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RePost: My thoughts on the depection of women in Musou games. [Aug. 13th, 2009|08:50 am] [ Tags | archive day, dynasty warriors, feminism ] [ Audio | Fonogenico - Reason ] Archive Day! Yes, it's been a while since I've posted - a long while, and I hope my Twitter has proved somewhat sufficient. At any rate, I forgot I had this and was reminded when Rydain posted a great analysis of why the DW6 designs work in some cases and don't in others. This reminded me of this post I had made at KoeiWarriors concerning the depiction of women in the Musou games. EDIT I'll have to re-add the links that are missing later. For now, enjoy! ------- Interesting point: can male KOEI characters be considered sex objects? Hmm... Yes, they can. Male characters and men can be objectified - objectification happens when a person or persons are treated as tools and lacking in agency or personhood. Specifically, sexual objectification happens when a person is objectified - and the standards of worth for the object are how sexually arousing they are. Sexualization is different from sexual objectification in terms of characters, because a character can have agency but still be directed or rendered within a peice of media in a way that focuses on (culturally-defined) sexual situations or areas of the body. A strong example of a sexualized character with agency is Natsume Maya from Tenjou Tenge; she's drawn and depicted in a manner where she has strength of will and the capacity to make desicions but the direction of media often makes her breast, buttocks or crotch the focal point of many peices she's in. A Musou-specific example of a character who is sexualized but has agency is SW1's Nouhime. She had a clear personality that was predicated in her own goals and personhood, but much of the art and direction of her movements were focused on her sexually provocative mannerisms. I have my own thoughts on the subject of how women are portrayed within the Musou games; my perspective and reading of the games come from my experiences as a radical feminist and a person involved with social justice, as well as a person who is involved with communications and franchising. So, as much as it may seem a bit... strict, I'm going to lay out a few ground perspectives I am working from. I am sharing these because if you disagree with these fundamental beliefs, that's alright - it's just that you will not enjoy the rest of my post or agree with the base points at all, so it may be better to just skip it. 1) Women exist and live within an international culture that assumes they are less capable and able within times of war. 2) Misandry is not feminism. Feminism has never been about hating men. However, misandry - as troubling and destructive as it is - does not have the institutional power that sexism & mysoginy do. 3) Within forms of oppression, there tend to be four difference practices to it - Interpersonal, Institutional, Cultural, and Personal. This is a primer that explains the four within the context of homophobia. There is a very prominent sub-category in Personal known as Internalized -Ism. Alright, with that out of the way... KOEI's Musou games have female characters that both break tropes and re-enforce tropes. I'll start by focusing on one huge problem in franchises with lots of characters like this - tropes. Tropes are bad. Female character tropes are even worse. Tropes are not Archetypes. Every character is predicated in an Archetype - the way that we overcome an Archetype becoming a Trope is by expanding on the characterization. There is never too much characterization as long as the characterization is meaningful and connotatively makes sense to us the audience. One of the most common tropes that apply to the Musou games (being an action oriented series) is applying the Virgin/Whore dichotomy within the context of battle. Virgins ('good' women, decidedly virginal and thus not 'bad' AKA morally ambiguous) are given long-range weaponry - bows or magic, for the most part. This tends to happen because a Virgins ability to have morality is predicated on her staying pure; and the Virgin stays pure by not getting touched (and thus not becoming involved in the physicality of battle). The bows from DW6, and Gracia's bracelet attacks are examples of such. Whores ('bad' women, have active open sexual appitites and are thus 'morally ambiguous') are given hand-to-hand weaponry; but it's often in the form of speed-focused weaponry or tricks. Whores are culturally attunded to being underhanded and conniving; that's why female assassins tend to be coded as whores - using their sexuality as a weapon. Noh is easily the best example of such. The other very popular trope is to give the girl-child characters weapons which are hand-to-hand, but they handle them in such an anachronistic manner that they aren't visually coded as weaponry at all. Tropes are detrimental in many ways; I will focus on how tropes are detrimental in a franchise sense. They're problematic because all the characters end up being exactly the same. That's boring to us in the audience because it means that the individuality of the individual is removed; rather it never existed. Thus, in order for KOEI to maximize the interest in the franchise; the characters must be diverse and meaningfully so. There are many, many positive factors in how KOEI portrays the women characters in the Musou series. The biggest I've noticed are; 1) There is a relatively large amount of diversity in terms of personality, attitude and appearance. They are distinct from each other outside of appearance; they have distinct speech patterns, beliefs, and attitudes. KOEI's women often break the tropes that have been set for female characters. Noh, while very much predicated in the 'Whore' category, has enough character to break as such. Ina is a character that actively breaks the trope by having strength of moral, but also by being desicive (and very importantly, uses her bow in an upclose upfront manner). 2) All of them have the strength of will and the level of agency to act on the accord of their own beliefs. They all make the active desicion to fight. 3) There are is a great deal of diversity in how the women characters interact with each other (applies primarily to WO; not so much the core games) - there are friendships, antagonistic relationships, rivalries, etc. However, there are problematic trends; 1) An overwhelming amount of narratives for the women that are predicated on being inspired by, dependent on, or solely motivated by male characters in their lives. (In the core games, women interacting with other women is scarce.) 