Notes on Tropes Vs Women Part 3

Are there games starring heroic women who go onto save males in distress? Games like this are rare. Princess Peach, the damsel from the Super Mario Bros series has only ever been the star of one game for the handheld console the Nintendo DS, called Super Princess Peach (2006).  The premise is a simpler version of the Mario formula. Peach gets to be the hero for once, however, the rest of the game is full of gendered stereotypes. Princess Peach is required to choose her special powers, but the powers she has to choose from are her mood swings, obviously suggesting that women are controlled by their hormones and emotions, such as temper tantrums and drowning the enemy in tears. Nintendo have basically made a PMS joke into the core gameplay mechanic. She is not included in the narrative cut scenes, instead they focus on the back story of her parasol, a cursed boy name Perry. The game is a niche market novelty.

Games that feature this role reversal:
Kya: Dark Lineage (2003)
Primal (2003)
Beyond Good and Evil (2003)
No coincidence that these games were produced around the same time as Buffy The Vampire Slayer was aired on tv, which led the girl power trend in mass media entertainment that took hold in late 90's, early 00's.

Dude in distress gender inversion games since then have been few and far between.

Difference between the damsel and dude in distress narratives? They appear similar but not equivalent.

No shortage of men in leading roles. Research studies suggest only 4% of modern titles are exclusively designed around women in a leading role. Damsel in distress in gaming reinforce regressive attitudes that suggest women are weaker or more vulnerable because of their gender. Dudes in distress games do not perpetuate anything negative about men as a group, because there is no longstanding stereotype of men being weak or incapable because of their gender.
Example Spelunky (2009) includes stereotypical damsel in distress. The HD remake for xbox live released in 2012 still includes the stock damsel in distress character, although she can be switched to another male character, or a dog. Firstly, if a woman is interchangeable with a dog, something is up. Merely providing a gender swap is not a quick and easy fix, they don't mean the same thing in our culture. There are still cultural differences between the characters. The damsel character still reinforces pre existing stereotypes, whilst the male character does not.

Gender hacking games. Fans who take it upon themselves to reverse the gender roles by manipulating the code. These include Donkey Kong Pauline Edition where Pauline works to save Jump Man (2013), Wind Waker Gender Pronoun Mod (2012) and Zelda starring Zelda (2013) where Zelda becomes the protagonists. Gender hacking has been around for decades. Gender hacks like these illustrate how female characters taking on the role of rescuer can challenge the status quo and interrupt the established male dominated pattern in gaming. Equal opportunity 'damselling' is not the answer, simply reversing the gender roles of a problematic convention is not the best long term solution. Developers need to think beyond the cliche altogether.

Currently, there is an explosion of independent development, with enormous potential for innovation. But, the trope has been reproduced in many mobile, indie or retro inspired games like Eversion, Machinarium, Super Meat Boy, Frobot, I Must Run, Flying Hamster, Rochard, Sideway: New York, Zack Zero, Bean's Quest, Hotline Miami, Labyrinth Legends, Sang Froid Tales of Werewolves, Gunman Clive, DLC Quest, The Other Brothers, Fist Puncher, Fightback, Tiny Thief, Knightmare Tower, and Guacamelee. The trope now appears to be more popular than ever. The new wave of 80's and 90's nostalgia has resurrected the trope and brought with it the worst parts of these games. They are probably meant to be seen as shallow meta commentaries, but the ironic self awareness doesn't challenge the trope in any way.

Fat Princess (2009) is one big game of capture the flag, but using princesses instead of flags. In the game, the captured princess can be fed cake by the opposing team, making her heavier to rescue, and not only this but as she becomes larger, she becomes less traditionally feminine, with a deeper voice. Entire premise of the game is one big sexist fat joke.
Self referential humour used in these games is referred to as ironic sexism, the 'i know that you know that i know this is sexist'. But as long as the sexism is overt obvious or over the top that makes it ok, it loses its cultural power and is no longer a problem. Dependent on the false assumption that noone holds retrograde sexist beliefs, making the sexism a joke, despite this not being true.
Developers want to use the trope but not be held accountable for the inherent negative gender implications that come with it.

Games that attempt to make light of damsel in distress are not limited to indie games, but are also seen in popular mainstream titles such as Rayman Origins (2011) and Ghost Trick Phantom Detective (2011). Comedy in of itself is often confused with deconstruction and subversion in current media culture. Example: Earthworm Jim, in which the damsel in distress is called Princess Whatshername, as if to humorously acknowledged to the fact that most damsels in games are unmemorable and not worth naming. The developers then made another game where the woman is completely unimportant, at the end of which, just as the protagonist is about to reach the Princess, she is randomly killed by a cow.
Something similar happens in Eversion, where the female character turns into a monster and eats you alive. In Castle Crashers the damsel ends up having a  horrible clown face. The joke derives from the fact that after completing the long and perilous journey to save his damsel, the hero is cheated out of his reward. The games may be trying to make a joke of this, but the women remain disempowered. Jokes have no cultural significance should not be taken seriously, but making light of gender issues is a time honoured traditions.

Mass media entertainment not only reflects our culture it also works to create it. Sexist jokes in particular serve as a form of cultural permission which help to entrench toxic pre-existing attitudes and opinions.

A clear difference between sexist parody and parody of sexism. Sexist parody encourages the players to mock and trivialise, whilst parody of sexism undermines regressive gender conventions.

The Secret of Monkey Island (1990/2009)  & Braid (2008) are examples of this. In Secret of Monkey Island, once the male hero reaches the supposed damsel, it turns out that she already had a plan of escape, and that he has now ruined it, whilst in Braid, it turns out the female character is purposefully trying to run away from the male character. However, the focus is still on the male character, and to truly deconstruct this trope, it would need to be about the female.

Feminist Frequency. 2013. Damsel in Distress: Part 3 - Tropes Vs Women in Video Games. [online] [Accessed 21st October 2013] Available at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjImnqH_KwM