I feel the "Race: The Power of Illusion" website is dead on with a "menu-driven" concept of race. Nakamura states it is certainly plausible to read websites that create race-regulating hierarchical menu's as lineal descendants of the dominant racial mythology that has enforced such taxonimical sleighs of band as the famed "one-drop" rule for determining the race of interracial peoples of partially African descent (Menu-Driven Identities: Making race happen online, 119). The website has that feel exactly. You start off by having quite a few choices on how to enter the site. This then gives you more choices for specifics on race. It basically allows you to go on a journey about racism throughout the times and explains how the way it was has paved the road to how it is, and will continue for how its going to be. Within these categories you are given more options and more menus to chose from. The website entails most of the key characteristics of a menu-driven website. The website isn't asking your race specifically, it is simply offering tidbits of information in regards to race and how it pertains to you. It however encompasses the "clickable" menus, the "drop downs" of categories that seem in order, like a timeline. Even though it is dead on, I don't believe it goes beyond.
Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York. Routledge, 2002. Print.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Cybertyping and Identity tourism
Cybertyping is basically stereotyping but in cyberspace. So, we can take the definition of stereotype, which is simply a negative view of a person/individual or group who share certain characteristics or qualities. They are more or less assumptions based on other assumptions that in turn, create and take on a vicious cycle of negativity. Nakamura describes that cybertypes are the images that arise when the fears, anxieties, and desires of privileged Western users are scripted into a textural/graphical environment that is in constant flux and revision (Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet, 2002).
Identity tourism is using another identity when on the web. This can be a different gender or race, other than your own. People do this when either playing video games, or on the Internet itself, generally speaking. This is looked at as "touring" other identities based on general stereotypes we might encounter daily based on our race or gender. If done the right way and consciously, identity tourism can help debunk these stereotypes and could potentially expand the boundaries of online community. Identity tourism allows us the freedom to play out of character, it suggests mobility within space for the purposes of curiosity, pleasure, or experience.
Their is plenty of cybertyping occurring in Streetfighter 2. Obviously they fighters to choose from are based of their country, so in fact they would create a character to symbolize the typical stereotype. The character from India's name is Dhalsim who wears skulls around his neck, can shoot fire, and expand his limbs, which emulates the characteristics we believe to be true of their culture and their beliefs. As well as the big dude from the USSR, and the black dude from USA with his boxing gloves and funky hairdo. The creators obviously make them to be the most stereotypical that viewers/gamers can relate to. The types of identity tourism that occur is simply the way you play the character. Depending on which character you choose, the way you fight and what buttons or moves you use is dependent on that.
Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York Routledge, 2002. Print.
Nakamura, Lisa (2007). Race In/For Cyberspace. In D. Bell and B. M. Kennedy (Ed.), The Cybercultures Reader (2nd Ed.). London and New York: Routeledge. Print.
Identity tourism is using another identity when on the web. This can be a different gender or race, other than your own. People do this when either playing video games, or on the Internet itself, generally speaking. This is looked at as "touring" other identities based on general stereotypes we might encounter daily based on our race or gender. If done the right way and consciously, identity tourism can help debunk these stereotypes and could potentially expand the boundaries of online community. Identity tourism allows us the freedom to play out of character, it suggests mobility within space for the purposes of curiosity, pleasure, or experience.
Their is plenty of cybertyping occurring in Streetfighter 2. Obviously they fighters to choose from are based of their country, so in fact they would create a character to symbolize the typical stereotype. The character from India's name is Dhalsim who wears skulls around his neck, can shoot fire, and expand his limbs, which emulates the characteristics we believe to be true of their culture and their beliefs. As well as the big dude from the USSR, and the black dude from USA with his boxing gloves and funky hairdo. The creators obviously make them to be the most stereotypical that viewers/gamers can relate to. The types of identity tourism that occur is simply the way you play the character. Depending on which character you choose, the way you fight and what buttons or moves you use is dependent on that.
Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York Routledge, 2002. Print.
Nakamura, Lisa (2007). Race In/For Cyberspace. In D. Bell and B. M. Kennedy (Ed.), The Cybercultures Reader (2nd Ed.). London and New York: Routeledge. Print.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Princess Frankenstein Monster?
In Super Mario Bros. 2, it is hard to be compelling in stating there are obvious gender stereotypes that Princess, Mario, Luigi, and Toad reflect and complicate. However, there are a couple, if not a few. In the beginning of the game, you have to choose which player to start with. I always chose the Princess to play with. Is it because I relate to her because she is in fact female? Nah, I picked her because when making her jump, or run + jump, she could actually float, which is extremely beneficial in the game.
An obvious stereotype is how women are looked at to be these helpless beings, waiting to be rescued by her prince charming, or knight in shining armor, as she plays the victim. So the “strong” man goes through all sorts of hurdles and battles to rescue her.
Personally, I don’t believe this game offers multiple “gender-subject configurations”, but for the sake of argument, I guess I will pick a couple. Princess could fall under the “Lara as Female Frankenstein Monster”, although her pink dress and crown might detract from that, she is still a hard core fighting machine. But she is definitely not some mutant offspring, nor a vicious, combative force. So more realistically, she ensues the “Lara as a Positive Role Model” because she is the only female character or avatar amongst the male avatars. “Violent, sexy, and capable women like Lara Croft might be better role models for girls than the few games that have been targeted specifically at girls, such as Ms. Pacman, Barbie Fashion Designer and the nonviolent, social games produced by Purple Moon” (Schleiner, 224). This actually leads back to the stereotype of women. Maybe we would like to see Barbie kick some ass while designing fashion and still make it back home in time to cook supper.
