July 25, 2012

Xenomorphs and The Sacred Feminine

UPDATE: I wanted to thank everyone who contributed their two cents to my problem.  This is such an important mythology to me, and I've been looking forward to playing a new chapter for such a long time that it was incredibly frustrating to experience such cognitive dissonance over it.

Well, fortunately, I have good news to offer you all: We Won!

That's right, Gearbox, in a rare display of wisdom, listened to it's very vocal fans (myself included) and has announced officially that there will be female playable characters in their game.  As if that weren't enough, apparently it's not just the multiplayer mode where it would arguably be more vital, but in the single-player campaign as well that the women will be joining the fight.  Folks, I know it seems like something unimportant at times, but this is a big deal for the games industry from where I stand.  I was really starting to despair a little bit there given how magnificent their previous Aliens game (Aliens: Infestation on the Nintendo DS) was in regards to having male and female perspectives.  I'd begun to think that Gearbox and/or SEGA had gone the way of the overly-macho development studios cranking out endless streams of Y-chromosome-only shooters.  I'm thrilled to be proven wrong this time.

It's rare that any developer listens to its community with regards to these kinds of late-in-the-game changes, but even rarer when it's an issue of social justice that drives the community outcry.  I could not be happier with their decision and I'm pleased to announce that I fully intend to support their effort towards creating a more inclusive experience by pre-ordering a copy of Aliens: Colonial Marines for my Xbox 360.

I would also like to encourage any gamers or fans reading this to stand with me in buying a new copy of this game (NOT used; I want Gearbox to get the money they deserve for this) to show your support for a very positive and very progressive move on the part of the development team in a time where this sort of decision is not made lightly.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed their thoughts on this matter, and an extra big thanks to SEGA/Gearbox for doing the right thing in the end. 

A post breaking from our usual content (to deal with something very personal) will follow shortly, and then we'll be back to our typical discussion essays by around the middle of the month.  I thank you for your patience and understanding and hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend.

I'm Trevor, and that's my Frame of Mind.

ORIGINAL POST:

I come before you, my readers, with a quandary, and I'd like your help. I am currently unable to decide whether or not to purchase an upcoming game due to it's position in popular culture. I know that not all of you keep up with video games and some of you couldn't care less about them. That's fine; I'll do most of the work for you, in terms of bringing the issue to light. The problem, put simply, is that the game I speak of occupies a precarious position in popular culture (for me and several others) that makes it very difficult for me to make up my mind about buying it. I've been racking my brain for a while now, and fed up with indecision, I realized I could just bring it to you and see what you all have to say on the issue. I won't promise to base my decision solely on whatever feedback you may give me, but I will say that your thoughts on the matter may help tip me in the right direction. Furthermore, it's actually kind of interesting to talk about. Besides, it involves two of my favorite things on this planet:

Aliens and Women

Ok...did that stunt get your attention? Good! Glad to have you on board. Those of you who do follow gaming news will no doubt have surmised that the game in question is Sega and Gearbox Studio's upcoming shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines. A little background for those of you new to this: the game is framed as a direct sequel to James Cameron's masterpiece Aliens and focuses on a squad of colonial marines investigating the events at the now devastated and abandoned LV-426 (the colony where the movie takes place). The basic mechanics are like those seen in any FPS (first-person-shooter) and incorporates an emphasis on multiplayer tactics in both a cooperative and competitive environment. The single player campaign can be played alone (not recommended...it's an Aliens game, after all) or with a friend. The multiplayer mode has two modes: In cooperative, you and a team-mate must survive the onslaught of xenomorphs while defending a position or maneuvering to a new one, and in competitive, you are either a marine or a xenomorph and both teams are tasked with racking the highest body-count before the round ends. For the sake of brevity, let me put my enthusiasm for the game in terms that some of you might expect to hear coming out of my non-digital mouth:

OMG! AN ALIENS GAME THAT FOLLOWS FROM ONE OF MY FAVORITE FILMS OF ALL FREAKIN' TIME! OMG! AN ALIENS GAME WHERE YOU CAN PLAY AS A XENOMORPH AND EAT ALL THE HORRIBLE, EVIL, STUPID, TASTY HUMANS, YUM YUM! OMG!

