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We.
Video game blows shed sweet tears
when female sidekicks die,
why do women often wind up in dangerous
situations in video game narratives?
Why do they die so dramatically?
And where do they actually go when they
passed away in
remembrance of videogame history's
losers?
Jennifer commemorates Female Legacy
in a Didactic Life James seminar.
All right.
Does that work?
Does it work? Nice.
All right, thank you for that really
dramatic introduction.
And yes,
it will begin now.
Audio input,
please.
Thanks.
Storytelling has often favorite
characters that innately represent
privileges.
The prominent untarnished, white, cis
male figure remains the perpetual
focus and hero of most narratives.
However, these narratives
devote little or no attention to
the sacrifices and deaths
of women who often only bolster
the hero's exposure and victory.
What happens to them after the credits?
Do we simply forget about them?
Today, I'm here to tell the story of
history's losers, to remind us
of the legacy and commemorate the loss.
But now, so it is actually me,
Jennifer Fat, and I'm
just like, you see, I'm a producer
of music and a fashion model.
So I'm a and also a local anesthetic
of tranquil dreams and unfulfilled
desires.
So what
is going on today?
I will be your guide through this lecture
of commemorating all
the female heroines
in video game history.
I don't know if any one of you
played a video game, but I highly
think so.
So we're just going to start
with
a video game.
A classic video game design
choice that often
happens in our RPGs, which is
Role-Playing Games, often hailing from
Japan.
So what happens here?
We see a flower
field suspended in an endless horizon,
and we often see this setting
in RPGs like Final
Fantasy series.
Do you know that one like?
Yeah, probably, right?
All the tales off series and the older,
and also in the newer entries to that
series.
There are often females
in flower fields,
and it's often a glossy HD
cut scene, and they try to
really catch the flower petals that rain
from above. I can't do that right now
because the screen is really
too big, but
for many females, it's their only chance
to really feel themselves until
the cuts soon fade out.
So the flower field
is really like a cliched setting
to to really show that women
really don't have a story in
like they don't have a place in the
narrative. But being that
passive creature who's just like,
suspended, like wobbling
here and just
waiting for something to happen, just
waiting until they catch a,
yeah, a leaf or something, I don't know.
I don't, I don't know.
And actually, I'm not a woman myself, so
I really don't know how women feel there.
So let me just put that there.
So what are we going to do now?
We leave the story here behind.
We leave the this
pathetically romantic setting of the
flower field and just.
Go down because there's not much choice,
you can just go down here
and leave this place
and enter the place where all the women
lie after they died
in the cemetery.
So I created this place to commemorate
all the women who died in video game.
Mister, what's wrong with the lights?
Can't you decide?
OK, so
what are we going to do now is?
I'm going to give you theoretical
knowledge about reasons for women
to die
in video game narrative.
So first
and I forgot something because I brought
you something really special,
which is this is the official strategy
guide for the game called
Never Forgetting, and we're not
going to use this camera.
I think I'm just going to read it out so
we can make a little.
Let's read.
So the first reason for women to die
really is the push therapy.
And I'm just going to read it out because
it's much more concise than I could ever
put so and heteronormative
storylines Masculine Femmes
have no place.
Their sexual preferences causes them
to not be interested in the leading male
character
who's often the macho,
which in turn makes it too difficult for
for narratives to address the complex
female personalities that don't
exclusively revolve around
romance solution.
They die, or they surrender to
male flirt attacks and turn straight.
So we have a classical military
gay conversion in
this example here, which is
married Gainsborough from Metal Gear
Solid, a game
that is very, very popular
in the early 2000s, if not
even like around 2000.
Well, it was a banger, and it's a really
good game. So what happened to morale
like morale is a really strong
bush, as you can see.
Look, she has a really
big biceps and
like, there's even an anchor.
So we again have like a really cliched
notion of a really masculine femme,
like she has an anchor heel like a
pirate, like she's not a pirate.
She's in the military,
whatever.
So what happened to Meryl
that any one of you play Metal Gear
Solid?
Very good.
So a Metal Gear Solid Merrill
was first like that proud lesbian who was
really not getting on like she
was not getting with the main protagonist
called Snake, something that is like
snake. I mean, that's really obvious
that it's something phallic
and.
