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Tropes Vs. Women Episode 2 - Damsels In Distress Part [spoiler warning]

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MormaPope

Banned
She explains her perspective perfectly in these videos. It just happens to be shallow and narrowminded.

Why would you want her to expand on it even more?

It's way too scatterbrained, there are about 20-30 games discussed in this latest video. Why not limit the scope and make assertions based on the patterns present in games she's played? How many games has she actually played that were mentioned in this discussion?
 
Why, because he's a man? Is that sexist? He's pretty feisty as well, and he's not very regal.

You can say you wanted a story to go a certain way as much as you want and I have no right to correct you. But if you try and bring morality, and sexism into this you are crazy. WW is not sexist at all.

Timeline:

Tetra appears as an independent character.

Tetra becomes Zelda.

Tetra leaves the plot.

Zelda gets kidnapped.

Bastion of progress people
 
There's a serious lack of intelligence coming from your end. Disappointing.

Allow me to dumb it down for you.

Your argument is that Aragorn does a similar thing in his story. Notwithstanding the fact that bringing up Aragorn is you attempting to not address The Wind Waker's criticisms and flaws, Aragorn is an adult. Aragorn has greater mental faculties. In fiction, it is common for an adult to take charge in his life and adapt everything about himself to ensure that he can take on a strong leadership position. Tetra is a child, a bratty, pirate child. Basically, the opposite of a princess. She is in no way prepared to fulfill the role of a princess. There's nothing that leads up to her personality shift. Once the shift happens, she IMMEDIATELY acts like a princess. She's immediately humble, regal, softspoken. She has NONE of the qualities of Tetra. Tetra basically ceases to exist upon becoming Zelda. The argument is whether TWW abandons the tropes that inhabit the franchise. Clearly, it doesn't - you just think it's okay that it doesn't. So I think I have a point, it's just that my point makes you sad.

I'm just lost for words that you are so unable to understand the issue of a comparison between an adult and a child. Tetra has not been alive for long enough to have the wisdom to become a true leader. There is nothing to establish this twist as a believable one because Tetra is not the kind of character who would so readily become that role that she does it instantaneously. How about Wreck-It Ralph?
The main female protagonist becomes a Princess. Her personality does not change.
This is an example of fiction abandoning the tropes of its medium. Not TWW, which takes a character who is strong and independent, and then applies basically every single trope to her. Was she practicing to be a Princess, is that why she stopped having any qualities that Tetra had?


She grown up enough to became a pirate and command a bunch of adults that respect her as her leader....
 

Omikaru

Member
or the limitations of video game storytelling, specially early games.

I dunno, pretty much every example she made had inexcusably bad writing. Even back in't ye olde days, just because a game's story was crude and being told on a limited medium didn't necessarily mean it was shitty. She exclusively highlighted games that had shitty narratives; whether that was to the detriment of the final product or not is not something I'm discussing, or willing to discuss within the framing of this documentary.

She even states herself that people can enjoy these games, regardless of the issues she raised, and that's not a problem. She said games that she argues have sexist tropes are not bad games, or can't be enjoyed just because of that. Likewise, the same applies to games with shitty writing.

That said, I think she did an excellent job of highlighting really bad plots, and in some places there are definitely some instances where patriarchal attitudes prevail in the trope (and could even be considered the primary reason as to why the narrative is so fucking terrible), but I think many of her examples were also just shitty writing being conflated with the gender issues she raises.

It wasn't bad at all, mind. Hopefully, for some people who watch this, it can give them a grounding in issues that affect women in the 21st century and I'm really not opposed to that. I just feel that pretty much every issue she raised about these games and their tropes could be remedied by having a good writer work on the game.
 

Mesoian

Member
There's nothing wrong with using video clips, or making her work accessible and engaging. At all. In fact, I'd love to see a gender-based analysis on the video game industry that doesn't send me to sleep.

