Dead Island Torso Statue: Misogynistic? Stupid? Both? Neither?

[Voulan]

Honestly, I think it's fucking weird. A well-endowed female figure with bloody bite marks and ripped flesh on it? Am I supposed to be disgusted? Are they expecting me to be turned on? I mean what the fuck is it other than stupid shit that doesn't need to exist.

Basically this. What reaction were they expecting from it? That's the most disturbing thought. If they really wanted to have some body part sculpture, why not a unisex severed arm or something? It makes you wonder.

As a woman myself, I don't call it misogynistic - I'd rather use the term typical.

 

[Thyunda]

I wasn't thinking misogyny. Bikini-clad woman is the quintessential holiday piece. Don't understand the relevance of the Union Jacks though.

I was more thinking...bad taste. Not in a "too soon" way, but in a "Really? Orange with purple?" way.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I get the same rather creepy feeling from it that I got from that Skyrim vid that showed up on youtube of the guy who decorated his in-game house with the severed heads of NPCs - all female NPCs

Ya I saw that one too. I couldn't help think "wtf is wrong with this guy that we would spend hours decorating a virtual house like this." The stupid thing is, if he ended up going on a killing spree, the media would probably discover his Youtube account and then video games would be blamed.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

So, thoughts? Do you find this misogynistic? Do you think it was deliberately misogynistic, in an attempt to gather some attention via shock? Do you think a hacked up female torso with a pneumatic bosom is just a tried and true horror convention, and they're just playing to their audience? Do you think the statue is neat? Do you think it's ugly? Would you buy this thing?

Frankly, I think it's absurd that if it's a female brutalized torso it's considered shock value but if it's a male brutalized torso it's no big deal. It should be shocking and disgusting either way.

Anyway... I don't think this is an example of misogyny. At least, not intentionally. I think it's just dumb marketing. It happens. Granted, Deep Silver has already had an issue with both in the past (Purna having a skill that in the game's code was called something like "feministwhore" for the misogyny thing and the whole misleading trailer for the marketing thing)... so who knows?

As for whether or not I'd buy it? No, I wouldn't, because Dead Island was a remarkably terrible game from the get-go and this is clearly a cash-grab. That said, assuming the game wasn't shit, I still wouldn't buy it, because it's incredibly tacky. It's the kind of memorabilia that I'd be embarrassed by if I had company over. I have pretty much the same reaction toward this thing as the mom in "A Christmas Story" had toward the Leg Lamp.

 

[Reaper195]

One could also argue that it would be sexist if they made the bust a male figure instead. To be honest, I doubt this will actually get released (Not just from a sexism bollocky side, but just on the side of "Why would I want a torn up torso? It's not a character, it's nothing really anything memorable from the game to be memorabilia."), and if it doesn't, and no physical copies start turning up somewhere, it'd more or less prove that this was created just for attention. Like how EA paid some people to protest Dead Space 2 because there was that achievement about killing mutant babies (And the name was Bad Nanny or something along those lines).

I'd rather the developers spent more time working on the game itself, and not the collectors edition swag. I'm really hoping the story/characters won't be such a fucking colossal failure that was Dead Island.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Well, I was not a huge fan of the original title, but quite liked the ride.

And yes, I preordered this beauty to go on the mantelpiece. I'll probably make casts and replicate it, featuring the flags of the Hezbollah, the FSA and Iran... oh, and the al-qaeda battle flag, of course. It only feels natural.

And, no, I don't quite feel any sexist vibes radiating off this one. I actually think it's lovely and fun. Daring? No. But fun nevertheless. I like it. I want to buy it. Here, have my money.

 

[Hagi]

I think the thing is absolutely horrifying.

I have not the faintest idea which idiot ever thought it was a smart idea to include something that's that disgustingly horrible as a collector's item for a horror game.

God... people might be getting the totally wrong idea about the type of feelings that specific genre is attempting to elicit.

 

[BNguyen]

to me, the whole misogynist idea with this thing is unfounded and will probably be blown way out of proportion.
"Oh, it depicts a female torso, it must be anti-woman!"
it's just so stupid that that is the first thing these people see it ass,
much like, yes I dare to bring it back up, Sarkessian's review on Kayne West's music video

 

[Xan Krieger]

As someone into guro it seems cute.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ero_guro
"thers produce ero guro as a genre of Japanese pornography and hentai involving blood, gore, disfiguration, violence, mutilation"
I'd want it.

 

[Kururu999]

Rock Paper Shotgun will use ANY excuse to get their underwear in a twist and go on yet another one of their fucking crusades. It's a shitty little bonus in a collectors edition of glorified DLC for a mediocre game that's over a year old. Just close your damn browser and go about your day.

 

[Cody Hargreaves]

Misogynistic no, stupid yes.

 

[Zhukov]

Guess it depends if you look at it as sexualising violence, specifically violence with a female victim, or as an appropriately gory little statue that just so happens to depict a bikini clad female, something that is readily associated with the holiday resort setting.

Personally, I find the latter approach a bit hard to swallow. Come on guys, it's a mutilated torso with nothing on it except a big ol' pair of knockers. Even if you're not in the slightest bit offended, and I'm not saying you should be, surely you can see why that would raise a few eyebrows. Don't even fucking try to tell me that whoever designed that statue decided to make it a female torso in a bikini "just 'cause". That said, I doubt they did it because they hate women. More likely, they did it because "boobs are sexy, lol" and because they knew a female torso is going to have more, er... traction with the target audience than a male one.

All else aside, I wouldn't want it in my house because (a) it looks like a junky piece of crap and (b) it would significantly lower my chances of ever getting laid ever again.

 

[Doom-Slayer]

THe main problem is well..it doesnt look like a zombie torso. It just looks like a mutilated womans torso which makes it a bit..distrubing. Misogynistic? Dont really think so, its just stupid overall.

 

[Weaver]

I just think it's stupid.
I don't really think it's misogynistic or offensive to women.

 

[TrevHead]

I think it's aload of tat. Smart marketing move though as now everyone knows about this crappy game.

 

[DarkArk]

Rock Paper Shotgun will use ANY excuse to get their underwear in a twist and go on yet another one of their fucking crusades. It's a shitty little bonus in a collectors edition of glorified DLC for a mediocre game that's over a year old. Just close your damn browser and go about your day.

So true. It's night and day the difference in the reporting and reception to this between the Escapist and RPS. It's a stupid cash grab and shock piece.

 

[Reaper195]

Like how EA paid some people to protest Dead Space 2 because there was that achievement about killing mutant babies (And the name was Bad Nanny or something along those lines).

wrong it wasn't dead space 2(that had the "your mom will hate this game" ad)

while Dante's Inferno had the fake protest over this game because it showed hell and "evangelical" christian hated the game because it was the devil's work. And nannies had the game because of killing of babies and having the achievement called "bad nanny"

Dammit! I was certain it wasn't Dead Space 2, but I kept thinking of that one scene with the baby things...so wasn't so certain.

 

[Sirtety]

I don't think it's deliberately misogynistic, but........as an art piece.......I'm not a fan.

Yea my friends might not think twice if I brought that thing home with me (possibly see it as a joke, we do have a dark sense of humor), but imagine meeting someone new and hanging out with that thing sitting on your bookcase.

It just seems tacky to me.

 

[Abomination]

It is a reflection of the setting of the game. A resort island that has become infested with a zombie plague. The combat is melee focused with frequent decapitations and severing of limbs.

It's a limb severed bikini clad torso. If it was male it would be difficult to identify it as someone from an island resort and isn't as reflective of the token zombies of Dead Island.

 

[Bostur]

I get kind of a Venus from Milo vibe from the statue. It's also quite similar to some Mannequins used by clothe stores.

A commentary on the objectification of the human body maybe? A recurring theme of the zombie genre, zombies are bodies without soul.

Calling it misogynistic is missing the point, and akin to shooting the messenger.