Got it? Cool. Moving on then. In addition to all those (less vacuous) features of the game, the player is allowed to customize a marine and "enlist" for the purposes of the aforementioned multiplayer games. Combine that with the possibility of playing as more than one type of Xenomorph and Colonial Marines sounds more and more like the kind of game I simply must own.

So where does "women" come in? Well, that's actually why we're here today: they don't. At all. Gearbox has officially announced that none of the playable characters in the game's single or multiplayer modes will be female. "So what?" I hear some of you ask. "Another video-game excludes women...big deal". Video games don't have a great track record when it comes to female representation, and most games don't have playable female characters. This is especially true of the FPS genre, and even more true recently. So, maybe you'd be right in just shrugging it off as another of the many, MANY games that just aren't gender-equality friendly. Normally, and under any other circumstances, I'd be right there with you in dismissing it. But this isn't any other circumstance. This is Aliens.

I've been a fan of the Alien franchise since I first caught a glimpse of Aliens (yes, I saw the first one second; you got a problem with that?) when I was five years old. As I started asking my family questions about the movie, they saw fit to introduce me to Alien, Aliens (in full this time) and eventually Alien 3, and, thus, a fanboy was born. These three movies proved to be a very important part of my formative years as I found newer and more nuanced ways to appreciate them as works of imagination, action, science-fiction, horror, art, and even science-fact. In short, I became obsessed with these movies and have maintained that obsession into my adulthood (stop snickering...I am an adult). To this day, the xenomorphs haunt my nightmares, and their iconography is both a terror and a joy to behold. It's a strange phenomenon that I can be so fascinated with and frightened by them even at this point in my life. I still can't put one of these movies on at night, lest I have trouble sleeping (except Alien Resurrection, which I can't put on at all), and I often won't watch them alone for fear of scaring myself. I've never been a big horror fan, so I'm not "in to" fear as an adrenaline booster, and I don't like being surprised or scared. Despite all of that, I can't help but be drawn to the monsters born of H.R. Giger's imagination and to the cinematic universe they inhabit.

"Still haven't explained what this has to do with women, Trevor." Ok, fine...As I said just a moment ago, I've found new ways to understand the Alien franchise as I've matured in both body and mind, and there's one aspect about this particular universe that, while I couldn't have said it then, has always been important to me as a viewer. It's not unreasonable to say that this is actually the thing that drew me to it as a franchise in the first place. Whatever else can be said about the Alien movies, they are, fundamentally, about women. Not horror, not action, not even monsters. Women.

Every single movie in the original franchise (no, you don't get to count the Alien vs. Predator movies, although they have their own kind of appeal...more on that in another post) has been about female perspectives and voices in a male-dominated world. Alien dealt with a working-class woman named Ellen Ripley aboard a ship of "manly-men" (yes, yes, and one other woman - who, if you pay attention, is the example of how women should NOT act) and her struggle to both survive and hold everyone together, despite not being particularly powerful or respected. Her actions are always made with the best interest of her crew in mind, but almost all of them are immediately smacked down by a man who wants to make sure she "knows her place". And who survives the whole ordeal? HER! That's right, the movie does more than just pass the Bechdel Test, it actually makes feminine thought and action it's star while subverting antiquated patriarchal thinking in the process.

In Aliens, the general theme of women being ignored to the detriment of all is spoken even louder. In the beginning of the movie, all of the big, burly, corporate men, (and one woman, ok?) shoot down everything Ripley warns them about due to their single-minded pursuit of profit for their corporation. So, naturally, they choose to send down a group of big, burly, army men (and women who have decided to embrace many aspects of traditional masculinity) to "deal with it" and, SPOILER ALERT, they all get eaten...except for one. Corporal Dwayne Hicks....now there's an interesting counter-example. Yes, he's male. Yes, he's a marine. No, he's not a "big, burly, army man". He's actually the ONLY man in the whole franchise to date who has openly chosen the path of cooperation with women willingly and without anything but his own sense of reason to guide him. He's the only man who actively courts Ripley's ideas (and to an extent, Ripley herself) and seeks to find a solution with her, rather than around or in spite of her. No, the android doesn't count either. He's interesting in his own right, but not vis-a-vis his relation to Ripley or women in general. It would take a whole other post to deal with him properly.

