Mass Media Messages Through Gaming

Happy New Year and Cheers to you and yours!

This holiday season I shifted gears and bought a television into my home. Since then, my son and I have enjoyed hours of Netflix and video games!

On Netflix, we have been watching Cheers, the 1982 sitcom that takes place in a bar in Boston.

We finished the first season yesterday and we were both very much satisfied with it. It was funny and provocative.

Within the first season, Cheers had episodes on marriage, feminism, masculinity, racism, dating, homophobia and alcoholism. Thirty years later, theses issues are still important to discuss in mainstream media.





On our PS3, we have been playing Star Wars Legos together, and we are about 70% of the way done.

When I am working on my computer, I sometimes look over at him playing Resident Evil 5, and I can't help but to wonder how race and gender play out in video games.

In Resident Evil, the main character, who is a man, appears as muscular and the second character, who is a woman, is scantily clad, and both of whom are light-skinned.

You might notice in the poster that the male character is facing forward.  This is a typical stance for men in ads.  Please also notice the female character is facing to the side, but her body is facing backwards.  And more to the point, her butt is facing forwards in an enticing (vs. menacing) stance.

In Star Wars Legos, most of the characters are male with only a few female characters sprinkled in. When the game first starts, the characters that are automatically selected for both controllers are always male and light-skinned.

You can see the cover of the video game here with 9 male characters displayed and one female character.  All of the human characters that are not masked are presumably white. The one female takes centerstage with her right eye winking, her lips kissing, and her outfit ready to entice!

These are just my observations on two games in my own home. However, I am not alone in this discovery.  Below is a video put together by Feminist Frequency: Anita Sarkeesian.  She has compiled characters from video games and made some interesting discoveries.   
 
Please watch the video to learn about how she is discovering the tropes in videogames and what you can do to support her work.

BTW, tropes = a theme.

 

 

3 Gifts/Resolutions: Presence, Clarity and Openess

I am a college professor by trade, and as the semester draws to a close, I am feeling tired and weary. Any like many people around this time of the year, I am reflecting back on what I have done and what I want to do in the near future. So although New Year's is still a few weeks away, I created a simple list of resolutions/gifts for myself.

1. Be Present

When I am interrupted by someone, sometimes I forget to be present with that person.  I am eager to multitask and divide my attention between that person and what I am currently working on.  Sometimes I think that I am a PC with Windows.  I think I can run an application in the background while working on another program in the foreground.

I am renewing my commitment to do only one thing at a time.  I may be a little less efficient, but I will be more engaged and present!

When I am interrupted by someone, I will either stop and give them my full attention or ask them to wait until I am at a stopping point in my work. 

2. Be Clear About Being UnClear

Sometimes I make decisions when I am confused or not sure what the best answer is.  In those times, I feel an internal pressure to make a decision and thus come up short.

My goal is to give myself permission to be comfortable in the unknown gray areas.  I will answer IDK in moment of uncertainty rather than force an answer. 

3. Be Open

For a long time, being organized, linear in my thinking, and in control helped me.  I was able to go to school and work full-time at the same time and keep my sanity.  Being organized helped me organize over 250 events including retreats, workshops, and parties.

Now, I am adopting a new way of living where I am less likely to be in control and be more open to going with the flow regardless of the pace.  I am committed to learning the fun in letting go and accepting what is right in front of me.  And with a few weeks off from work, that will prove to be quite a time to practice this resolution.

I hope these are commitments that I will uphold for the duration of the year and then some.  May you enjoy the holiday season and also have the opportunity to be present, clear and open as well!

 

Minnie, Smurfette and Jane

In a recent post, I shared my discovery of Mickey Mouse's whiteness.

From there, I started to wonder about the gender differences between Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

I started to think about her name, Minnie.  Calling a female character "mini" and then giving her a supporting versus a lead role to my mind is unfair and sexist.

And this inequity can be found in many other cartoons as well. Smurfs is a great example of this. Each character is named after his talent or special characteristic. For example, Brainy Smurf is very smart. However, Smurfette, the first female smurf, has a name that refers to her as less than, like Minnie. Is that her talent? Why is the first female smurf's name diminutive?

Boys and girls deserve to see more equity in their cartoons as well as in their formative years. And there is some good work being done to help create more balance in children's media.

Please check out www.seejane.com for more information.

Below, please meet Jane.

Mickey Mouse: Racism in Plain Sight

This weekend, I took a nice drive up the Hudson Valley to attend my friends' engagement party in Monroe, NY. Driving north on I-87, I was struck by the natural, beautiful and bountiful colors of the fall leaves. The gathering of family and friends at the party was nice and intimate, and yet, I was engaged with a picture hanging in the corner of the rented room.  This picture was of a firefighter and Mickey Mouse. 

