Comments on: Reading Questions

By: Laura Hendricksen

Laura Hendricksen — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:54:02 +0000

**oops, there is a little mistake in the precedent question.

Kennedy’s article mentions that Lara Croft’s icon has polarized academic discussions. Presented as highly sexually fetischised and therefore being the ”spectacle”, Lara Croft’s figure also challenges traditional female roles in computer games as she moves freely in space and accumplishes heroic jumps. By being both the object of sexual desire and an action heroine in Tomb Raider, isn’t this « commercial » strategy eventually depicting a representation of female masquerade? Isn’t Lara Croft precisely portrayed as a female fantasy using her sexually appealing features to empower her own gender?

By: Laura Hendricksen

Laura Hendricksen — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:53:17 +0000

By: Rosalind Downer

Rosalind Downer — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 03:06:04 +0000

In Kennedy’s essay, she quotes Jones, followed by noting that he “sees these sexy and powerful female characters as providing complex resources for both fantasy and identification as stable gender roles are eroded”. Is that not the point of Lara Croft, to challenge conventional gender roles in favor of a masculinized female central character that appeals to both female and male audiences? What does this mean for gender roles? Are they what Jones suggests, finally eroding? Or is Lara Croft, and other revolutionary characters like her, always subject to Mulvian analysis, that phallic symbols such as her glasses and long hair are making up for her lack?

By: Amethyst Tate

Amethyst Tate — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:44:34 +0000

Kennedy states that “If we are going to encourage more girls into the gaming culture then we need to encourage the production of a broader range of representations of femininity than those currently being offered.” While I agree with this statement, I feel as though Kennedy is claiming Croft is not a feminist icon based on her sex appeal. While I’ve never played the “Lara Croft” video game, the first time I watched the movie “Tomb Raider” I was captivated not only by Croft’s beauty, but also by her powerful presence and strength. Why should it matter that Croft is a sex symbol if she also embodies characteristics that women can look up to? Is it a negative if a feminist happens to be beautiful? Whatever happened to the saying “Beauty and brains”? Can’t we women have it all?

By: Eleanor Krause

Eleanor Krause — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 07:17:25 +0000

T.L. Taylor speaks very highly of Edu-art; however, some of their methods send contradictory messages. Taylor states, “they also run ongoing play sessions where they bring groups of women into net cafés and teach them to play computer games.” Doesn’t this method make it seem like women need extra help to learn to play these games? It is sending the message that women have a harder time understanding and connecting with technology, and this undermines the groups objectives. Maybe I’m being overly critical but it seems that by holding “teaching sessions” they are creating a lesser image of the female’s abilities in gaming.

By: Avery Rain

Avery Rain — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:11:12 +0000

One of the articles talks about how differences between young and old gamers are much more drastic than differences between male and female gamers. I wonder whether this observation can be applied to cross-gender identification with characters. It seems to me that video game playing represents quite a bit of identification with characters unlike yourself–is gender always the most important “cross” identification? Or does it only seem this way because we’re taking a class about gender?

By: Oliver Sutro

Oliver Sutro — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:03:14 +0000

Did I read the wrong Kafai? Please tell me that I didn’t.

By: Oliver Sutro

Oliver Sutro — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:01:40 +0000

Kafai mentions the creation of secondary accounts by many players. For example, boy players make a girl avatar. Is Whyville so popular because it allows children to explore taboo sexualities anonymously? Are the excuses the players make truthful or rather coverups for their true goals? What are their goals in creating this second opposite gendered account?

By: Amelia Furlong

Amelia Furlong — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:14:50 +0000

On Kennedy:

It is a primarily second-wave opinion to think that, “The juxtaposition of physical prowess and sexuality continues to produce a great deal of ambivalence amongst feminist and non-feminist commentators.” Why has it become unfeminist for women to be sexual? These articles continually neglect to mention the “female gaze” and female desire, and then when it is shown, it is unfeminist. Why can’t feminism embrace female sexuality, even if it is hyper-sexualized, like with Lara Croft? Isn’t it better to show women who are strong and sexual, other than the sexual victims from horror films?

By: Bryanna Kleber

Bryanna Kleber — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:44:51 +0000

“Young women’s perceptions of risk and fear are deeply rooted in their bodies; they avoid what they perceive to be dangerous spaces in order to manage the risk of male violence. When they assume digital bodies in virtual space, female players are free to explore experiences of ‘meeting strangers in dangerous worlds’. But as soon as they try to extend their interactions to the public playground, they must accept the regulations and constraints of the physical world.” Do the characters any gamer assumes in the gaming world exhibit the person they desire to be if there were no inhibitions in life? How do gamers draw the line between reality and the virtual world? Do they recognize a line needs to be drawn? Is it possible to maintain a line between reality and the virtual world before the two start dangerously mixing together? And what happens when they start mixing together?