Why Earthbound is a Misogynistic Game
Apr. 1st, 2013 04:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shamanicshayminI am a woman and I play video games. Today, we will be looking at a cult classic named Earthbound.
The series started in 1989 with the Japan-only release of a game called "Mother" for the Famicon, and Earthbound, known in Japan as "Mother 2", would be released on the Super NES in 1995. The final game in the series, "Mother 3", was released only in Japan on the Gameboy Advance. Initially, "Mother 3" was going to be on the Nintendo 64, but the project was canceled due to the release date being near the end of the system's life span, among other technical difficulties.
So how does a game originally called Mother objectify women?
Earthbound is an RPG that is different in a lot of ways. Instead of taking place in a fantasy world, you play across a world similar to modern day America, and instead of fighting wizards and goblins, you fight living trash cans and angry neighbors. Instead of a sword and shield, you fight with a bat and yo-yo, and you use hamburgers instead of potions to recover your health. You play as Ness, who you may recognize from the Super Smash Bros. series. Ness is a young boy with psychic powers who sets off to save the world from an evil cosmic force known as Giygas. Naturally, his mother and little sister are forced to stay at home and act as nothing more but a support group. But Earthbound's main issue with sexism lies in one of its own central characters, Paula.
Paula Polestar is one of four playable characters in a party composed almost entirely of boys. Originally, her name was Paula Jones in "Mother 2", but for some reason, her last name was changed to Polestar. If you think about it, it sounds familiar to what you would call a porn star. In ways, Nintendo was already objectifying Paula before she even arrived on US shores.
Paula starts out in the game as, you guessed it, a damsel in distress. She is captured by an evil cult who engages in a practice known as "Happy-Happy-ism", and you must rescue her in order to progress the game. Paula is dressed in the usual way that we stereotypically depict little girls: blonde hair, blue eyes, and a pink dress. As a matter of fact, Paula looks similar to the gaming world's most famous damsel in distress, Princess Peach from the Mario games. Would it hurt to give her some jeans, Nintendo? But one kidnapping isn't enough, and once again, Paula is turned into an object to be acted upon between the hero and the villain. In Fourside, Paula is abducted by an alien at a mall, forcing you to play the entire level without her. This is considered to be one of the game's low points, in which it proves that Paula is too weak and incapable to defend herself, and has to be surrounded by her male saviors at all times.
What's also troubling is that some of the enemies in the game are undoubtedly female. The Cute Li'l UFO has a pink bow on its head, indicative of its gender. If you wander around the city of Twoson, Paula's home town, you engage battle with an enemy called the Cranky Lady, a woman carrying heavy bags of luggage. That's right, you beat up women in this game. Ness is on his way to becoming a domestic abuser. Finally, there is a scene in which he is led on by a lady in blonde hair wearing nothing but scantily-clad black lingerie. This siren-like character leads our heroes to a trap set up by zombies, and it's up to one of the playable characters, Jeff, to leave his studies at school and save you. A moment where Paula is once again a damsel in distress, but in an interesting twist, so is Ness. But in the end, it is another male that comes to save them.
It's unfortunate that there is a lack of female role models in Earthbound. The series is over, but perhaps if Nintendo changes their mind and decides to create another installment for the Mother series, it will star a strong female lead who will defy feminine stereotypes and we can kiss the days of the damsel in distress goodbye. See you next week, in which I talk about misogyny in Pokemon games.
(In case you're still confused, this is a parody of Anita Sarkeesian and her so-called "feminist" videos exploring female characters in video games. Oh, it seems like she's doing this for a good cause, trying to raise awareness of sexism in video games. Only a few problems... Sarkeesian constantly lies by omission, leaving out important information and missing key elements from the games she's criticizing unless it supports her own argument. If you thought my description of Earthbound sounded sexist, I left out the fact that Ness's Mom and sister help you throughout the entire game. If you don't call your Mom, Ness will become homesick and unable to battle. All throughout the game, your sister stores your items and you can call her to pick up/drop off anything you want anywhere in the world through the Escargo Express. I left out that Paula has the strongest PSI in your party and that she handled Monotoli all by herself while Ness and Jeff struggled to reach her. Oh yeah, did I mention that Paula is the most important member of your party in the final battle against Giygas? And that's not touching the spoilers. I could mention Ana and Kumatora from the other games, but shhh, Anita conveniently doesn't know that they exist. :P)
The series started in 1989 with the Japan-only release of a game called "Mother" for the Famicon, and Earthbound, known in Japan as "Mother 2", would be released on the Super NES in 1995. The final game in the series, "Mother 3", was released only in Japan on the Gameboy Advance. Initially, "Mother 3" was going to be on the Nintendo 64, but the project was canceled due to the release date being near the end of the system's life span, among other technical difficulties.