So she was not really getting with him,
and she was like, Hey, I'm a proud
lesbian, I don't need to like, I'm strong
by myself. And in the end of the story,
like she was really turned against
this protagonist by OPSEC genetically
gifted
special troop guy.
And he was like making her
turn against the main protagonist.
And everyone was like, Yeah, finally,
like a boss
fight is going to happen.
And the only way you can
like really defeat this boss is you
have to bitch slap the shit out of Meryl
until she falls unconscious.
So the game really forces you to, like,
indulge into domestic violence,
which is rather odd, I would say.
So much to.
And there's also a storyline arc which
she dies, so we have the we
are back to the to what this
kind of presentation is all about.
So the next grave is the neo Christian
martyrdom,
and I will explain to you with
the help of this very concise
strategy guide what
the neo Christian martyrdom is all about.
So it is quite simple.
An imminent apocalypse is avoided
through a dramatic sacrifice of
everyone's favorite female character.
Did our girls really just die so
that man could revel in their happy
ending?
Question mark.
And here we probably have the most iconic
heroine who ever like spoiler,
but it's 2018, so it's almost
2019. So you should know this
is aerith Gainsborough, who died in Final
Fantasy seven, so she will step
by this, really?
So here's a hair, I have to get rid of
that.
So she was stabbed in the back by
a guy wielding a 20 meter
long katana, it's really 20 meter long.
So like.
Well, it ranges from like
two meter to 20 like just
depends on how exaggerated the
fanboys put it.
But it's a really long katana, and she's
again impaled by something
very phallic.
And it seems
to be a common thing to be
causing deaths of women.
So,
yeah, and here she is, kind of put to
her wet grave.
And this is also the only
time in history where
the hardest gaming bro like really
the toughest man was allowed to cry
because this was heartbreak and guy's
heart.
Shattering.
So here's a little Easter egg.
It just says where we are a place of
remembrance dot dot dot.
It has nothing to do with the storyline.
It's just we are here.
So the next
calls for women to die
is the hetero future.
Teen Marriage
Motherhood House works powerful
magic or sword wielding, femmes
turned domestic and are deprived
of any agency in their post
ending story arc fantasy.
So after the game, divorce
is usually not considered.
Because the game ended already.
What we have here is Celeste,
a sword wielding fan of
Final Fantasy six, so she used to be a
genetically modified
general of the Imperial Army
until she really in off
badly with our main protagonist again.
And it's a really it's not
reciprocated by him because
he is still in love with his deceased
wife.
So we have a really strange
triangle going on there.
And there's also a really intricate like
I really recommend playing this game
because there's a really intricate
bondage scene, like a
12 bit bond, 16 bit like
the graphics at 16, right?
Like these pixelated, just like these
backgrounds. I mean, it's like, I don't
know how many bits, but
so we see soldiers again,
bitch slapping her on tight on a wall.
So we really have that sexual thing going
on there between the soldiers and her.
And then she's freed and subsequently
falls in love with the main protagonist.
So she really owes him his life.
At the end, it is heavily hinted
that they marry, which kind of equals
like dropping
dead because as we all know,
like most,
most accidents happen in the households.
So it
is per, say, a very
dangerous situation she's getting in.
I don't find that funny.
I don't know why you're laughing.
Actually, I do.
So the last
chapter here in this scenario
is being a royal errors.
So
let me just read it up to your princess
is once more in another castle.
There, she suffers from royal
inhibitions, aristocratic power
structures and potentially curses
her children with the same fate of royal
succession.
So we have many, many, many
examples of princesses that
get like abducted all the time
or that, like, almost
die. But here I have the most prominent
one, which is Princess Di.
Oh, it's great, Kelly.
Sorry, Grace Kelly.
So Grace Kelly, just like Princess
Di, died in a car accident
when, like strange constellations
between her, her husband
and another Monegasque.
Yeah, noble man or someone
who just hangs out there, he hangs out in
Monaco, he just has the money for that.
So that happened there and
she had to die in a car crash, just like
Lady Di.
It's really ominous because it seems
to be again, rather recurring
theme.
So after we have that?
Now there's an interactive part.
Sure, you've been waiting for this, so.
