Reviews to look over before Tuesday’s class:
- From April – “The Chic is Real” in NY Times.
- From Torreyanna – Review of Matthew Brannon’s exhibit (review is second in series of three)
- From Isabel- Cy Twombly is the only graffiti artist I care about
Reading for next Tuesday: Next week, we’ll discuss video games and disaster films. In preparation for our discussion, please read the following. Following are two options for the blog response.
- Kakoudaki, Despina. “Spectacles of History: Race Relations, Melodrama, and the Science Fiction/Disaster Film,” Camera Obscura, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2002
- Walkerdine, Valerie. “Remember not to die: young girls and video games.” Papers: Explorations into Children’s Literature, Nov 2004.
For this assignment, you have one of two choices for a response, as listed below. CHOOSE ONE and respond to any set of questions / writing cues listed under each choice:
CHOICE ONE: Play a video game (either one you rent, one you or a friend already have, or go to a video game outlet), play it for a while, and then discuss, in your blog response how it reflects issues of gender, class, ethnicity, or culture.
Below are sets of questions — choose ONE set to respond to:
- If you chose a game with people in it, think about the following: consider the
roles: were the people in the game baseball players, boxers, soldiers, etc.? What about ethnicities? What ethnicities did you identify? Who seems to have what role? – what color or gender, for example, are the “bad guys”?
Who is the hero of the game? What did these people look like? – fat, skinny, muscular, tall, short . . . and what roles did each play? And how does any of this reflect popular or contemporary ideas around race, class, and/or gender? - What was the goal of the game? To kill all your enemies? To get the gold? To win the race? What obstacles did you have to overcome in order to move from level to level or to win the game? How might any of this reflect contemporary culture (our ideas about success, what it takes to win, the “American” story or ideal, etc.)? In what ways was the game NOT like life?
- In what ways was the game totally fantasy-like or had elements that were not at all realistic of modern society? Perhaps these elements were of a past that no longer exist. And if so, how might that reflect a particular set of ideas in today’s culture; and if so, what?
CHOICE TWO: free writing response to readings – discuss whatever most takes your attention within the readings, being sure you provide examples to support your thoughts.
15 responses so far ↓
Nate // June 29, 2008 at 5:44 pm |
If you were to ask me which games I enjoy playing I would tell you one thing: any game with the words “Fantasy” and “Final” in the title. For those who aren’t chuckling to themselves right now, it’s either because that last sentence wasn’t that funny or you don’t know what I’m talking about. The Final Fantasy video game series (maybe even empire) was born twenty-one years ago: a console based role-playing game (RPG) developed and published by a Japanese based company, Square, which has (since that year) created countless multi-platform spanning video games (and changed it’s name several times) that have shared that game’s name and constitutions. One such game is separate from the rest, (though not in the same way that Chocobo Racing was separate from the rest) simply titled Final Fantasy Tactics (for the original PlayStation), the game set the player in the world of Ivalice, allowing them to command and control an army of cute little soldiers who walk through different grid based maps and use physical and magical abilities to conquer your opponents. The main story of the game is about a clash of classes: Nobles “vee” Peasants, Rich “vee” Poor, and Friend “vee” Friend. The player controls this cat named Ramza, a knight who wants nothing more than peace, he (and I mean, you) travels around the world encountering monsters and white people, who both want to do Ramza and his squad harm. And when I mean only monsters and white people, I mean: goblins, ghosts, chocobos (big chickens), squid-faced guys, minators, white women, and white men. Not a single other ethnicity other than Caucasian coming from a game that is supposed to have (and I quote from the back of the case) “deep customization options.” Now-a-days for games that means being able to choose from a range of ethnicities. I know that at least one friend of mine would point out that the characters in the game were not Caucasian, but Asian, being that the game is from Japan. If that’s true then why are all of the playable characters blonde? Some of the NPC’s (non playable characters) may have brown, black, or even orange hair, but the skin tone of the human characters remain the same shade. Having owned the game for years now I did not even notice that fact until