I take it you really like Bayonetta (both the game and character)?MailOrderClone said:Bayonetta is, and really always has been, something of a lightning rod of controversy due to a fundamental misunderstanding of her role in her own game (now games). Moviebob did an excellent piece on Bayonetta as a sexualized video game character and one that owns her sexuality more so than any other in gaming. I would take that one step further, and pose that Bayonetta may well be the single most empowering feminist icon ever to star in her own video game.Shoggoth2588 said:Baoynetta seems like a pretty good female character. She's never meant to feel like a damsel in distress and she is never made to feel like someone who needs help or rescuing. Even early on in her first game, Bayonetta is an undeniable bad-ass. Her attacks and persona are sexualized yes, but she doesn't seem to be as sexualized as other gamer girls who seem to be made up of eyes, breasts, asses, and maybe a couple of legs, and arms.
Because from where I stand, many of these debates regarding female characters in pop culture are less about finding well-realized female characters and more about people propping up the female characters in stuff they like as ''feminist'' because it makes them feel better about their preference.
Anyone here remember the movie Pacific Rim? Some fans of that movie proposed that its female lead, Mako Mori, was a great or even ''groundbreaking'' (in Moviebob's words) female character, to the point that some of the made up a test to, eh, ''prove'' (Google Mako Mori Test).
Bottom line is that I want to see less people go ''I don't like this game, oh and by the way it's sexist!'' and more people go ''I may not particularly like this game, but it did a pretty good job with its female characters.'' or alternatively ''I really like this game, but man is it sexist as hell.''