But I have fear.
I hope you brought Pence because I
didn't.
So what we're going to be doing now is
everyone takes a.
A postcard
and what is really handy about,
yeah, just random people.
One here, one there.
There are not enough for everyone because
I didn't believe this room was so frickin
big.
So.
If you look at the back side
of the postcards, you can see
first on the bottom right, my website,
which is conveniently placed
to your satisfaction.
What I want you to do right now, though,
is to write down your thoughts
about what would you tell these
people like these women who
died for no reason ever to just
make the story a bit more dramatic?
What would you want to
let them know if you could?
So actually, it's a little commemorative
note that
I want you to think about.
I really hope you brought pants.
I think one minute it's surprising.
And in the meanwhile, we can really
listen to this soothing track.
By the way,
I kind of did all the music for this.
But just like the backgrounds, I stole
half of it.
To these microphones work.
Yeah.
The microphones on the sides.
Who's in charge?
We'll just try
to work, yeah.
Perfect.
I think we can go now.
Right.
Did you think about something you would
want to tell them or or just
any thoughts about what you wish?
Go to the Mike, please.
And.
So much collaboration.
And the
great.
Yeah, I thought it's going to be the Don.
Hello. It's not working.
Now. Yeah.
Yeah, actually, I thought it's going to
be anonymous, so.
Oh, sorry to shatter
your illusion?
Yeah. Wanting to be a.
So I
wrote, Stay strong.
You will always be most loved and
objectified.
Also, thanks for being
my secret lesbian queer crush as an
awkward teenager.
Can you repeat that last part?
You will always be.
I said also, thanks for being my
secret lesbian queer crush as an awkward
teenager.
Thank you
for.
My secret list.
Teen crush absolutely love it.
There was one thing I really like
did not understand because he said like,
stay strong, but they're they're freaking
debt, so it's like, what does it do to
them? So but
I love the last part because no one ever
said to them, like, you're just a hot
girl or you're just a hot femme
in the storyline.
So that's really good.
I never saw that somewhere.
Oh, yeah, that's more, yeah.
Put your microphone.
OK, Jim, I'm
I'm sorry for your death, maybe you will
not be forgotten and maybe you get reborn
in a different video game with better
chances.
But who's like, maybe we should
think about the authorship of
the new video game, like who is going to
make these video games?
Maybe you and me?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Are those so kind,
thank you.
Well, because
I'm rather humble, I
would say we
hope that.
An elderly lesbian
produces.
Your next video game.
Because that's also probably be cool.
OK, next one,
I think we're good after that, though.
Hi, ladies. Come back us zombies kick
the shit out of the guys who bitch
slapped you.
You kick the shit out of the guys who
bitch slapped you. Yep.
Don't forget this about the zombie.
Yeah, they should come back as zombies,
it wouldn't work if they're just dead.
I mean, they have to come back a soul
mate.
Return as zombies.
Yep.
Amazing.
All right.
What do you have to say to them?
You are not a dramatic device, but a
person in your own right.
No one can ever take that away from you.
Heaven seems to be like a pretty male one
place so you can leave the stick dangling
peeks behind a do your thing and
find some more appreciating company
funds.
Phantom God.
Some more appreciating company.
Yes.
I also do wish that for
these women, nice.
What we shouldn't forget is that it's
also like even more so
in video games, it's not there,
it's not within their agency to really
find their their peer group
because they only have a set amount of
characters that are like just
builds.
To make the lives of women hard,
so I'm not going to add anything, but
thank you for your contribution was
really nice.
All right. We have to speed it up, I
think.
So I'm saying this
to them.
This didn't have to happen.
It's not your fault.
Your destiny was written
by a greater power that you cannot
escape by God,
by a
man or by men.
Well, thank you for that.
All right. Last one.
Wrote a bit more, but I make it quick.
Yeah.
Or maybe the essence.
Um, if you would
Typekit you have to, you would have to
Typekit the following way.
Open brackets so
many, but not all, close
breakouts.
Hashtag men are trash, so let's
all head crushed patriarchal scripts
and video games.
A very interesting.
I do have to say, however,
I don't take orders from
people in the audience.
Thank you.
So with these words being said,
we leave.