re-playing it for this assignment. I was in a minor form of shock when coming to this realization, I pondered the explanation behind this lack of representation of other races in the game and the only thing I can really think of to explain it is that in this particular game universe, everyone’s pale. I looked into “racism in Final Fantasy Tactics” and only found message boards plagued with nerdy-nerds discussing the superior race in the FFT universe, which are all fictional creatures (besides the human looking ones called Hume) that kind of look like familiar animals on our planet, but can all walk upright or mixtures of the animal/ human variety (like bunny women), so those geeks were no help. Another thing that we can discuss later is why when hiring soldiers, the female recruits cost one hundred Gil less to add to your party…
Toi Neeley // June 30, 2008 at 9:05 pm |
In “Remember not to die” The author suggest that “Boys have to try to win to embody masculinity but girls wanting to win risk losing their designation as feminine by coming too far onto the side of masculinity” (quoted from the reading) Growing up with a younger brother, tons of males cousins, Friends, and ect I really feel that guys really play to have fun and that they don’t play video games to show any type of masculinity. I feel that the majority of guys are attracted to guns, violence, blood, bombs, and fighting because it’s a rush and it’s exciting. I’m pretty sure that they are girls whom actually love the same thing. Overall I feel that the challenge and completion is what causes all of the excitement and fun of the games. I really don’t think when I guy beats a certain level on a game they don’t purposely yell like a man and slap belly’s to prove there masculinity. Girls I feel are just more aware and take things more literal and likes to analyze things because that how girls are. I feel that games should be seen as just a game and no one should look into it more than that. Of course some games should be monitored by parents but other than that have fun.
Samantha H. // July 1, 2008 at 12:37 pm |
The piece on disaster films really, once again (haha) reminds me of a piece by Zizek called “Welcome to the Desert of the Real.” It seems that Kakoudaki primarily explores the ideology that permeates through the film. However, Zizek speaks of the psychology and ideology that attracts the American audience to a disaster film. I found Kakoudaki’s essay very provocative, in many respects. It is important to identify the ideological role that a film is playing, and to deconstruct seemingly “mindless” films that actually have something to say and that little something may just be really detrimental to social justice or progressive thinking.
However, for the point of this blog, I am going to quickly run down what I perceived Zizek to be saying about why people are attracted to disaster movies–especially because Kakoudaki spoke of 9-11 seeming like a disaster movie and I just cannot resist the connections!
Many people who were watching the events on 9-11 felt as if it were a scene out of a disaster movie. Zizek asks–where have we seen this over and over again? His basic argument, in very short form, is this– in a country like the U.S. (or other more industrialized, imperialist countries where there is relative stability and comfort), there is a longing for the “real,” due to a sense that everything around us is artificial. These days there is coffee without caffiene, beer without alcohol, etc. Everything is sanitized. There is a sense that things are really wrong in the world–but suffering is always “over there” in some other country, not here. Disaster movies fulfill a desire for that “real” suffering, and there is almost a sadistic pleasure in watching disaster, as if you are able to experience what is real which is that that is painful. The ultimate horror, or real, would be to wake up knowing that everything around you is fake, artificial–a good example being the Matrix. (You can see the connection with this fantasy and the superficial culture in which we live, as well.) Zizek describes this as the most beautiful disaster flick that fulfills the ultimate fantasy. Everything we perceived to be real is in fact a computer generated illusion, and the real world is a disaster–a highly technologized, visually stunning one, at that. But if the Matrix fulfills the ultimate fantasy, 9-11 fulfilled the ultimate ultimate fantasy for many who watched it from a distance over and over on their television screens. Because in a sense, 9-11 does the same thing as the Matrix. Suddenly, suffering does not just happen “over there” somewhere, it happened here. Disaster struck here, in the U.S. This breaks the illusion of stability and the America consciousness of the real. But unlike the Matrix, 9-11 was real.
Saraphina // July 1, 2008 at 2:58 pm |
The PARK!
