!

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Almost doesn't count?

Yeah, but why does the bear get's top billing. SEXIST!

The story: A woman sends a letter requesting Pixar do a movie about a self-reliable young girl who isn't a princess.

The reaction:

The Reaction to the reaction.

The reaction to the reaction to the reaction to the request.

And now for my piece.

I can get behind the Idea of more female lead action-adventure movies. But it comes a point looking back when one seriously wonders "what is exactly necessary for a female character to be widely accepted by women?

Sure, sensible voices might say "a female character that is interesting, smart, and independent". They might cite, Mulan, Ripley. Maybe Lara Croft or Alice from Resident Evil. Or maybe even Pixar's lead in their upcoming "The Bear and the Bow".

Kameo, having her faerie period.

But does apparently don't count. Mulan was co-opted into the Disney Princess marketing branch, which immediately destroys any redeeming quality her character and her adventures might have had. And even if Pixar has output some interesting, multidimensional female characters, and are already planning a future female lead flick, it doesn't count because she's aprincess. Never mind she comply witht he rest of the characteristics in the letter, which I assume was written with the knoweledge before hand. It's like "sure, you haven't been terrible to women and are already planning something which could be good. Pfft, big deal. Why's she a princess. "

But what about Lara Croft and Alice? What about Selene, from Underworld? WHat about Ripley? Well, aparently a female character can't also be pretty, good looking, or sexy. The character might have more depth than any character, but if she's pretty, then any personal traits go directly to the garbage bin.

A pink car? Sculpted body? This is comepletely sexist. I'm going back to Flavor of Love reruns.

It's at this point thet tha logic gets a bit fuzzy. Women want a female character they can identify with, which is not pretty, not a princess, is not sexually atractive in any way. But then they say than men should be able to relate to a character who is a woman. So, is this a game of "how much like me is the character?" or do you want a character that is both a woman and interesting? Because at the end of the day most of action/ adventure movie characters are only partly relatable, but mostly over the top charicatures and generalazations/stereotypes. I don't relate to a scruffy asshole like Dr House, or a corrupt cop from Shield, or even a rough around the edges good guy like Wolverine because I am those things. It's because, at the core the audience understands, or thinks to understand, the character's plight.

In the next scene she wields twin Uzis while flipping in midair.

I am not saying that you shouldn't request for more female leads. Request away! All I am saying is that when you do get those characters, do not find little things to discard them. I'm not telling you to love RE's Alice, or that Chun Li in this year's movie was enough. But treasure the ones that have been. If a princess is gonna be the brave, independent(but anachronical?) soul that will show a girl there is more to life than shopping and boys, then don't be judgemental. It's not all gonna be Million Dollar Babies or Girlfights. But since when are all movies directed at men any more accurate about them, huh?

I also recognize that I am taking multiple opinions from mutliple people. There is no product universally liked. But downplaying female characters over the little stuff only ensures that good character's get overlooked while Lifetime movie channel and Twilight laugh at you all the way to the bank. Good female characters are few and far between. Don't let them go. Don't discourage them.

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