Posted in Education, Gaming the System, Teaching Tricks, The Electronic Age, tagged Blaming the Victim, College Humor, Mario Goes to College, Nintendo U, Video Games, Vulnerability and Frequency of Capture on January 28, 2010|
People who want to be accountants, chemists, and sociologists aren’t the only ones who go to college. College Humor has dug up the college schedules of video game stars Mario, Link, and Fox McCloud. I am glad that the course on “Woman Studies: Vulnerability and Frequency of Capture” includes an attempt at prevention, though this seems to be a prime example of blaming the victim.
Posted in Gaming the System, Popular Press, Race, tagged NY Post, Penny Arcade, Race, Racism, Resident Evil 5, Scatterplot, Video Games on February 23, 2009|
Last week Shamus posted the above NY Post cartoon on scatterplot, which the editor of the Post claimed “is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy” but I argued was “a clear parody of two unrelated things, which we tie together with racial subtext.” This has been discussed everywhere, but for another sociological take you can check out the racism review. The same day, Penny Arcade posted the following comic:
The above comic is referring to the depiction of African villagers in the upcoming Resident Evil 5 video game, which is also discussed here. Connecting these topics is the notion that one’s interpretation of each is affected by the history of racism in the United States and, likely, one’s racial experience. It seems that a broader portrayal of African Americans in the popular culture would be a good way to begin weakening these associations.
Posted in Gaming the System, Race, tagged Race, Video Games on February 14, 2009| 1 Comment »
Darion White on the portrayal of African American video game characters:
Black characters in video games aren’t difficult to find, but rare is the well-rounded and positive black protagonist. Black characters in games habitually range from stereotypical to non-existent. In contrast, black gamers consume a great deal of the medium and are a vastly growing and contributing demographic in the community. Why not create and implement characters that are actually relatable or who boast innovative societal behaviors?
Additional views on race in video games can be found here and, of course, here.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | ||
Memoirs of a SLACer 