2) The design sense for the women, with few exception, consistently dress them in minimal or no armor. One could argue that the stylistic nature of games shows the lack of nessecary armor, the fact that the male characters are quite frequently dressed in armor (especially when the female characters already exist in a context where they aren't taken seriously in war) condemns this moot. The exceptions to this are Yue Ying (Pre-DW6 had sufficient armor (even if DW5 wasn't coded as such); DW6 has practical but minimal) and Tachibana Ginchiyo. 3) In the core games, rivalries and antagonistic relationships between women are the primary form of interaction between women. The SW games have Ginchiyo & Ina, but one caveat compared to the Sekigahara Melee stages is minimal and dangerous. The DW games rarely have the women interact period (despite there being potential to do so; Shangxiang and Yueying could easily have become buddies, etc.). The Qiao sisters are another minor exception (we barely see them interact with each other; their stories focus on their husbands interaction). 4) Women whom have open sexual appitites are primarily coded as sexually ambiguous or as 'airheaded'. Noh is coded as incredibly sexual but openly acknowledges such; the more surprising example is Zhen (who, being affilliated with the 'bad' kingdom needed to be the 'bad' girl). Nene, having an openly sexual relationship with her husband, is coded as not even recognizing as such. 5) They're all coded as attractive within culturally-defined beauty standards. All of them. There is not one 'unattractive' woman in the bunch. Part of this is predicated on the fact that many of these women were noted for their great beauty, but even the women who weren't were coded as attractive. There's no excuse for this; it's represensible. 6) They rarely meaningfully affect the tide of the battle in an overt sense, and are rarely commanders. This is again tied to the understanding that one does not want to muck up the narrative too much; however there are many minor stages where the women could lead or have a starring role in an overt sense. Yue Ying aided with the Wood Oxen in Wu Zhang Plains, but it's only referenced in her narrative - and it won't make or break the battle. So, we've identified the problems! These can be easily fixed, really. But one major question comes up! How do you create a female character that is both historically & culturally accurate and is an interesting character with agency? Well... you don't. You don't as the historical narratives are predicated as women either being tools or superflous; but rather you create a character inspired by the cultural understanding of such. So you don't make a narrative that's almost exactly what happened to Noh, but you take the folktales and popular understanding of Noh and make her an interesting character from that. For those interested, I use this as a checklist. Look and apply to the female Musou characters, and see what you come up with. I have to finish this up, so I will post these points as well. Focus on creation of women as people first, but don't forget that the way that women are treated within the cultural context - being a woman is part of who they are, not all of who they are. Characters are all archetypes; what differentiates a character from stereotype is level & amount of characterization that breaks type at a closer level. The coding of popular characters as archetypes predicated in sexualization isn't a problem (archetypes are inherently sexual!); it's when the sexualization overrides the character that is problematic (again, Noh is sexy! But she's not only sexy.) More characters = greater chance of diversity, higher chance of interest. Less characters = more attempts to shoehorn, less diversity, less interest. And for the record; my own reading of all the games? WO1 & 2, as a whole, are by far the most female friendly & feminist friendly Musou games there are. link 2 comments|Leave a comment!

A Sense of Closure - Justice and SSM5/DW6's Ma Chao. [May. 31st, 2009|09:56 pm] [ Tags | dynasty warriors, social justice ] [ Audio | Indigo Jam Unit - Tsui So ] "When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" - Eleanor Roosevelt In Shin Sangokumusou/Dynasty Warriors, one of the differentiating factors between the Three Kingdoms is the notion of justice. Specifically, the Kingdom of Shu - lead by the erstwhile Han descendant Liu Bei - espouses the concept of justice as the primary motivator in their actions. Shu, as a kingdom, are focused on bringing justice to the commoners of the former Han dynasty, whom they see as victims of the power struggle that is being waged on by warlords of privilege. Rather than focusing on justice as vengeance, Shu as a Kingdom is focused on justice (specifically social justice) as a means to move beyond violence as the primarily (arguably only) means to secure a sense of security in physical life. This is specifically to say that Shu is espousing justice not only as a means to affirm the common people's pain, but also as a systematic method of avoiding future exploitation of said people. Within the game's circles, it's become widely known that the 'face' of justice within the series is the character Ma Chao. Ma Chao's character can arguably be presented as one-dimensional, and often with ample evidence. In previous games, Ma Chao's narrative primarily consisted of Cao Cao murdering his family, then attacking Cao Cao at Tong Gate, then encountering (and fighting) Liu Bei's forces, wherein which he was so touched by their sense of justice that he joins their cause as a proud officer of Shu. His death is often never mentioned. While Ma Chao in these games (3/4/5) is a staunch believer in the concept of justice, we are rarely given a glimpse of what his - or Shu's - definition of justice is. This is especially important as in a contemporary cultural context, justice is often colluded with vengeance or simply follow-through of existing law structure. Ma Chao's new narrative in SSM5/DW6 takes the time to deconstruct our own perceived notions of justice, and offer us a new form of justice - one that is primarily based on the affirmation of hurt, the notion of letting go pain, and nurturing a sense of forgiveness. With the release of Shin Sangokumusou 5/Dynasty Warriors 6 for the PS2, Ma Chao - as one of the most popular characters in the game (which can be noted