I'm not going to discuss Alien 3 in length for the sake of time, but here's the Cliff notes: Ripley is, again, the ONLY survivor in a prison colony made up exclusively of men. I'm confident you can figure out the meaning in that for yourself. Instead, I'm going to bring up another aspect of Aliens' treatise on women that makes it so special in it's own universe and the world of sci-fi action more generally: Motherhood. The ENTIRE movie is a discussion of the exclusively female issue of motherhood. Ripley's daughter is dead at the beginning of the movie forcing her to confront issues of child-loss and failed motherhood. Later in the movie, she encounters a little girl (reminiscent, no doubt, of her own daughter) whom she decides to care for in order to help fill that void left by her tragic loss. Rebecca "Newt" Jorden, is herself, a good example of female triumph in the franchise, since she is also a lone survivor whereas her brother, father, and mother all got killed in the initial take-over by the xenomorphs. But moving on, there is one last example of motherhood addressed in this movie that can't be ignored. It brings up issues of single-motherhood, rearing children in a grim and unpleasant world, and the challenge of fighting for both your childrens' and your own survival: The Queen. Thought I forgot that, didn't you?

The Alien Queen herself is a grotesque mirror for Ripley's character in the film. Both are parents forced to confront loss and pain in regards to their children; both are in the midst of a struggle for survival against terrible odds (or did you not think the Xenomorph hive would be destroyed by an over-heating nuclear reactor?) and both are prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure that survival. This is a story of women's issues through and through, and it does it in a way that doesn't rely on "girliness" to make a point about embracing feminitity or "tom-boyishness" to make a point about the rejection of femininity. Ripley neither surrenders to traditional notions of womanhood (like her late co-worker in Alien) nor does she submit herself to the anti-feminine masculinity of the army culture (like Vasquez in Aliens). She is a complex women, to be sure, but she maintains that complexity by embracing the reality of her situation. She can be mothering to a frightened girl and torch a nest full of xenomorphs all without losing her sense of self in the process. She's a true heroine. It's this characterization of Ripley that has held my attention so firmly on this franchise. I may not be a woman, myself, but dealing with gender-identity issues and conformity are most certainly things I've had to confront in my life as a boy, teenager, and adult man. Just because she's a woman, doesn't mean that I, as a man, can't understand her struggle. Watching her provide such a shining example of a person who can simply "be" without being constrained wholly or unnecessarily by mere genetic pre-configuration was an inspiration to me when I was a boy, and still is now.

So to bring this all home, let's return to Colonial Marines. Given all this thoughtful writing and characterization of women throughout the franchise, why in all the surveyed worlds would they exclude them completely from an in-continuity game? It just doesn't make any damn sense! I can already hear some of you saying: "maybe women don't want to play this game". WRONG. Some more of you are probably of the opinion that it's not really a step forward to have women take up the role of "big, burly, army men". On that I would agree with you wholeheartedly, but it's not up to the developers of any game to make that choice for an entire demographic, nor is it right for anyone to say that they shouldn't if they really want to. Would I likely be playing as a female avatar were they to include them? No. In fact, I can pretty conclusively tell you that I don't like using female avatars. Part of that is identity, but the other part is that I just like the way men look in armor more than women (and particularly so when the artists "over-stylize" the women...gamers, you know what I'm talking about). Besides, anyone who's known me more than a minute knows I'll technically be playing as a female anyway: I'll be playing as the Xenomorphs! Either way, it's not really relevant, since If I find it more meaningful to play through a game with an avatar more closely approximating my own gender, then why would we assume that women wouldn't feel the same way? It seems really backward and not especially thoughtful on the part of the development team. Even Halo: Reach and Gears of War 3 finally wised-up and gave the option of a male or female avatar to accomodate the expanding demographic of gamers.

