Latest

Lobby

Search

Options

Help

Login

Feminists cry foul over Fat Princess

Printer-friendly format

Email this thread to a friend

Bookmark this thread

This topic is archived.

Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)

ecstatic

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 03:55 PM
Original message

Feminists cry foul over Fat Princess

She's Fat Princess, the star of Sony's upcoming video game of the same name. Debuting at last week's E3 expo, the colorful Fat Princess is a capture-the-flag game with a twist: you can thwart capture attempts by locking the once-thin princess in a dungeon and stuffing her full of cake, thereby increasing her girth and making her harder for your enemies to haul back to home base.

According to popular gaming blog Joystiq, two feminist gaming sites have already voiced their displeasure with the weighty issue.

"Instead of running out into the forest to find cake to fatten up the princess with, why not go out and find gold (which is a lot heavier than cake) to stuff into a treasure chest. The more gold in the chest, the heavier it would be, and the harder it would be to carry," she said, before adding, "Oh, but that's not as "cute" as cake and fat chicks. Right."

Over at Shakesville, however, writer Melissa McEwan cuts to the chase, telling Sony she's "positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative ---holes."

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/feminists-cry-foul-over-fat-princess/1232315

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DJ13

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 03:57 PM
Response to Original message

1. Sorry, I know I shouldnt but

:rofl:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Book Lover

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 03:57 PM
Response to Reply #1

3. Apology not accepted

Signed, a feminist.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DJ13

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:00 PM
Response to Reply #3

5. Oh get a sense of humor

I was laughing at the premise that they would actually think they could create such a game.

:rofl:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Book Lover

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:01 PM
Response to Reply #5

8. Classic

"Laugh, woman! *I* think it's funny!"

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DJ13

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:05 PM
Response to Reply #8

11. Oh you're right

All men ARE out to get you.

:eyes:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Book Lover

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:28 PM
Response to Reply #11

23. Hardly

Just responding to the one thoughtless guy...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

cobalt1999

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:02 PM
Response to Reply #1

9. I thought it was a funny idea too.

Edited on Mon Jul-28-08 04:04 PM by cobalt1999

The day I get upset about video games is the day I get upset about cartoons.

Some people need to lighten up a little.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Deja Q

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:10 PM
Response to Reply #9

15. About getting upset over cartoons,

Edited on Mon Jul-28-08 04:41 PM by HypnoToad

didn't PETA go after Warner Bros because Wile E Coyote always got hurt?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

cobalt1999

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:25 PM
Response to Reply #15

21. ROFLMAO!

You're kidding, right?

:rofl:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Deja Q

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:40 PM
Response to Reply #21

31. If course I'm kdding! Do you think I'm adulting? Wait, that's the Duggar thread...

:wow:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Bake

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:14 PM
Response to Reply #9

17. You must not remember the Little Black Sambo cartoons.

Bake

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

cobalt1999

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:23 PM
Response to Reply #17

19. I remember them.

Still wasn't upset with them though.

I have a choice to read cartoons or play video games. If I don't like one or the other, I don't read it or play it.

There is plenty in REAL life to get upset about before wasting energy on make believe life.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Bake

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:28 PM
Response to Reply #19

22. But you are (presumably) an adult.

What bothers me is the kids who get this information spoon-fed to them. And the parents who won't care enough to monitor what their kids are doing.

Bake

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

cobalt1999

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 07:42 PM
Response to Reply #22

46. Think of the children!

No offense, but I never really buy into that argument.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Bake

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jul-29-08 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #46

47. I'm not a prude, by any stretch, but as a parent

I wouldn't have let my kids play "Fat Princess." Nor would they have wanted to. And we've gone through every conceivable video game console ever made.

Violence in games never bothered them. But they just never liked to make fun of other people.

Bake

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

klyon

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #17

34. I don't remember Little Black Sambo cartoons

but that was a different time

I do have to live with the Little Red Sambo everyday here in Washington DC... go Cowboys

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

crikkett

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 07:29 PM
Response to Reply #1

45. I laughed too!

Signed, a feminist who's not bitter even though she'll admit to being 15lbs overweight.