in the fact that he has 282 sites with dedicated fanart of him, compared to the 53 of Guan Yu) - received his own Musou Mode narrative in the game. This narrative, while covering the basic sequence of events I noted above, goes far more depth into Ma Chao's character and allows us to see why the concept of justice is so important to him; and subsequently why it is important to Shu as a whole - both as an ethic and as a meaningfully differentiating factor from Wu & Wei. Ma Chao is introduced as having had his family killed by Cao Cao for rebelling against his rise in power; and allies with family friends. Ma Chao vows vengeance against Cao Cao for their deaths, while Cao Cao questions his resolve. During the battle, said family friends betray him, and Ma Chao himself - although a strong fighter - flees against overwhelming numbers, noting that his men are being slaughtered. Afterward, Ma Chao notes that Cao Cao will feel his pain, only to realize shortly after that such actions only perpetuate a world of chaos and that he himself has been contributing to such patriarchal standards. It is this questioning of said patriarchal goals that lead him, eventually to Liu Bei - where, while under the care of prefect Zhang Lu, he is ordered to defend prefect Liu Zhang against his kinsman, Liu Bei. With his encounter of Liu Bei's forces in Cheng Du, he is affirmed as a person by people he's fighting against. Ideologically, Ma Chao is very staunch - the people he considers his enemies are the people he feels don't treat human beings as such at all; therefore he has some strange cognitive dissonance when returning to Zhang Lu. However, Zhang Lu makes the decision of Ma Chao going to join Liu Bei easy as he's set up an ambush as Ma Chao returns; with no allegiance to anyone, he goes to join Liu Bei and participates in the taking of Mt. Ding Jun. Liu Bei and the others (especially Huang Zhong) quickly make him feel welcome, and Liu Bei shares his world - to create a world wherein people can live in peace. It's notable that Ma Chao here announces his trust of Liu Bei, which becomes important in later developments. However, after this, Liu Bei's sworn brother Guan Yu is killed by the forces of Wu in a messy situation - Guan Yu was the defender of the province of Jing, which was borrowed from Wu in the promise of it's return once Liu Bei acquired the lands of Cheng Du. However, Shu never returned it - and Guan Yu was outmaneuvered by an alliance between Cao Cao's Wei forces and the Wu forces. Liu Bei, in rage, vows to avenge his brother's death. What's important here is that Ma Chao has the inner fortitude and ethical character to call Shu (specifically Liu Bei, but the others as well) out on their decision to go forward with Yi Ling. This battle (as presented within the game) is foolhardy; it's intent is predicated on making the killers of Guan Yu suffer, with the potential amalgamation of Wu as an afterthought (Liu Bei has made such intent clear). Ma Chao himself critiques the notion of honour (being presented by Zhao Yun problematically as following through with an order even if one disagrees with it) in noting that justice is not necessarily honourable (in the context of Zhao Yun's argument). It's also notable that Ma Chao himself is far from a paragon of virtue; especially notable in that he participates with reluctance in Yi Ling itself. Within his narrative, Shu is succesful in winning Yi Ling and amalgamating the Wu forces. Ma Chao notes that Liu Bei, in attempting to create a world of virtue, has acted in anger and thus contradicted his principals without openly acknowledging and amending said mistake. Participating in Yi Ling is an act that brings him such shame that he subsequently leaves Shu, in the dark of night. Only Zhuge Liang notices his grief, and lets him on his way. Ah Liang's lack of intervention but affirming of pain is incredibly notable here, especially since Ma Chao just noted that he still believes Cao Cao must die. Clearly, there's a major hole in Ma Chao's logic that only Zhuge Liang (and Cao Cao) can recognize. Ma Chao, despite acknowledging the understanding and acceptance of the philosophy that vengeance only begets more vengeance, still notes that Cao Cao, a man with much family who somewhat like him, must die. This is where the useful acknowledgment of living in a state of war comes in - Ma Chao is primarily trained as a soldier, and to eliminate a problem one kills it. The only reason that this action would work with Cao Cao is that the Wei troops are trained to recognize men of skill, regardless of whom they are. If Ma Chao is able to defeat Cao Cao in battle without focus of vengeance, then he's shown himself as fit to contribute meaningfully to the land in a way Cao Cao was unable to. Ma Chao encounters Cao Cao again at Jie Ting, and - with re-enforcements arriving from Shu, supporting their friend in ethics - manages to defeat him; noting that instead of this death being for vengeance, it was now for closure. Cao Cao affirms Ma Chao's loss, but at this point in time, Ma Chao no longer needs such affirmation. In a sense, Ma Chao matures into a Cao Ren-like figure - a general whom recognizes the necessary evil of killing within a context of instability in land, and can give up physical harm when the ethics of justice and affirmation are systematically instituted. Ma Chao (like Cao Ren and many of the second generation soldiers) is able to let go of fighting and vengeance now that social justice and affirmation of dignity is entrenched in the institutions that care for people. He demonstrates as such by letting go of his sword (a clear symbol of war) and embracing a new horse (a clear symbol of freedom from bondage). And it's also a demonstration of trust - Ma Chao, having let go of his anger, clearly has faith in Liu Bei to institute justice. Otherwise, logically, Ma Chao would have considered Liu Bei another enemy to defeat. Instead, by demonstrating trust in Liu Bei and by letting go of his will to do violence, Ma Chao has become an advocate of preventing people's harm rather than simply reacting to it. As my initial quote pleads, his conscience has become tender. Ma Chao, with his newest incarnation, has become a wonderful character that explores both the culturally common perceived understanding of justice, and what justice ideally should be practiced as. This is a character that one can truly get behind, and a character that acts as an excellent segway to progressive feminist anti-oppression politics. link Leave a comment!