The graveyards to find us
in a scenery that welcomes
us after a long day at the cemetery
where all the old people
hang out at
the cemetery café.
Here we can see old people enjoying
the coffee and cake.
Well, we learned something.
So
this person says,
Hey.
Why are you staring at me,
which is pretty accurate, because that is
not how communication works, like you're
not just staring at people, just waiting
for them to say something is up, right?
Right.
This is not how communication works, and
I would be offended by that to.
This woman does not know what Bush
means, does anyone not know what Bush
means?
Was that clear?
OK, to say it really like
in a very derogatory way?
Bush is like really
manly lesbian, like really masculine.
Like the first bush we saw was Merrill
with that anchor tattoo.
So you can really identify
Bush's by their anchor tattoo, obviously.
And actually, to be, quite frankly, I
don't give a damn
about what the others say.
Because we all know that these are really
like generic characters
that really don't have anything to say,
they don't even have a name.
So what are we going to do now
is I am going to perform
for the wrapping of this lecture.
A really conceptual
music piece.
That is about can we turn the lights a
bit slower and flick get in
the mood?
Can we do that?
Was that automatic?
Well, it is a song about women who
die in the Russian
roulette and
turn the volume up, please
excuse me.
Yeah, let it bang, it's a banger
louder, please.
Yeah.
Take.
And take a deep.
Calm yourself.
He says to me.
If you play.
Do you play for keeps?
Take the gun.
And count of three,
I'm sweating now.
A move in slow
mo time today.
My turn to go.
And you can see my.
My chair.
Say a prayer.
To you, sir.
She said.
Sometimes it.
And then looking.
A scary thought.
That is he.
Means he's now.
And you can see.
Oh, you can see
my child.
I know that I must.
This tells.
Just pull the trigger.
As my life flashes before
my.
I'm wondering what?
But it's too late to take up the
value.
Like, say.
And.
You heard my dad.
You can see.
Fox.
All that time must pass
this test.
The trigger.
And once again, I'm not
that I'm a man.
Thank you.
As the time
that was awesome.
Thank you.
OK.
So I think we will head straight
into the Q&A.
Yes, because
that was interactive and
seemingly interactive,
it was not.
So we've been we've been led along all
the way, right?
So we've been led along all the way.
Yeah, yeah. Of course I'm the moderator.
I said it. I'm your guide today and I'm
not going to be not editing
your stuff. You're going to tell me so.
All right.
So there's always a higher power at work.
Yeah.
OK. Is there anyone like cheeky
enough to?
Oh yes.
Yeah. Thank you for your presentation.
Very refreshing.
What I'd like to know is you chose
this miss for far to
do this show.
What would this presentation
have missed if you would have presented
this as a man?
A very good question.
I kind of like
actually, I hinted at a bit too much at
the end, I think there was a bit cheeky
like I think the
whole game is still through
the male gaze.
That's that's what you're asking, right?
Like, the whole game is
just because I'm here like dressed as a
woman and actually
I'm just wearing like a dress and
a wig. Like, I'm not even fully like,
I don't have boobs and stuff, but that
doesn't make a woman, either.
So, yeah,
it wouldn't have changed anything because
the game is still made by
someone who identifies as male.
Is that to your liking?
The answer, I mean, like,
no,
thank you.
Yes.
Oh, sorry.
So I'm
sorry. I came in a little bit late,
so I have no idea whatsoever if
you addressed that beforehand.
But many of us probably
have have seen and heard
and maybe contributed or maybe
blocked the Gamergate controversy.
Yeah, and all of that came
along with it with all the the online
harassment of of people
who of woman online,
of people who defended this woman.
And in the consequence
that is that has been going on for years
now. So in the consequence,
it happens now and then
that that game comes out where
you actually play feminine
character, maybe even a female character
or the other way around.
And what do you
think about that? Can we can we
hope for more
inclusiveness in that direction that
this these these rigid
to
these rigid male gaze scripts
that still determine how games
are developed are maybe
eased out a little bit so that
more diversity can take
place, more inclusiveness
and more
inclusion of all of the perspectives
and not just the cis had
a male gaze.
Oh yeah,
absolutely.
