Meg
Well-known Member
I wrote this essay for my school's feminist group's magazine. I'm also the editor and manager, so it wasn't hard to get published. 
:lol:
EDIT: Please keep in mind that this article's target audience is feminists. Not gamers.
Either way, I thought you guys would like to read this.
A Response to the Tropes vs. Women in Video Games YouTube series
Feminist Frequency is a YouTube channel that specializes in videos about women in media. The latest series, Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, aims to explore each of the most common tropes female characters are put into in games. It’s a valid undertaking. However, while the series is only two parts in, there’s already plenty of problems that need to be addressed.
The first two videos discuss the damsel in distress trope. Now, there is no denying that this trope is prevalent in games, however that does not forgive its poor portrayal. The first video examines the history of the damsel in distress in games, and the second video examines more modern examples. The second video especially chooses to boggle the viewer down with example after example, out of context, rather than closely examine a few key examples. The videos also make some outlandish statements that ooze sexism against men. Notably absent, were more games that feature well written female characters. She very briefly mentions two examples, but that’s it. Now, let’s break this all down.
Firstly, the videos use way to many out of context examples. One game that she uses as an example of the damsel in distress trope is Devil May Cry 4. What she fails to mention is that out of four games, only the last one featured the damsel in distress as a plot point. All other games in the series have strong, independent women holding their own. Oh sure, the player has to rescue a female character at the end, but she also kids the main character’s ass at one point. Through out the series, the women in Devil May Cry help and are helped by the main character, Dante. They work as a team, and they continue to do so in Devil May Cry 4. Sure the game introduces a new character whose sole purpose is to get kidnapped, but the video’s hostess, Anita, even says later in the video that having a damsel in distress is not a bad thing so long as there is variety. Yet she uses Devil May Cry as an example of the damsel in distress by zeroing in on the one time it happened and ignored all the other women in the series. That is the definition of bias.
The video also makes the mistake of using examples that were critically and commercially slammed, i.e. Bionic Commando. Yet she neglects all of this and chooses to instead focus solely on out of context examples almost as if she just went through a list of games and grabbed all the ones that use the trope at some point, but without looking at the game’s usage or even asking herself why the trope exists.
Actually, she does ask herself why, and she addresses “why” in her video. She makes the ridiculous statement that this trope exists solely as a way for gamers to play out a male power fantasy. She even makes the misandry statement that the sole reason for male characters wanting revenge on losing women they love (be it a wife, daughter, or girlfriend) is because they failed to fulfill their stereotypical role in society of protecting women and now feel de-masculinized. And them seeking revenge is a way of regaining their masculinity. I’m not kidding. She comes right out and says that the only reason men want to save or avenge the women they love is not because they love them, but because of them wanting to regain their penis power.
This is blatant misandry and has no place in a feminist video. In fact, by definition this video cannot even be called “feminist” for that very reason.
One thing the video does right is state that these tropes do not exist because video game designers intentionally try to reduce women into a helpless statement. However, she then makes the ridiculous statement that men cannot help it that they are sexist and hate women. Again, I’m not kidding.
Thing is, video games are primarily made by and are aimed at men. The reason why you primarily see men saving or avenging women is because most games are made for a male audience. Losing a loved one is never easy, and many of the most important people in most men’s lives are women: whether that be their wife, mother, daughter, or girlfriend. A game that features a woman rescuing her little sister (Final Fantasy XIII) or a woman rescuing her best friend (the new Tomb Raider reboot) are all fine, but a man rescuing or avenging his wife or daughter is somehow sexist and degrading to women. Why?
Having the game’s premise be rescuing someone important to the main character is an easy set up and one that almost everyone can easily relate to because almost everyone, if not everyone, has someone that they truly care about and would go to great lengths to help. It is an easy way for the player to immediately connect with the character, and considering most games do not emphasis character development, but still require a player-character connection, it is essential to establish a connection right away. Opening the game with the lose of a loved one is a surefire way to establish that connection. Again, it’s way more common in games to have men save women because most gamers are men and most men have women in their lives that they would go above and beyond to help. This is not a bad thing.
Another glaring issue in these videos is that the other side is almost completely ignored. Presenting an argument without acknowledging and respecting the other side is one of the quickest ways to discredit yourself. Video-maker, Anita, only extremely briefly mentions two games that portray strong female characters before she returns to harping on about how there are so many bad portrayals of women. This is also incredibly biased.