The Scholar and the Brawler and the Tiny Figure! [May. 28th, 2009|10:25 pm] [ Tags | dynasty warriors, personal ] [ Audio | Smooth J - Aki no Symphony ] Ooooooh, I need to buy these. Look at how cute the Yue Ying is! And the illustration is incredibly good (even if there's a minor error; the bladebow arm is missing her sleeve). But more importantly, I wanted to (finally!) talk about The Scholar and The Brawler. The Scholar and The Brawler (from this point onward, affectionately referred to as S&B) is a Modern AU!Dynasty Warriors/Shin Sangokumusou fanfic written by the badass Rydain starring the characters of Cao Ren and Lu Meng. The story is, simply put, a romantic one - focusing on a period in time where both Meng & Ren meet, interact, and subsequently become romantically (and exclusively) involved with one another. People who've interacted with me know my tastes - I'm quite open about the fact that I don't feel a narrative needs alot to be excellent in my mind. The primary factors are engaging, relatable characterization and recognition of progressive politics. If you've got that, then I feel it's a good story. This piece of fiction does that and more in spades. Not only has Rydain completely satisfied the above factors, but she's also shown that she has a clear understanding of her audience, of appropriate narrative structure, and how to allude to an expanded universe while still maintaining a clear focus. My favourite sentence in the entire 12-part drama is this. Ren roamed over the lean planes of Meng's torso as his companion explored his burly chest, the slight softness of his belly. This is enormously fulfilling; this sentence alone. This sentence acknowledges mutual consent. It acknowledges and rightfully glorifies difference in body type. It gives way to a mutual exploration of one another. This is a gentle sentence, but a sentence that's full of conviction - they are genuinely interested in learning about one another, and thus exploring rather than patriarchly conquering one another's bodies. It's a beautiful passage, and I feel it's an excellent representation of what is so great about this story. This story breaks destructive BL archetypes (coded in a heteronormative manner) by embracing two characters who are more complex than any such archetype and exploring them in a realistic, down-to-earth manner. Furthermore, it breaks Western slash fiction archetypes by embracing both characters desire to learn and genuinely know each other as people; focusing on communication and growth rather than coercion and backhanded manipulation. This story is a hugely progressive change of pace in that not only do the two of them love each other, they choose to be loving to one another. In the politics of love, where we as a culture treat ourselves as completely lacking any choice in whom we love, this is absolutely staggering. Rydain also demonstrates her understanding of the source material considerably, and with a great deal of subtlety. Many of the minor supporting characters and cameos only show up for a scene or two, but they contribute to the story without feeling shoved in and her interpretations of the characters allude to interesting personalities. Zhen, in her single scene, is shown to be intelligent and perceptive (while still having the patriarchal perception of prize forced upon her). Lu Xun is handled honestly and elegantly, youthful and energetic. Xiahou Yuan & Cao Cao both shine considerably. Xiahou Yuan with his incredibly down-to-earth and practical blue-collar approach to sexuality, and Cao Cao continues to impress with a charm and wit only he has. But what makes these inclusions especially useful is that they don't overflow with redundancy - it's, for the most part, assumed that these characterizations are similar to the ones in the game series and thusly builds upon them. She organically creates behaviour that is appropriate for the scene, with no excess justification or explanation. It's a clear demonstration that she knows her audience; she knows her audience knows who these people are and that they don't need to be explained, just recognizable. And she does exactly that. Furthermore? It's a story that involves two men whom are attracted to each other (thus in a homosexual relationship) who have a happy ending. There's no real Gaynst here. There's nervousness and frustration at times, but ultimately we have a story where two incredibly admirable characters manage to be genuinely interested in one another. That's it - there's no catch, no depressing extra ending, nothing. In the cultural climate we have that consistently shows us that anyone of LGBTQI2S status is doomed to a life of oppression and woe, here we have a refreshing alternative that also doesn't feel infantile. This is a story about adults; not a childish love story. Their development as a couple is in-character and patient, to the benefit of the story. These are both characters whom can comfortably sit and wait; and the pacing reflects this. There's not a rush, but there is an excitement in the tone. A good one. The intrigue and chemistry are disgustingly huge in this. This is not a story that relies on fate or any sort of hammered external force to bring them together. They aren't star-crossed lovers who are destined to meet. They're two human beings who chose to pursue an interest, to maintain respect and care, and to go through with the honest work necessary to a romantic relationship. This is both in-character and culturally meaningful. It was so nice to read this tale. I had been putting it off for a few months, and when I finally did read it I promptly punched my forehead. What had I been waiting for so long for? Whatever the reason, it was to my detriment. This is the standard for fanfic that deals with BL, slash, or any equivalent - it's in-character, it's engaging, it's fulfilling, and it's politically progressive. For something like this, I couldn't dream of more. Oh, and because I could... ( Man!Yue Ying design! ) link 1 comment|Leave a comment!

Quick notes! [May. 12th, 2009|08:50 am] [ Tags | dynasty warriors, fat acceptance, personal ] [ Audio | The Hollywood Session Orchestra - Neudaiz ] My internet service at home has returned! Hopefully I will force myself to be more active on three fronts - MSN (because I miss Chin and Ouiji and people), CHAnges (because it's Gaia), and here! My next writing will be a glowing, unabashed review of the SSM/DW AU fic "The Scholar and the Brawler"; a slash-fic featuring the pairing of Lu Meng and Cao Ren. Short version? It's phenomenal and the bar that other slash writers need to set themselves to. Progressive and interesting characters, knowledge of the audience, and glorification without jobbering are just a few things this story gets right. I finally obtained Yue Ying's ultimate weapon in SSMMR/DWSF, the Golden Crescent (photo not mine; I plan to take one myself later). It's freaking gorgeous looking (clearly referencing both her Fury/Kakusei form which resembles a dragon, and... a dragon), looks like you can sort of touch someone with it and they'll die, and it has Range inherently as a bonus. I just went and killed indiscriminately for a while last night just because it looks so cool. After work last night, I finally picked up Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere. I finished it this morning. Longer detail will be taken in the love, but note that there is love. Huge, glorious amounts of love for this book. Huge huge huge. link 1 comment|Leave a comment!