So how does a game originally called Mother objectify women?
Earthbound is an RPG that is different in a lot of ways. Instead of taking place in a fantasy world, you play across a world similar to modern day America, and instead of fighting wizards and goblins, you fight living trash cans and angry neighbors. Instead of a sword and shield, you fight with a bat and yo-yo, and you use hamburgers instead of potions to recover your health. You play as Ness, who you may recognize from the Super Smash Bros. series. Ness is a young boy with psychic powers who sets off to save the world from an evil cosmic force known as Giygas. Naturally, his mother and little sister are forced to stay at home and act as nothing more but a support group. But Earthbound's main issue with sexism lies in one of its own central characters, Paula.
Paula Polestar is one of four playable characters in a party composed almost entirely of boys. Originally, her name was Paula Jones in "Mother 2", but for some reason, her last name was changed to Polestar. If you think about it, it sounds familiar to what you would call a porn star. In ways, Nintendo was already objectifying Paula before she even arrived on US shores.
Paula starts out in the game as, you guessed it, a damsel in distress. She is captured by an evil cult who engages in a practice known as "Happy-Happy-ism", and you must rescue her in order to progress the game. Paula is dressed in the usual way that we stereotypically depict little girls: blonde hair, blue eyes, and a pink dress. As a matter of fact, Paula looks similar to the gaming world's most famous damsel in distress, Princess Peach from the Mario games. Would it hurt to give her some jeans, Nintendo? But one kidnapping isn't enough, and once again, Paula is turned into an object to be acted upon between the hero and the villain. In Fourside, Paula is abducted by an alien at a mall, forcing you to play the entire level without her. This is considered to be one of the game's low points, in which it proves that Paula is too weak and incapable to defend herself, and has to be surrounded by her male saviors at all times.
What's also troubling is that some of the enemies in the game are undoubtedly female. The Cute Li'l UFO has a pink bow on its head, indicative of its gender. If you wander around the city of Twoson, Paula's home town, you engage battle with an enemy called the Cranky Lady, a woman carrying heavy bags of luggage. That's right, you beat up women in this game. Ness is on his way to becoming a domestic abuser. Finally, there is a scene in which he is led on by a lady in blonde hair wearing nothing but scantily-clad black lingerie. This siren-like character leads our heroes to a trap set up by zombies, and it's up to one of the playable characters, Jeff, to leave his studies at school and save you. A moment where Paula is once again a damsel in distress, but in an interesting twist, so is Ness. But in the end, it is another male that comes to save them.
It's unfortunate that there is a lack of female role models in Earthbound. The series is over, but perhaps if Nintendo changes their mind and decides to create another installment for the Mother series, it will star a strong female lead who will defy feminine stereotypes and we can kiss the days of the damsel in distress goodbye. See you next week, in which I talk about misogyny in Pokemon games.
(In case you're still confused, this is a parody of Anita Sarkeesian and her so-called "feminist" videos exploring female characters in video games. Oh, it seems like she's doing this for a good cause, trying to raise awareness of sexism in video games. Only a few problems... Sarkeesian constantly lies by omission, leaving out important information and missing key elements from the games she's criticizing unless it supports her own argument. If you thought my description of Earthbound sounded sexist, I left out the fact that Ness's Mom and sister help you throughout the entire game. If you don't call your Mom, Ness will become homesick and unable to battle. All throughout the game, your sister stores your items and you can call her to pick up/drop off anything you want anywhere in the world through the Escargo Express. I left out that Paula has the strongest PSI in your party and that she handled Monotoli all by herself while Ness and Jeff struggled to reach her. Oh yeah, did I mention that Paula is the most important member of your party in the final battle against Giygas? And that's not touching the spoilers. I could mention Ana and Kumatora from the other games, but shhh, Anita conveniently doesn't know that they exist. :P)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 09:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 10:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 11:07 am (UTC)shhh Mr. T, the weapon seller, and several members of the Runaway Five don't existand the one POC who joins your party is named Poo. >(no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 10:45 am (UTC)You should put this on tumblr and watch as it's unironically reblogged!
no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 11:03 am (UTC)Ness needs to check his male PSI privilege! >(
no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 11:43 am (UTC)Her strength in the Paper Mario games is in NO way a solid ground to stand on. Peach is pretty solidly a damsel in distress in Paper Mario Sticker Star, and I've certainly heard nothing suggesting she's in a different position in Super Paper Mario, despite having never played it. One could even argue that her presence in Thousand Year Door was little more than to be kidnapped and ogled at by a sentient AI, objectifying her worse than in the normal games. Oh, and then she's possessed by the final boss, further objectifying women as evil.
