Ok, so last week I summarized Matthew Byrd’s article about
sexism and misogyny in videogames. The article was a direct response to Anita
Sarkeesian’s video regarding the same topic that can be found on Kickstarter. I
did no research on this video, nor was I aware of whom Sarkeesian was. The
first time I took a look at this video was literally 15 minutes ago. First off,
I want to point out that Sarkeesian has been making feminist videos for years
and is basically an Internet celebrity for her studies including the “Smurfette
principle” and the feminist view of Legos. With that in mind, this is
Sarkeesian’s video:
Well, I
have to say that Sarkeesian is both smart and quite risky. Anita Sarkeesian is the founder of FeminineFrquency, a website that finds the smallest bit of sexism within pop culture.
The video itself is an advertisement to help her start her research on “Tropes
and Women in Videogames”. When you start the video, you can already tell that
she is a “gamer” (or actress?). She has at least 3 game systems, and many
different games for the Xbox 360, but yet it can be seen that, when playing
games, she does not have the controllers on. Is this a big deal? I don’t think
so. If it’s a close-up on the controller, it doesn’t necessarily have to be on;
this does NOT imply that she has “no idea” what she’s doing.
Right at
the get go, she grabs your attention by asking you if you’ve ever noticed the
fact that many women in videogames fall under the same clichés and stereotypes.
She goes on to say that videogames are good for an individual, and that they
improve many life skills. They are also targets for sexism and misogyny (DUH).
This is where Sarkeesian starts her campaign speech: She plans on putting
together a 5-video documentary project. She explains that videogames are
essential when it comes to shaping one’s important morals and values. In her
project, Sarkeesian will focus on the “Damsel in Distress”, “The Fighting F#@k
Toy”, “The Sexy Sidekick”, “The Sexy Villainess”, and the most common trope of
women in videogames, the “Background Decoration”.
Fro those
of you who weren’t paying attention earlier during the video, Sarkeesian
defined a “tope” as “a common pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in
a character that conveys information to the audience.” So, a cliché comes into
play once that certain trope becomes “overused”. I will say that Sarkeesian is a very
relatable critic in which she talks “our” language, and is able to use examples
of sexism from recognizable pop culture references. Sarkeesian’s videos are often used by parents
and teachers to “spark discussions with kids about representations of women in
the media.” She ends her campaign video with an emphasis on the fact that this
is a research project that has never been done before; the scope and amount of
research going into this project will be “staggering”. She specifies that each
video will last 10-15 minutes, and that she will not also look at hundreds of
games that display negative representations, but also some games that have been
able to avoid these representations. Her initial goal was to make $6,000 for
this project, which was achieved in mid-June (which means it took exactly one
month!); so since May, she has raised over $158,000 with just a few short of
7,000 backers! Because of this surprising outcome, Sarkeesian promises 7 more
videos. Currently, she is undergoing her research, with a release date that I
am unable to find (I assume unknown at this time.
Below are
some videos made by gamers who are very upset by the announcement of Sarkeesian’s
research project. WARNING! There is some cursage; LISTEN AT YOUR OWN RISK!
After
watching this video, I have come to the conclusion that these guys are just a
couple hotheads with nothing to help reinforce their opinions. So, what do you
think about Sarkeesian’s videogame project? Should she continue this
groundbreaking project, or is she just scamming all of her supporters? Leave me
some comments BELOW!
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