While surfing the internet the other day, I randomly came across this game that I had never heard of before called Super Princess Peach. This game reversed the usual premise of the Super Mario games by putting the player in control of Princess Peach on a mission to rescue Mario and Luigi from Bowser. This is interesting because it shows that Nintendo has become aware of how it portrayed gender roles in the Super Mario titles. I think its a sign that the industry in general is becoming more mindful of how it depicts female characters. However, there were some iffy game design choices. Though positively accepted overall, the game was widely criticized for being extremely easy. I can't help but think that Nintendo may have done this because they were aiming at a younger female target audience. Also, Princess Peach's four main powers, that she can trigger at will, were centered around the emotions of rage, calm, joy, and gloom. Some reviews questioned if it was sexist that Peach defeats her enemies by using wildly fluctuating emotions. And it gets worse. Peach uses her gloom power to basically drown her enemies in her giant tear fountain. One step forward, two steps backs.
Have you ever heard of this woman on Youtube whose channel is called 'Feminist Frequency'? She is going to be doing a video project exploring women in video games and common tropes associated with them. It may be interesting to check out and is related to your topic.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty bummed that they went with EMOTIONS as her super-powers. That is an ancient gendered stereotype which has been inflated to universal proportions and it makes me sad that Nintendo thinks that this is a good idea. "oh look she's sad and instead of kicking your ass she's just gonna CRY until you DROWN." this seems to me like more of an anxiety on the part of men when faced with tears (another age-old stereotype) that this thing they don't understand will literally engulf them and snuff out their life. seems a bit much to me. yes, i am a woman and have emotions and act ridiculous sometimes but THAT IS NOT ALL I CAN DO, thankyouverymuch.
ReplyDeleteThis Feminist Frequency channel looks very cool. But I agree with Caty's comment--I mean, emotions=girl power=Nintendo takes one step forward, two steps back (esp. if the game was made to be easier for girls like Karsten's post implies.
ReplyDeleteBlog #12: A Response to Sheila Murphy
DeleteIn the (slight) defense of this game, or perhaps in defense of the context in which this game was released, any kind of movement for culturally equal representation (feminism, racial equality, LGTBQIA rights, etc) has to start somewhere. Take the television show "Amos & Andy," for example. While it is widely (and rightly) considered a very racist television show, it did represent something of a step forward for Black equality simply because it features a predominantly Black cast. Obviously, this is not high praise. However, the first representations of every minority will be negatively stereotypical. I think that as the video game medium becomes more mainstream, civil rights groups like the NAACP, NOW, and GLAAD will be quicker to attack games that do engage in these kinds of negative stereotypes.
A very interesting point Dakota, but I will also argue back that in this day and age, we shouldn't have to a have a lengthy path to tolerance. It's not like game developers couldn't have realized that basing a strong female character's powers off of emotion might be offensive.
DeleteI understand your defense, but I think the fact that it is 2012 is argument enough that, despite their 'best' efforts, Nintendo fell a tad short in this one.
#11 I definitely agree with Nick here. It is 2012, Nintendo should have been able to come up with something better than emotions as Peach's powers, especially considering how creative they are with almost all of their games. But Dakota certainly makes a good point, it's just sad Nintendo has taken this long to even attempt putting women in a genuinely heroic position. Of course we can't harp on Japan too bad from a feminists perspective, considering we still have soda commercials that outright say their product is not for women (Dr. Pepper). Not the best marketing strategy if I do say so myself.
DeleteWell if you think about the guys who design these games, it's not surprising its one step forward two steps back.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the trope in movies where there is a "strong female character," but she's really just a "manic pixie dream girl." She is charming and pretty but simply there to give meaning to the male protagonist's life like in "Garden State."