Fat-O-Sphere success & Strikeforce thoughts. [May. 7th, 2009|01:13 pm] [ Tags | dynasty warriors, fat acceptance, feminism, personal ] [ Audio | Stephen Endelman - Running to Vega ] Yesterday, I had a nice peice of writing planned - talking about how flipping amazing it is that International No Diet Day happened at all; how Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere came out and it's a freaking NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER. Let me repeat. A book about FAT ACCEPTANCE & ACTIVISM IS A NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER. For emphasis. FAT ACCEPTANCE NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER. Number 1 bestseller at a shack down the road wouldn't matter. The point is that this book is selling. It's selling well. It's selling hardcore because people are so sick of hating themselves and convincing themselves that fat is bad. That fat people are evil. At any rate, I am so happy. I'm going to buy a copy when I get paid next. And possibly a copy to hand around. What didn't make me happy - thought not really mad, more just 'eh' - was that I, after a couple of days of avoiding it, finally finished Chapter 3 in DWSF, subsequently beat Yuan Shao in his legend, and beat Orochi because he needs to get the hell out of Han Chinese territory lest Nu Wa busts a cap in his scaly well-toned and angst-ridden bum, and then saved villagers because Cao Cao and his classism is mean. Then my battery died and I didn't bother getting out of bed to plug it in and try to save the data. But I can easily do this again, really. Once I figure it out, it isn't difficult - it just requires patience and awareness. And a lack of hand sweat. So, here's some thoughts on the game. Since I seem to love lists... Here's an bullet list! It sounds odd, but this game is a great way to find out who you favourite characters in the series are outside of gameplay. This is primarily because you aren't locked into a single moveset for a character. As well, you can figure out which movesets you actually like and which you aren't so fond of. The openness and amount of choice really allows you the oppurtunity to figure out character outside of system, and system outside of character, and then look at the two together. Subsequently, it also helps you figure out whom you're pretty dissappointed with. And one character I've become really disenchanted with is Zhen (though that's not SF-specific, but from 5 onward). It's not even her outfit - that for the most part is actually fine, if not very dynamic from the back. No, it's her performance and shoved-back-ness and the fact that her primary weapon - a flail - is wielded like she's a performer (plus she's a clone of Diao Chan, and that's not an appropriate fit). Zhen should be fast, elegant and cutting you like a sharp knife. And both her sieyuu and her US VA were directed in a manner that's too sultry for her own good. For goodnesses sakes, KOEI - Zhen's primary archetype is that of a queen. Hell, she's your primary Lady of War. She's a Queen of War. She's dignified, stately; of all characters, she should be the character who matches Cao Cao himself in calm, cool attitude and elegance. And the thing about her sexuality is that she should look good for her. Zhen shouldn't be a progressive character in terms of appearance - she should be patriarchally beautiful because Cao Wei in these games is primarily about conquest and skill. What she should be is patriarchally beautiful because it's her standard and want and because her beauty is indicative of power that she has access to. We need to see more of her motivations, her goals and her dreams. She can't just be Nouhime. She's not Nouhime (Musou Orochi/Warriors Orochi nailed their interactions, but not their motivations well - it's needs to be more about themselves and their desire for power). Zhen is about domination and power and nobility; not servitude and generousity. Whenever Zhen is helpful, she's commanding. She'd rather die than surrender. You're lucky to get her help. That level of presence and command has been totally obliterated, and it's frustrating and I'll stop here otherwise I'll go on for a while when this point should be a paper in itself. One character who didn't fit into my above strategy though, is Huang Zhong. I love Huang Zhong. I have a big, big fake boyfriend crush on Huang Zhong. I liked him enough in 3/4/5 (barring the ageist jokes sometimes thrown at him, but they aren't endorsed by the text so that's even better), but was never wowed by his visuals or shillouette. And I've always had trouble playing with him, and struggled through using his moveset (I'd always found his initial attacks came out too slowly for my liking, in both 3/4/5 & 6). His design in 6 really blew me over the edge into adoring him, and then he recieved a new moveset in SF. What I'd seen of the moveset wasn't very inspiring, but when I actually got the game I realized that the video wasn't about the dynamism; but rather a showcase of each animation. And Huang Zhong's new moveset is dynamic. So in this case, it wasn't about giving him another moveset but being wowed by his brand new one. At the same time, the fact that Xiahou Yuan was given this moveset... it's somewhat problematic. Xiahou Yuan being set up as a rival to Huang Zhong isn't an issue. What is an issue is when it's being predicated on a rivalry between archery (and if that's the case, Sun Shang Xiang better get in there too). Xiahou Yuan's claim to fame wasn't archery - it was speed. KOEI can focus on this and cover two fronts; being historically & culturally referential and being progressive. How often do you see big, hairy fat guys like Yuan being famous for lightning quick raids? None, and a good deal of that has to do with the prevalent fat-phobia that exists in both Japanese and Western culture. KOEI can seriously put their own dent in the fat hatred by doing this, and really provide some healthy cognitive dissonance. Also, as a side note - I love Yuan's SSM5/DW6 design because it's unapolagetically erotic in a fat context. As long as they keep presenting him as good-natured, competent as well as tough and in-your-face, we could have a progessive & likable icon. It feels so much like DW4. This is a good thing, as DW4 was considered the pinnacle of the series in terms of sales and characterization (though the game itself was far from perfect). DW4 was my first entry into the series (notably since they had a female character whom actually wore practical, epic armor). DW4 was also a great initiation into the series since it provided both all-around narratives (in the Kingdom Musou Mode) and individual narratives (Legend Mode). We aren't getting Legend Modes in this, but we do get the Legend Duels (which do well in terms of introduction) and we get the nicely written and concise biographies (as a side, why do they keep writing that Guan Ping dies at Fan Castle, and then having him show up at Wu Zhang Plains? Is he a ghost? Can we having a floating Guan Yu head ghost boss, then?). And the set of renders used for these games really clearly dileniate personaltiy via body language (especially the new renders from SSM5S/DW6PS2 and Huang Zhong & Xiahou Yuan). Even in terms of atmosphere and palette, it feels like DW4 (SF's Battle of Chang