Right from the start, the Feminist Frequency videos present an interesting, understandable, and thought provoking stance on the role of women in video games. Anita makes it clear that she wants to dissect the video game's cultural elements while STILL enjoying the game.
For me, at least, this was a welcome change. It seems that some feminism/gender role material is really just a superiority contest, with neither side willing to even admit some enjoyment in the other gender's company. These ultra-opinionated circles spend all their time searching out things that they can blow up into some huge deal, even if it really wasn't meant to be a big issue. This is not true with Feminist Frequency. Instead of ragging on all the games and telling every viewer to boycott the company, the system, and the game itself, she says that it is okay to just enjoy the game since, hey, that is what it was created for. She also reminds us to just make sure that we are aware of the tropes being used and the dangers supporting and living out these tropes present to society.
This really adds a bit of maturity to everything else she says. She isn't just some kid telling us to throw away our childhood; she is pointing out how horrid the stereotype of the weak woman and the macho man are to society (as well as how creepy it is to have a robotic arm that is actually one's wife). Really, the "damsel in distress" trope is harmful to both genders. It weakens the woman while also making it out that every single guy in the universe has to save a girl if he is to be proven a man. Even worse, it can be happening subconsciously, as I realized in Part 2 when she talked about how guys may subconsciously feel the "perfect" woman is someone they have to save, kill, or brutalize. Now, I am not a guy so I honestly have to ask . . . is that true? Do you want to have a girl you constantly have to save or someone who turns into a demon vampire and tries to kill you?
This could easily be flipped over on girls, too. I mean, we all read or watched Twilight at some point, and there are a plethora of other "monster"-man/human-girl stories out there. Subconsciously, are we now searching for some guy who possesses those qualities? Are we now drawn to ultra possessive, paranoid guys who could kill us at any moment? Going back to video games, are we secretly all masochists who think that yeah, we could totally die as a symbol of loss-of-innocence or some other crazy crud like that?
Or did we take away no deeper meaning than enjoyment of the game?
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