She doesn’t even mention the Metroid series despite it starring Samus, who is not only established early on in the franchise as being one of the most powerful and deadly forces in the galaxy, but who is one of the most iconic and best loved video game characters of all time. In fact, many gamers—mostly men—were outraged by her portrayal in the most recent Metroid title, Other M, for being much weaker and male dependent: something that contradicts her entire character. The fact that Other M was slammed both by critics and consumers for the portrayal of Samus is a perfect example of the other side to this argument. Nowhere is this mentioned in the Feminist Frequency video.
Other examples of strong, well written women in games is Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, and all of the women from the Mass Effect series—most notably Ashley, Tali, Liara, and the protagonist, Commander Shepard herself. Let’s break this down. Ashley is one of the best soldiers in the series, Tali is a genius engineer, and Liara is a historian and archeologist and even becomes the leader of the largest information network in the galaxy. Not to mention Commander Shepard is tasked with saving the galaxy and at no point is she doubted because of her sex. (Granted, depending on player choice she could be doubted for other reasons, but that’s not the point.)
More examples are the women in the Uncharted series, Elena and Chloe, many Resident Evil characters like Ada, Helena, Sherry, and Claire (who is also one of the most loved characters in the series), and of course the games I mentioned earlier—Final Fantasy XIII and Tomb Raider. Even 2013 alone is seeing four games featuring strong women characters: the Tomb Raider reboot, Bioshock Infinite, Remember Me, and Beyond Two Souls. (The latter two haven’t been released yet.) All of these games I have mentioned portray women respectfully and realistically. All of these women are strong in different ways. Not all of them can kick ass on the battlefield, but they are still strong emotionally and, in all of these cases, each of these women’s perspectives and opinions are important and they all get their fair share of time to grow and develop. They are not objects, and they do not exist as a plot device. They are fully fleshed out characters: real people. And all of this functions as a counter argument that male game designers and gamers just want to play out a male power fantasy and see women only as objects to be owned and rescued. In fact, many of these games are acclaimed because of their female characters.
Heck, even Killzone, which prides itself on having almost all its characters be generic, space marine meatheads, still managed to create two strong female characters. Why was none of this brought up in the Tropes vs. Women in Games videos? Like I said, one of the best ways to discredit yourself is to ignore the other side. That said, at least the videos excelled at something.
Point is, things are slowly changing for the better. However, tropes are hard to get rid off, and I doubt the damsel in distress trope is going anywhere anytime soon. Female tropes in video games is an important topic of discussion. However, by focusing solely on out of context examples, ignoring the other side, and making hated comments toward men, this series of videos is off to a disgusting start, and I worry that it will get even worse.
:lol:EDIT: Please keep in mind that this article's target audience is feminists. Not gamers.
Either way, I thought you guys would like to read this.
A Response to the Tropes vs. Women in Video Games YouTube series
Feminist Frequency is a YouTube channel that specializes in videos about women in media. The latest series, Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, aims to explore each of the most common tropes female characters are put into in games. It’s a valid undertaking. However, while the series is only two parts in, there’s already plenty of problems that need to be addressed.
The first two videos discuss the damsel in distress trope. Now, there is no denying that this trope is prevalent in games, however that does not forgive its poor portrayal. The first video examines the history of the damsel in distress in games, and the second video examines more modern examples. The second video especially chooses to boggle the viewer down with example after example, out of context, rather than closely examine a few key examples. The videos also make some outlandish statements that ooze sexism against men. Notably absent, were more games that feature well written female characters. She very briefly mentions two examples, but that’s it. Now, let’s break this all down.
Firstly, the videos use way to many out of context examples. One game that she uses as an example of the damsel in distress trope is Devil May Cry 4. What she fails to mention is that out of four games, only the last one featured the damsel in distress as a plot point. All other games in the series have strong, independent women holding their own. Oh sure, the player has to rescue a female character at the end, but she also kids the main character’s ass at one point. Through out the series, the women in Devil May Cry help and are helped by the main character, Dante. They work as a team, and they continue to do so in Devil May Cry 4. Sure the game introduces a new character whose sole purpose is to get kidnapped, but the video’s hostess, Anita, even says later in the video that having a damsel in distress is not a bad thing so long as there is variety. Yet she uses Devil May Cry as an example of the damsel in distress by zeroing in on the one time it happened and ignored all the other women in the series. That is the definition of bias.
The video also makes the mistake of using examples that were critically and commercially slammed, i.e. Bionic Commando. Yet she neglects all of this and chooses to instead focus solely on out of context examples almost as if she just went through a list of games and grabbed all the ones that use the trope at some point, but without looking at the game’s usage or even asking herself why the trope exists.
