Samus Aran, the protagonist of the Metroid series, wears high heels in the new Smash Bros. game and artist Natasha Allegri reacted by creating fan art of the rest of the Smash Bros. cast in the same footwear.1 The reaction comes not, I would venture (perhaps presumptuously), because she has anything in particular against heels, the … Continue reading These Boots are Made for…
“Human sperm cells were seen with the earliest microscopes in the seventeenth century. The human egg is several thousand times larger, but — despite earlier postulates — it was not visualized until 1827. […] For something to be found, it must first be imagined and sought.” (Duffin, Jacalyn. A History of Medicine, (Toronto, ON: Toronto … Continue reading It’s a Man’s World: The Implications of Makeup in Mass Effect
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is, by many accounts, a feminist text. But what does that mean? Many would argue it means that it features a “strong female character.” But what does that mean? Buffy is certainly strong physically: she kicks ass (everyone knows that). But the fact that its heroine kicks ass — is that … Continue reading The Stake Is Not The Power: Patriarchal Power Systems in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Arkham City
As interesting or as varied as many characters are in Exit Fate, the raw numbers tell a pretty compelling story. The fact that there are so few non-white non-men suggests that white men belong in the Elysium army more than anyone else. Again, the player is managing an institution that quickly and obviously becomes far … Continue reading Representation and the Power of Media as Discussed through Exit Fate: Part 3: Consequences of Misrepresentation
The thing to take into account is that the fictional world of a videogame (or a whatever) is not the only language of a piece. There is also the language around the piece, what the audience brings to and understands from a game. Exit Fate is not isolated from the rest of the world: in fact … Continue reading Representation and the Power of Media as Discussed through Exit Fate: Part 2: Representation and Language
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