Blast From the Past

Wow what a blast from the past. It brings back tons of memories playing this game again. But now we need to get to the critiquing. And this brought more questions than answers to me.

I first played the Princess and from the past i remember each character had attributes that they were better and worse at. I find it funny how the princess is one of the fastest diggesr but she cant throw far or jump very high. Yet she can float. Why would they limit her jumping? No i'm not trying to be sexist or anything but for the most part men tend to be better jumpers than women. So i can see why they did that. Another thing is why can she float while the others cant? Are they trying to portray her as lighter than air because she is a skinny, light woman? She also cant throw things very far either after you dig them up, so i guess she throws like a girl? So basically what i got out of a gender critique is that woman was woman are good diggers because maybe they work in gardens or something, but they are relatively not as athletic as men. Yet they are so light and skinny that they can float. hmmmm...

Next Toad. Now toad, a walking talking mushroom-man. Now i have never really been sure if he was a man or a woman because they dress him like a man yet he has a really high screechy voice. Maybe he is supposed to represent the gays or metrosexuals of our world? In the game he is the crappiest jumper, a medium thrower, but can dig out of his yingyang. He is also very very slow runner. Maybe its because he is a mushroom and they live in the ground but yet they cant move really.

Luigi is a super high jumper and the biggest goober in the game, flailing his legs around when he jumps. He is like the goofy younger brother you have and you cant stand to be around because he is so weird. So you kind of leave him behind to do his own thing.

Mario is like the all round decent at everything guy. Good at everything but bad at nothing. He is your average Joe just trying to make it through life.

Schliener talks about in her article how Lara Croft allows men to become a woman or she classifies her as a "Drag Queen" allowing men to take the roll of a woman without actually have to dress up. (Schliener 223) All of these characters personify some sort of sexuality in people and by playing them it allows to fill that role they maybe they wouldn't get to in non-virtual life. Or maybe pick them because it best reflects who they are or who they want to be in non-virtual life.

Games are funny in this aspect as more and more of them start to draw in gender stigmas. Lara Croft, World of Warcraft, Blood Rayne, all of these of sexy good looking female avatars and i think developers use this as a tool to sell games. Why? because who really wants to play an ugly person unless its some sort of joke. Like being Large Marge in NBA Hangtime. The desire just inst there.





Works Cited
Schleiner, Ann-Marie. "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games." MIT Press 34.3 (2001): 221-26. Web. 7 Oct 2010.

Super Mario Bros. 2. Nintendo, 1988.