During this lesson we debated over an article written by laura mulvey she claims in this article that lara is a vehicle for the quere gaze, one of her statements was that queer female players will be attracted to more violent games.
My argument against this is that she is stereotyping all female queer is as being extremely masculine in all aspects, the type of genre that someone enjoys is personal preference and not defined by gender sexuality.
Another point that she brought up was that the queer female would be attracted to lara's form however I feel that her design is aimed to wards both genders.
Monday, 29 April 2013
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Ideology
being watched and the higher power:
why do we behave:
we behave because we believe that if we do something wrong there will be consequences ether physical or mental, before the days or policing if you did something wrong it was the right of the person you had wronged to get revenge. (eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth) this kind of system worked to an existent as every bad action would have a consequence however this form of law ended in some case with cycles or revenge and feuds.
not all forms of control are physical for example religion, religion says that bad acts done while in this life will be punished in the after life, again this is another mention of pain or suffering in response to an negative act on your behalf.
the two examples above are both negative reinforcement, this means for every bad action you undertake there will be a punishment rather than a reward for choosing to act as society wants you to act (positive reinforcement)
does it work:
yes to a certain existent however just because you threaten someone with punishment doesn't mean they will behave 100% of the time, some people see this kind of system oppressive an try to fight back against it.
pentagonal prison:
design of the prison:
the design of this prison has the cells of the prison in a pentagonal formation around a central guard tower, this way all prisoners could be being watched at all times and there are no blind slots for the guards to over look.
the idea behind the pentagonal prison is that the prisoners do not know when they are being observed and this forces them to behave as society wants all the time, this enforces the prisons fear of getting caught doing something they could get punished for however if they don't get caught or punished after committing a act this will enforce the fact they are not being watched all the time.
in my opinion there are pros and cons to this system and you can never stop humans doing things that the dominate society doesn't agree with as if that happened nothing would ever change.
why do we behave:
we behave because we believe that if we do something wrong there will be consequences ether physical or mental, before the days or policing if you did something wrong it was the right of the person you had wronged to get revenge. (eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth) this kind of system worked to an existent as every bad action would have a consequence however this form of law ended in some case with cycles or revenge and feuds.
not all forms of control are physical for example religion, religion says that bad acts done while in this life will be punished in the after life, again this is another mention of pain or suffering in response to an negative act on your behalf.
the two examples above are both negative reinforcement, this means for every bad action you undertake there will be a punishment rather than a reward for choosing to act as society wants you to act (positive reinforcement)
does it work:
yes to a certain existent however just because you threaten someone with punishment doesn't mean they will behave 100% of the time, some people see this kind of system oppressive an try to fight back against it.
pentagonal prison:
design of the prison:
the design of this prison has the cells of the prison in a pentagonal formation around a central guard tower, this way all prisoners could be being watched at all times and there are no blind slots for the guards to over look.
the idea behind the pentagonal prison is that the prisoners do not know when they are being observed and this forces them to behave as society wants all the time, this enforces the prisons fear of getting caught doing something they could get punished for however if they don't get caught or punished after committing a act this will enforce the fact they are not being watched all the time.
in my opinion there are pros and cons to this system and you can never stop humans doing things that the dominate society doesn't agree with as if that happened nothing would ever change.
Monday, 15 April 2013
Utopia and Dystopia
what is a Utopia:
a utopia is a paradise in which all that live in that paradise live in comfort without suffering or worry, a paradise could also be seen as somewhere where all people are treated equally with out greed, crime or any form of someone ruling over the population.
the problem with this is quite simple, for there to be a race of people that all live together without fighting or having to work hard there are going to have to be a few things running the show from behind the scenes.
what is a Dystopia?
a Dystopia is chaos and the opposite of a Utopia, in a dystopia everything is corrupt and no matter how much you try or how hard you work it will all come to nothing, however certain kinds of people thrive in a dystopia (people with lack of conscience)
allot of dystopias come from fallen Utopias where the idea has been over thrown and fallen into chaos, in my person opinion this world will fall into dystopia if we keep looking at the things that are different between us instead of looking at what is the same, personally i think this isnt just human nature and more human stupidity and unwillingness to except.
a utopia is a paradise in which all that live in that paradise live in comfort without suffering or worry, a paradise could also be seen as somewhere where all people are treated equally with out greed, crime or any form of someone ruling over the population.
the problem with this is quite simple, for there to be a race of people that all live together without fighting or having to work hard there are going to have to be a few things running the show from behind the scenes.
- first all people in this paradise are going to have the same views or views that don't go against each other, this means disposing of anyone who has different views to the majority or is unpleasant on the eyes, the reason i have added this statement is because anyone who is unpleasant on the eyes is going to be pushed out slightly no matter how much excepting people are and due to this they may become hateful towards others. (eg: an example of racial/ view/ genetic purification to create a Utopia would be the nazis who exterminated anyone who got in their way of perfection)
- the second problem is someones got to be doing all the hard work around the Utopia, in the Utopias we looked at in class allot of them involved having slaves to do all of the work, i personally see a problem with a equal society that allows slavery however some people might argue the point about dominance and submissive personality but my point still stands as everyone is not equal.
- the third problem is how will problems be sorted out if they arise, for this you will need some kind of leader who takes charge of the situation, this gives that individual power and runs the risk of with power comes corruption.
