Gethsemani said:
Treblaine said:
One thing that struck me about the trailer was how suddenly it wasn't so cool seeing Agent 47 break a woman's nose. Even though the woman was armed and tried to kill him and could still kill him it wasn't the same than if it was the bony face of a man. As much as I like Agent 47, I was rooting for team sexploitation.
Agent 47 has always been presented as like a biological robot, he is literally a clone, artificially created and grown, and that makes him ideal as a video game protagonist, easy for any player to control. He is in a similar vein as T-850 from the Terminator series just not a literal robot. So he isn't much of a male, he isn't much of a character, he's an blank tablet that players can make what they want of.
When I played Blood Money I spent ages trying to get the necklace off the woman without killing her or making her aware. Then again I did this with every mission of every game, I took it as my personal objective to be the perfect assassin, traceless and killing only my target(s) and being long gone before they ever even knew anyone had been murdered. I actually went far out of my way to make every death look like "an unfortunate accident".
My Agent 47 doesn't kill anyone unnecessarily. Other people play the character killing everyone who crosses his path. He is whatever you want to make of him. If that sexy-nun hitman trailer was a playable part of the game and I was controlling Agent 47, I'd have played and replayed the game till I found a way to get past the nuns without killing any of them.
But which Far Cry 3 trailer are you referring to? And which part do you object to in matters relating to sexualisation?
I am refering to the trailer that spawned the "look boobs"-comment from Jim Sterling, the strange "woman in bikini for no real reason" bit in particular.
As for the Absolution trailer, I kind of appreciated how it did not pull its' punches in regards to 47 being absolutely brutal to the women that were trying to kill him. The assassins were shown as competent killers, who unfortunately met an even more competent killer. The fact that it showed 47 hurting these women brutally in slow motion is not as much misogynistic as it is deriving shock value out of actually showing a man really hurting a woman. It is also a very clear way of sending the message that 47 doesn't really have a consciousness or a sexuality. Through the entire situation he never hesitates once or shows any reaction to the fact that he's killing women in revealing outfits.
I'll admit that I might be reading too much into a game trailer, but the more I watch it, the more I am beginning to think that IO really didn't mess up as much as their trailer got misinterpreted.
It's not misogyny on my part, but misanthropy: negativity towards men. I shouldn't like anyone being broken, yet for another Hitman trailer that showed 47 similarly destroying men that I have to admit I found that awesome and mentally egged 47 on hoping he'll keep going. From an objective standpoint 47's violence is equally justified, it shouldn't matter if man or woman, bullets hurt just as much whoever pulls the trigger (and evidence points that women are better shot*). But it's somehow different. IS that non-misogynistic sexism? Should I be fair and enjoy violence against women, even sexy women, as much as against men?
I can make the separation between fantasy violence and actual violence, the unusual outfits and cinematic poses help with that. It's violence that relishes the "realness" that this SHOULD happen like using actual people and relatable places and events, that I object to. We seem to like violence, no point in
There is nothing wrong with reading into something that sparked an unusual response. Really you aren't analysis the trailer, you are analysis everything around it and the trailer is just the talking point.
I too am less worried about the trailer each time I watch it, which makes me think it was just the shock of it all, not something irreconcilably wrong with it.
*Blame evolution for this. Men do seem to be hard-wired for fighting and hunting, but the fighting response doesn't suit precision that you'd need for a rifle. Male hunters often get "the sweats" when they get their targets in their sights, this suited early man when to hunt animals you needed a burst of strength to sprint and deal a powerful blow, but not with a rifle. The best shots are those who stay cool and detached and don't rush, what women's temperament have a predisposition to. I found it interesting there was this show called "Kill it, Cook it, Eat it" and they took a range of people from red-blooded males to peace loving vegetarian women. Turns out the Peace-loving Vegetarian woman was the best shot with the rifle and she was chosen to take the shot on a deer hunt and did a good job. The men just got too excited about the kill and their sights were shaking and snatched at the trigger. Everything in firearms training is training out male's natural instincts in fighting. Give any guy a spear or a club and he'll fight 90% as well as the best. In WWII where women still made up a comparatively small proportion of snipers they made a disproportionately large contribution.
