Andrew N from Negative World says: "In respect to the various conversations in the industry lately about the representation of women in video games, Bayonetta has become a bit of a fascinating franchise to me. On the surface, it would appear to be a sort of cut and dry contender for one "side" of that debate (feminists, social justice types, etc.) to line up on "sexist" while another side (to be honest I'm not sure what they call themselves?) lines up on "not sexist". And that is certainly what I expected to see. For instance, prominent feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian is definitely not a fan. However, I have many friends who identify as feminists, the majority of which fall loosely on the "plenty of games have problematic / sexist representations of women" side in these debates (more or less), and as talk of the franchise started heating up due to the upcoming (at the time) release of Bayonetta 2, I began to notice that the opinions, even from self-described feminists, are divided on the Bayonetta franchise much more than I expected that they would be."
The creator of the Bayonetta franchise Hideki Kamiya appeared in an interview and discussed the plans for the future of the series.
Carve your burning fist through this list featuring the best beat'em ups you can experience on the PlayStation 3.
Bayonetta's character design and abilities have changed a lot since the series debuted in 2009, with new costumes and dark arts in every title.
This was a great article, i like seeing the different takes. This will always be a difficult topic, but the way i see it, a sexist female character is one that is constantly under the order of men, or exists solely to be sex appeal. Megan Fox's character from the Transformers movies always struck me that way for example.
But Bayonetta, while sexually charged and meant to be attractive, does have a caring personality and a good sense of humor. She also never stops at achieving her goals, and essentially ridicules everyone who tries to stop her.
I find it kind of funny, but to anyone who's played Shadows of the Damned, Garcia Hotspur is basically the male equivalent of Bayonetta. He's attractive, covered in tats, his shirt is ripped open, his design is a walking series of fetishes just like Bayonetta's height, glasses, outfit, etc. He also makes tons of dick jokes, thrusts when he fires his gun (called the boner) and such.
And yet there is not one, NOT ONE, article discussing him as an objectified and over-sexualized male. In essence, a sexualized male character flies totally under the radar, while a much more developed sexualized female one simply cannot exist without controversy.
That is sexism in its own much more understated form, if you ask me.
edit: if you guys liked this article, definitely vote the site up. i sure did :D
It's been proven from her own mouth that Anita Sarkeesian is not a real gamer, but a fake gamer who wants to force her own agendas on the gaming audience! So why would her opinion matter?
If you want journalistic integrity, don't ever mention her in a gaming article until she can prove she plays videogames for herself and not just for sensational headlines!
There are a couple of people interviewed on that article that gave me the distinct impression that they were more interested in pushing the "Bayonetta's creators are sexist and so is their entire game!" agenda, without actually having looked beyond the eye candy to the woman using it, her actions and reactions to the various points in the plot, and the uniqueness that her openly sexy nature brings to her combat capabilities and style.
They didn't really look at what makes controlling her, fighting AS her, and discovering more about her world so exciting.
They just focused on the traits that they felt made her sexist, and that was it.
One comment was a perfect example; "The trailer for Bayonetta 2 has what I can only refer to as a 'vag shot' for crying out loud."
No consideration was made for why she was using that stance; the fact that the whole piece of building she was standing on had been split in half and that using that stance would have made it easier to keep it under her feet whilst aiming, while also giving her a more tensed stance should she need to suddenly jump away.
The first thing uttered was "Nope, Crotch Shot, that's sexist!", and then the whole situation was disregarded.
There was no deeper thought to the opinion of those moments, no actual reasoning to the disgust beyond extreme feminist ideals.
It turned into a knee-jerk reaction that was made to condemn the character in and of itself, and by extension the game.
That, in my opinion, is what makes a BAD feminist, that shouldn't be taken seriously.
Eat, Sleep, Game, Repeat.
i don't care if a few feminists think boobs in a game is sexist, im gonna carry on playing :)
I liked the format of this article. I did notice in one instance a interviewee said that the "men in charge of bayonetta". The person who designed bayonetta is actually a woman. She said it makes her feel empowered by both her sexuality, abilities and attitude.
Also, when giving a statement its also best to say "i feel" or "i think" some of the interviewees tried to say i see how some can "view" it as empowering, but it actually "is sexist". This is trying to pass one's own opinions on as fact while dismissing other people's views.
I do appreciate the author and the interviewees from giving their opinions, its always nice to hear multiple viewpoints.