But, that's not what this is. The hollow core cannot be ignored - Anita offers no analysis, no literature, no critique. She doesn't connect to the massive body of prior research. She positions herself as a lone voice of reason in a world gone mad. She's almost offensively pompous. If she'd integrated basic academic practice into her content, it would have been improved a million times over.

Instead, we have Alex Jones-level empty outrage, which serves nobody and does nothing.

Ill say here what I said during hte last megathread surrounding this issue.

I don't particularly like these videos all that much, and I'm waiting for the next person who comes after her who can really knock it out of the park and appeal to me on a personal level, as Anita simply can't, for whatever reason.

But until that person comes, I'll keep listening to what Anita has to say.
 
Yes, that is exactly what I said.

My post came off as more antagonistic then I meant it to. Sorry about that. Also it wasn't just directed at you, but the video as well.

I just think it's silly to just limit the character to "Jackie's" narratively, and act as if it's a problem like she is doing. It isn't a problem and her and Jackie's relationship is one of my favorite in a game.
 

ASIS

Member
Honestly all this social "warrior" bs needs to leave games

Games aren't art, it's really not that serious.

Let's not get into this. Games are a medium that is capable of:

A) Telling a story (no matter how crappily at times, and yes crappily is a word I just made up).

B) Invoking emotion.

C) Widening the imagination.

D) Influencing others, albeit nowhere near as powerfully as other mediums.


It's a platform of creativity, and there are a lot of people that are passionate about it. Whether you want to label it as art is not important. It is big and important enough to warrant a discussion.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Why, because he's a man? Is that sexist? He's pretty feisty as well, and he's not very regal.

You can say you wanted a story to go a certain way as much as you want and I have no right to correct you. But if you try and bring morality, and sexism into this you are crazy. WW is not sexist at all.

1.Wat
2.I don't think WW is sexist at all. I dislike Tetra's treatment, but I wouldn't call the game sexist.
3.Linebeck is a massive tool, end of discussion.

Linebeck_Crate.png


Timeline:

Tetra appears as an independent character.

Tetra becomes Zelda.

Tetra leaves the plot.

Zelda gets kidnapped.

Bastion of progress people

Yeah that sounds about right.
 

mantidor

Member
That took pretty long, people already criticize her but if she is doing her job she at the minimum saw lets plays of all the games mentioned in the OP, or maybe even played them, that can take a long time.

Will watch when I get home.
 

KTallguy

Banned
There's nothing wrong with using video clips, or making her work accessible and engaging. At all. In fact, I'd love to see a gender-based analysis on the video game industry that doesn't send me to sleep.

But, that's not what this is. The hollow core cannot be ignored - Anita offers no analysis, no literature, no critique. She doesn't connect to the massive body of prior research. She positions herself as a lone voice of reason in a world gone mad. She's almost offensively pompous. If she'd integrated basic academic practice into her content, it would have been improved a million times over.

Instead, we have Alex Jones-level empty outrage, which serves nobody and does nothing.

That's a fair critique, she can and should cite more prior research in her video when she presents the terms for her tropes. I wonder if she consciously omitted them for some reason. It could be an ego thing, but the best thing to do is ask her.

It's way too scatterbrained, there are about 20-30 games discussed in this latest video. Why not limit the scope and make assertions based on the patterns present in games she's played? How many games has she actually played that were mentioned in this discussion?

I suppose the volume of games was there to quell arguments that "these are isolated incidents".
 

MormaPope

Banned
Also, that list of spoilers helps, but there's more random spoilers throughout the video. Basically don't watch if you're worried about being spoiled about anything, I don't care about spoilers personally.
 
I don't get it. How does this prove that feminism does not withstand rigour and analysis?

-_-

The damn wikipedia page for feminism is just a point of view for other topics and areas of scholarly work. That's why you can't make your subject of work BE feminism and expect it to withstand rigor and analsyis. This is equavilent to making your subject of work a political party since a political party is nothing more than a point of view. It does not stand up on it's own.
 
She grown up enough to became a pirate and command a bunch of adults that respect her as her leader....

