Meanwhile, on the other end of this spectrum but still in the same pool, we have libs writing articles about female character is sexist that horseshoe their way to being sexist themselves.
Like that recent Polygon article about Malenia. They argue that because she is shown naked, she is being sexualized. You know, because women's bodies are inherently sexual and couldn't possibly have meaningful significance because there is no such thing.
Malenia’s first death triggers her final transformation into the Goddess of Scarlet Rot, and she emerges triumphantly from her blossom to spread tragically beautiful wings of skin, rot, and butterflies. She is no longer clad in armor, and the camera does a long, slow reveal of her nakedness. Her body is crusted over with rot, and yet reveals her breasts and genitals being as smooth as a doll’s. It evokes a confusing mixture of fear and titillation, complicating the act of regarding her body. Her lack of protection does not feel like a vulnerability but a challenge.
The bravado about beating Malenia makes sense; she evokes the idea of a virginal warrior like Joan of Arc or Brienne of Tarth, her purity and strength existing in a place beyond femininity. Her aesthetic references Athena or valkyries, but even when that is stripped away, her nakedness is terrifying rather than provocative. Everything about her is hostile and taunts the player. When faced with a difficult, defiant woman who has never been beaten, men cannot help but fantasize about being the one to take her down. (Or at least be in the room when it happens.)
If the article premise is "Malenia embodies FromSoftware's problem with women," and the conclusion is that players feel sexual gratification from defeating a female boss, then the only inbetween is that Malenia was sexualized at some point. The implication is thus her nudity sexualized her.
You should know that headlines are chosen by the editor, not the writer.
The problems the writer finds with From's games aren't that the women are sexualized. She never says the games themselves sexualize the women in them. Her correctly pointing out that men have sexualized defeating Malenia is not her saying the game sexualizes her. There is no implication that nudity sexualized the character to think that is what she said is to ignore the actual contents of the article.
Meanwhile, on the other end of this spectrum but still in the same pool, we have libs writing articles about female character is sexist that horseshoe their way to being sexist themselves.
Like that recent Polygon article about Malenia. They argue that because she is shown naked, she is being sexualized. You know, because women's bodies are inherently sexual and couldn't possibly have meaningful significance because there is no such thing.
deleted by creator
Its so fucking frustrating to see men writing articles like that. But I think I'd be more frustrated if it were written by a woman.
deleted by creator
That's the opposite of what the article said.
It seems like the opposite, until we reach the last sentence of that paragraph- at which point it becomes exactly what I described.
Her analysis is that men sexualize defeating the character. Not that the character is inherently sexualized because of nudity.
If the article premise is "Malenia embodies FromSoftware's problem with women," and the conclusion is that players feel sexual gratification from defeating a female boss, then the only inbetween is that Malenia was sexualized at some point. The implication is thus her nudity sexualized her.
You should know that headlines are chosen by the editor, not the writer.
The problems the writer finds with From's games aren't that the women are sexualized. She never says the games themselves sexualize the women in them. Her correctly pointing out that men have sexualized defeating Malenia is not her saying the game sexualizes her. There is no implication that nudity sexualized the character to think that is what she said is to ignore the actual contents of the article.