More recent asks in a rebloggable version. Sorry for the repost, I did not know that asks are not rebloggable until recently and maybe some of you would like to share or join in on the discussion. Thanks.
Anonymous asked: Cody Baier from Project A.F.T.E.R. says that the sexualization in Skullgirls is sexist but excuses Lollipop Chainsaw/Bayonetta because of “parody/irony,” even having the gall to call anyone who thought the latter two sexist “dumb.” But these games are honestly all the same, and “irony” while reproducing the sexualization is lazy as hell. What do you think would constitute as an actual parody of video game objectification?
How parody works is rather arbitrary, but here is my take:
All three games – Skullgirls, Bayonetta, Lollipop Chainsaw – fail my parody/satire test. All 3 are so obvious in their sexualization, that one could call them ironic, but none actually are ironic.
They all are very sincere in what they present as their selling points. All games sell arcade action with hot chicks and humor. There is nothing ironic about this. Same goes for Duke Nukem, over the top yeah, but still the game sells itself on action+chicks+humor.
To say these games are ironic is like saying porno flicks are ironic. Because they are so over the top, nobody could take that seriously… ..but in the end even badly written pornos are not parodies of pornos… they are pornos.
There is a couple of ways in which exploitative media could be satirical. A few tried and true methods are:
1. tropes versus reality
You see this in films like Galaxy Quest or Last Action hero, where you have the target tropes meet the laws and contexts of a real situation and then we see how they implode. What if the cliché crew of Star Trek would have to fight against real alien warlords? What if the stereotypical 80s Schwarzenegger tries to dodge bullets in the real world? You would have all the tropes of those stories but use realism as a gauge to see how silly and sometimes lazy they really are, because you see how badly they’d work IRL.
2. agent of reason
Like with the Simpsons, where you have Lisa Simpson, a good parody works wonders when there is an agent of reason. Or like with Buffy, where you have all those hell creatures going like “kneel, mortal, prepare for doom, I will eat your soul”, and she is just rolling her eyes at that. If you have entities in the story, that communicate to the audience, that what they see is actually pretty silly/annoying/stupid/lazy, you could use this as a gauge as well.
3. Reduction
Taking away one or more of the selling points of a piece of media and see how the ones left stand on their own. With Shaun of the Dead, you had all the tropes of a hard core zombie flick, undead people, head bashing, guts getting ripped out… but they took all the scared people out and therefore all the scare factor. What’s left is an invasion of slow groaning people with skin problems.
Or imagine porn without sex. Just the stupid writing, unbearable sexual innuendo and puns and the bad acting. The plumber and the housewife have five minutes of stupid conversation, then he is literally just cleaning a pipe, gives her a receipt and leaves.
None of the games listed here feature these gauges, these hints at how the creators actually feel about the tropes they use,… ..they are all just using them.
Film culture is smarter on that issue than game culture. A film about naked lesbian nazi nuns is called an exploitation film. But in games somehow exploitation is regularly confused with satire, which it just isn’t.
Ask about Lolipop Chainsaw, Bayonetta and parody
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