I had a lovely time going to the Millennium Park Concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. My good friend came with me and we set up immediately to have a picnic. A very hot picnic. Thursday was almost intolerably humid however it was still delightful in its own ambiance. According to what I gathered, the music without borders had two shows. One at 6:30 and one at 8:30. My friend and I had so much fun we stayed for both. It was interesting to hear such eclectic taste on spanish music with almost an arabic flavor. Maria del Mar Bonet had a very sensual and luscious voice that carried throughout the whole pavilion. It was extremely enjoyable to see all the people that brought children and that would dance the meringue or salsa on the grass or cement awning. It was nice to see everyone in a sense of peace and delight. The other artist Miquel Gil was an accompanist to the music and the two were very peaceful however lively. I enjoyed not only the resonance of the singers but the general positive vibrations they sent thorough there music. It was uplifting to observe so many content people of all backgrounds enjoying themselves in the company of family, friends and strangers. The Arab Orchestra of Barcelona had quiet the effect on the people of chicago and I left smiling with a positive ora that I had just left a party I had been invited to by the music itself.
In response to Spectacle of HIstory: race relations, melodrama, and the science fiction/disaster film. I found that this article only reiterated what is obvious about American culture, is that we are desensitized and our worlds are constantly surrounded by the fictional world of special effects that numbs the mind to the reality of the world. I’m not one to willingly go and see an action flick. Movies that have qualitative story lines such as eternal sunshine spotless mind or the french movie Amelie. My attention is drawn to movies that are plotted with the depth of the character not the depth of the action sequence. However I would be lying if I were to say it does not intrigue me and that I am not drawn to the running, car sequence that delivers slight endorphin of pleasure even though I am somewhat, numb. Its intriguing its not exciting. I feel that action and chase scenes have been exhausted in movies to the point where they are no longer enjoyable. I have seen it all. Car, flips here, person runs there, explosion there. Its all too predictable and my mind is already creatively rotting. I agree in the opening page that action films in the past lack depth, but however do give resonance of political satire. That the films however violent and exhausting, are packed full with the “god love america” statement. That it all comes out of pushing past differences in race and civil inequality because we are “americans” and we love each other. Sweet. So an action killing, alienating sequence can walk away with patriotic pride. Well you don’t get anymore american then Hollywood.
Then on page eight I found it extremely well put that action films not only have overtly masculine ways of showing patriotic hierarchy from americans but also the warning that we in fact are self destructing ourselves. That we are being warned by movies such as the “Day after tomorrow” and “Water World.” Then of course the african american relation to action films I discovered was a tad over exaggerated. I have never viewed a difference in the approach of character between and african american man and a white man. Of course the character development is obviously different seeing as it is an obvious culture lay over. That a white man may not be from Compton, however there is that stereotypical possibility of a trailer park. Then of course there is the African american man with humor, such as in Lethal Weapon or Men in Black, obviously, however there is always a token white guy, possibly fat and chubby, never fit in at school kinda guy. I feel that this article dissects hollywood to be this fight racial escapade when really all they are looking for is character development. For example, Will Smith turned down the job of Matrix instead to do Wild Wild West, a major flop. Who do they give the part to instead, Keanu Reeves, same part different races. Would the film of been different if Will Smith was in it, absolutely, he has a different approach to character development, would it have changed the movies success. My opinion, no. Personally I think Keanu Reeves is a boring actor and I have a hard time tolerating his monotone attitude on film, but the Matrix was still the Matrix. I believe there are a plethora of arguments as to why certain men in Hollywood are chosen to play certain parts. The african american culture brings in a new series of humor that has become funny to middle class america. I don’t think that african americans are being singled out to save race within Hollywood. Hollywood is run by jewish white men. you want to talk about persecution, there the ones that had to wander a dessert for 47 days to escape crazy king man. If God made up for it by giving them Hollywood, thats not bad payback. The african americans had to suffer slavery, if they can make blockbuster hits, I don’t see them complaining. I don’t think Will Smith or Denzel Washington would say they are targeted by Hollywood. If anything I would think they would thank Hollywood for allowing them to play the parts that are created for them, african american men. I don’t think there is anything wrong with creating social unification within the people of Hollywood, if we can all come together as a united whole, as black, white , gay or straight, in the movies, that means that its on our minds and that we all want hope for what could happen in the future and that unity is possible outside of action movies and aliens.
