Video Games and the "Family"
New York Times article - "Video Game Heroes: Just Folks" By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN Published: March 10, 2004 - located here .
"HOMEBODIES - In a neighborhood full of action heroes, monsters and cartoon characters inspired by video games, Raquel Smashenburn struggles to balance work and home. With her are her husband, Rip and their children, Alice and Billy.
Raquel Smashenburn resembles Susan Sarandon, with smooth locks of red hair, eye-popping curves and a sweet, estrogenic aura. The wife of Rip, a Grand Prix driver from a racing video game, and herself a government agent par excellence in another video game, Raquel is computer-generated, yes, but she's all too human: a working mother drunk on exciting work and sobered, against her will, by standard-issue family life. "
The characters of the video game are a bit troubling - the family is white, with an obviously high socio-economic status. The mother's image does not represent how women look, that is for sure. The "family" is typical hetero nuclear - complete with the dog. They state that "video game heroes lead ordinary lives" but I am wondering who's lives we are talking about - because the ordinary is often quite extraordinary, and problematic.
posted by Netwoman @ 11:41 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home