Hey quick question, I played a bit of Myst years ago and barely remember anything. I came across a petition asking for the cancellation of a potential Myst film adaptation because the series is sexist, due to it employing sexist tropes like the damsel in distress and whatnot. They mainly disliked the 2nd and 4th games (the 4th was apparently made by Ubisoft though), but they more or less stated that the whole franchise was tainted. Is there any validity to this critique? I could post the petition if anyone is curious.
All the Myst games I remember involve you rescuing people trapped in books/prisons. The first game is rescuing the dude that writes the books, second is his wife, fourth one was his daughter I think? His sons are also trapped, but for good reasons. It kinda runs in the family.
I think the nature of it as a puzzle game means you kinda have to do everything alone. Seems like it would make a really terrible movie, but I don't recall them being super sexist. It has been a while, though.
Riven: Catherine is a prisoner, but she has an army of badasses who think of her as a divinity and she's not so much in distress as "trapped by Book Dad's Dad on a collapsing world and needs an exit to Book Dad before the place implodes". She does, and then the player falls into a hole in the universe and floats forever. The books further expand on her being a sexy genius who's also basically a paragon of virtue. I get the sense that one of the Miller brothers was a wife guy.
Exile: No one is in distress except the antagonist, and that's resolved if you get the good ending.
Revelation: Yeesha is arguably in distress, but really she's being used as a bargaining chip in a scheme perpetrated by one of her brothers. She appears in the beginning as a precocious know-it-all and at the end as a precocious know-it-all who learned something about family maybe? She's only a damsel in the most literal sense because she's like 12.
End of Ages: This one basically start's with Book Dad's suicide note. Yeesha has succumbed to the madness that runs in her family, but she's a framing device rather than someone you're trying to rescue. There's only one good ending and it's pretty good in the context of how fucked this family has been to the multiverse.
I dunno any of the Uru stuff offhand, so I guess it's possible that they have sexist themes, but my takeaway from the Myst canon is that women are basically the only reason that the men in this terrible family haven't just wound up dead. Book Dad literally almost dies as a child from volcano-poisoned celery or something and is only saved by the cat his grandma gives him which eats it first, and the only reason they weren't starving to death in the first place is that she spent all day painting and growing herbs and trading with traveling merchants around the New Mexico desert. Yes, that New Mexico.
The strongest themes in the Myst series are "DADS FUCKING SUCK" and the madness that inevitably results from studying The Art (the special D'ni practice of creating linking books to other branches on the world tree, these links followed by touching a moving image plate like the one suggested by the image in the post).
I dont THINK so, but I'm going to make the disclaimer that I've only played 1, and will re-read the synopsis of the others on wikipedia every few months out of nostalgia. I could VERY easily be wrong.
It seems to me like they're more just attacking the damsel in distress trope? Which is fair, but like Idk, without being super familiar with #2 I can't really say much more.
From someone who is familiar with #2 (Riven), I think the accusation is horseshit. Catherine (the supposed helpless damsel in distress) has been taken hostage because she rallied the native Rivenese to rebel against Gehn. She's a political revolutionary.
Gehn (the villain) embraces the godlike white savior image towards the native people to oppress them under his rule. He presents himself as a deity with incredible powers because he can sort of write books that link to other universes. He has gained loyal allies that have helped him subjugate the Rivenese. Gehn however despite his Wizard of Oz act is nothing of the sort and is in fact trapped in Riven and the one age he barely managed to write a successful book to.
Atrus (Husband of Cathrine and son of Gehn), is a masterful dni writer is actually actively repairing the failing Riven age while you work to rescue his wife and capture Gehn.
I never got the impression that she was a helpless person anymore than anyone else in her situation. She isn't a dumb pretty girl that begs the heroic player character for help. She isn't even a love interest that is dangled in front of the main character like a piece of meat or a prize to be won. She's depicted as a cunning person when you meet her, and she helps you with information for you mission. You can even complete the game without saving her, though it is one of the many bad endings.
Riven is one of my favorite games ever and the only thing that it has in common with the damsel in distress trope is the fact that its a woman being held captive by a man.