Actually, she does ask herself why, and she addresses “why” in her video. She makes the ridiculous statement that this trope exists solely as a way for gamers to play out a male power fantasy. She even makes the misandry statement that the sole reason for male characters wanting revenge on losing women they love (be it a wife, daughter, or girlfriend) is because they failed to fulfill their stereotypical role in society of protecting women and now feel de-masculinized. And them seeking revenge is a way of regaining their masculinity. I’m not kidding. She comes right out and says that the only reason men want to save or avenge the women they love is not because they love them, but because of them wanting to regain their penis power.
This is blatant misandry and has no place in a feminist video. In fact, by definition this video cannot even be called “feminist” for that very reason.
One thing the video does right is state that these tropes do not exist because video game designers intentionally try to reduce women into a helpless statement. However, she then makes the ridiculous statement that men cannot help it that they are sexist and hate women. Again, I’m not kidding.
Thing is, video games are primarily made by and are aimed at men. The reason why you primarily see men saving or avenging women is because most games are made for a male audience. Losing a loved one is never easy, and many of the most important people in most men’s lives are women: whether that be their wife, mother, daughter, or girlfriend. A game that features a woman rescuing her little sister (Final Fantasy XIII) or a woman rescuing her best friend (the new Tomb Raider reboot) are all fine, but a man rescuing or avenging his wife or daughter is somehow sexist and degrading to women. Why?
Having the game’s premise be rescuing someone important to the main character is an easy set up and one that almost everyone can easily relate to because almost everyone, if not everyone, has someone that they truly care about and would go to great lengths to help. It is an easy way for the player to immediately connect with the character, and considering most games do not emphasis character development, but still require a player-character connection, it is essential to establish a connection right away. Opening the game with the lose of a loved one is a surefire way to establish that connection. Again, it’s way more common in games to have men save women because most gamers are men and most men have women in their lives that they would go above and beyond to help. This is not a bad thing.
Another glaring issue in these videos is that the other side is almost completely ignored. Presenting an argument without acknowledging and respecting the other side is one of the quickest ways to discredit yourself. Video-maker, Anita, only extremely briefly mentions two games that portray strong female characters before she returns to harping on about how there are so many bad portrayals of women. This is also incredibly biased.
She doesn’t even mention the Metroid series despite it starring Samus, who is not only established early on in the franchise as being one of the most powerful and deadly forces in the galaxy, but who is one of the most iconic and best loved video game characters of all time. In fact, many gamers—mostly men—were outraged by her portrayal in the most recent Metroid title, Other M, for being much weaker and male dependent: something that contradicts her entire character. The fact that Other M was slammed both by critics and consumers for the portrayal of Samus is a perfect example of the other side to this argument. Nowhere is this mentioned in the Feminist Frequency video.
Other examples of strong, well written women in games is Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, and all of the women from the Mass Effect series—most notably Ashley, Tali, Liara, and the protagonist, Commander Shepard herself. Let’s break this down. Ashley is one of the best soldiers in the series, Tali is a genius engineer, and Liara is a historian and archeologist and even becomes the leader of the largest information network in the galaxy. Not to mention Commander Shepard is tasked with saving the galaxy and at no point is she doubted because of her sex. (Granted, depending on player choice she could be doubted for other reasons, but that’s not the point.)
More examples are the women in the Uncharted series, Elena and Chloe, many Resident Evil characters like Ada, Helena, Sherry, and Claire (who is also one of the most loved characters in the series), and of course the games I mentioned earlier—Final Fantasy XIII and Tomb Raider. Even 2013 alone is seeing four games featuring strong women characters: the Tomb Raider reboot, Bioshock Infinite, Remember Me, and Beyond Two Souls. (The latter two haven’t been released yet.) All of these games I have mentioned portray women respectfully and realistically. All of these women are strong in different ways. Not all of them can kick ass on the battlefield, but they are still strong emotionally and, in all of these cases, each of these women’s perspectives and opinions are important and they all get their fair share of time to grow and develop. They are not objects, and they do not exist as a plot device. They are fully fleshed out characters: real people. And all of this functions as a counter argument that male game designers and gamers just want to play out a male power fantasy and see women only as objects to be owned and rescued. In fact, many of these games are acclaimed because of their female characters.
Heck, even Killzone, which prides itself on having almost all its characters be generic, space marine meatheads, still managed to create two strong female characters. Why was none of this brought up in the Tropes vs. Women in Games videos? Like I said, one of the best ways to discredit yourself is to ignore the other side. That said, at least the videos excelled at something.
Point is, things are slowly changing for the better. However, tropes are hard to get rid off, and I doubt the damsel in distress trope is going anywhere anytime soon. Female tropes in video games is an important topic of discussion. However, by focusing solely on out of context examples, ignoring the other side, and making hated comments toward men, this series of videos is off to a disgusting start, and I worry that it will get even worse.
