I've come up with a new theory.
This is hardly surprising, because I seem to come up with a new theory every week. I spend some time beaming at how brilliant I am, then discover that whatever idea I just had was already tested to death. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a little late to join the social psychologist game.
And, giving credit where it's due, this new theory was largely inspired by Marc Gold's competence-deviance hypothesis. It's a fascinating hypothesis that states, in brief, that the more competent society views you as, the more deviant you society will let you be. And someday I will test the shit out of this hypothesis until it breaks.
This might seem like a leap, but my shiny new theory basically states: It's not what you have, it's what you don't have.
If you want to ask how that connection was made--don't.
I've noticed this in my own life, growing up. Disney princesses get a whole lotta flack these days, basically for sitting around and waiting for their prince to come. I recently read Cinderalla Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontline of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein. Though there are some things you need to take with a grain of salt a wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila, the crux of the book is this: it's become too common for said "girlie-girl culture" to be shoved down the throats of girls. This is why I am no longer permitted to go into the toy section at Target. I am a very angry woman as it is, and when I see anything labeled "Pinkalicious", I feel the need to start hurting things. Then I go look at Nerf guns and feel a little better--again, competence-deviance!
Fun fact: Roy Disney believed that Disney characters should never enter the same fictional universe as one another. Whenever you see any merchandise with more than one princess on it, they will never be looking each other in the eyes. I bet you've never noticed this before, but now you will, and I'll just tell your right now: it's fucking eerie.
Another thing of note: how often do you see the princesses* like Pocahontas or Mulan on these backpacks, lunchboxes, coloring books, bedspreads, or school supplies? Not very often, if at all.
Tiana from The Princess and the Frog was a pretty valiant effort to give the princess some backbone, and she did stand on her own pretty well. To be perfectly honest, though, I found her kind of boring. It's the new princesses I love: Rapunzel and Merida. Merida is actually the first female protagonist in any Pixar movie, ever.
Dear Pixar,
I really enjoyed Brave and loved Merida's character, but WHY THE HELL DID IT TAKE THIS LONG?!
Love,
Kaye
Toy Story came out in 1995. It's about damn time.
I suppose I shouldn't be complaining too much. Growing up, I was right on the cusp of princesses going from useless girls in poofy dresses to girls who actually get out and do shit--like save the guy.
I was raised on a diet of Disney movies, musicals, and books about girls and their horses. This goes right back to my theory, because while I got plenty of this:
I also got plenty of this:
I'd also like to take this time to give a shout-out to my mom, who was the one who really got me to notice things like these growing up. Thanks, Mom. Without you, I may not be perusing a doctorate is social psych, or have a place to stay when I'm utterly penniless after paying loans. And another huge shout-out to my wonderful professor (who I've mentioned here once before) for really introducing me to all this stuff. You both have helped me figure out my life in ways that I'll never be able to fully express.
But what does this have to do with games? That's why we're here, right? Vid'ja games? There is ample room for Disney Princess complaints in other places. So while my train of thought does meander around quite a bit, I promise you, I do have a point:
It's not what you have, it's what you don't have.
This could apply to pretty much anything--education, role models, radio stations (I used to live where the only stations were country or Jesus, and after awhile I forgot why I hated Taylor Swift. Musical Stockholm Syndrome)--and games.
Awhile ago one of my friends asked me a question: Why do some games allow you to choose your character's gender, but some don't?
My first thought was immediately, "the storyline!" One of my favorite games, Tales of Symphonia, is pretty much all about the story; battles and game mechanics are secondary. In that game, you can't choose the main character's sex, or even change his name. It seems pretty restrictive in that sense. But it's still a damn good game, so don't judge it based on that.
It seemed sort of obvious, but then I remembered some of my favorite games, like Dragon Age. It has a wonderfully strong plotline (if a little generic at times), and you can customize everything about your character--their looks, voice, personality. So it can't be just the storyline. In fact, most of the games I've reviewed in this podcast have next to no storyline, and no customization of characters. I think of Legendary in particular. The main character's identity has so little to do with the rest of the game, does it even matter?
Yay, shameless self-promotion!
I get it--character customization doesn't work for every game. Maybe I've just been spoiled by BioWare. Maybe I should just be grateful for Lara Croft and Samus and be done with it.
Or maybe I should wonder why we don't have more kick-ass female characters, or why we can't make our own. And then I had an epiphany:
I'm sure it's a word that most people are familiar with. "Driving is a privilege, not a right." How many times have you heard that one? Or maybe that's just me. Geez, you kill a van just one time...
The basic definition of privilege is something special that you have but not everyone else does. Going with the above example, I have the privilege of driving: I'm old enough, I have a license, and my sight is good enough that I'm not dangerous to others on the road. Because of these things, I am allowed to drive a car while not everyone else can.
But if you're looking at privilege from a social perspective, then there are a couple things you need to understand about it. First, privilege is not earned. It is something that you happen to be--some trait about you that you did not choose for yourself and largely have no control over.
It comes in all forms, and often in the shape of the most basic things about you. For example, I have White privilege, cisgender privilege, able-bodied privilege, and heterosexual privilege. I didn't decide one day to be White, or to have my sex match my gender (yes, there is a difference between the two, but that's a post for another day). People of my race are represented in the media I view, I never have to be confused about which restroom to use. I don't have to worry if the restaurant I'm going to has a wheelchair ramp, and no one will ever tell me that I'm going to hell for being with the person I love.
I'm a very lucky girl.
Which brings me to our second point about privilege: You are largely unconscious of your privilege.
Awhile back, one of my friends commented about ethnic diversity in video games. This blog focuses on gender, sure, but it still all falls under the category of social commentary. When I first read this, I was pretty excited, and then I nearly shit a brick. Why hadn't I thought of this? For all I go on about gender equality in games, I'd hardly given a thought to race. It wasn't an issue to me. But it was to Jasmine.
Here's the difference: I am White. Jasmine is not. Even if I don't necessarily like the way that women are portrayed, at least White characters get fair representation throughout, well, pretty much everything in American media, while characters of many other races do not.
To once again quote David Gaider:
David Gaider, please write all the games forever.
There are whole "checklists" of privilege, and I've included them in my sidebar links on the right. Yes, I tend to focus on male privilege, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many small advantages that we all have that we are largely unaware of. You enjoy something that others do not, because of something you did not choose. (Warning: this list is guaranteed to make you feel horribly guilty, but check out a few anyway. There's a lot you're missing that you don't even know about.)
And I'd like to add one to The Male Privilege Checklist: If I am unable to choose my video game character's sex, it is likely the protagonist will be a male anyway.
Be aware of your own privileges. Be aware of the privileges that others have, or don't have.
And once we understand these things, we can start to change them.
*For those nit-picky people, I use the word "princess" as a general term for any Disney female lead, even if they're not technically royal.
I think a fun thing to do might be to take a drink every time I use the word "privilege" in this entry, but then you might die, so don't do it after all.
This is hardly surprising, because I seem to come up with a new theory every week. I spend some time beaming at how brilliant I am, then discover that whatever idea I just had was already tested to death. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a little late to join the social psychologist game.
And, giving credit where it's due, this new theory was largely inspired by Marc Gold's competence-deviance hypothesis. It's a fascinating hypothesis that states, in brief, that the more competent society views you as, the more deviant you society will let you be. And someday I will test the shit out of this hypothesis until it breaks.
This might seem like a leap, but my shiny new theory basically states: It's not what you have, it's what you don't have.
If you want to ask how that connection was made--don't.
I've noticed this in my own life, growing up. Disney princesses get a whole lotta flack these days, basically for sitting around and waiting for their prince to come. I recently read Cinderalla Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontline of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein. Though there are some things you need to take with a grain of salt a wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila, the crux of the book is this: it's become too common for said "girlie-girl culture" to be shoved down the throats of girls. This is why I am no longer permitted to go into the toy section at Target. I am a very angry woman as it is, and when I see anything labeled "Pinkalicious", I feel the need to start hurting things. Then I go look at Nerf guns and feel a little better--again, competence-deviance!
Fun fact: Roy Disney believed that Disney characters should never enter the same fictional universe as one another. Whenever you see any merchandise with more than one princess on it, they will never be looking each other in the eyes. I bet you've never noticed this before, but now you will, and I'll just tell your right now: it's fucking eerie.
Another thing of note: how often do you see the princesses* like Pocahontas or Mulan on these backpacks, lunchboxes, coloring books, bedspreads, or school supplies? Not very often, if at all.
Tiana from The Princess and the Frog was a pretty valiant effort to give the princess some backbone, and she did stand on her own pretty well. To be perfectly honest, though, I found her kind of boring. It's the new princesses I love: Rapunzel and Merida. Merida is actually the first female protagonist in any Pixar movie, ever.
Dear Pixar,
I really enjoyed Brave and loved Merida's character, but WHY THE HELL DID IT TAKE THIS LONG?!
Love,
Kaye
Toy Story came out in 1995. It's about damn time.
I suppose I shouldn't be complaining too much. Growing up, I was right on the cusp of princesses going from useless girls in poofy dresses to girls who actually get out and do shit--like save the guy.
I was raised on a diet of Disney movies, musicals, and books about girls and their horses. This goes right back to my theory, because while I got plenty of this:
 |
| "Wait here for some guy to save me? Screw that, I'm going to law school in August and I'm suing my step-mother for slavery and harassment." |
I also got plenty of this:
 |
| Fuck you, prescribed gender roles! |
I'd also like to take this time to give a shout-out to my mom, who was the one who really got me to notice things like these growing up. Thanks, Mom. Without you, I may not be perusing a doctorate is social psych, or have a place to stay when I'm utterly penniless after paying loans. And another huge shout-out to my wonderful professor (who I've mentioned here once before) for really introducing me to all this stuff. You both have helped me figure out my life in ways that I'll never be able to fully express.
Excuse me, there's something unmanly in my eye.
 |
| Kaye's Train of Thought |
It's not what you have, it's what you don't have.
This could apply to pretty much anything--education, role models, radio stations (I used to live where the only stations were country or Jesus, and after awhile I forgot why I hated Taylor Swift. Musical Stockholm Syndrome)--and games.
Awhile ago one of my friends asked me a question: Why do some games allow you to choose your character's gender, but some don't?
My first thought was immediately, "the storyline!" One of my favorite games, Tales of Symphonia, is pretty much all about the story; battles and game mechanics are secondary. In that game, you can't choose the main character's sex, or even change his name. It seems pretty restrictive in that sense. But it's still a damn good game, so don't judge it based on that.
It seemed sort of obvious, but then I remembered some of my favorite games, like Dragon Age. It has a wonderfully strong plotline (if a little generic at times), and you can customize everything about your character--their looks, voice, personality. So it can't be just the storyline. In fact, most of the games I've reviewed in this podcast have next to no storyline, and no customization of characters. I think of Legendary in particular. The main character's identity has so little to do with the rest of the game, does it even matter?
Yay, shameless self-promotion!
I get it--character customization doesn't work for every game. Maybe I've just been spoiled by BioWare. Maybe I should just be grateful for Lara Croft and Samus and be done with it.
 |
| If this isn't what epiphanies look like, then I don't want to be right. |
Kaye: I love my Shepard! She's such a bad ass!
Sam: Don't you mean HE'S such a bad ass?
It all comes down to one thing that has shaped not just the game industry, but pretty much life as we know it.
Privilege.
The basic definition of privilege is something special that you have but not everyone else does. Going with the above example, I have the privilege of driving: I'm old enough, I have a license, and my sight is good enough that I'm not dangerous to others on the road. Because of these things, I am allowed to drive a car while not everyone else can.
But if you're looking at privilege from a social perspective, then there are a couple things you need to understand about it. First, privilege is not earned. It is something that you happen to be--some trait about you that you did not choose for yourself and largely have no control over.
It comes in all forms, and often in the shape of the most basic things about you. For example, I have White privilege, cisgender privilege, able-bodied privilege, and heterosexual privilege. I didn't decide one day to be White, or to have my sex match my gender (yes, there is a difference between the two, but that's a post for another day). People of my race are represented in the media I view, I never have to be confused about which restroom to use. I don't have to worry if the restaurant I'm going to has a wheelchair ramp, and no one will ever tell me that I'm going to hell for being with the person I love.
I'm a very lucky girl.
Which brings me to our second point about privilege: You are largely unconscious of your privilege.
Awhile back, one of my friends commented about ethnic diversity in video games. This blog focuses on gender, sure, but it still all falls under the category of social commentary. When I first read this, I was pretty excited, and then I nearly shit a brick. Why hadn't I thought of this? For all I go on about gender equality in games, I'd hardly given a thought to race. It wasn't an issue to me. But it was to Jasmine.
Here's the difference: I am White. Jasmine is not. Even if I don't necessarily like the way that women are portrayed, at least White characters get fair representation throughout, well, pretty much everything in American media, while characters of many other races do not.
To once again quote David Gaider:
"You can write it off as 'political correctness' if you wish, but the truth is that privilege always lies with the majority. They're so used to being catered to that they see the lack of the catering as an imbalance."
David Gaider, please write all the games forever.
There are whole "checklists" of privilege, and I've included them in my sidebar links on the right. Yes, I tend to focus on male privilege, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many small advantages that we all have that we are largely unaware of. You enjoy something that others do not, because of something you did not choose. (Warning: this list is guaranteed to make you feel horribly guilty, but check out a few anyway. There's a lot you're missing that you don't even know about.)
And I'd like to add one to The Male Privilege Checklist: If I am unable to choose my video game character's sex, it is likely the protagonist will be a male anyway.
Be aware of your own privileges. Be aware of the privileges that others have, or don't have.
And once we understand these things, we can start to change them.
*For those nit-picky people, I use the word "princess" as a general term for any Disney female lead, even if they're not technically royal.
I think a fun thing to do might be to take a drink every time I use the word "privilege" in this entry, but then you might die, so don't do it after all.
So, I've finally puzzled my way through my the feelings this post invoked in me. Being a white, heterosexual male, I hear these problems and yet I find fault with them. Certainly, I can see and recognize that there are issues, serious issues which definitely need to be addressed, but I also think that putting these sorts of things on the "checklist" do little except for show the problems to those who don't already recognize them, and that those who do not recognize them are likely to continue to ignore them in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest gripe I have with this is one I've noticed myself in my own writing: it's nearly impossible to write outside ones own sphere of being. A man making a female video game character usually just ends up being offensive, and the same happens with characters of other races. It's one thing if the race of a character is presented without the lens of our culture (IE, the game is a fantasy setting and therefore racial references are essentially made up) because then it's simply a reskin. But, if the game is set in the real world, then it becomes terribly more difficult. It is far too easy to misconstrue attempts of making a good character with being offensive or simply inattentive. The same problems occur when dealing with men writing female characters.
Now, this doesn't necessarily undermine your argument, but it does cast it in a different light. With there being a large gap in between men and women in the video game world (as well as many others), there is a similarly large gap in effective models of woman in video games (and, similarly, other races). I would much rather see a change in the individuals behind the games than a failed attempt at making better characters which are merely offensive.