In which Spain was a beautiful dream

I have a somewhat post-Spain melancholy. Which might be inevitable looking back on these pictures. It was a really happy time and now I'm back the things in my life that make me unhappy are feeling unnecessary. I'm itching to change things and make some big decisions about my life. And not just that from now on I want more and better snorkelling. I want to think about the things I most want out of life. And nearly one year on from getting married, having a wonderful solid relationship in my life means that I feel free to mix the rest of it up a bit!

There's a strange thing to holidays, as though they exist outside of realtime. Returning after a trip to the sun feels so strongly grounded, like a weighted curtain is just dropped over the whole thing. Bam. Back here again. Holiday memories are always wrapped in this cocoon of warm light and happiness. I  think because their very nature is to be a change, something totally different from the normal life, they actually become somehow surreal when we remember them because they have nothing of what is familiar in them. It's why films like Moonrise Kingdom work for the Summer - it's never quite real to us. Or that's my theory. And it's one I'm using to explain the way that thinking about specific days of holiday have that magical feeling of bliss to them when I recall them. And I think my first trip to Spain will always be like that, playing itself back to the tune of Pharrell Williams' Happy.

Now that I'm done with my romanticising, let's get down to some pictures. The outfit is River Island, both dress and hat which I bought for the trip and am really happy with. Normally River Island clothes are for people with model-esque proportions so I was so surprised when I tried it on and it actually fit! I've just put in a few other pictures from the trip as I don't want to labour you all with holiday photos.

The view of Moraira, the town we were staying near.

At the villa we were staying at, just by the pool.

Lil' hermit crab

 

There's me snorkeling. Which is literally the best thing ever. I swam with the fish and saw a live swimming octopus.

 

 Do you ever feel like holidays don't quite seem real when you get back from them?

In which I respect Princess Peach

I just got back from a holiday in Spain and I was intending to put up some pictures of my time there. I was going to revel in images on sunshine and delight. However, on my day off I decided to spend some time watching YouTube videos and saw Anita Sarkeesian's new video in her tropes vs. women series, and it left me itching to tell the Internet my opinions. So rather than talking about Spain I wanted to respond to it here.




Anita Sarkeesian is a YouTuber, a popular culture critic and a feminist. She ran a successful kickstarter to fund a series of videos analysing tropes of women in video games.
During her Kickstarter campaign she recieved abuse from people who felt that her tropes vs. women series was somehow a threat to them. In a sad sentence I can say that she received the kind of torrent of hatred that is typical for women who loudly express opinions on what is often pereceived as a male-only topic or space. (See Caroline Criado Perez or Janelle Asseline)

However, I feel that there is a situation where those criticising her tend to be those who want to continue to heap abuse or who are unable to engage with her work without opening the gates to agression towards her, either from themselves or from commenters who feel that any problems in her work, are justification for hatred.

But the truth is, the videos bother me. I want to respond to just a couple of things. I don't make YouTube videos, so I'm going to keep this as short as possible, but I would love to discuss it more with you if you're interested.

My key problem is that her video game series has each video making a point and then seeking out examples that back it up. Where examples don't back up her point she tends to dismiss them as somehow not important. I found this a bit frustrating and frankly inaccurate in her Damsels in Distress video in particular.

Her point in this video is that the Damsel in Distress motif  reduced women to be motivations for male characters, rather than women with agency. She backs this up in particular with Princess Peach's repeated kidnapping plot device. However, she talks about Peach not being a playable character, then says 'except in...' and lists a few games from the Party series, oh and maybe a few other games: the Mario Kart, Mario Party, Super Smash Brothers, Sports etc games. But Anita then dismisses these as not the 'core' games. At 8.10 Anita says, 'Mario Madness... is the only game in which she is a playable character' She also ignores the Paper Mario games in which Peach is a playable character AND in a story game. This is a very selective look at evidence - recognising that there are some counter points and then dismissing them all as irrelevant, and not looking any further into Peach's overall role within the Mario universe. 

