Someone explain this one to me

Part of the fun in picking apart a fandom's inconsistencies is that the plot holes then open up the possibilities for fic, meta, and other assorted goodies. I'd written some pretty long articles for AFSM a while back, and they looked in on the parasitic nature of the Silver Crystal (uh, if you haven't caught on by now, this is a Sailor Moon thang). World of possibilities there.

Expanding on that and somewhat bringing in other elements... ( Oshiokiyo! )

Why, that's genderiffic!

Next week, my proposal for my JOUR 371 (Women, Men, and Media) class's "Media Deconstruction Project" is due. Originally, I wanted to do something with Internet/Technology, but at the last moment on the sign-up day, I changed my mind and went for video games. Two things in particular stuck in my head:

* Remember the GameGirl? That hideous pink-and-purple version of the GameBoy way back when? Obviously trying to pull that kind of thing now would cause a huge backlash... right? Would it cause the same issue if a "targeted toward girls" game came out? I doubt it.

* Final Fantasy X vs. Final Fantasy X-2. I remember asking a lot of my fellow gamer friends (guys and girls alike) which one they liked better; a lot of guys preferred X, while many girls I asked preferred X-2. Of course, there were always exceptions, or "well, I liked THIS game for THIS, but THAT game for THAT...."

It's ironic, too, because I remember when the game was about to debut, people assumed X-2 would be a big hit with the guys because... well, basically for all the fanservice. But instead, a lot of the guys I remember speaking to disliked the whole "dress-up" concept and the LACK of a linear gameplay.

Speaking for myself personally, I like X-2 a lot more because it's got Yuna breaking out of stereotypes. At the same time though, she's just conforming to gender stereotypes: she's got the need to be sexy, loved, and so on. She wants to prove she's more than just a summoner, more than the namesake of Yunalesca, etc. But she proves she's pretty weak emotionally: unprepared for living a real teenage life, essentially. But is it teenage, or teenage GIRL? The whole story revolves around her chasing after the possibility of Tidus being alive again, somehow, somewhere. There's certainly a point to be made in the fact that she KEEPS GOING even when she finds out Shuyin =/= Tidus, though.

Anyway, to the point:
(1) If you played either FFX or FFX-2 (or both), what did you think of the games? Why?

(2) Who were your favorite characters from either game? Why? If your character reappeared in FFX-2 and you played it, did you still like that character in FFX-2? Why or why not?

(3) Do you think FFX and FFX-2 are examples of how gender plays a role in the video game industry-- in terms of stereotypes, whether in-game (Yuna's personality, the dressphere system, etc.) or out-game (who the game is targeted toward).

(4) Can you think of any other examples of "gender stereotyping" in the video game industry, specifically relating to language (whether verbal or non-verbal)? For example, does the back of a game you own describe the female character as a "heroine"? Do you find that most female characters in games you own/play/have seen are healer/mage-types, rather than fighters?

(5) Any other comments?

More notes: I thought about comparing the intros to both FFX and FFX-2. In FFX, you've got Tidus raring up for the Blitzball game, cheered on by thousands of fans, adored... and in FFX-2, you've got Yuna dressed all sexy, dancing provocatively... it's only a few minutes into the game (and not technically part of the intro) that you realize that dancing!Yuna is not Yuna at all, and the real, ass-kicking Yuna shows up. In FFX, you've got this hero who is, from the start, an ass-kicker. But in FFX-2, the first image you have of "Yuna" is of a "hero" gone "pop star." She's not out there saving the world anymore, she's out there gaining fans. But even in FFX, Yuna was this pretty demure character-- unlike the real star/lead of the game, Tidus, who is boisterous, loud, etc. It's almost a double-standard. I say "almost," because it's revealed that Yuna really IS off doing her own thing (the whole sphere journey started out for herself, not as a desire to save the world again), and she IS pretty uppity in many ways. But two years and everything she went through doesn't change her COMPLETELY. She's still an emotional, very feminine representation throughout the games, compared to Rikku, who's the more tomboyish, bubbly girl, and Paine, who is pretty much the Auron + Lulu hybrid of FFX-2.

Are those good scenes to compare and examine? Or can you think of any others, even if they're from other games? (obviously, FMVs are best to work with, here).