Ban completley made me think of DW4's Guan Du in terms of environment, for example). It's even as frustratingly hard as DW4. In short, DW4-like-feel is a good thing. The interface is wonderful... until you get to accessing the Pause. I don't like pushing Home (too 'takes you out of the game'), but maybe I should get used to it since most of the time when I pause it's because I'm getting beaten like no tommorow and need a breather to re-assess. Did they do this because of the multiplayer function? It would have been great if we could just hit start and the game would pause automatically, but that was seemingly troublesome for reasons I'm unaware of. Looks like I'm stuck with the Home button. Charges attacks are much more useful and much more varied. This is helpful, seeing as how extended combo play is predicated on linking attacks and your main attack string is only 6 animations long. One of the notable differences in movesets is how one launches a ground-based opponent into the air (though it's not hugely diverse). For e.g and because I am one-track-minded; Cao Pi's Longsword moveset is very useful and easily accessible. A good right-of-the-bat combo for him that I use is (and for the record, I'll just assume you're locking on for these); S, S, S x R+T -> S, S, S, etc. Specifically, the animations go like this. The first S, S, S is Cao Pi's first three normal string attacks. While the third hit connects, do the R1+T - it's a dash launcher that's very simple and useful; Cao Pi does this sort of into-the-air-cartwheel slash that launches the enemy. It's a great, simple launcher because it keeps Cao Pi in the air for a bit at the same time and same height as the enemy, so you can just go into a simple slash spam. Yue Ying's Bladebow, being a much less traditional weapon and thus having less to project onto it, is less inclined for basics like Cao Pi but does have fun. My basic combo for her goes like this; S, S, S x R+T, (while enemy is in the air and you've landed) R, S, S, S, T, T, T The first S, S, S are Yue Ying's slashing attacks with the blade - Yue Ying's dash launcher is different from Cao Pi's, though. It's an incredibly useful attack, where she flipkicks forward into the air at a 45 degree angle (think a Flash Kick from Guile that moves forward, if you can reference it) and then she dives into the ground with her legs first at a 45 degree angle. The dive is an AOE attack that surrounds her body, launching everyone into the air, including her initial target. So he's still in the air after the two hits. It's at this point you dash foward towards them - because he's still in the air, she'll dash into the air after him. Once she's off the ground, then you hit square 3-4 times (just not five or you can't cancel safely) which is the single shot arrow attack. At the fourth hit, cancel into the T, which is a machine-gun-volley of 5 arrows. Tap T twice more, and the third T will forcibly push her away from the target. So she's safe and got a good combo in. See? Charges are useful again. The new palette swaps range from good to AFRIKINMAZING. For the most part, I was pretty unimpressed with the palette swaps available in DW6; the new two swaps are so far above them in terms of fun and quality. Yue Ying in a navy blue outfit with light blue hair, and Huang Zhong in blue with black fur. Lu Xun in teal. Lu Xun in teal. Why is Yue Ying not in the inter-chapter movie that features every officer? They definitely don't have the excuse of her not appearing as battle hardened or casual in a CG movie scene. Even Wei Yan got in. Wei Yan should be in. She should be too. link Leave a comment!

Racial Politics, Fandom & Lu Xun [May. 5th, 2009|11:39 pm] [ Tags | dynasty warriors, fandom, feminism, queer politics, race politics ] [ Audio | DWSF - Playing as Teal!Lu Xun ] Lu Xun, as a character, fills a popular and typical archetype in the DW franchise - the young, intelligent & enthusiastic pretty boy. He's also a bit of a pyro. However, there are levels of identity politics and diversity that the Lu Xun of DW6 touches that the Lu Xun of DW3/4/5 can't reach (for the purposes of this writing, I'll be grouping the designs of DW3, DW4, and DW5 as one design - due to the fact that said Lu Xun has a consistent (if not exact) facial model, a consistent silhouette, & skin tone and is a different overall design from DW6). Lu Xun, in his DW6 incarnation, is portrayed as a confident young adult with dark skin and gender-deconstructing fashion. This is a great creative decision! It really helps with inclusivity. However, as most characters with any notable level of progressive politics deal with, there is also a major backlash in fandom to this new design. Now , there has also been a huge backlash against the new SSM5/DW6 designs as a whole - however, that fact really change much of anything since this writing focuses on how badass his new design is, and how racist, homophobic and sexist the backlash (from the fandom) has been. Said backlash expresses itself primarily in two major ways. Within Western fandom, this racist backlashed is primarily portrayed by comparing his new design to that of Native Americans in combination of it's apparent femininity as a pejorative. Within Japanese fandom, the backlash attempts to completely obliterate his darker skin tone via mass amounts of fanart that ignore said skin tone entirely. First of all, lets focus on how Lu Xun is portrayed within his narratives in DW5 & DW6 itself (DW3 & 4 will be glossed over; DW3 not having fully developed his 3/4/5 characterization and 4 not having individual stories). DW5 has him being introduced as Lu Meng's protoge; a young man who's innovative, enthusiastic (if not particularly ambitious at first) and with a strong sense of duty. Shortly after his introduction, he loses his mentor Lu Meng and is installed as primary Wu military strategist. His passion is noted by Zhu Rong as his leads a campaign to pacify the Nanman tribes. His level of commitment and duty is noted by his lord, Sun Quan (emperor of Wu) at the final battle between the Kingdom of Wu and the kingdom of Shu. He is portrayed as having a rivalry with both Zhuge Liang (the main military strategist of Shu) and Jiang Wei (Zhuge Liang's successor), despite being in Jiang Wei's age bracket (late teens). His ending depicts him as having placated the land with Wu, and now the people can work together to become more self-sufficient with a government they can rely one. See what I mean? He's an honest, earnest young man. He's nice, if innovative and a bit ruthless. However, the narrative in and of itself is incredibly plain - this happened, then this happened, and this happened (though Lu Xun isn't an exception in this; the entire cast suffers from this in that game). Lu Xun isn't a particularly deep character - he's the young man who has talent, whom people don't really expect to go anywhere, and then he proves himself, and people go 'Wow, awesome!'