Ashley // July 1, 2008 at 3:34 pm |
Crazy Taxi it has got to be my favorite game, the goal of the game is to pick up people in your cab, they give you a destination and you have to get them there before a certain amount of time. The faster you get them there the more money you make and if you do any cool tricks in between like swerving between cars or jumping the car through the air you get extra tips. There are no huge obstacles mostly just trying to beat the timer, get through the traffic and trying to get there when the guiding arrow isn’t exactly clear. There are 5 taxi drivers to pick from you got Gus the hairy man with a beer gut that shows through his open button up shirt. He has a ruff voice and is defiantly a mans man he drives an old cab like one you would find in the 1960’s. Then there is B.D. Joe the token black guy he is charismatic and all smiles. Then there is green haired Axel my favorite character. Who appears to be a California guy and says things like dude. And lastly there is a sexy woman with a sultry voice. The game doesn’t say to much about American culture, I guess it does hint at that old American phrase time is money, the more time it takes you to get somewhere the more money lost. Also it shoes Americas fast living lifestyle not only do you loose money when you take a long time, but you also ender insults from your customer, and if you are extremely slow they even kick your car and through sad at you. As far as race is concerned there is nothing to far out there, there are only black and white characters no other race is to be seen, the blacks talk with a bit of that good old southern accent but other then that there is no real distinction between the whites and the blacks. The games lack of other races is very odd I know they came out with Crazy Taxi 2 and 3 hopefully they added some other races to those games. All in all it’s a fun game that doesn’t really send any type of message it is all harmless fun.
Danny A // July 1, 2008 at 4:00 pm |
“I have a penchant for killing. Dying things amuse me. Every now and then, I feel the urge, nay, NEED to watch a pedestrian fly off the hood of a car, that I had just jacked from some nobody schmoe, and follow it up with doing a handbrake u-turn in the middle of a busy intersection only to run over corpse.
After a couple fun-filled hours of rinsing and repeating this process, with slight variations of course, I become tense and need to relax. To relieve my stress and reinvigorate my body for more bloody mayhem, I find that a nothing beats a hooker (well, besides me). I find another worthless fucker who would benefit from some fresh air and exercise and I liberate him from his oppressive, motorized vehicle. With my new wheels I make my way to a shady neighborhood, which is never too far away from any part of the city, and peruse the selection of crack hoes and biotches.
They’re really all the same to me, so I honk at the closest one to me, and she walks right up and gets in; she knows her place. After finding a nice secluded spot to park, the car starts to shaking with a manly vigor. With my health feeling rejuvenated, and minus 90 something dollars, I kindly ask my lady of the evening to get the hell out of my car.
Now I’d like to make a point that $90 is nothing to me. I can make up that kind of money in two, maybe three muggings, but I am a man of principal. Why should I have to pay for something so natural, so pure, so easy to get if I just made an effort with my female friends? So I feel justified and a sense of pride as I back my car over the bitch and get my money back. Nobody’s gonna miss her anyway.
Ok, at this point I feel like I’m giving off a bad impression. I’m not some piss-ant street thug who spends his days killing random joes and hoes, I freelance my skills too; which mostly entails killing specific people. I’m no slacker, as I take my work seriously. I never go into a situation unprepared. I carry around an arsenal that would make Rambo shit his pants. I got me a pair of 9mm handguns, a Tech-9, shotgun, AK-47, sniper rifle, and for some real fun I bust out out my flamethrower and unleash hell on some Yakuza fucks.
Long story short, I keep myself busy. I find solace in the little things in life, and I live everyday to the fullest, like there’s no tomorrow.”