That was basically my impression. I’ve always been curious about the series but never got around to giving it a proper go, so I wanted to hear peoples’ takes around here
Hey quick question, I played a bit of Myst years ago and barely remember anything. I came across a petition asking for the cancellation of a potential Myst film adaptation because the series is sexist, due to it employing sexist tropes like the damsel in distress and whatnot. They mainly disliked the 2nd and 4th games (the 4th was apparently made by Ubisoft though), but they more or less stated that the whole franchise was tainted. Is there any validity to this critique? I could post the petition if anyone is curious.
All the Myst games I remember involve you rescuing people trapped in books/prisons. The first game is rescuing the dude that writes the books, second is his wife, fourth one was his daughter I think? His sons are also trapped, but for good reasons. It kinda runs in the family.
I think the nature of it as a puzzle game means you kinda have to do everything alone. Seems like it would make a really terrible movie, but I don't recall them being super sexist. It has been a while, though.
Myst: The only person in distress is Book Dad.
Riven: Catherine is a prisoner, but she has an army of badasses who think of her as a divinity and she's not so much in distress as "trapped by Book Dad's Dad on a collapsing world and needs an exit to Book Dad before the place implodes". She does, and then the player falls into a hole in the universe and floats forever. The books further expand on her being a sexy genius who's also basically a paragon of virtue. I get the sense that one of the Miller brothers was a wife guy.
Exile: No one is in distress except the antagonist, and that's resolved if you get the good ending.
Revelation: Yeesha is arguably in distress, but really she's being used as a bargaining chip in a scheme perpetrated by one of her brothers. She appears in the beginning as a precocious know-it-all and at the end as a precocious know-it-all who learned something about family maybe? She's only a damsel in the most literal sense because she's like 12.
End of Ages: This one basically start's with Book Dad's suicide note. Yeesha has succumbed to the madness that runs in her family, but she's a framing device rather than someone you're trying to rescue. There's only one good ending and it's pretty good in the context of how fucked this family has been to the multiverse.
I dunno any of the Uru stuff offhand, so I guess it's possible that they have sexist themes, but my takeaway from the Myst canon is that women are basically the only reason that the men in this terrible family haven't just wound up dead. Book Dad literally almost dies as a child from volcano-poisoned celery or something and is only saved by the cat his grandma gives him which eats it first, and the only reason they weren't starving to death in the first place is that she spent all day painting and growing herbs and trading with traveling merchants around the New Mexico desert. Yes, that New Mexico.
The strongest themes in the Myst series are "DADS FUCKING SUCK" and the madness that inevitably results from studying The Art (the special D'ni practice of creating linking books to other branches on the world tree, these links followed by touching a moving image plate like the one suggested by the image in the post).
I dont THINK so, but I'm going to make the disclaimer that I've only played 1, and will re-read the synopsis of the others on wikipedia every few months out of nostalgia. I could VERY easily be wrong.
This is the petition for context
It seems to me like they're more just attacking the damsel in distress trope? Which is fair, but like Idk, without being super familiar with #2 I can't really say much more.
From someone who is familiar with #2 (Riven), I think the accusation is horseshit. Catherine (the supposed helpless damsel in distress) has been taken hostage because she rallied the native Rivenese to rebel against Gehn. She's a political revolutionary.
Gehn (the villain) embraces the godlike white savior image towards the native people to oppress them under his rule. He presents himself as a deity with incredible powers because he can sort of write books that link to other universes. He has gained loyal allies that have helped him subjugate the Rivenese. Gehn however despite his Wizard of Oz act is nothing of the sort and is in fact trapped in Riven and the one age he barely managed to write a successful book to.
Atrus (Husband of Cathrine and son of Gehn), is a masterful dni writer is actually actively repairing the failing Riven age while you work to rescue his wife and capture Gehn.
I never got the impression that she was a helpless person anymore than anyone else in her situation. She isn't a dumb pretty girl that begs the heroic player character for help. She isn't even a love interest that is dangled in front of the main character like a piece of meat or a prize to be won. She's depicted as a cunning person when you meet her, and she helps you with information for you mission. You can even complete the game without saving her, though it is one of the many bad endings.
Riven is one of my favorite games ever and the only thing that it has in common with the damsel in distress trope is the fact that its a woman being held captive by a man.
That was basically my impression. I’ve always been curious about the series but never got around to giving it a proper go, so I wanted to hear peoples’ takes around here
Gonna be honest that's kind of a dumb/comedic op petition