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Gaming Saturday, March 9th 2013 at 12:00 pm

First Video in Tropes vs. Women in Video Games Series Drops, World Somehow Keeps Spinning

Much has been said of Anita Sarkeesian and her Tropes vs. Women in Video Games Kickstarter campaign. The Internet practically ate its own tail when it started getting attention. Anyone that’s ever delved into, say, YouTube comments knows just how horrible people can be to each other for no apparent reason — not that being horrible to another human being is something the Internet has a monopoly on. By the way a number of people were going on, you’d think Sarkeesian’s series would be the end of the world. Well, the first video’s finally dropped, and we’re still here.

The first video in the series is titled “Damsel in Distress: Part 1.” To everyone that said she took the money and ran: There’s some pretty slick editing going on, the video looks to be well-researched, and it’s over 20 minutes long. Here it is:

Let’s be clear here: Sarkeesian’s methods/production/opinions/assertions are all fair game for criticism. Attacking the person making the point, rather than the point itself, doesn’t make said point any less legitimate, though. It’s still a little too early to draw conclusions — Part 2, we assume, will give a bit more analysis — but the first video certainly brings up a bunch of the tropes we’ve dealt with historically. That is, after all, the title of the series.

(via The Mary Sue)

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=596896828 Luis Manuel Roballo Alvarez

    What about Samus Aran? Lara croft? aren’t they smart, resourceful, and badasses?

  • Countermass

    She never said there aren’t -any- cool, non-cliché female characters. Just very, very few. And sorry, but Lara Croft maybe badass to some point, but in my eyes she’s just a walking pinup (except for the new one maybe). Even Samus has to get her clothes off and shows naked skin – even her. It’s really sad.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, I think she’s talking about the positive characters in Part 2 – like she said at the end of her video ;)

  • Jack Bond

    Because nobody wants to see women looking gorgeous and feminine. We’d rather see peach in overalls. That’s attractive. I’m not saying women can’t be tomboys or whatever they want to be, but they can’t force people to like them once they’ve all been turned into that.

  • http://twitter.com/EliasAlgorithm Elias Algorithm

    I can’t even tell if you’re trolling or not.

  • 5monkeez

    Meh. Not a new topic. Back in the 90s I taught video production to college students and employed a similar video. Only, this video was a real video; VHS :-) . In the video, also about 20 minutes, the narrator explores the role of women in music videos, calling out the same shortcomings in the use of women.

    Interesting that she didn’t even touch on the racism of King Kong. But that would be another kickstarter campaign…

  • fail

    Oh shit this is that really boring person on youtube that bitches about the most ridiculous things and had a bunch of fanboys (and girls) give her a shit ton of money to pander to their need to hear her bitch about things. Actually am surprised to see she did make something out of it. Got through the first minute couldn’t watch anymore, the argument of “stereotypical portrayal of women in video games” is so old hat now. Yes I think we get it, gender tropes, misogynistic nerds and so on.

  • Idlethoughts

    The answer is he’s not, just back away slowly and put on your anti-stupid goggles, they’ll do nothing but they still look cool.

  • Jack Bond

    If you’re attracted to women who look and act like boys, more power to you. I just think it’s ugly and unattractive.

  • Idlethoughts

    Actually wait a minute, Jack, aren’t you both male and gay. What does you finding women attractive even mean, let alone why they should care?

  • Jack Bond

    Maybe not sexually attractive, but my opinion on whether a girl is aesthetically attractive means just as much for me as it does for you.