by Claude from Liberty City, as seen in Grand Theft Auto 3
Rachael Harter // July 1, 2008 at 4:13 pm |
I was actually very stimulated when reading the article, “Spectacles of History”. I am really ashamed to say that I hadn’t thought of many of the points brought up in this article. I have been passionate about seeing these flaws in other genres of movies yet somehow they ‘slipped’ by me? Maybe it’s because I have always seen these films as purely entertainment and am accustom to just shut of any real deep thought process as the scenes flash before y eyes and instead get wrapped up into the oohs and aahs of the special effects. This disturbs me. It disturbs me that I am admitting to some type of comatose state that I allow myself to go in while watching these movies. And so as a result of my internal disturbance the pendulum is swinging again. I don’t know how I feel about all of this. The other article…um…well the pendulum was swinging again but more from feeling like I was all over the place in the article. I was having trouble following the importance of the girl’s conversations as I felt I was back in my ECE classes. But that may have been due to the blatant comment that all girls like the ‘cute and fuzzy things”. Well that may be their over genderized opinion or experience but when I was a kid that was not the case for me or a lot of my other female friends. We wanted the best and strongest, which is some horrible ironic way, was most of the time not the females (though this did not apply to all games). I will give the author for admitting later in the piece that they were making gender stereotypes, but the article had already left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t know, maybe I was to quick to pin her myself.
As far as the concert last week, Well in the beginning I was pretty relaxed, and relaxed in my opinion. It was good background music at best with kids running to and fro and some people trying to become one with the music through dance and others completely other than but yet still enjoying themselves. I was about to leave when Juan came on around 8pm. Ok, it was worth the wait. I’m sure it helped that by this point the atmosphere changes as the city lights began to appear and the crowd started to change somewhat. The sounds were smooth and nice but demanded much for than background music. I was really impressed, actually, by the talent. Let’s just say I was moved enough to look farther into the musician himself. Though I second-guessed going I am privileged that I got to share in the little treasure that Chicago possessed that night.
Ashley // July 1, 2008 at 4:31 pm |
I don’t know how many of you made it to the park for the show but those of you who didn’t make it; you missed something truly fucking amazing. I went to the park by myself and sat very close to the front, I wasn’t very enthused but was glad nonetheless not to be sat up in the classroom. I read the description of the first performer who would be singing Mayra Andrade a 23 year old who lives in Paris. I figured she wouldn’t be very good, most of the time the opening act isn’t and her age to me also suggested that she wouldn’t be too amazing. Then the show started and she walked on stage. Holy Fucking Shit was I wrong, for one the girl was gorgeous like drop dead gorgeous, my jaw dropped and I swear to you everyone else’s around me did to. I heard a bunch of “oh my god’s” when she walked onto the stage. She said hello in her cute accent and then began to sing, and once again holy fuckin shit, this woman could sing and her band could play. Her percussionist was all Brazil he had unorthodox style of Brazilian drumming down to a tee. Her voice was soft yet strong, and though I couldn’t understand the words I felt the passion of each song. She truly made me want to get out of America and move to Brazil. As she continued to play it became impossible for me to stand still, my head started bobbin and my hands started hitting my chest to the rhythm (a move I often do when I hear good music while the rest of the crowd taps there legs) and to my surprise a song started and she closed her eyes and she to taped on her chest that only made me like her even more. Anyway I made sure I was going to get her CD unfortunately by the time it was over they were sold out. The second band Bachata Roja Legends where good to, I wasn’t into them as much since the tempo of that style of music remains the same through every song which sort of bored me, and the bass drum which was used sparingly still didn’t push the songs along for me. But all in all the night was great I am glad I went if there was anything I could change it would have been the audience who refused to move the whole fucking evening. Like seriously you are at concert how you can just sit there when the performer is almost begging you to move through there music and the case of iss Andrade actually asking the audience to participate and you hardly do shit. That bothered me but what can you do.
That night was so much fun I made sure to go to the next Music Without Borders concert on Saturday, after seeing Stevie Wonder perform at the taste, me and the crowd made our way over to see Orchestra Baobab at Millennium Park. This time we had a half wasted crow so everyone was dancing and the music was amazing at it was another great night.
Nancy // July 1, 2008 at 4:36 pm |
At the local theater, I played Time Crisis. It’s a shoot ‘em up in which the main characters are soldiers out to defeat some threat. Honestly, I don’t know what the threat was or anything about the plot. All I know is that I was there to shoot bad guys.
I’m pretty sure the characters were caucasian – I do remember that one guy was blonde and the other guy, brunette. They reflected the typical ideals of American handsomeness i.e. tall, dark and handsome…
As for the goal of the game… I, honestly, have no idea why, or what, I was fighting for. I think I skipped this part or couldn’t hear over the loudness of the arcade. All I knew was that I had to shoot the faceless, bad-guy soldiers, occasionally a jeep or helicopter. Success hinged on accuracy and which weapon was best for each situation.
