Do you play video games? Or does your partner?
I’ve mentioned Anita Sarkeesian before, and I want to remind everyone that they should pay attention to her.
This particular series is incredibly important for all of us who like to help Mario save the Princess, or who like to play Tomb Raider. While we can all enjoy things that have content we may not agree with, we have to think critically about what we consume (which Anita says at the beginning of her video. I’m just emphasizing that I agree with her 100%)
So go. Watch. Learn. I’ll be here when you’re done – and we can have a little chat. Are there damsels in distress that you can point out from your favorite games, or even to extend the dialogue, to books and movies? Are there ways you think the industry can change to make this trope a less pernicious beast?
My introduction to video games, at a relatively late age, was the franchise, wherein the main character’s female friend (along with all the Disney princesses) literally has her heart removed, and loses all ability to emote and interact. As the hero rescues all the Disney princesses (yes, there are MANY damsels in distress!), he is constantly taunted by the image of his girl Kairi dangled in front of him like a puppet.
Just another example of how ubiquitous the trope is, I suppose, rather than a useful addition to move the conversation forward.
“Video Game” is a very large paradigm these days, and I find it interesting that when people bring this argument up (which needs to happen as there are days I lament at the stagnation of certain elements within the genre). What grabs is that the people who play console games invariably wind up back that the Tomb Raider/Mario schism. Your strong female character is either boobs or rescuing boobs. Its worth noting that the new Tomb Raider title has apparently dealt away with the torpedo boobs and is actually treating Lara Croft like a real human being with emotional depth…something for me to look into.
I am much more a fan of PC games and have been for a long time. It is not an arena free of sin (I’m looking at you Leisuresuit Larry) but when the consoles were dealing with ‘Save the Princess’ and ‘Boobs’ we were seeing things like Colonel’s Bequest (the player plays the character of young detective lady, smart, non sexual, non fetishized) and Heroes Quest where the main antognists were non sexualized smart female characters.
PC games of course branched out into about a bazillion genres, mostly dominated by the male demographic…until a very curious thing happened and MMO’s (massively multiplayer online) began to proliferate. Suddenly there were girls, LOTS of girls, and they wanted their time. Ultima Online, the first large scale MMO to hit big in the US in the 90’s had this interesting concept…a woman in plate armor looked like a tank with a sword…kinda like a man in plate armor. No titty-tank tops there!
World of Warcraft has by and large become the industry standard. It has its Boris Vallejo moments but it also has no issues with putting out some great female characters who are more than willing to throw down and take an axe to the head of the people who irk them.
I suppose I’m drifting away from the point of the original question, but I find its pretense a little too focused on an example of a trope that existed long before electronic entertainment and was carried over into a very specific cluster of games, in particular the ones with extremely linnear gameplay and often no plot. Or to put it simply, no one was playing Super Mario or Donkey Kong for the scintillating dialogue with a mushroom about how your princess was in another castle.
So there were a lot of Peaches and Zeldas, but even they’ve been getting re-tooled over the years. The surreal Super Mario 2 put Peach in the action, and Smash Brothers turned her in a melee machine.
Another thing to consider, though it may not be totally pertinent – Note where the games are designed and who is on the design teams.
Oh and to actually bring up the other point – I am a rabid gamer, was involved in the industry for a time and presently date a lovely person who does not play video games at all đŸ™‚