So a pirate leader has the same personality and setup as a ruler of a kingdom.

It's a list of excuses for why The Wind Waker making a character less independent, less important, less "sassy", isn't a bad thing. She went from a leadership role that leaned far more towards chaotic, and then when she went in a far more lawful direction, her personality completely changed. There was no transition. It was bad storytelling.
 
Ill say here what I said during hte last megathread surrounding this issue.

I don't particularly like these videos all that much, and I'm waiting for the next person who comes after her who can really knock it out of the park and appeal to me on a personal level, as Anita simply can't, for whatever reason.

But until that person comes, I'll keep listening to what Anita has to say.

I just can't listen to Anita. She seems to do more harm than good for the most part.
 

casabolg

Banned
See, this is where you lose me, and a lot of people!
These are not realities!

Not realities? In what way?

Men don't have problems with rejection? I'd say you're wrong.
Men and women don't refer to cute things as childlike? I'd say you're wrong.
Women are usually not weak and childlike? I'd say you're right.
Those fantasies don't exist to dispel their own social issues? I'd say you're wrong.
What is called male power fantasies don't have a near complete lack of possibilities for rejection in them? I'd say you're wrong.
 

Shinta

Banned
Your argument is that Aragorn does a similar thing in his story. Notwithstanding the fact that bringing up Aragorn is you attempting to not address The Wind Waker's criticisms and flaws, Aragorn is an adult. Aragorn has greater mental faculties. In fiction, it is common for an adult to take charge in his life and adapt everything about himself to ensure that he can take on a strong leadership position.

Wow lol. You are just making this up entirely by yourself.

Tetra is a child, a bratty, pirate child. Basically, the opposite of a princess. She is in no way prepared to fulfill the role of a princess.

Based on what? This is entirely in your imagination. She more than proves to me that she's capable of being a princess in WW. And honestly, it has nothing to do with this conversation. You honestly don't think she understood how to not act like a complete brat, ever? You think she's mentally incapable of that?

There's nothing that leads up to her personality shift. Once the shift happens, she IMMEDIATELY acts like a princess. She's immediately humble, regal, softspoken. She has NONE of the qualities of Tetra. Tetra basically ceases to exist upon becoming Zelda.

Tetra exists after. Again, you just made this up entirely. Tetra is in the sequel, and she exists, despite your active imagination. Actually in the sequel, we see only Tetra and not Zelda - the opposite of what you're saying.

Zelda Wiki said:
"In Phantom Hourglass, Tetra does not regain her royal persona as Princess Zelda, although quite often when she appears Zelda's Lullaby plays in the background, and she is called "Zelda" by some of the pirates during the game's intro,[23] much to Tetra's chagrin.

http://zeldawiki.org/Tetra
 

Alienous

Member
You can blame the assumption then, not her. What she did with the money is no one's business, she didn't force people to donate, she didn't pledge to make a better video if she had more money, she only said she wanted $6000. The fact that she got a massive bonus doesn't change that fact.

Deciding to keep it is massively telling, then. Did she, at any point, ask people to stop donating? If her goal was to truly do analysis on a subject, and she felt $6000 was sufficient, she would have donated anything exceeding that. She did have eternal stretch goals, at least going to $26,000 , so she clearly wasn't opposed to using the excess money. I think that this excess money should be used on furthering the core project, providing alternative views, or being donated to charity. I believe that, as a subject, introspective analysis like this isn't constructive.
 

Optimus Lime

(L3) + (R3) | Spartan rage activated

hausaffe

Banned
i really like the music from 0:15 - 0:22. and i like how she looks. would love to talk with her about my games.

even thought she may go a bit over the top i think she was pointing out the obvious in the first clip. at least in some cases. dont know where all the funding went. but i enjoy her videos so what have i to nag about. come at me anita, im waiting for you harsh voice! tell me how to treat woman correctly and ill do anything you want from me!!!
 

