Pose Fighting Scene in Bayonetta Is Metaphorical, Claims Creator

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Pose Fighting Scene in Bayonetta Is Metaphorical, Claims Creator


The suggestive sequence supposedly represents the deep rivalry that women feel towards each other.

Bayonetta [http://www.amazon.com/Bayonetta-Xbox-360/dp/B001YI0Z2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294667126&sr=8-1] is a pretty unique game, as anyone who's been exposed to it for more than a few seconds will agree. What's more, underneath the veneer of pole-dancing witches and gun-shoes, beats the heart of a deeply metaphorical work - or at least, that's what creator Hideki Kamiya says.

Kamiya said that his favorite part of Bayonetta is when the titular character meets Joy, her angelic doppleganger. The pair square off against each other in a pose battle, which is a little bit like a dance fight [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8R9GiLImSw], but a lot more risqué. As you can see in the video - which isn't especially work safe - Bayonetta eventually wins the contest, forcing Joy to drop her disguise and show her true form.

On the surface, the scene is just another part of an already overtly sexual game, but according to Kamiya, it also represents the rivalry that all women feel towards one another. He said that every woman regards every other woman as an enemy, and that's the idea that he was trying to convey. Even women who pass each other on the street will check out how the other looks, he said, with antagonism possible in even those brief meetings. "Women are scary," he added.

I'm not especially qualified to start talking about how women think, but I'm not entirely sure that Kamiya is either. Still, it would be fascinating to find out what messages and metaphors the rest of the game holds, buried deep beneath the partial nudity and lollipops.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=282680&site=cvg]


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Nocta-Aeterna

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Aug 3, 2009
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Interesting, but I'm uncertain whether he had that intent on the get-go, or is just trying to save face.
 

Reaver3

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Jan 9, 2011
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I don't see any real sex appeal, just sluttiness and an overly long legged woman...
 

twistedheat15

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Sep 29, 2010
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Ya every time I go to the mall I see women in cloths story having random kinky posed dance battles to show their rivalry. Sound more like he's just wishing all women handled their hate for each other this way.
 

harvz

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Jun 20, 2010
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oh crap, that is the absolute worst thing he can say (and the "oh crap" is for the "games are art" side of things)
he would have been far better off saying something like "the battle with ones self is seeded in many mythologies as going beyond limitations and once the facade has been removed, this demonstrates what i have viewed as woman still being oppressed and encouraged to be 'sexier'". the way he has expressed this essentially paints him in a very bad light to woman
 

Danzaivar

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twistedheat15 said:
Ya every time I go to the mall I see women in cloths story having random kinky posed dance battles to show their rivalry. Sound more like he's just wishing all women handled their hate for each other this way.
I take it you aren't too familiar with the meaning of the word "metaphor".
 

Dastardly

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Apr 19, 2010
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Logan Westbrook said:
"Women are scary," he added.
"Women are scary, I don't understand them. Oh, and here are some boobs I made on my computer."

And game-geek culture is set back 20 years...
 

Tomo Stryker

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*sigh* Why do all women in most Japanese games have these over the top personalities that scream, "I'm a cranky *****! Slap me!". I guess we will never know.
 

The Real Sandman

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Oct 12, 2009
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Okay. So what exactly is blowing up angels with atomic trumpets and tubas, morphing your hair into a giant fire breathing spider, hurling a church at a gargantuan flying head with dragons for arms, and lest we forget,
punching God into the sun
supposed to teach us?

Still, it doesn't stop the game from being totally fucking awesome.
 

SinisterGehe

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I didn't buy this game, just because it wasn't good when I tried it and that it is full of over sexualized woman characters... Which I am deeply against, there is more in women that just physical sex appeal...
 

Mathak

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Mar 27, 2009
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Right. I'm sure it was all purely artistic, and had nothing to do with the chart the marketing guys came up with that showed a correlation between the amount of T&A in a game and the sales of that game. *eyeroll*
 

Vortigar

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Nov 8, 2007
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Goldeneye1989 said:
Congratulations he's using Freudian Psychology. Move on nothing to see here.
Exactly.

There's an undertone of female rivalry in the scene.

Plus its boyish-fantasy-level sexy.

We already knew this, didn't we?
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Tomo Stryker said:
*sigh* Why do all women in most Japanese games have these over the top personalities that scream, "I'm a cranky *****! Slap me!". I guess we will never know.
Perhaps its a fetish?

OT: Um, ok. I'm sure there's more subtle ways to express rivalry between women. Then again I'm a guy, so what the fuck do I know.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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Nov 19, 2009
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sure it is Kamiya. Catherine makes this game look like a childish grab for attention. It's hilarious how people have got their ideas backwards in thinking that Bayonetta is some sort of feminine ideal when in fact she's just another addition to the hyper-sexualized yet eternally chaste roster of females in the likes of Lara Croft or the Soul Calibu women.