Anita should be able to make the points she wants too with accurate evidence.

Another example of selective evidence is in her most recent video. Dragon Age is used as an example of a game with the trope of sexual-objectification-background-women. However, Anita dismisses the fact that men are also available as prostitutes in the game as 'not being the same'. She then ignores everything else about Dragon Age. In my opinion, women have a lot of power in that game, including sexual power rather than sexual submission. They exist in every role the men can. Dragon Age can be criticised, but picking out one scene of prostitution in it as pandering to straight-male fantasy labels the game in a way that is simply inaccurate. 

So much of what she is talking about is really a problem in games. I found myself unable to play through Prince of Persia because of the camera focus on women's body parts and overall objectification. But just because she might be making a true point doesn't mean I think she is doing it well.

I also dislike the way a swell of positive women in games are ignored to make her points. More so than that, I think she emphasises the weakness of women in games. When she sees Peach as passive regardless of her position as a respected ruler of a land, her special powers and her courage in the face of trial, Anita is in fact reducing Peach to nothing more than a stereotyped damsel rather than allowing her to be an interesting female character in her own right. In Paper Mario 2 Peach is kidnapped, but not rescued by Mario. She gets up on her own after disaster strikes and explores her prison for a way out before joining the party as an essential member of the puzzle-solving team.

So, dwelling in each video on these negative portrayals without talking about Portal or Dragon Age or Chrono Trigger or Neverwinter and their positive aspects, actually seems to put women further out of gaming rather than inviting them in. As I wish her prominence was doing. I would have liked her to praise Paper Mario 2 and point more people in it's direction than demanding that Peach put on some dungarees before she can gain respect. 

Finally, what I would also like to see in her videos is more interaction with other games or women in the games industry. It would be particularly interesting to hear from designers and developers and advertisers involved in the process. It's amazing what you can get if you ask, and I think that would a really interesting documentary which would also bring a platform and a voice to other people who's views are worth hearing.

I'd also like to recommend this response which I think stays calm and rational throughout and raises a lot of good points, not just about her work, but also delves into why the negative response to it. I thought it was pretty interesting.

And to just finish off I'll leave you with a picture of me by the sea, as a hint of my next blog to come. 

Do you play many video games? Do you watch the tropes vs women series? What are your thoughts on them? 

In which comic con happened

Erza Scarlet, from the anime Fairy Tail

Corvo Attano, protagonist of the game Dishonoured

Katniss Everdeen of the film/book The Hunger Games

Dr McNinja, of the webcomic The Adventures of Dr McNinja

I went to London MCM Comic Con one week ago. And after a radio silence on my blog because all my time has been spent building this look, I can share with you the finished outfit. These pictures could have been posted sooner but I decided to spend some effort for myself and my friends to show who is is we went dressed as and how are costumes were in comparison. I think the four of us were all brilliant, and I'm really proud of how good we look.

We did all the classic Comic Con things: demo'd the new Lego Hobbit game, met the author of Gunnerkrigg Court, watched a League of Legends tournament, and bought some comics. It's all good fun, but the heart of the event was just hanging out with friends all day and starting at strangers' clothes. Because dressing up is everything.

You can see I still have my pauldrons on here. People kept banging into them until they ripped off so I gave up on them later. I actually think it still works without them. I also yelled at a stranger for barging past me to get ahead in the queue to get in a doing that first bit of damage. Still feeling a little guilty that I may have ruined his day. On the other hand, he ruined months of work. And I can be pretty forthright about that kind of thing!

Even made the earrings to match as well.

 

 That's us meeting 2 other costumers at the train station on the way. They then very kindly fixed my wig for me. One of those strange things of them fixing my hair, sorting out my costume and chatting for some time before sticking our hands out and getting names and introductions.
And then just a little flavour of how other people were dressed at the event:

 

Have you been to a Comic Con? Were you at the one in London last weekend? I hope you think I make a good Erza. But now to decide what to go as for next year... And I just watched Maleficent last night so I'm full of ideas!