Someone downthread advocated leaving the princess to starve while stuffing a chest with gold instead. Sounds positively American.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

flvegan

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 03:57 PM
Response to Original message

2. I think I really like that Ms. McEwan.

:thumbsup:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

petronius

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:24 PM
Response to Reply #2

20. She has a way with words - I rofled when I got to her quote

Actually, the gold/chest idea sounds better than the cake/princess idea. If they feel the need for a princess, she could be the one finding all the gold, and she could get fitter and healthier from the exercise (thus, more able to defeat the enemies)...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Chovexani

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:40 PM
Response to Reply #2

30. Shakesville is one of my must-reads.

Edited on Mon Jul-28-08 04:45 PM by Chovexani

And none of the responses in this thread are surprising me at all. :puke:

They are also why, as lifelong hardcore female gamer, I don't associate with any gamer dudes, except the one I'm sleeping with (because he actually understands the concept of male privilege). Far too many of them mistake their joysticks for their cocks.

I think I will have to start linking to Heartless Bitches International in addition to Black People Love Us in my sig.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

fishwax

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 07:05 PM
Response to Reply #2

42. great quote

Makes me want to read more :thumbsup:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Book Lover

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 03:59 PM
Response to Original message

4. Also from the article

Edited on Mon Jul-28-08 03:59 PM by Book Lover

Sony has yet to issue an official response, although Joystiq did receive a particularly informative update from James Green, Fat Princess' lead art director, who clued gamers in on the origins of the game:

"Does it make it better or worse that the concept artist (who designed the look, characters, everything) is a girl?"

Actually, it makes it worse. Thanks for asking, James!

edited for spelling

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Deja Q

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:10 PM
Response to Reply #4

14. Wow. She's got balls...

If it were a bloke who came up with it, he'd be cremated... alive...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Book Lover

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 05:31 PM
Response to Reply #14

37. Really?

Since this sort of thing happens on a daily basis in gaming (viz, your post below), I'd say the evidence points to men getting rewarded for creating stereotypes of women in the gaming world.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Rabrrrrrr

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:00 PM
Response to Original message

6. They have a problem with simple physics and logic?

Huh.

How American.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

aspergris

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:18 PM
Response to Reply #6

18. Most video games have a problem with physics

and biology, etc.

You get multiple lives, apes are vindictive maiden stealing barrel throwers, italian plumbers roam around getting gold coins from objects in the sky by smacking into them with their head, asteroids exist only with vector graphics in two dimensions, etc.

why should this game be any different?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Rabrrrrrr

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:35 PM
Response to Reply #18

27. I'm talking about the people who have a problem with this game.

Though you are right, otherwise!

I miss the days when space invaders only worked in two dimensions, stacked up nicely, and in a rather limited planar surface as well... much easier to defeat. :-)

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

aspergris

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:36 PM
Response to Reply #27

28. YEs

Many people live in similar two-dimensioned world.

Life is easier when it's black and white and two dimensions.

But not as rich.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Rabrrrrrr

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:38 PM
Response to Reply #28

29. And when you come up against something you don't like, instead of dealing with it,

you just hit "hyperspace!"

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

aspergris

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:48 PM
Response to Reply #29

33. Wouldn't that be sweet

I also want the cheatcodes for Life (tm)

Not sid meier's

THIS one

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

hobbit709

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:00 PM
Response to Original message

7. Like most video games, it just sounds stupid to me.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Sanctified

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:05 PM
Response to Original message

10. I am interested in hearing why they value Gold more than Women.

Edited on Mon Jul-28-08 04:11 PM by MiltonF

"Instead of running out into the forest to find cake to fatten up the princess with, why not go out and find gold (which is a lot heavier than cake) to stuff into a treasure chest. The more gold in the chest, the heavier it would be, and the harder it would be to carry," she said, before adding, "Oh, but that's not as "cute" as cake and fat chicks. Right."

On one side I agree that force feeding women to make them overweight so they are harder to carry off is probably not the best message to send but on the other hand the idea that women even if overweight are more valuable than treasure is a pretty good message.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Deja Q

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:07 PM
Response to Original message

12. Meanwhile, EVERY video game has chicks like this one:

Twiggy is Roseanne by comparison!!