 

My curiosity grew as I stared at this picture (featured above).  I wondered for a second what real mice looked like.  Searching through the images in my mind, I only saw mice whose faces matched the rest of their fur.  However, Mickey Mouse was a black mouse whose face was either white or creamed colored.  Curious!

 

Some quick research with Wikipedia told me that this design was intentional.  Mickey’s face was originally white and later redesigned with Caucasian skin tone.  Certainly, Mickey’s creators are very much allowed to make their own artistic choices, but I can’t help but to notice how race was an intentional choice made in the early 1900’s.

 

For most of my life, I thought that racism was about direct insults or exclusion.  However, after looking at Mickey once again, I am wondering if racism in America is more insidious and hidden from plain sight in cartoons and household names like Mickey Mouse. 

 

I spent 38 years thinking of Mickey as a dear childhood friend, not realizing that his face was painted with racial overtones.

 

This made me question a few things:

1.      Why did Mickey have to have a white or Caucasian face with a black body?

2.      How many cartoons characters have I loved and cherished and not noticed that they are depicted as "white."

3.      How many cartoon characters reflect positive images of people of color?

 

I shared my discovery with a few people at the party.  They were all polite enough to indulge me with some interest, and we continued to honor the engagement of our friends.  We ate, laughed, and celebrated the afternoon away. 

 

Driving away, I felt happy for my friends. 

 

As I traveled back down the Hudson Valley, I noticed the colors of the sky in the sunset and the hues of the leaves falling onto the highway.  I became more aware of the colors in our world, and I made a wish. 

 

I whispered out to the Hudson River, “May mainstream American images reflect the natural, bountiful and beautiful colors of all people as we move towards a world where even some cartoon characters aren’t more privileged than others simply based on their skin tone.”

Thanksgiving/Day of Mourning: Looking Beyond the Myths

It has been over 5 years since I celebrated any commercialized holidays in a traditional manner. Out of all the holidays, Thanksgiving, has been the most difficult holiday for me.

Personally, I still long for a familial connection as well as yearn for foods that feed my soul.  But alas, my family disowned me in my youth, and as a vegan, I am heartbroken to hear about all the turkeys that have been slaughtered for this holiday (some estimates states over 40 million).

Culturally, I long for a connection between the myths I learned in grade school and the truth about Thanksgiving. 

Today, I mourned the loss of my family, tradition, and innocence.  I reflected, forgave, and re-searched.  My feelings are mixed as I honor the history of my life and that of my country. Both are rich, complex and also painful.  And because, or inspite, of that history, I am here. 

As the night grows nearer, I feel empowered to share one video I screened that might help you also make the connection to our history.  Please watch, enjoy, and repost.

Oh, and may you enjoy your Thanksgiving/Day of Mourning!

Below is the video: Native Americans Mark Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving: "We are not Vanishing, We Are Not Conquered"

 

Link to Video

Conscious Choices

Everyday we get to make a bevy of choices. Many are made without thinking.  Some choices happen out of habit, while others are influenced by systematic oppression through the pressure and reptition of the media. 

In my lifetime, I have said over and over again, "I should have thought that through," or "I didn't think about that," or "It was by accident."

So, for today, my intention is clear.  I will aim to make as many intentional and conscious choices so to avoid making choices that I later regret.  This will make many of my choices to reflect my deepest values.  At the end of the day, I intend to be able to say, "I did that on purpose."

May you enjoy the opportunity to do the same.

PrideWorks? Yes it Does!

As a birthday present to my son, I invited him to participate and volunteer at an LGBTQ focused conference in Tarrytown, NY. There, we were lucky enough to spend the day learning and sharing with hundreds of other LGBTQ youth and straight allies.

This annual conference is called PrideWorks, and oh does it! I heard a central theme throughout the day, which was, "If we lived in a more accepting, tolerant and loving culture that encourages everyone to take pride in their innate beauty, then we would have less suicides, truancy, alcoholism, and other self injurious behaviors." One example of that is that studies show that any school that has a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) builds confidence and pride in their students because the students feel like they belong and are supported.

As my son and I, who both identify as gay, walked out of the conference, I wished him "happy birthday" once more with my arm over his shoulders. He was beaming with pride thinking about his participation in the day's work and said, "You know, I think pride really does work!"

You bet it does.

How have you helped a young person feel a sense of pride this month? Please reply below.