Schleiner, Anne-Marie. "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games." MIT Press. 34.3 (2001): 221-226. Print.
An obvious stereotype is how women are looked at to be these helpless beings, waiting to be rescued by her prince charming, or knight in shining armor, as she plays the victim. So the “strong” man goes through all sorts of hurdles and battles to rescue her.
Personally, I don’t believe this game offers multiple “gender-subject configurations”, but for the sake of argument, I guess I will pick a couple. Princess could fall under the “Lara as Female Frankenstein Monster”, although her pink dress and crown might detract from that, she is still a hard core fighting machine. But she is definitely not some mutant offspring, nor a vicious, combative force. So more realistically, she ensues the “Lara as a Positive Role Model” because she is the only female character or avatar amongst the male avatars. “Violent, sexy, and capable women like Lara Croft might be better role models for girls than the few games that have been targeted specifically at girls, such as Ms. Pacman, Barbie Fashion Designer and the nonviolent, social games produced by Purple Moon” (Schleiner, 224). This actually leads back to the stereotype of women. Maybe we would like to see Barbie kick some ass while designing fashion and still make it back home in time to cook supper.
Schleiner, Anne-Marie. "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games." MIT Press. 34.3 (2001): 221-226. Print.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Know your role....or not....
Avatar dichotomizes sex and dichotomizes gender from one world, which is real life, and from Pandora, the virtual.
In the real world, it showcases the men as the prominent sex. This is mainly because the majority of them are soldiers. They throw their machismo around, they show they are in charge, with a take no prisoner attitude. It’s all about fighting, shooting, blowing things up, keeping their eye on the prize, and more or less, conquering. The role Sigourney Weaver plays in the real world is a scientist whose role is of less importance to that of her male superior, even though without her they would not be able to access or habitat Pandora, but is still a tough, semi-crude lady.
In the virtual, or Pandora, the woman actually hold all the great roles within their culture/people. The woman role varies from one being a shaman of her clan, one being the daughter of the shaman, as well as the God they pray to, is a she (Wilson). Even Sigourney’s role in Pandora turns more motherly and nurturing.
Wilson, Tracy V. "Is James Cameron's 'Avatar' sexist?." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, Inc., 12/17/2009Web. 1 Oct 2010..
Avatar reflects Stone’s idea about cyborg envy because of the longing of the male for the female (Stone, 450). In Avatar Jake in the virtual world of Pandora falls in love. He attaches himself to a female who saves his life and she shows him the ways of the Navvi. What isn’t desirable about being a cyborg? It is a way to be able to use it as a means to escape your everyday existence. It’s a way to detach you from you, who everybody always sees you at, or knows you by. Stone states that penetrating the screen involves a state change from the physical, biological space of the embodied viewer to the symbolic, metaphorical ‘consensual hallucination’ of cyberspace; a space that is a locus of intense desire for refigured embodiment. In Avatar, Jake is able to free himself of his disability and is able to walk and run in the virtual. He became an extension of his real self, but in a way, euphorically became better. In order to enter cyberspace is to physically put on cyberspace (Stone, 450). Jake had to physically become one with the Avatar, he had to relearn how to use the body, how to learn the language, the ways of the people, how to physically interact with his surroundings.
Stone, Allucquere Rosanne. "Will The Real Body Please Stand UP?." The Cybercultures reader. Ed. David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
In the real world, it showcases the men as the prominent sex. This is mainly because the majority of them are soldiers. They throw their machismo around, they show they are in charge, with a take no prisoner attitude. It’s all about fighting, shooting, blowing things up, keeping their eye on the prize, and more or less, conquering. The role Sigourney Weaver plays in the real world is a scientist whose role is of less importance to that of her male superior, even though without her they would not be able to access or habitat Pandora, but is still a tough, semi-crude lady.
In the virtual, or Pandora, the woman actually hold all the great roles within their culture/people. The woman role varies from one being a shaman of her clan, one being the daughter of the shaman, as well as the God they pray to, is a she (Wilson). Even Sigourney’s role in Pandora turns more motherly and nurturing.
Wilson, Tracy V. "Is James Cameron's 'Avatar' sexist?." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, Inc., 12/17/2009Web. 1 Oct 2010.
Avatar reflects Stone’s idea about cyborg envy because of the longing of the male for the female (Stone, 450). In Avatar Jake in the virtual world of Pandora falls in love. He attaches himself to a female who saves his life and she shows him the ways of the Navvi. What isn’t desirable about being a cyborg? It is a way to be able to use it as a means to escape your everyday existence. It’s a way to detach you from you, who everybody always sees you at, or knows you by. Stone states that penetrating the screen involves a state change from the physical, biological space of the embodied viewer to the symbolic, metaphorical ‘consensual hallucination’ of cyberspace; a space that is a locus of intense desire for refigured embodiment. In Avatar, Jake is able to free himself of his disability and is able to walk and run in the virtual. He became an extension of his real self, but in a way, euphorically became better. In order to enter cyberspace is to physically put on cyberspace (Stone, 450). Jake had to physically become one with the Avatar, he had to relearn how to use the body, how to learn the language, the ways of the people, how to physically interact with his surroundings.
Stone, Allucquere Rosanne. "Will The Real Body Please Stand UP?." The Cybercultures reader. Ed. David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