In summary: The game looks like a blast to play, incorporates characters and themes from a franchise I love dearly, and boasts the opportunity to vent my frustration with the human race by turning them all into an a-la-carte menu. On the other hand, it has ignored, entirely, an aspect of the series that has by far the most significance and meaning of any of its recurring themes, and in doing so, has turned up its nose at a demographic that I have nothing but admiration and respect for. Hell, if they'd even just include one woman in downloadable content, I wouldn't even be having this argument with myself.

So it boils down to this: Do I buy the game and enjoy it for the great time I can virtually guaruntee it will be, or do I avoid lending my voice of approval, via wallet, to a product that ignores such a critical social reality? Let me know in the comments what you think, or failing that, what you would do.

I'm Trevor, and, this time, I need YOUR Frame of Mind.

July 12, 2012

Speak No E-vil

I'd like to begin with a quick question: How on Earth is our world supposed to improve if every time we come up with something magnificent and revolutionary all we can do is use it to belittle and exclude others?  To say that the human race gathers together to do something extraordinary only once in a blue-moon would be overstating the matter, but it seems like every time we do, some people get it into their heads that this is the new way to prop themselves up above everyone else.  Doesn't this fatigue anyone else? ......Do you all know what I'm talking about?  No?  Okay, okay...buckle up, ‘cause this one's a doozey.  And it's not all fun and games.

The Tragedy of the Great Equalizer

In the annals of American History, there is a smattering of truly remarkable, earth-shaking, game-changing events, such as The Declaration of Independence, The reunification of the Confederacy with the Union, The Women's Suffrage and Liberation movements, and Civil Rights to name a few.  Let me add another event to that list that most of you probably don't think of as "on-par" with the previous: The Birth of The Internet.  "Bwah?!" I hear you say.  Yes, the creation of the interconnected network of computers that once went by the moniker "ARPANET" belongs right up there in the pantheon of major game-changers that make up the history of the good ol' US of A.  No, I'm not being facetious...well, not entirely.  I'm adding it to the list because it has a lot in common with those social movements I just mentioned.  Unfortunately, not all of the things it has in common are good, and that will be the primary focus of today's discussion.

You see, when we break them down, each of the movements mentioned above had a similar set of goals: Unification and Liberation. In the case of Independence Day, the express purpose of our declaration was to unify the colonies and liberate them from the tyranny of King George III of England.  The Civil War was fought largely with the goal (from the Northern perspective anyway...I am a New Yorker) of bringing the Southern states back into the fold of the US and liberating all the people living under American democracy from, in one case, slavery, and in another, economic hardship due to failing agricultural/industrial sectors and war.  Women's Suffrage?  Civil Rights? I bet you can figure it out, but just in case: Bring together the oppressed minorities (i.e. women and non-whites) throughout the country and liberate them from an untenable lifestyle and outright oppression and subjugation by the established authority (read: white heterosexual cis-gendered males). 

So what about the internet?  Well, while the explicit goal of creating the internet may not have been Unification and Liberation, that's pretty much exactly what it did.  The advent of a stable means of connecting disparate groups of people easily and with no real restrictions of time or space has brought people together like never before.  We've seen people come together for an incredible variety of reasons over the last couple decades, all thanks to the simplicity and ease-of-use made possible through the internet.   Hell, some of you wouldn't even know what I'm thinking without the internet!  And as for liberation, well, do I need to spell it out?  The freedoms of speech, assembly, etc. have never been more practiced and expressed.  You can literally say whatever you want on the internet to spark a discussion or engage with whoever you want.  It's what I do on this very blog, and it's what each of you does by exercising your right to read it.  It's unregulated, it's unmonitored (mostly) and it's a magnificent tool for expressing yourself.  And therein lay the tragedy.