. In terms of identity politics, it's a safer game to play - focus on less characterization. And to be fair, it's a narrative that many people identify with. I did and still do. But it's also shallow enough to allow safe projection; and that combined with his typically cute appearance. DW6 took the individual narratives and expanded them that much more. Lu Xun was expanded as well; his primary motivation in serving Sun Ce (Sun Quan's elder brother and the founder of the Kingdom of Wu) is noted as restoring the honour of his family name (it was alluded in the game narrative that their honour was diminished with Sun Ce having conquered the family or the like). Lu Xun never openly states this though, rather he serves with a smile. However, Sun Ce dies shortly after his initial battles - and Lu Meng takes Lu Xun under his wing. Lu Meng's relationship with Lu Xun is similar to DW5, but expands Lu Meng's characterization more; he's smart enough to see that Lu Xun (trying to restore his family honour) is trying to do everything on his own and is thus doomed to fail because of such. Lu Xun takes Lu Meng's lessons to heart - but never openly, and it is to his detriment that Lu Men dies after such. Lu Xun then realizes that restoring his family's honour is part of a larger quest of getting the land to work together for the land's detriment, so everyone can contribute meaningfully and in his ending, he realizes this goal. Pretty awesome new narrative, and has huge amounts of social justice allusions thrown in. It also really expands on Lu Xun's fluid motivations, which transform to tangibly personal to ideologically personal and national. And throughout the entire narrative, he's maintained as a character who adapts and learns and grows through pain rather than succumbing to it and being victimized by it (even in his deepest grief; the death of his mentor). And they do this while he has brown skin. It's awesome. It's so awesome to see a character with that skin tone being treated with such dignity. You can tell I'm impressed with it, and even more so when one considers how his visuals have changed. To focus on looks... Culturally, one of the more thrown about distingsuishing facts about the fictional figure Lu Xun (the character DW's Lu Xun is based off of) were his beautiful looks. From Chapter 83 of RotK; He was eight spans in height, with a beautiful face, like the finest jade. Considering the pervasiveness of Japanese skin colour-based racism, it makes perfect sense for Japanese fandom to largely ignore and/or devalue his new brown skin. Japanese cultural beauty standards demonize and ignore dark skin, fat; anything that patriarchal Japanese culture percieves to be excessive or stands out (excessively 'animalistically' masculine, excessively patriarchly feminine, etc.). It's also perfectly evil, if you weren't aware. (And seriously, if you weren't - you're at the wrong journal. Seriously.) Japanese fanart-based organizations and participants are notably strong and have institutional backing and influence (what with Doujinshi and the ability to self-publish materials featuring copyrighted designs). With this level of influence, it's little wonder that fan art & fan comic creation is a major tool for market research (and thus, trend & social study research). Thusly, it's a pertinent indication of how Japanese fandom feels about the darkening of Lu Xun's skin tone by omitting it almost entirely in visual fanwork. Specifically, Shin Sangokumusou fancomics and fanart are... there's a ton. A huge, huge amount - especially with two notable fanart search engines, a huge amount of doujin circles (often erotic in material produced), and a huge fandom in general focused towards the franchise. Lu Xun is consistently a character with 100+ plus sites featuring fanwork of him; and Lu Xun is one of the few characters of the franchise that has a notable amount of work featuring both his 3/4/5 design and his 6 design. Here's a sample of fanworks featuring Lu Xun's DW6 design visually compared to his official DW6 model. ( Visual Comparison - Fanwork on left, Official Render on right ) These samples were randomly chosen, and even if they weren't - it doesn't change what's happened here. The fact that the Japanese fanart community has consistently ignored or removed Lu Xun's new darker skintone is indicative of the fact that they don't consider it important enough to note in their art. There isn't even a strong consistency in his skintone (this is apparent with other characters with brown skin in media as well; a good example are Katara & Sokka of Avatar: The Last Airbender). Even the artwork that comes closest doesn't capture the darkness of Lu Xun's skintone (though to give it credit, it clearly attempted to). Combined this with the sheer amount of fanart that focuses on Lu Xun, and you come to the conclusion that a major force in Musou fandom has decided to ignore Lu Xun's new brown skin. This is mean. This is akin to having no characters of different skin tones at all - it obliterates difference, instead of embracing and celebrating diversity in itself. It's racist and contributes to a global culture of skin colour hierarchy. Western fandom contributes to racism as well - primarily comparing his appearance to Native Americans as a pejorative, or noting his tattooing as a negative. What is notably within primarily English-speaking fan communities is that his design, when criticized and deemed a failure in parts, is too feminine (or too masculine, though either way gender roles via patriarchal conditioning apply), is indicative of "gender issues", or resembles Native American aesthetics. Or that he's too flamboyant. Or too girly. Or he looks "indian". Or... "indian". Or girly. Or "indian" and that's weird. Do you see a pattern forming? Yes, I hoped so. Positive English feedback to the design is more varied (there have been instances of how his new design makes him appear to be a confident person), but still primarily predicated on how elegant he looks. To make a long story short, much of the positive feedback focuses on how pretty his outfit is in an exotic manner. Either way, Lu Xun is primarily othered. Misogynistic slurs or descriptors (i.e, using a word to describe women or the feminine to also describe something negative) are also loaded as homophobic when they're used to describe men. In fact, historically, that's pretty much the primary offensive stereotype that heralded by patriarchy - that gay men are hyperfeminine-in-a-patriarchal-manner, and since women are bad, men who choose to be women are bad too. (This is the logic. Don't ask me how it makes sense. I don't even want to try.) This isn't to say that men who behave in a manner that's coded as feminine don't deserve dignity and respect, it's to say that when you use those words to describe something or someone one feels is bad, you contribute to a cultural context that doesn't like to treat queer people or women or people of colour as people. And when you criticize images in a similar way, you're saying that images that refer to that reality are bad too. This is how English-speaking fandom has reacted when noting Lu Xun's design in a negative manner. It's girly. It's "indian". It's dirty and girl and ethnic and that is wrong. But really? It's not. It's an amazing design. It's a progressive design. It's an empowering design. I really don't know any other way to say this other than that I'm glad Lu Xun is here. I hope his character stays as multi-faceted and progressive as it's become. And I hope he's blazing a trail for the future rather than some sad dying flame of progressive game character designs. link Leave a comment!