If you want to bring up Peach's strength in Paper Mario, that's one thing. She's proactive, cunning, and can hold her own when need be, in that game, even if she finds herself unable to openly attack foes like Mario does. If you want to bring up strong female characters in Thousand Year Door, the game's full of 'em, between all of the various female (or feminine, in Vivian's case) partners.
But I think the series as a whole is doing its damnedest to iron her back down to that normal "status quo" of being the Obligatory Damsel In Distress.
Then there's the fact that Super Princess Peach actually reinforced more negative stereotypes than it did positive - yes, Peach had nearly superhuman powers in it and saved the men, but it furthered beliefs that women are disproportionately overemotional, bursting into tears or flying into rages with the push of a button. Right idea, reeeeally bad implementation.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 01:02 pm (UTC)I haven't played Sticker Star, so I can't comment on that. I haven't gotten far in Super Paper Mario, but it is an example to bring up in if you're going to pick a game from the Paper Mario series, because Peach is a major playable character in it along with Mario, Bowser and Luigi. In fact, she's the first major character you recruit that isn't a Pixl.
PM & PM2 establish while Peach is stuck as a DnD, she does try to help Mario and alert him of news and enemy attacks as opposed to sitting on her butt whining; strength doesn't always come from beating up enemies. Things like with TEC would have been held up for discussion, if you know, Anita actually acknowledged the RPGS or dismissed them as spin-offs.
I can't remember since it's been a long time since I played the game, but don't those superpowers come from Vibe Island itself? It implies less Unfortunate Implications than if the powers were there in Peach all along.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-02 10:41 am (UTC)Yay, we get to hear Bowser Jr. whine more. Yay, Peach exists literally only to be kidnapped and then never heard from again until the ending. Yay, the only new character that shows up is your
Mary SueMcGuffin Buddy who is pretty much Twink or Starlow, but a million times more obnoxious than either.I forget how much help Peach actually PROVIDES in TYD, but I'll admit that she's much closer to her original Paper Mario self in that. The whole Shadow Queen thing just kind of rubs me the wrong way though.
And to be honest, I can't remember, re: Super Princess Peach. I do know I was basically parroting a lot of social justice anger that was directed at the game right after it came out, though.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-02 11:28 am (UTC)God, I'm so sick and tired of New Super Mario Bros. and all its clones. I hate to be one of those old*sk00l players whining about how everything sucks today, but the latest Mario games are basically NSMB over and over and over again. C'mon Nintendo, you've been doing better than that for years. Why run out of steam now?
no subject
Date: 2013-04-04 03:15 pm (UTC)Except the main draw of those games is the story. So, you know, A+ job, Nintendo, I would trade in the game if I wasn't stupid enough to buy the digital distro version so instead I wasted 40 dollars because I trusted you to release an enjoyable product.
As far as the NSMClones? (To be honest, Sticker Star only meshes with those in tone, not in gameplay) It's quite simple, and arguably the same exact logic that Capcom and Square-Enix use.
Why expend effort when people will pay the exact same price for rehashes? If we can have nine seperate identical (or nearly-identical) releases of the very first Final Fantasy (I went and counted - Japan actually has three more that we don't, too, bringing the number up to twelve!), why can't we have five different New Super Mario Franchise games? They get better reviews and sales than Super Mario Sunshine did, so obviously innovation is for losers!
addendum
Date: 2013-04-01 11:44 am (UTC)Just stating my views, is all, not trying to start trouble.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-02 07:46 am (UTC)(Look at me, taking this seriously. It's me, I am the april fool. ;_;)
The fact the protagonist of a game called Mother, a series name which is a symbol of femininity, is a straight white male is a sign of this game's disgusting misogyny. Ness is problematic, this is not okay!!
no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 09:12 pm (UTC)*applauds the parody*