GTA V And Dead Island Called Out For Depiction Of Women


When you look at the success of stuff like The Hunger Games, Gravity and Orange Is The New Black, it’s safe to say this was a pretty good year for the depiction of women in media. Just the same, though, it hasn’t all been peachy this year.

Here’s a montage by The Representation Group (who are behind Miss Representation, a film that’s been selected for the Sundance Film Festival) that recounts many of the major controversial moments for women in media this year — and video games are included. In particular, it references the infamous bloody torso that was included in a special edition of zombie game Dead Island, as well as Grand Theft Auto. The footage shown for the latter is of a stripper giving a lap dance, though the bulk of the criticism of the game, gender-wise, seemed to lie in the fact that the single-player game didn’t have any female protagonists.

Both seem like fair grounds for critique, though it would have been nice to see at least one positive for video games shown here too — sure, there’s still a long way to go, but it wasn’t all bad! I note this not to belittle any critique of gender-related stuff, video game wise — again, it’s valid — but because successes should be celebrated too.

How the Media Failed Women in 2013 [Miss Representation via Polygon]


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