Optimus Lime

(L3) + (R3) | Spartan rage activated
-_-
The damn wikipedia page for feminism is just a point of view for other topics and areas of scholarly work. That's why you can't make your subject of work BE feminism and expect it to withstand rigor and analsyis. This is equavilent to making your subject of work a political party since a political party is nothing more than a point of view. It does not stand up on it's own.

You're not an academic, are you?
 

Mesoian

Member
I just can't listen to Anita. She seems to do more harm than good for the most part.

Eh, I wouldn't call it harm. Poking the hornet's nest, sure. But there's nothing wrong with bringing a lot of this stuff tonight and saying, "Hey, a lot of this shit is pretty poorly done!" Because a lot of it is.

The hardest truth of all.

Games are not art, get over it.

And they never will be with that attitude.
 

K.Sabot

Member
Deciding to keep it is massively telling, then. Did she, at any point, ask people to stop donating? If her goal was to truly do analysis on a subject, and she felt $6000 was sufficient, she would have donated anything exceeding that. She did have eternal stretch goals, at least going to $26,000 , so she clearly wasn't opposed to using the excess money. I think that this excess money should be used on furthering the core project, providing alternative views, or being donated to charity. I believe that, as a subject, introspective analysis like this isn't constructive.

I definitely agree, she could at least get some secondary opinion from people in the field with her funding, but all she's done is bought a few more games and kept quiet with where the money went while making the same videos she's always made.

It sucks and the criticism has a fine basis, but she's perfectly within legality, much akin to the Penny Arcade podcast debacle.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Tetra exists after. Again, you just made this up entirely. Tetra is in the sequel, and she exists, despite your active imagination. Actually in the sequel, we see only Tetra and not Zelda - the opposite of what you're saying.

Hahaha
 

Mesoian

Member
Deciding to keep it is massively telling, then. Did she, at any point, ask people to stop donating? If her goal was to truly do analysis on a subject, and she felt $6000 was sufficient, she would have donated anything exceeding that. She did have eternal stretch goals, at least going to $26,000 , so she clearly wasn't opposed to using the excess money. I think that this excess money should be used on furthering the core project, providing alternative views, or being donated to charity. I believe that, as a subject, introspective analysis like this isn't constructive.

...well that's just...like...your opinion man.

Seriously, I don't understand why you think any of that has to happen. I can understand why you might think those funds are misappropriated due to the quality of the videos and how light the series has been thus far in diving in for solutions to problems that she's bringing up...but why you think you should have any say in how she handles her books is beyond me.
 
Wow lol. You are just making this up entirely by yourself.



Based on what? This is entirely in your imagination. And honestly, it has nothing to do with this conversation. You honestly don't think she understood how to not act like a complete brat, ever? You think she's mentally incapable of that?



Tetra exists after. Again, you just made this up entirely. Tetra is in the sequel, and she exists, despite your active imagination.



http://zeldawiki.org/Tetra

I am? Really? I was kind of using "common sense". Aragorn is an adult. Adults have greater mental faculties than preteens. Statistical fact.

Your argument is that it's believable that she abandoned every single element that defined Tetra immediately, correct? That seems to be your argument. A child is not capable of making such a personality change so quickly, and so effectively, for such a logical reason. In fact, Tetra's character is so far from being able to do that, it's absurd.

And yes, you win in addressing a fact that I already stated. After The Wind Waker, Tetra returned. In PH. And then she got kidnapped and wasn't in the story. So Tetra came back, but they made sure to keep the whole DiD element that Zelda brought to the fold in TWW.

EDIT: I don't mean to canvas people, but I'm getting pretty "ugh" in this debate. Can I get some people to help point out to this user that Aragorn's ability to adapt his personality is greater than that of a kid's?
 

oneils

Member
-_-

The damn wikipedia page for feminism is just a point of view for other topics and areas of scholarly work. That's why you can't make your subject of work BE feminism and expect it to withstand rigor and analsyis. This is equavilent to making your subject of work a political party since a political party is nothing more than a point of view. It does not stand up on it's own.

