I think the nitpicky backlack is just the inevitable hands of the enraged troll pit, and a couple of legitimate critics of her work, trying to find something substantiate to pull off it. Their efforts seem especially forced because her video is very succinct, but formal, with almost no easily objectionable exaggerations. It's almost like a fine detail anatomy drawing of a creature (or trope); not particularly expressive, but accurate and comprehensively defined.EstrogenicMuscle said:So, I'm sorry I'm not sorry. Because she's right and I completely agree with her. Also, one common criticism of her video is that she's "playing captain obvious". And I agree that, yes, most of the stuff in her video should not be mindblowingly new to most people. Her points should be obvious. However, given how many people defensively and viciously disagree with her, I would say that stating the obvious is still quite important, because many people clearly do not see that her points are true.
That said, I do not particularly like or respect her, or her body of work. Her work as a social-politically minded media critic (with an express system of belief informing her conclusions) contributes very little of value to the discussion of an entertainment medium predominantly experienced via interactive systems. As her Bayonetta video illustrated, she draws conclusions about games and characters from their pose and depiction on the box art and marketing and gives that higher priority in discussion to the systems of gameplay and ludic interactions between the elements of dynamic environment.
The application of content analysis to any medium tends to typically produces a mixed bag of inductively reasoned conclusions, but that's especially true of videogames. When you pair that with an existing socio political agenda, it's not hard to use the diversity of imagery to support hardline political stances such as "videogames are murder practice simulators", or alternately, "videogames teach women to devalue themselves". That is not what she said, explicitly, but her concern and tone belies a belief that they do harm.
I absolutely agree the damsel trope exists abundantly in videogames. I don't believe it is harmful to the minds of 'impressionable young women' beyond being a tired plot beat that might frustrate them and possibly motive a payoff for games that offer variety. I don't think women, of any age, to be so foolish to just sponge up negative stereotypes without being able to assess them for themselves.
I don't like Anita. I don't agree with her, but not for the reasons that internet goblins nitpick over. I dislike them even more, in the end.