Gee, isn't it also sexist and anti-feminine to show only blonde anorexic-looking supermodel-esque women, which also engenders anti-fat sentiment? :think:

These dingbats need to (a) GET A LIFE, (b) take the big stick out of their butt, and (c) stop whinging over falsely perceived images. Sometimes a cake is just a cake. I wonder what Freud would say... "Sometimes a cake is just a cake." Ruh-roh!

Forgive me, but every arcade game out there is about finding gold too. Y-A-W-bloody-N! If the game was about collecting field mice, PETA or somebody would nag about all the anti-animal sentiment... wait, does 'Fat Princess' have a bonus round where she collects pork chops?

Just remember to tell your kids to eat healthy. This game isn't "Grand Theft Candystore", y'all. Well, not yet anyway...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DarkTirade

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:28 PM
Response to Reply #12

24. Grand Theft Candystore... dude.

That is a frikkin' brilliant idea.

I think I know what I'm gonna do next time I feel the urge to work on a cute fun little game. :P

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

ecstatic

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 05:23 PM
Response to Reply #12

35. Good point.

Yet, for some reason, I'm not outraged about any of it. The appearance of women in the games should be the least of our worries and we should be concerned about the increasing violence.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

I_Will

(211 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:08 PM
Response to Original message

13. You gotta love "The Onion"...

Wait, what? It's *not* from "The Onion"???

:sarcasm:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

aspergris

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:12 PM
Response to Original message

16. I remember the hubbub

over luigi and mario as anti-italian stereotypes too!

gawd

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

ecstatic

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #16

36. Omg. Seriously? That was my favorite game

and the racial stereotype aspect never occurred to me...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

aspergris

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #36

39. oh it occurred to SOME people

"the perpetually outraged"

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

HiFructosePronSyrup

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:30 PM
Response to Original message

25. Why do feminists hate fat people?

:shrug:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

LittleClarkie

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:41 PM
Response to Reply #25

32. I am fat, a woman, and a gamer

Edited on Mon Jul-28-08 04:41 PM by LittleClarkie

Not sure where my allegiances should lie here.

But suddenly I wanna piece of cake. Not sure why...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

varkam

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 05:33 PM
Response to Reply #32

38. Damnit.

Edited on Mon Jul-28-08 05:34 PM by varkam

Now you're making me want cake too! :rofl:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

ecstatic

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 06:36 PM
Response to Reply #38

41. Well, I myself have lost that battle and am headed to the store

to get some cheesecake. :rofl:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Hydra

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 04:33 PM
Response to Original message

26. I love irony

This game probably really sucks, but because someone got offended, everyone will just HAVE to play it.

Cha-ching!

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Taverner

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 06:11 PM
Response to Original message

40. Stupid, stupid idea

I just don't get it

The joke or the game

Sure, it could be funny to a 10 year old

But I'm not 10 years old

Having said that, release it. Most gamers I know would rather play something more cryptic.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

slampoet

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 07:12 PM
Response to Original message

43. American Feminists always care about how Rich Princesses are depicted.

Too bad American Feminists don't seem to care about pay equity, birth mortality, or a multitude of other things that affect the working single mom who doesn't have a college degree or maybe single moms who just don't have the time to play video games or at least if they do, don't belong to a video game review site.

A little advice.

If you want some street cred?

Maybe calling yourself "Mighty Ponygirl" or using words like "heteronormative ---holes" might not be the best way to show that you know how to communicate with the average person or know how to choose your battles. It also shows that you most likely live around silicon valley and/or work in the gaming field.

This is GAMERS trying to get their feminist friends to care about something that mostly just affects GAMERS.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

AmyCamus

(371 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Jul-28-08 07:16 PM
Response to Original message

44. "a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes"

It's hard to imagine the next one could be as asshole-ish as the one we're living in now.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Sat May 04th 2024, 07:42 PM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home | Discussion Forums | Journals | Store | Donate

About DU | Contact Us | Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC