Abomination said:
I too have the OP's opinion when it comes to video game reviews. I understand some people like to read into the underlying "themes" present in games and jump to all sorts of conclusions as to the developers motives - but I certain as fuck don't.).
actually no
the creators motives are utterly [b/]irrelevant[/b] 99% of the time because if they were the true judge of a works problems then we'd only ever get upset over propaganda level media...and when's the last time you saw something on that level? again it feeds into the idea that its only an "ism" (and problematic) if its OVERT and intentional...and that's just not true for 99% of stuff
hell go and Watch the bugs bunny short "all that and rabbit stew" then back in time and say to the creators they were being racist they'd probably tell you it was just a joke and chill the fuck out, they didn't mean to portray a black guy in the most offensive way possible and further the oppression of an already marginalised group...its just [I/]funny[/I] how the talk and are like...black and stuff
[b/]framing[/b] is important, so the movie "Boys don't cry" features the abuse and murder of a transman but it is framed in such a way that the film is sympathetic to the trans character and condemns society and such
[b/]framing and intentions[/b] are often indistinguishable BUT not the same...
[b/]because Framing doesn't always give you a free pass[/b]...Boys don't cry in the hands of a difference director (a more clueless director) could have been more offensive on the topic of trans issue, or a work can claim to be satire but still reinforce shitty tropes (satire is a very easy excuse)
or another example (and this is a hypothetical I made up on the fly) lets say we have an action flick where manly mcShoot comes home to find his love interest has been raped, wherein he goes on a bloody path of revenge and kills everyone, at the end his love interest jumps into his arms and they make sweet post credits love..the end
so whats the problem there? rape is bad yes? and the movie says rape is bad doesn't it?
it does except when we really look at it its really full of issues. The main one being is that love interest isn't treated as a person her rape was merely a plot device, we don't see how SHE feels, what her experience of rape is, she has no voice. We only see how it relates to HIM, the rape was merely a device to get him to go on a violent killing spree (also subtly feeding into that old old idea that the rage comes not from her welfare but from the "damage" of his "property") not only that but by the end she's "fine" implying its something she can just "get over" [sub/]though on that note the problem there is implying that rape is the ame for everyone, that your damaged forever ect hence why current ideas on sexual assult are harmful, and why the perspectives of women both real and fictional are important[/sub]
so again that "fictional fiction" had a whole host of issues and yet it was never anyones intention, at no point did it frame it as "rape is good" (because duh who would do THAT?) merely that certain sexist ideas in our society worked their way in there
and of coarse everything I say here is because its NEVER "JUST" a movie/game/book/whatever