I think this type of game is successful because everyone wants to be a hero and if you can’t be a hero in real life, than at least you can be a hero in this fantasy one. The setup isn’t another planet or world, there were no aliens or anything really outside the realm of reality. This was similar to a city that you might see in every day life. OK, so shoot-outs don’t really occur like this in real life, but you can imagine that the struggle does, the threat to man and country does, and so here I get the chance to save the day.
Just call me “Bella.”
Jordan // July 1, 2008 at 4:47 pm |
In the article about girls and video games, I thought it was interesting to see how the two girls mentioned in the article played the games together. First, this “Bella” kid seems to be a complete and total brat and her friend “Rosie” needs to get a backbone. When reading it however, I did kinda feel for Rosie, being so scared while playing the video games. I actually hate video games. The wii sports game is enjoyable, but for the most part I really dont like them. They are supposed to be fun, but I just find them to be really stressful. It said how all the girls would choose the “cute” characters or the “princess” types, which I think is true because I can remember playing diff. games with my sister when we were younger and she almost always chose princess. Although they chose theses characters, they were not always so feminine, as we saw with Rosie and Bella. Bella just wanted to win, and kill things. The article said she basically controlled the situation and would sometimes not even allow Bella to play. Instead of fist-fighting or having a screaming match, the girls kinda talk it out, but in a joking sort of way, unlike boys. Another part that I thought was interesting was when they added two more players to the mix. Suddenly Bella was not the ringleader, but another girl named Jo. Bella seems to be intent on playing the game, and winning, the “silent killer.”
Isabel // July 1, 2008 at 4:56 pm |
I’ve always felt like I have an undeniable handicap when it comes to video games. So many times when I was a kid I’d practice playing some Nintendo game for weeks. I’d start thinking I was getting really good and then my brother or one of my guy friends (who might even claim not to like video games) would pulverize me on their first attempt at the game. I just couldn’t figure out why we were on such different skill levels. I could only figure that I was biologically doomed by my gender to be an inferior game player.
Looking back though I’m inclined to think that it was more due to my inexperience with competitive games in general. My family wasn’t big on sports or board games. There’s a specific kind of learned logic about games that seems easier to pick up at an early age.
I thought that Walkerdine’s theories were a fascinating study of the weird social interaction that happens when you play video games with other people. I recently played Mortal Kombat with a friend (who regularly plays video games) and totally trounced him—over and over again. We switched characters, switched controllers, we even switched spots on the couch to try to uncover the source of my mysterious new ability to kick ass. It was a totally new experience for me and I loved it. But I also had no idea how to act. I was embarrassed and apologized every time my person pummeled his person to the ground. In turn, my friend didn’t seem to be dealing very well with being beaten by a girl who doesn’t play video games. He was getting more and more grumpy and frustrated, but unwilling to take out any aggression in my direction because I was being a nice, passive winner. He couldn’t yell or talk shit at me like he could with his male friends.
I’m so glad I went to the Music Beyond Borders concert. I had to leave early, but got to hear all of Mayra Andrade songs. They instantly put me in a good mood that lasted the rest of the evening. I’d been wanting to go to a Ravinia concert badly since it’s gotten warm out and Thursday sort of satisfied the craving—lots of people picnicking on the grass with wonderful music. It’s a weird feeling though when you go to see live music and you can’t actually see the performers at all. I didn’t know where they were . . . down in a stage pit?
I had a really hard time pinpointing the type or cultural influences of the music. It didn’t sound European, or French like Andrade’s accent. I felt kind of disappointed with myself that I couldn’t come up with much beyond the feeble “world music” categorization. So I was glad to learn aftwerwards that she had so many different influences.