But feminism is not the subject of Sarkeesian's work. I must be missing something. Her feminism is informing her critique. Her point of view is informing her critique. That is the whole point of criticism (well, of many schools of critical theory anyway).
 
Eh, I wouldn't call it harm. Poking the hornet's nest, sure. But there's nothing wrong with bringing a lot of this stuff tonight and saying, "Hey, a lot of this shit is pretty poorly done!" Because a lot of it is.



And they never will be with that attitude.


She is doing such a bad job at these videos I wonder if she is purposefully playing the part of the feminist trope.
 
Also, always important :



To know what will happen on the 3rd video

To be released in August.

If there's one criticism that no-one can argue against, it's that she's damn slow. I mean, in the time between part 1 and part 2, there's been three Errant Signals (total time: about 50 minutes) and 11 Extra Credits (total time: about an hour) to make an episode that I'll assume is half an hour long. Sure, neither of them are focused on a particular topic, but that's still a lot more stuff done in the time. (I realise that the comparison to Extra Credits might not be terribly fair, since we're comparing a team of four with a team of one + that full time researcher I distinctly remember promising to hire. But then again, two of the Extra Credits folk handle the art, and one of them I believe doesn't do much else other than reading the script, modifying the voice to a higher pitch [coz Yahtzee, innit] and compile the video. But still.)

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure where the time was spent, never mind the money.
 

cicero

Member
If you don't think there are a variety of ways to resolve conflict, even with violence, without hundreds of characters dying and being torn apart in ever more gruesome ways the delusional one is you.

Soldiers kill people. They don't attach grappling hooks to their rib cages, tear their limbs off and otherwise whoop at achieving kill counts in the hundreds within a matter of minutes.

Why does it have to be a binary response? I'm not saying 'ban all killing in games!', I'm saying that revenge fantasies with a level of dismemberment and violence verging on pornographic aren't the only way to show it, and I agree with Anita that developers are constantly trying to outdo each other with the level of gore and visual depiction of it.
I'm sorry, I am trying to find where exactly you specifically mentioned this new allowance for certain types of violence but not over the top violence in the specific post of yours that I quoted and responded to.

I also think it would have been worth exploring the point that perhaps it's not really about treatment of women at all, but that lots of AAA games use violence as their primary problem-solving mechanic full stop. It gives an easy win/loss scenario, health allows for degrees of loss, and conflict breeds drama. It's just a shame we aren't really moved past the kill-or-be-killed stage of conflict resolution that appeals to teenagers.

Oh wait, that was your original post, as can be seen by my direct quote of it HERE. This following quote is the same post with your new additions.

I also think it would have been worth exploring the point that perhaps it's not really about treatment of women at all, but that lots of AAA games use ever-more-extreme violence towards men and women as their primary problem-solving mechanic full stop. It gives an easy win/loss scenario, health allows for degrees of loss, and conflict breeds drama. It's just a shame we aren't really moved past the kill-or-be-killed stage of conflict resolution that appeals to teenagers.
So now you respond as if my response to your post ignored the "ever-more-extreme " aspect to violence, instead of just "violence" itself, as your unedited post specifically listed. Way to move the goalposts. This convenient editing of yours and the complete lack of effort on your part to acknowledge it or leave it alone and suffer some slings and arrows of outrageous, but well-deserved, fortune until you can rectify it in a following post SEEMS just a tad bit disingenuous on your part.

My issue was clearly your APPARENT position against violence in its entirety that I took from your own original comments. Now you want a more subtle and refined position that allows for violence, but not extreme over the top violence. I would not have objected to your comment or responded to it had it actually been this new position originally.
 

KTallguy

Banned
Not realities? In what way?

Men don't have problems with rejection? I'd say you're wrong.
Men and women don't refer to cute things as childlike? I'd say you're wrong.
Women are usually not weak and childlike? I'd say you're right.
Those fantasies don't exist to dispel their own social issues? I'd say you're wrong.
What is called male power fantasies don't have a near complete lack of possibilities for rejection in them? I'd say you're wrong.