Re-Introduction, Catch Up & Ideas! [May. 5th, 2009|01:04 pm] [ Tags | dynasty warriors, fandom, feminism, king of fighters, persona, personal, queer politics, race politics, scott pilgrim, street fighter ] [ Audio | KOEI - A Ways Away ] Alright, so I now have an Insanejournal! That's new! ...Not really. But most notably, this desicion was spurred by two factors; 1) Livejournal is not accessible at my place of work. Thus the death of writing for a year, among other things. 2) Scans Daily moved there after the deletion of it at LJ. It's a move that made sense; personally, I'd been a bit tired of seeing that and other communities I'd enjoyed (Improved Archie, anyone? I do miss Space Islam.). Obviously, layout and userpics are a bit sparse right now - that will come with time and the like, but first I want to get back to the writing. Most of the people that had followed my LJ beforehand have been kept in touch, but for those of you who are a bit out of the loop. So, in bigger news for the past year; My maternal grandmother's moved in with my family since about November of 2008, her alzheimers is reaching late stages. I've more or less come to terms with the grief and her eventual death - I've always been special to her, and she's taken care of me a great deal since I was an infant - but my Mother is going to need support. It's also really notable (culturally and historically) that her strongest memories are still of us, and of entire chapters of the Bible (New Testament). I'm an uncle - my neice, Saniya Lalaina, was born on March 16th of 2009. I promptly did her birth chart, and it more or less pits her as one of those bohemian-intellectual-types who's going to be more interested in emotional adventures than intellectual ones. I'm excited to see. In the beginning of April, I ended up catching the Chicken Pox! That was an odd experience - they lasted for about a week, and weren't itchy. My face is still scarred, and that (as well as a sort of beard) are probably the longest lasting reprecussions of such. Also, I watched too much TV - more than I had in the past 4 yearsish. Notably, most TV programming is still really mysoginistic, transphobic, fat-phobic, racist, classist and ableist. There's hints of progression, but that's about it. I ended up returning to Koei Warriors after my 2007 rage over Yue Ying's SSM5/DW6 design; especially since they've made minor changes over time to major iconography that helps with the resurgance of character (primarily consisting of giving her a narrative that focuses on her character, a new weapon that is entirely appropriate and impressive, and a new form that highlights war-like armor). I ended up becoming relatively good friends with a few, and oddly got in contact with the former owner of the site, Chin Sun. Then I became a moderator for a few months, which was a nice experience. However, the KW staff team (specifically one person, but they weren't named individually and it wouldn't be ethical to do so here) posted an announcement that was incredibly sexist in content and tone. That, combined with a consistent anti-feminist tone and a growing list of other responsibilities, helped me to decide to quit being a moderator and an active member (though I'm very happy to say that there are no visible bad feelings on either side). I never saw my leaving mentioned or the like, so I'm not sure if it was publically noted - though that's a moot point. Subsequently, I've begun several projects in CHAnges - I'm working on a slur-etymology-offense-list as of now, and later I'd like to begin allocating resources and writing for an FAQ and other progressive politics works. I bought a PSP! And Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce. Clearly, this is a huge deal. Also of note are the extra palette swaps, which is pretty much why I bought the game. Teal Lu Xun with brown skin. Teal with brown skin. Paper mirrors! Awesome. As such - finding such a grand paper mirror has caused me to play with only him for the past 2 days. Considering I play as Yue Ying almost fanatically, this is pretty huge (for me, worthy of going in huge year stuff). Anyways, I'm going to try my best to get back into writing consistently. Therefore, I have come up with a list of topics of stuff I intend to write about. That's right - get ready for another ordered list. But this time it matters? I'd really like anyone who bothers to read this to note any that really stick out and comment that those are ones they'd be interested in reading; because that will help me actually write them - also, if you have ideas (geared towards topics dealing with Feminism, Race politics, Queer politics, etc.), share them! Thanks in advance to those who do or don't but considered! Representation of Women & Feminism in Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, and Warriors Orochi Characterization of Women & Queerness in Shin Sangokumusou VS Dynasty Warriors Feminist representation of Yue Ying: Iconography, Narrative & Gameplay SEMI-COMPLETE - Queerness, Race politics, Gender Fluidity & Lu Xun has become Racial Politics, Fandom & Lu Xun, but needs to be expanded to include analysis of Japanese attitudes towards Chinese history. Feminist Politics with Sailorneptune & Sailorpluto Why I love Gail Simone's Wonder Woman I really hope the Blue Lanterns represent Hope & Faith well and Don't Die, and other Rainbow Lantern thoughts The fluidity of Chun-Li Feminist, Class & Race politics in The Legend of Chun-Li I am so excited for Greg Rucka's Batwoman Politicizing Avatar - Why I am going to make Children of the Future watch this Renouncing Patriarchy & Huang Zhong Radical Feminism & Dynasty Warrior's Kingdom of Shu Interpreting Folktale & Representations of Zhuge Liang's wife Comparison of Faith & Progressive politics - Kanetsugu Naoe & Chosokaba Motochika Bromance, Homoerotic Friendship & Samurai Warriors Shudo & BL; Ranmaru & Nobunaga and Kanetsugu & Kenshin Racism within Gaming Fandom Donna Troy, and the Tragedy of What To Do Now Chun-Li & Reclamation of Dignity within Agency-filled Sexuality Sun Quan - Queerness, Class & Noblesse Oblige KOF Women and the Cutting Room Floor Japanese Fan Merchandise & Mysoginy I love Scott Pilgrim because it's in Toronto and because I abhor Scott Pilgrm Kogepan is amazing and it deals with hardcore Victim Politics COMPLETE - A Sense of Closure - Justice and SSM5/DW6's Ma Chao. Female Protagonists, UDON's representation of Chun-Li and Yay Persona & Feminism AKA Why 3 and 4 are awesome Persona 4, Homosexuality, Homophobia and BL fanworks Astrology, History and lovely Oversimplification DW4 - The most thoughtful additions to the series Identity Politics & Wu link 6 comments|Leave a comment!

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