I think so much has happened
since 2012, and
I was, to be frank,
I was really not knowing
what happened back even until
2014 or something until someone
mentioned the Gamergate
is kind of, yeah, movement
to me.
And I think so
much has happened also in regard to
how we see games not only like
this little thing in the end
about putting characters in there and
old women like in the cemetery cafe
like old people
that would only be about identity,
like just because we have more old people
and video games doesn't make them more
inclusive, per se.
I would say, but
also how we think about the
mechanics of games itself.
Like this game, really
like, I don't enjoy playing it.
It's just a tool for me to
to convey what I want to say.
So it's actually an elaborate
PowerPoint presentation, if you will.
Um, yeah, but nothing more.
So games can.
The very mechanics of games can also
be like queried if you will.
Yeah,
OK.
A question from the internet.
What is the purpose of the
book?
Sorry, what was
your opinion on the newest that excluded
us through art?
What is it? What is that supposed to be
in hysterics?
I think that answers your question.
Well, that's art.
Like three, please.
Thank you.
There's a game that came out in the early
2000s that came
out in the in the early 2000s
called Siberia, and it has a very
strong female perspective
and and the hearing is
getting empowered as she's going through
the process of solving all the mysteries
and through the game.
And I was wondering if you're
keeping a secret collection of yours
as as a collection of
such games that have heroes
that get empowered through the game
narrative?
Yeah.
Um, actually
just the games I played as a child.
Like really these games I grew up with,
they had somehow an impact on
me. Like nowadays, I can filter
way more what's what is going on with
games. And um,
I think the really the
really bizarre thing about
about these games that I grew up with was
that I was kind of indoctrinated
by them. I just didn't question why
women die all the time or why women
only
ever talk about the one thing
which is love, not even sex.
It's just love.
And that really clichéd
concept, while men were always like,
blah blah blah, let's fight the baddies.
You will always be safe with me, blah
blah blah.
And I think
what really fascinates me about that is
that I kind of the.
Personally speaking, completely
took that into my personal
relationships, and
I think when you grew up with games and
really took them seriously,
you have to kind of or it's good
to emancipate you yourself from
from these notions, from these clichéd
notions. Otherwise it's.
Yeah. I mean, these games really did
something to me, not only
like good things.
Like, of course, I want someone who like
jumps in front of a bullet for me and and
stuff, right?
I mean, I'm sorry,
did I kind of diverge
from the question?
Oh, fucking sorry.
Um no, I don't keep
a catalog. Sorry.
OK. Mike, number one,
you talked about the game as an
elaborate PowerPoint presentation.
Yes. And I was wondering your
opinion on the future of game development
perhaps being used as a device for
performance, for what you think the
potential is for that?
Yeah, I'm not really
into the gaming.
Uh, how's it called the gaming industry
and I don't know much about it.
I also don't know much about like the
bureaucratic of of developing
games and publishing them.
But I think
these Triple-A studios that really
do big games like recently,
Fallout 76, if you heard about
that and they really fail at that
and really once loved
company like Bethesda, who
really did classics was like really
going down the drain and bad shit happens
with with games that have to
make a certain estimate
of million trillion,
I don't know, dollars,
I'm digressing again.
So what's my point?
Um, I think it's a it's a very good
evolution of of of what
games can be.
And games don't even have to
look pretty today to be nice.
Like all these, all these really popular
queer games or what you would
call queer games, they are indie titles,
and I'm kind of happy that Triple-A
titles really don't.
I don't really care for many
of them anymore because they were just
getting a bit greedy.
So I'm kind of looking forward what games
can do in the future.
Does that answer your question?
Sort of. I was wondering also
how the game is maybe
not so much meant for other people to
play as it is just for you to exactly
to present with. And I was wondering
what kind of genre of game you think
that is and if that's a genre of the
future, perhaps.
Yeah, yeah. Very good question
and a very keen
observation.
I would say this game
can actually not be played by you because
I didn't like uploaded and stuff.
But also, why would you play
Jennifer? Like, You're not Jennifer, so
I can only play myself right?
So I would say the genre would be
an extension.
Welcome to my fantasy world, people.
Yeah.
No, you can't play the game.
Sorry.
That's
OK. There are no more questions.
Thank you very much.
The one playable character, Jennifer
Part John Goglia.