1. Men and women both have problems/fear of rejection.
2. A man/woman's object of affection being childlike/weak/babyish is not always considered attractive, this depends on the person.
3. Women can be weak and childlike, they can also be strong and willful, that's a personality trait, not a gender trait.
4. These fantasies exist but not everyone holds them. There's a variety of content out there that doesn't play on those fantasies, and a variety of people that can't relate to those fantasies.
5. Male power fantasies may be a response to a male fear of rejection or the desire to gain power and overcome the fears in their lives, as there is no fear of rejection. And since male power fantasies are pervasive in many cultures, representations of them exist. But there are many people out there who don't relate to these fantasies, men and women.

What I'm trying to say is that the reality in your head, where everyone thinks baby-like women are attractive/cute, and women are always loved and wanted and never fear rejection, is a false reality.
 
A person who is strong since men are constantly competing to be a man and pure strength is a good way to be a protector, which is what the traditional male role usually is.

Don't forget for instance any of those fantasies that deal with women. They don't have a fear of rejection, ever, as they are consistently loved for who they are and don't have to compete for affection like they do in real life. It's the same thing with women and romance novels. Men have a hard time getting affection in real life and thus make fantasies where their woes are gone while women have a hard time with stable and romantic relationships and thus do the same.


Yes I did. Think about it.
What is cute to a man usually seen as? Women being weak and babyish. Does that mean they wish them to be explicitly weak and unknowledgeable? If yes, is that what women want for babies or is it something that reflects people's need to protect and love and doesn't explicitly tie expectations to others?

It's still sexist. Just because it's a thing in real life, doesn't mean that it's not sexist for it to be so common in video games.
 

Shinta

Banned
I am? Really? I was kind of using "common sense". Aragorn is an adult. Adults have greater mental faculties than preteens. Statistical fact.

Your argument is that it's believable that she abandoned every single element that defined Tetra immediately, correct? That seems to be your argument. A child is not capable of making such a personality change so quickly, and so effectively, for such a logical reason. In fact, Tetra's character is so far from being able to do that, it's absurd.

Tetra is "mentally incapable" of not being a complete brat, confirmed by statistics. Give me a break.

All you've confirmed is that you're unbelievably stubborn, and simply refuse to concede a single point, even when you're blatantly wrong.

Follow your argument through to its conclusion. So what you're trying to say is that Nintendo was wrong by making Tetra act like more of an adult. On what planet is that sexist? How is that even a negative thing?

And yes, you win in addressing a fact that I already stated. After The Wind Waker, Tetra returned. In PH. And then she got kidnapped and wasn't in the story. So Tetra came back, but they made sure to keep the whole DiD element that Zelda brought to the fold in TWW.

Right. Tetra didn't cease to exist. Actually Zelda did. Literally the exact opposite of what you were trying to pass off here.
 
Eh, I wouldn't call it harm. Poking the hornet's nest, sure. But there's nothing wrong with bringing a lot of this stuff tonight and saying, "Hey, a lot of this shit is pretty poorly done!" Because a lot of it is.

She is having a pretty blatant double discurse (Tropes are not bad and you shouldn't feel bad... bud the next cherry picked examples and images will shock your children and will make you feel bad) that seem to want to make you to take a side and not having an actual disscusion.
 

Alienous

Member
...well that's just...like...your opinion man.

Seriously, I don't understand why you think any of that has to happen. I can understand why you might think those funds are misappropriated due to the quality of the videos and how light the series has been thus far in diving in for solutions to problems that she's bringing up...but why you think you should have any say in how she handles her books is beyond me.

Because it isn't 'her books'. It's money donated towards the analysis of a topic. If she cares about truly analyzing this topic, she would spend the money bettering her analysis, or give it back. It isn't conceptually difficult to grasp, so I have no idea why it's beyond you.
 

RoyalFool

Banned
I didn't like this episode as much as the first, she regurgitates the same sentences and explanations word for word way too often as a way of talking a lot but saying very little.
 
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