Hi Ragnar
It was a pleasure to read through your lengthy text.
Pleasure and lengthy, quite ambivalent words in one and the same phrase, but that's what you do all the time, is it not?
The best entertainment in my opinion is the one that is challenging, but not overstraining, one that let's you follow on the go ('on the read' that is in your case'), but doesn't neither make one feel lagging behind nor being ahead and always know what is coming. You just found the right balance for my taste.
I marvel at your capability of writing a long text about something that could be summarized as 'TLJ.s will be a great game. Either you will like it or not.' (You never reveal more, you know that.) and still keep the interest of the reader. Anyway, I trust you. I don't know why, but I trust you all the same.
Congratulations!
grinThanks for summarising my article so succinctly. Sometimes it's good to be long-winded, other times it's better to be concise. (Except when you get paid by the word, of course. Then it's always smart to be long-winded.)
Hello RT,
I just read your post on Alias and I am glad to hear that you are becoming a fan. I've watched it from the beginning, and I have got my mom and some of my friends hooked on it. It should've occured to me that I should have recommended it to you. Your protagonist in TLJ was a chick, it's no coincidence you would dig Sydney Bristow (a veritable Buffy Summers). Which brings me to the true meaning of this email, how do you feel about the state of woman in tv and I suppose vides games, too. It seems to me there have been leaps and bounds made for females.I have transcended from a mere 'fan' of
Alias to a full-blown, albeit transient, disciple. Two episodes of season one to go, and I'm fearing the oncoming withdrawal. There is very little else worth watching.
As for your question, I think there have been great leaps made in recent years with the portrayal of women on TV - especially on genre shows like
Buffy and
Alias - but I'm not sure that the trend has carried over to other media, like movies or games.
Television is by necessity very character-driven, which makes it a good place to foster and develop strong female protagonists (and, I suppose, antagonists; women make great villains, as any man would probably attest to). Movies have less time for character development and are often more action- and plot-driven, and rely a great deal on traditional male archetypes - this is a broad generalisation, by the way, and not a Truth. Comic-books have always featured strong female characters (Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Elektra, Death), and they've been years ahead of everyone else in almost every area. The current generation of storytellers - me included - have grown up reading the great comics of the 70s, 80s and 90s, and the influence is bearing fruits as, amongst other things, strong and complex female characters.
Sadly games, as usual, lag far behind. When there are female protagonists, they often fall into the 'Lara Croft' stereotype of sexy, resourceful, athletic, masculine women with little to no depth or feminine characteristics (aside from the, uh, obvious ones). Lara Croft
was a great character, but the many, many pale copies certainly aren't. There is some hope, however. Jade, the lead in
Beyond Good & Evil looks intriguing and original; there's
Syberia, with Kate Walker; and the Japanese survival horror games usually have strong, albeit slightly under-developed, female protagonists.
Of course, I'll have to toot my own horn for a second and mention that there will be two strong, and very dissimilar, female characters in
The Longest Journey: Static. The mold is being broken, one punch at a time.
As a feminist (yes, really), my 'agenda' includes writing and developing strong female characters who will appeal equally to both sexes, strengthening the case for women in games: as prota(&anta)gonists, as designers, as players. The industry certainly needs it, and the games will benefit greatly from this sea change.
There's still a ways to go, but I actually think that comic-books, and now TV, are paving the way for more nuanced, interesting, and influential female characters - and hopefully the rest of the world will follow suit.
