Monday, June 17, 2013

Damsel in Distress: A Feminist look at Gaming

This video has been frequently video game blogs recently. Tropes VS. Women has been a semi popular viral video that explores feminist theory in popular media. Recently the star and main researcher, Anita Sarkeesian, sought out to explore video games and one of it's most popular plot devices, the Damsel in Distress. I don't agree with everything Sarkeesian states, but this video has forced me to take a long hard look at a media that I'm passionate about. Unfortunately, video games major demographic is still pre-teen to early teenage white boys, and video game publishers still play to the lowest common denominator when it comes to video game development. There are exceptions of course, but too frequently video games perpetuate a hyper straight masculine culture. If video games hope to ascend past a niche and into the realm of high art reserved for film and certain television then it must move past this limiting and lazily narrative structure. Any way, watch for yourself. Like I said I don't agree with everything she says, and there are plenty of refutes online if you are so inclined. Just a bit of a warning: don't watch if you are easily annoyed by condescension.


No comments: