Ground Zeroes Rape Apologists Baffle Me

[Torque2100]

I absolutely agree with the OP that Kojima is a complete and utter hack. When I heard about the "possible" rape scene involving Paz my reaction was pretty much this. http://images.wikia.com/fantendo/images/b/b0/Jontron.gif

I mean, seriously? Kojima writing a rape scene is like Uwe Boll directing a movie about the Holocaust. It's exploitation. It's not even the fun kind of exploitation like old school Grindhouse movies either. It's the kind of un-ironic, bold-faced exploration that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I hate the tired, worn out, old moral equivalency argument that keeps getting dragged out every time the handling of sexuality in Video Games comes up. It's a pointless exercise in deflecting debate away from the point, which is that most writers in Video Games, Hideo Kojima included, treat rape at best about a delicately as a Freight Train treats the errant soccer Mom van than tries to drive around the barricades. At worst, Rape and mutilation of attractive women is fetishised and Kojima definitely falls into the latter category.

 

[Gankytim]

You're not getting the point.

Metal Gear has always been about THE HORRORS OF WAR. The entire series can be summed up as "War is very, very, very bad and brings nothing but death and misery. There is no glory, there are no heroes only sad and tortured souls who would have been literally better off if they'd never glanced at a battlefield." Shit, the only character I can think of that doesn't apply to is The Fury, but he was part of the Space Race which was kind of a battlefield on its own. The rapist isn't being rewarded here. You're not supposed to see him as a good guy. You're supposed to WANT to kill him and that's a good reaction to have. How many people are looking forward to dropping that ************ in The Phantom Pain? I am!

It doesn't move the main story forward? Um, I think it does. If not at least giving a little backstory, it makes you hate this character, it makes you want him dead. Which, as mentioned earlier will come to a head in The Phantom Pain.


There is no sexual undertone to the bomb extraction, you're reading too much into it. I can make the failed butterfly catching in MGS3 look like an allusion to masturbation if you give me enough time and I do some serious mental gymnastics. Would I be right? No, of course not. The camera doesn't "lovingly gaze", it puts the gore in your face and practically screams. "THIS IS WRONG, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS!" You felt uncomfortable? GOOD! THAT WAS THE POINT!

Again, going back to the point of the horrors of war Ground Zeroes is an (obvious) allusion to the mistreatment of Prisoners of war in places like Guantanamo. The places where the REAL sadists and scumbags get to do whatever they want to these poor people. It's not a pretty message but it's one that deserves telling if any of this is going to change and if and when it does change stories like Ground Zeroes will serve as a haunting reminder of what horrible people got to do to their fellow human beings during this time.

Reasons like this are why Ground Zeroes is going into my folder for arguing with people who say games aren't art, because this story damn well is. Maybe if people didn't jump the gun and immediately think that any mention of rape is trivializing, apologizing or supporting rape we might be able to have an actual discussion about it.

 

[Gankytim]

It doesn't matter if Paz managed to hold the world at gunpoint. If she was such an important character, whom we are suppose to root for, then surely a better death could've been written.

Ah, but is her death "poorly written" or do you just think that it's offensive?

There's a difference. A big one.