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Strategic Butt Coverings - Tropes vs Women in Video Games
- Thread starter Toa TAK
- Start date
Coffee Dog
Banned
This is very well timed with that SFV thread where everyone is posting gifs of female characters and drooling. thanks capcom!
Alex_Mexico
Member
I'm so watching this later after work. Subscribing!
John Kowalski
Banned
Oh, it's a short one.
Holy crap Catwoman has a butt and a half, jesus.
Holy crap Catwoman has a butt and a half, jesus.
BronsonLee
Member
Mika attack is too real
And yeah, this is a definite thing in movies too, not just games. The framing of females vs the framing of males is far different.
You mean because it's about short shorts?
Fun Fact: This is the actual definition of the Male Gaze but the way people use it right now youd think it meant a man in real life, looking at things.
ScaIeboundGOTY
Banned
What a career this girl has going.
Also see: Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Counterprogramming.
Princess Carl
Member
Good video.
It doesn't get a complete pass regardless - despite having some great examples of showing off men's butts in earlier games, recent titles have begun to skew further and further away from equal focus. MGSV having Quiet shove her bethonged ass into your face and prominently featuring the butts of the Skull Snipers with gratuitous camera focus, yet not even offering something as simple as a swimsuit for Snake is a good example of this disappointing shift. Even both sneaking suits available are relatively form-obscuring, nowhere near the heights achieved by the MGS2 one's iconic tightness.
Coffee Dog
Banned
really just catwoman in general
ScrabbleDude
Member
This is the first time I've watched a feminist frequency video. I've always ignorantly assumed that the complaints and comments were silly. But this was a great video, and I totally understood the message she was expressing.
Feel kind of dumb that I didn't give this the time of day before.
Feel kind of dumb that I didn't give this the time of day before.
Pretty much.
partyphone
Banned
maybe you should feel more obligated to listen to the video before commenting?
regardless it is used as an example of a game that shows guy butt without emphasising it in the same way women's butts are.
Tizoc
Member
At first I was thinking " Come now, that 3rd person camera thing sounds rather silly when it applies to male characters as well. You rotate a camera enough in any video game and you can have the POV be on a male character's butt."
...then she showed some footage of the male characters.
Interesting vid otherwise.
Yakuza/Ryu ga Gotoku series doesn't get enough credit for the manservice it provides :/
...then she showed some footage of the male characters.
Interesting vid otherwise.
Yakuza/Ryu ga Gotoku series doesn't get enough credit for the manservice it provides :/
Coffee Dog
Banned
Raiden's butt is pretty well emphasized. He wears a skintight suit.
FunkyPajamas
Member
Yeah, I'm a bit conflicted there to be honest. Catwoman's character design is like that, so in that very specific case, it's just an issue of the developers following the source material.
edit: I should probably clarify that I do find an issue with the source material, so I'm not using that as an excuse.
What Batman is missing in ass, he makes up for in crotch bulge. Dude is PACKING
With explicitly detailed high-cut panty lines. In general, MGS2 was pretty good about fetishising its cast equally. A shame later games never managed it, despite trying in a few instances. Snake's ass in MGS4 and Kaz's swimsuit doesn't come close to making up for the B&B corps and Quiet.
partyphone
Banned
it's about how the camera and character animations work together to sexualize the butt. and I'm no metal gear expert but I thought they showed snake from MGS4 during that segment?
Juke Joint Jezebel
Member
The BG&E boxart emphasises Jade's arse? Last thing I notice to be honest, most of the focus seems to be on the character's torso and head. I don't see anything that really highlights her backside, those jeans aren't exactly skintight either. It's more of an "action" pose than anything suggestive.
You should probably watch with sound before commenting. It's a counterexample.
Garrett Hawke
Member
Holy shit... this explains so much why so many male characters in games have stupid cloth flaps at the back
God damn
It's quite noticeable in Uncharted for example that Drake's butt is clearly presented.
God damn
It's quite noticeable in Uncharted for example that Drake's butt is clearly presented.
Gully State
Member
I think that was used as an exception..
when deciding to use an over the shoulder camera, im very skeptical that the visibility of man ass even remotely enters the discussion,
maybe its subconscious? i dunno.
she got the movie mixed up with the game
maybe its subconscious? i dunno.
she got the movie mixed up with the game
Coffee Dog
Banned
It works like you'd expect. Nightwing has a nice ass, it isn't really emphasized or deemphasized. It's just there.
FlashFlooder
Member
Heavenly Sword was most definitely not released in 2014
I'm reminded of Yakuza 5, where the woman racer trying to fight against gender stereotypes was always introduced with the camera directly pointed at her ass with the painted on shorts. I get the impression the manservice is mainly in the samurai spinoffs, especially Ishin.
SkeptiMism
Member
What do you mean, if I may ask?
WhateverItTakes
Banned
Huh. Cloth flaps thing makes total sense and it's so widespread. Of course the counter argument is that guy characters wear flowing coats and stuff to look cool, but then trying to think of female characters wearing trench coats makes me draw a blank.
The Jackdog
Member
some of the SFV designs are just abhorrent.
defending them is something ill never understand
that wrestler chick? are you kidding?
Coffee Dog
Banned
Well, that might be because largely, female characters aren't designed to be "cool" with overdesigned outfits.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
He doesn't have an ass in the Arkham games. His suit is padded in armor in Arkham Knight so you can't see much.
Garrett Hawke
Member
The SFV situation is so, so strange. The producer or whomever said that he removed the butt slap for accessibility reasons and so as not to estrange women but then all of those costumes are a million times worse than that animation.
Butts are a good point of comparison between men and women, so its a good choice of subject. Other pieces of anatomy are generally difficult to do a straightforward comparison.
Though I would say that some of the clothing is simply games reflecting fashion in the wider world. Tight pants/shorts is at the moment more of a women's thing. One could say that this is itself sexist, but it seems like that's switched around a few times in history, and I'm not sure how much its reasonable to expect video games to fight current fashions.
Also, I think with RPGs most follow cameras are rather bottom focused, while TPS tends to be higher in order to help the targeting make more sense.
Though I would say that some of the clothing is simply games reflecting fashion in the wider world. Tight pants/shorts is at the moment more of a women's thing. One could say that this is itself sexist, but it seems like that's switched around a few times in history, and I'm not sure how much its reasonable to expect video games to fight current fashions.
Also, I think with RPGs most follow cameras are rather bottom focused, while TPS tends to be higher in order to help the targeting make more sense.
Oh boy, I can't wait to see this... But I'll have to.
What a career this poster has going.
Garrett Hawke
Member
Nightwing's ass in the Arkham games is pretty emphasised in the character design, but not so much in the animation as with Catwoman.
Seriously though, going through the model viewer in all the games just shows that the art team at Rocksteady LOVE butts. Pretty much every character model in those games has a nice ass (including Batman's if you can get the camera in the right place).