Naughty Dog Responds to The Last of Us Sexism Claims

StewShearerOld

Geekdad News Writer
Jan 5, 2013
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Mr Cwtchy said:
If we're going to make accusations of sexism, it should be about the fact that of the objectively 'evil' characters in the game, including the generic bandits that you kill, every single one of them is a male. Every single one.

And no, I'm not buying this bullshit about women being oppressed in the post-apocalypse environment. That would not inherently preclude them from being murderous arseholes.
Yesh I agree, that is probably the most noticeable "sexist" aspect that I can find...
But imagine what a shitstorm it would have been if they allowed your main character to bash women's heads in... It is all stupid, obviously, why is it worse to display violence against men than violence against women? It's really not, but I'm quite sure that whatever X association would have accused them of promoting gender violence or somesuch if they did.

Do note that some infected -are- indeed female, and that shows that they were probably aware of the issue: depicting realistic extreme violence against realistic women was -too much-, while depicting the same violence against a mutated, monstruous, inhuman female, was ok. I don't really share this view, but personally, I imagine that I would have been a lot more shocked and uncomfortable if the game did cross that line.

A bit of a catch 22 issue here.

As for sexism, I wouldn't have ever thought of it. However, I do recognize that one of the central topics of the game (and probably the most impressively realized), deals with male psychology, and paternalistic fixation of needing to atone for the guilt of failing as a father. In this aspect, the game does explore a view of the "damsel in distress", but it analyzes it and manages to turn it around, asking which of the characters is really in distress, does Ellie need saving? Or is it Joel who is desperately trying to redeem his past failures and traumas?
 

Hectix777

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Feb 26, 2011
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Zhukov said:
Waht?

Really?

She's fourteen years old, probably fifteen by the end of the game. How much of an independent badass is a skinny teenager supposed to be? Hell, throughout the game, both in cutscenes and gameplay, she is demonstrably willing and able to shoot, shank and brick whichever hapless motherfuckers get in her way.

Hell, the one time she gets anywhere near damsel territory, she promptly frees herself, racking up an extensive bodycount in the process. By the time Joel arrives, it's all over but for the screaming.

I'll be the first to admit the industry has an issue when it comes to depicting females, but Ellie is not an example of such.
This. That's the only thing that need be said. She's a kid. Younger than me. Even if she's 14 she is a teenager, she's not an adult. So of course they'd be the damsel. The situation would be identical if we swapped our Ellie for an Evan, a 14-year old boy. It's not sexism, if anything this is age...-ism. (Right?)
 

lord.jeff

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Oct 27, 2010
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If we keep nitpicking every female character and yell sexist every time then game creators will stop making games with women for fear of causing controversy.
 

Rebel_Raven

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Jul 24, 2011
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lord.jeff said:
If we keep nitpicking every female character and yell sexist every time then game creators will stop making games with women for fear of causing controversy.
They practically -have- stopped making female characters as it is, making women have a gender swap, killing their agency, cutting them from games in favor of a male protagonist only, etc. Especially in the west! *Immensely frustrated over that fact.*

What we do get are rare, and are easy targets.

IMO, the only way to really combat the nitpicking is to give us a lot of female characters, especially as protagonists. This will, hopefully, create variety, and many characters to have many opinions on. It's likely the reason male protagonsits don't get nitpicked so much.

We're angry over the way women's representation is treated -now-, and making it worse will only anger more people even more.
 

Hero of Lime

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Jun 3, 2013
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The sad part is, no matter how much a developer tries to make a lead, or near lead female character as un-sexist(whatever that may mean) as possible, there will always be a group, however small, pulling the sexist card. They said she seems to much like a damsel in distress, not sure how since she rarely gets in a tussle with infected or humans. Ellie literally stayed too far out of the way occasionally throwing a brick or two to help me out, although I'm dipping my toe into a dumb argument already, Abra use telepor-
 

FoolKiller

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Feb 8, 2008
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Damsel in distress? Really?

she quickly shivs a guard while you're on your motherfucking knees like a *****
 

ResonanceSD

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Ukomba said:
This complaint is becoming so common, especially showing up on this site, that my eyes just glaze over and I have a powerful urge to close the tab.
I stopped coming here for a few months because this is all people were nitpicking about. Not discussing, mind you, nitpicking.

so a 14 year old girl is less capable than the dude? whodathunk it!?


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