- finally every ones idea of a Utopia is different, for example my idea of a Utopia is where everyone isnt judged at first glace but on the other hand someone else's Utopia might be a grammar nazi filled world where every ones grammar is perfect.
what is a Dystopia?
a Dystopia is chaos and the opposite of a Utopia, in a dystopia everything is corrupt and no matter how much you try or how hard you work it will all come to nothing, however certain kinds of people thrive in a dystopia (people with lack of conscience)
allot of dystopias come from fallen Utopias where the idea has been over thrown and fallen into chaos, in my person opinion this world will fall into dystopia if we keep looking at the things that are different between us instead of looking at what is the same, personally i think this isnt just human nature and more human stupidity and unwillingness to except.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
bibliography
Bernard Wilkie (1997) Creating Special effects for Tv and Film, London, Focal Press, PP 50-51
in this chapter i learned about how miniatures where used before the days of CG effects, what i liked about this is you can create effects to a high quality and realism with out spending allot of money on getting the software or paying some one else to create the effects for you.
i chose this book to see if i could find old techniques and effects that i could update and modify so that i could use them in my 3d pieces, i will consider using miniatures in the animation and modeling sections of this course to give the illusion that certain objects far away are bigger than they really are.
in this chapter i learned about how miniatures where used before the days of CG effects, what i liked about this is you can create effects to a high quality and realism with out spending allot of money on getting the software or paying some one else to create the effects for you.
i chose this book to see if i could find old techniques and effects that i could update and modify so that i could use them in my 3d pieces, i will consider using miniatures in the animation and modeling sections of this course to give the illusion that certain objects far away are bigger than they really are.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
gender and the gaze (2 games)
ninja gaiden sigma 2:
female characters: Rachel (the demon slayer)
Ryu:
Bayonetta
Bayonetta the witch
her design:
to say that Bayonetta design is over sexualised would be a understatement for the following reasons, first of all is the way she is dressed in tight latex like clothing that shows off her as if she wasn't wearing anything at all, the clothes design also reveals areas which should be protecting in combat (her breast and her back)
the second point about this characters design is all special moves are based on different fetishes mainly focusing around bondage, Bayonetta ties up her enemies and kills them slowly usually involving painfully forms of sexual torture as shown below.
on the other hand even though she is overly sexualised she is not a weak character as unlike rachel that needs ryu to save her from time to time bayonetta slays angels and gods with out the need for a strong male figure too guild her.
conclusion:
in my opinion bayonetta is designed to appeal to the gaze however she has been designed in such a way that is more teasing to the watcher rather than giving the gazer what he or she is hoping to see, a good example of this would be her finishers called climaxes, these moves show her clothes turn into ribbons and then showly remove them self from her body, before anything X rated is shown the camera changes taking the gazer way from her location.
over all conclusion about the gaze in video games:
in my opinion there is always going to be some form of stereotyping when it comes the gender, this is because as humans we are always seeking more if all games were of normal people doing normal things we might as well just do them for real rather than watch an avatar do it in our place.
female characters: Rachel (the demon slayer)
her design:
Rachel is a great example of female character taking the stereotypical feminine role, as you can see from this image her proportions are designed to show off her bust and hips, these are the areas associated with desire and by enlarging these areas the male eye is drawn.
Rachels character is that of a dangerous demon hunter that can handle her self, however the way her clothes and armor don't cover all of her body would suggest that the armor is just for show and provides little protection (her stomach is completely reveal making it a soft target)
her pose not just in this image but the poses she makes within the game its self are designed to be seductive as shows by the image below.
as you can see in this scene rachel has her body leaning to the side with her chest pushed out, her eyes are looking away from the viewer while she holds a gun in her right hand, you may think that the gun is a sign of power and in some ways it is however the gun is pointing up in the air rather at a target or delivering a action.
in the end of the game Rachel falls back on her feminine routes and gets saved by Ryu in the last cut-scene.
Ryu:
Ryu is the main protagonist in this game and is shown as a highly masculine figure, as you can seen by his character design, his clothes cover most of his body with only his arms showing and as you can see the only reason the designer has done this is to show that Ryu is highly muscular.
conclusion:
in conclusion i would say that even though Rachel is a strong female character she has been overly sexualised for the viewer to make her more appealing, this over sexualisation has been a topic of debate for a while as there are two apposing arguments one that says that the girls in games are what girls aspire to be (sexually attractive to get male/ female attention) the other argument is that this is just stereotyping all females.
here is a video by gaijin goomba debating troper vs women : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqvjw3Z_-dA
Bayonetta
Bayonetta the witch
her design:
to say that Bayonetta design is over sexualised would be a understatement for the following reasons, first of all is the way she is dressed in tight latex like clothing that shows off her as if she wasn't wearing anything at all, the clothes design also reveals areas which should be protecting in combat (her breast and her back)
the second point about this characters design is all special moves are based on different fetishes mainly focusing around bondage, Bayonetta ties up her enemies and kills them slowly usually involving painfully forms of sexual torture as shown below.
on the other hand even though she is overly sexualised she is not a weak character as unlike rachel that needs ryu to save her from time to time bayonetta slays angels and gods with out the need for a strong male figure too guild her.
conclusion:
in my opinion bayonetta is designed to appeal to the gaze however she has been designed in such a way that is more teasing to the watcher rather than giving the gazer what he or she is hoping to see, a good example of this would be her finishers called climaxes, these moves show her clothes turn into ribbons and then showly remove them self from her body, before anything X rated is shown the camera changes taking the gazer way from her location.
over all conclusion about the gaze in video games:
in my opinion there is always going to be some form of stereotyping when it comes the gender, this is because as humans we are always seeking more if all games were of normal people doing normal things we might as well just do them for real rather than watch an avatar do it in our place.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)