If you think back to my opening statement, you'll recall that I have observed a pattern endemic to these kinds of massive unification and liberation movements that I find distasteful.  Well, let's not mince words; it's outright infuriating.  See, as wonderful as these various moments in history were (and still are), there has been another consequence of their happening that seems to occur without fail: the emergence of a small, but very VERY vocal minority who abuse their new-found (and even deserved) liberation by using it as a tool of oppression. In each case I mentioned, an otherwise noble and necessary undertaking has been made the bludgeon of a few very insecure, attention-hungry fools who are ruining the good name of their cause. 

Not long after Independence, a war began in the US that took the idea of "free and independent states" to its logical extreme when the once-unified country split down the middle over a dispute about how far freedom could extend.  Obviously I'm oversimplifying, but the basic idea is that the Civil War was largely a byproduct of an over-politicized notion of freedom as expressed by various constituents of the newly liberated country.  And once the union did finally get over its disagreement, the halves remained loud and proud about their respective "sides" during the war to the point where, to this day, people proclaim that the Confederacy was the home of "real" patriotism and the Union was full of "elitists".  Pathetic. 

Now look at Women's Liberation and Civil Rights.  Both were incredibly powerful movements that were desperately needed in the "Land of the Free".  That melanin-content could be a reason to discriminate or that an entire half of the population of the world was inferior simply for having different genitalia was and is unconscionable in a country that touts "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" as its mantra.  Everyone who took up those banners and declared themselves a proponent of equal rights for women and minorities was right to do so.  But look what a few of those same people have managed to do to their cause: Too many minorities have decided that their original state of oppression entitled them to simply "blame whites" for their unfortunate circumstance rather than take responsibility for their lives in an age where they have some (albeit imperfect) equality.  Too many women have decided that their oppression entitled them to "blame men" for their tribulations regardless of the situation.  The result: both Civil Rights and Feminism are viewed in certain circles as, at best, a joke, and at worst, a hammer to strike down any voice of dissent that comes from a non-minority or non-female voice.  This is not what Civil Rights and Feminism were or are about.  This is simply UNACCEPTABLE.

We're running long again, so let's return to the internet with all this in mind and finally get to the point of all this.  In short, this is happening again.  The internet is a magnificent tool by its design and has untapped potential to bring us together in more ways than could have been imagined even 30 years ago.  In many ways, it already has.  Anyone who has more than a passing familiarity with Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, or even general forums and blogs has witnessed this capacity and its ubiquity.  But what have some of us chosen to do with this?  They use the anonymity and slang (often dubbed "Netspeak") as a means of excluding the people who "just don't get it" or who haven't decided to marinate themselves completely in the culture and rituals of the internet.  They use it as a tool for spewing hate-speech of all kinds at people who can't "fight back" simply by virtue of not being in the same room.  They've used the lack of consequences as a license to ignore even the most basic rules of courtesy.  These behaviors are tainting the genuine greatness of this medium and giving a false impression of the wonderful communities it makes possible.  And for what?  So a few 12-year-olds (even if they're 35) can vent their insecurities at will? This cannot be allowed to stand. 

I love the internet and what it can do.  I'm a proud proponent of a free and open internet and I will fight against any who tell me that it needs to be chained and restricted.  But the flip-side to that is that we must take responsibility for our community.  We must prove that we deserve this freedom. These people who have used it as a platform for hatred and exclusivist behavior should no longer be tolerated.  The right to speak does not grant you the right to be heard, nor does it give you the right to impose your "freedom" on the freedom of others.

Like any problem, this one will not go away if the good people of the world choose to do nothing.  I'm tired of seeing people shamed on forums simply for not "knowing" something they're "supposed" to know.  I'm fed up with hearing about the hate poured on people just for having a dissenting opinion.  But, most of all, I'm sick of seeing a tool for unification and liberation being used as a means of excluding those who don't kneel before its alter and submit to the iron-fisted rule of the people with the loudest megaphone. 

If anything I've said has ever motivated you to do something new, please let it be this: Do not stand for this behavior anymore.  Refuse to play by the rules of those who don't even understand them.  Do not let what should be the greatest melting pot on Earth turn into a stagnant sewer.  Help us all make the internet the inclusive "miracle" the world so desperately needs now.

I'm Trevor, and that's my Frame of Mind.