Michael Miles // July 1, 2008 at 5:24 pm |
The game that I played was Teken 3 on the Playstation 2. This game is a two payer fighting game that follows in the great tradition of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. The basic idea of the game is that there are a certain number of characters. A mixture of humans, mutants, women, men, of many races. Each one of these characters plays with different abilities and different special tricks. The game plays in two ways. 1) you can choose to play a tournament game as one player, beating each member in the best 2 out of 3 match. Then, once you have beaten everyone, it will unlock special new characters and features. 2) You can play mutli-player game with another person controlling another player. This goes on ad naseum with you playing matches with the winner winning the best 2 out of 3 and then you go back and can select new characters.
The demographics for this game is clearly aimeat the teenage and young adult male catagory. What I found to be really funny was the way in which it goes after this demographic. First of all, the games are short and they do not take alot of attention span. Secondly, the characters do superhuman tricks and the violence is cartoony at worst. Nothing truly traumatic happens to the characters though, truly some of the moves performed would break backs and necks. Thirdly, the female characters are all competely clad in sexy outfits and seen as basically sexy flexible objects lol.
What I found to be also very interesting, if not sad, was the way in which they stereotype the characters abilities. The women are nimble things and sexy. The white men are inflexible boxers. The asians tend to be swift nimble ninjas, etc.
Laura // July 1, 2008 at 5:29 pm |
This is a subject that I’ll admit to having a small wealth of knowledge on, as for a long time I found myself thoroughly addicted to playing video games. After my nearly-complete gamer-divorce, I started to reflect on the social commentary that these games and their players provide. I could go on for hours debating the sexism of the gaming world, or the ethnographic treasures one can discover playing an MMO, or the literal years spent anticipating the new Fable with a playable female protagonist, and so on and so on-but instead I will focus on one game that challenged me to the point of long time commitment and tens of hours of hand-cramping-goodness accredited to the hilariously tiny Nintendo DS stylus.
Lost in Blue, a Konami game based around a young boy, Keith and a young girl, Skye, stranded on a deserted island. In this survival game, one initially plays as Keith, collecting food and supplies while perpetuating the storyline through a series of activities. Skye’s gender role in the game becomes instantly apparent when her initial and continual duties include sitting in the cave the two live in keeping the fire going and cooking meals for Keith when he returns home and sits by the fire until the meal is prepared and served to him. Later on, as Keith starts to create tools and furniture, Skye is graciously appointed to the role of jerky-maker, basket-weaver, rope-braider, and creator of stupid jewelry that she gives to Keith that has no purpose aside from taking up a slot in his inventory.
After the duo prepares themselves for life on the island, it is Keith’s job to explore the other parts of the island which in turn unfolds the storyline and creates new goals for the “team” to achieve. They player plays as Keith throughout the game, having adventures and “bringing home the bacon” for Skye, patiently waiting at home by the fire, to fry up for him. The blatant difficulties arise when both characters are needed to be moved to another place on the island, which is extremely arduous to get to and prepare for. One must collect enough food to feed the kid’s incredible appetite, and surplus food must also be stored and collected daily, for hours and hours of playtime in order to prepare for the long journey that awaits him, or both of them. Once enough food and water is available to bring with on the trip across the island (that is, if Skye doesn’t eat the surplus while Keith is out, as she often does), Keith must hold Skye’s hand and lead her where they must go (this not only slows down running speed, but also increases the energy used by both characters). Skye turns out to be more of a burden than expected, when the trip across the island is literally doubled on account of her slow speed and incapability to do most of the things Keith can do, for example, Keith can jump from rock to rock with ease when crossing a stream, only to turn around and help the defenseless Skye barely reach the other side. Not only are her movements completely dependent on Keith’s (she can’t go anywhere unless they are holding hands and Keith is leading her around), but her food and water intake is also dictated by Keith’s decisions, as for some reason she is unable to gather food on her own, or decide when she’s hungry enough to eat it. When both characters reach all goals and the game is “completed”, an option is unlocked to play as Skye-an option that truly played a role in my adamant commitment to finishing the game.
Once unlocking Skye, I unfortunately learned that the majority of playtime is spent playing mini-games about cooking, where Skye can develop and practice new recipes. A little disappointing? I’d say so. I think the sexism and gender commentary in this game speaks for itself upon description, and frankly I would like my tens of hours back. The big lesson we learn from this game is that women are incompetent, inefficient, hearty eaters, and practically blind. Moreso we learn that it sucks to be stranded on a deserted island, but it sucks even more to have a girl there with you.
