Sorry for the crappy posting schedule, folks. Because I hate having free time, I’m doing a play and going to martial arts classes at the same time – on top of having a full-time job and having a life and marriage and stuff. I’m doing my best. So because I don’t have time to finish the post I’m working on tonight, I wanted to post some video links with a bit of commentary, just so you’re not totally empty-handed until I get a chance to finish up this other, beefier post.
(Thanks goes out to my brother, who sent me two of these three links. He always keeps an eye out for this stuff for me.)
First up: Movie Bob’s take on feminism and gaming on the Escapist
So if you have gamer friends that you’d like to be more aware of why exactly feminism is important in gaming but you’re afraid that they’ll have a knee-jerk reaction to anything involving the word “feminism” or “women’s rights” in combination with gaming, get them to watch this video. It does a pretty excellent job of summing up about half of what I’ve been writing about for the last year, which is impressive since it’s all of five minutes.
Also, it has amusing visual representations of the typical internet over-reaction:
He even did a pretty decent job of dealing with issues of costume and posing, which is pretty awesome given the limited format. The issue of body diversity is pretty much glossed over, though he acknowledged pretty clearly that he didn’t have space to deal with that and also added that that’s something that everyone should be pissed about, woman or no.
So this makes me feel a little better about the Escapist than I have been recently. Not much, since they’re still paying Jim Sterling for his lazily produced misogyny, but a little better at least.
Arkham City: Behind Harley’s Hot Moves
Another link courtesy of my brother, whose commentary was simply:
I thought I was going to rage, then I giggled.
And, yeah. That’s a pretty accurate assessment.
So the video starts off showing off the new design of Harley Quinn in the Arkham City game, which I’ve raged about previously. (I mean, seriously, folks. The old Harley was already wearing full body spandex. What about that is NOT SEXY ENOUGH?):
OH YEAH. Because there’s nothing I love more than sexualized digital women who have been so fetishized that they plunge right into the uncanny valley. SIGN ME UP RIGHT NOW. *pant pant*
Hey, look at what they did there. See, the exclamation point is right next to Harley’s ass which is showing… um… quite a lot of ass-cheek in that still. And I’m not entirely certain she’s wearing underwear. (Well, okay, she could be wearing a thong.) So, yeah. Go, IGN. Way to be tasteful.
You’ll have to watch the video for the actual twist, which happens right afterward. There is one, and it’s pretty amusing. And it’s only a 30-second clip, so it’s worth the payoff.
(That said, I’m still not going to buy the game, and I’d be disappointed in anyone who does buy it for the sake of HAWT HARLEY AND CATWOMAN ACTION. But then I tend to be pretty unforgiving of companies that murder my best childhood geek memories. The Batman cartoon was a thing of beauty and anything that defiles Harley Quinn in such a manner deserves nothing but scorn and contempt.)
Lastly, I’ll leave you with this TOTALLY AWESOME Newgrounds animation – a fake trailer for Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as presented by Iron Man/Tony Stark. Yet again, it’s a totally awesome distillation of many things that I have ranted about at great length, distilled into about 30 seconds of awesomely funny animation. It’s pretty much a summary of everything that’s wrong with the fighting game genre.
Also? I have to love anything that takes a super-macho character like Iron Man and presents him in a stereotypically video-game-female way:
Dammit. Looks like I could have sexed Abe up a little more if I’d put my mind to it…
Go Make Me a Sandwich 
That’s totally amusing AND hopeful. Thanks for the good vibes!
Oh man, the Harley Quinn one is SO MUCH WIN.
I kinda like the Arkham City Harley. At least she’s wearing pants. Catwoman would be perfect if they just zipped her up a bit lol. I’m skeptical about the new game just because I have a feeling they really cheesed it up. I’m gonna give it the benefit of the doubt just cos Arkham Asylum was a solid game, even if Harley did flash her panties.
The videos all made me smile. Thanks 🙂
I’m all down for different takes on Batman; despite the near-flawlessness, in my opinion, of The Animated Series, there’s plenty of room in the mythos for stuff like the Arkham games.
But, what an injustice to that character. Harley Quinn is sexy because she is HARLEY QUINN, not because you stuff her into some sort of stupid punk-schoolgirl costume. It’s trying far, far too hard, and it shows through so obviously it’s comedic, as the video so gloriously demonstrates. The character’s appeal–ENTIRE appeal, as the sex appeal is merely the icing on the delicious crime-cake–sells itself.
Thank you sincerely for the first video. I’m passing it around as much as I can, so handily does it sum up the issue here.
Sadly enough, I think a lot of people are going to continue to just not get it, video or no video. But nonetheless, I agree.
I’m really split down the middle with Arkham City. I love Batman and really enjoyed Arkham Asylum, despite the female villain’s outfits (Ivy, who granted always wore very little, had her sexay turned up to 11 too). I really want to continue the story and go back to the Batman universe, but I dunno if I can stomach the new outfits (or overt objectification) for Catwoman and Harley (and any others minor characters that you meet along the way). I too was a big fan of BTAS, and that show is what really defined the characters of Batman, Joker (Mark Hamill ftw), Catwoman, Haley, and the rest for me. Seeing them break away from the dark drama to EDGY GRITTY SEXY action is…. disappointing to say the least. (As a slightly hopeful note, there is a possibility that Catwoman, as one of the playable characters, will be getting alternate skins much like the other playable characters, Robin and Bats get. Maybe she’ll get a BTAS skin *fingers crossed*)
As for the other two vids: the first one is awesome and a really great intro into feminist criticism of games for non-feminists or feminists allies, and the second one made me laugh so hard 😀
I remember that flash video! The thing that really makes it works is that Tony Stark’s main flaws have always been drunkenness and womanizing so you can totally imagine him actually making that pitch.
I’m kind of surprised that you liked that Extra Credits video. Guy’s a cheap Yahtzee knockoff and seems to think of Bayonetta as a kind of subversion of whatever. You can practically smell the chicanery.
I’m not saying I 100% agreed with it. But as an overall summary, it does a pretty decent job of explaining the overall feminist gamer approach to the problems in gaming.
Extra Credits?
Yep, Movie Bob is not the Extra Credits. He make Escape to the movies & The Big Picture at the Escapist.
Plus the Game Overthinker on Screw Attack.
And he does have some legitimate, rational points on Bayonetta that can be argued (as opposed to dismissing all concerns outright). Every now and again, he rubs me the wrong way, but overall, he doesn’t deserve to be crucified in the same way as, say, a Jim Sterling.
And the Extra Credits crew in particular is a Hell of a class act. And if you ever actually watch their content, it’s about as far from Yahtzee as it gets. (Also? Even the fast talking gimmick isn’t lifted from Yahtzee; the first episode of what became Extra Credits was literally a class extra credit project, and it was capped at… five or ten minutes. The final video came in a bit longer, so it was sped up just enough. And thus, a gimmick was born. Several, in fact, as it’s also the root of the art and presentation style.)
Meanwhile, the only comparison that can be made between Bob and Yahtzee is that Bob reviews things and has a cynical streak.
It’s nice when IGN isn’t being sexist: http://games.ign.com/articles/119/1198484p1.html
I’m going to buy Arkham City for the kickass BATMAN action, not anything to do with Catwoman and Harley (although I hope the former plays well during the playable parts and the latter is either a decent boss fight or a decent character outside of the ridiculous [even for her] outfit)