Here’s a clip from the Japanese version, if you want to watch it, keep an eye out for the misogyny.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P3P1cZDu5D0&feature=related
rachel galicia // July 1, 2008 at 5:37 pm |
sorry I know its annoying to get these late but I got stuck,
The concert was great. It was great weather and I think they started it off with a great singer and band, I forgot what the name was but I enjoyed her voice and the fact that it was in a different language at times. It just captured the serenity and happiness as the seagulls flew in groups overhead like soft, shining, white feathers in the sky. The hisp[anic songs were alright and reminded me of my youth with my grandma and crazy drunk uncles, but it went on too long for me, I wanted something else. But overall I really enjoyed it. What a perfect day too, no bad weather.
I played Champions of Norath, I really liked this game. How it starts is you get to pick your characters from a female or male choice of barbarians, sorcerers, dark elves, cleric, and bezerkers. You can also choose their color, hair styles, and different details on them. Then, you get to choose how much stamina, health, strength, and dexterity you want them to have, but you get a limit on how much you get to choose. Then the game starts. Its multiplayer so you usually play with a group or a couple, but playing alone is fine too. You start by going through different worlds and killing the bad guys before they kill you. Then you level up as you kill so many characters. You then get a whole new choice of options you get to choose for your character to have, but you still have limits on the points you have to choose with. Throughout the game you get different clothing and weapons that have different strengths and levels of damage and so forth. There are also missions you have to go through to pass to move on in the game. The whole point is to kill the boss at the end who is destroying these different worlds, but there is also a smaller boss in each area you visit.
I never thought about how it reflects our contemporary culture, but once I read “Remember not to Die” and “Spectacles of History” I started to think about it differently. I never would have thought that the game had some masculine tone to it but it does. The reason I didn’t think that is that there are girl characters too that are very useful. All the characters have their strengths and weaknesses, and when you play together different characters compliment each other. But when I think about it, the character that is most likely to win on its own is the barbarian or the more male, super strength charcters. There is no way you will win alone with the female or even the male elf, they are too feminine and they fight from a distance with arrows instead of in the action with muscle and swords. So this game does reflect society in the fact that masculinity always rules. Even with the cover over our eyes that men and women are equal, I know personally by taking a class in women in u.s history” that there is the dominant masculine thing happening even where it is not obvious at all.
This was an interesting assignment, it made me think. I don’t know if I like that game now, naw I’m just kidding. I will probably still play it cuz its fun!
Torreyanna // July 3, 2008 at 11:24 pm |
Ok, so I’m not gonna play a video game. This article was incredibly interesting to me as a woman remembering when my two sisters and I got a Nintendo for Christmas one year when i was maybe 7 or 8 years old. My older sister seemed to have little interest in the game itself, but was good at achieving higher levels. I had the shortest attention span and was more interested in singing along with the music the different levels provided. Once I completed a level I would usually want to stop playing. I had very little interest in continuing to the end of the game. I would also, often stop reading at the end of a chapter, looking for something else to pay attention to. My little sister was a Super Mario Brothers addict. She finished the game within about a week of our receiving this strange gift. She displayed deftness in her control, but it had nothing to do with her physical hand eye coordintation. She was the clumsy one for sure. I was the one who would win in actual physical game play, usually by cheating or beating someone up. I think this video game was a way for the weakest of the three of us to attain mastery. My older sister was uninterested because she held the power already as the oldest and smartest. I was uninterested because I could kick anybody’s ass. I’m not sure if we were trying to be masculine. We definitely knew we were girls and liked it.
I’m not surprised by the way the girls in the study acted and spoke to eachother. In most situations among women their is an automatic power structure put in place almost from the start. I notice that if there is another strong woman in a social group they usually don’t want to have anything to do with me, or will talk to me just to make nice and look as if they are willing to be friends when I am well aware that they have no such intention. In groups of women I usually find myself as an outsider who is called upon individually for councel but never socially for conversation. In the video game world I wasn’t big enough or good enough at playing and so was uninterested because my performance physically and socially was so much stronger than that of my game playing.