Posted on 10/06/2013 12:00:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the release of “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.” Critics frequently laud the Nintendo 64 title as the greatest video game ever. And yet the ways it deals with class, race, gender and animal rights are all deeply problematic.
Some readers may take criticism of “Ocarina” as dismissal of the game. But this isn’t the case. As Feminist Frequency blogger Anita Sarkeesian says, “Remember that it’s both possible and even necessary to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects.”
Because games’ technological capabilities have increased so rapidly since “Ocarina” was released, I suspect the title’s reputation is somewhat inflated due to nostalgia of critics of a certain age. But it’s a nostalgia I share. There is no game with which I have more fond memories. So criticism here should be interpreted as loyal opposition.
The game’s perspective on class issues can best be seen in its portrayal of the Kakariko carpenters and the wealthy family in the House of Skulltulla.
The relationship between the self-described “boss” of the carpenters and those he calls “my workers,” appears to be one of a guild member and apprentices or journeymen. The boss refers to himself as a master craftsman, and says the workers were hired by the royal family to improve the village. Karl Marx described this relationship as one of “oppressor and oppressed,” comparing it to that of “freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, (and) lord and serf.”
“Ocarina” portrays the apprentices or journeymen as lazy and shiftless, and the boss as the only one willing to work....
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
Mario is hurtful of people made out of fungus and turtles....
Not to mention all of the plumber stereotypes....
/sarc
These people need to get over themselves...
Only these doofuses would take the time to analyze class-conflict in a Japanese video game that came out 15 years ago.
It took me a while to beat Ocarina. I was more of a Goldeneye guy.
Loony article!
OMG what a joke. I love that game and still have it and enjoy replaying it. What is their mental problem?
The water-temple was awesome in Ocarina. Goldeneye was a classic too.
She should just play EVE Online, align herself with the commies from Russia and elsewhere (including the US), and blow up capitalists and sexists, if she feels so strongly about it . . . .
Instead of railing against injustice in a fantasy GAME, maybe they should take a serious look at the current resident and it’s administration. I mean what the hell they both deal in fantasy, except the former is harmless.
The types of idiots who right these articles are the very same people who’d watch a farm themed porn flick (normal sex)and bemoan corn subsidies and the plight of the American farmer.
I’m tired of people who are looking for deeper meaning in everything.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Grenade launchers in Egypt is the best multiplayer level.
My daughter, a gamer, always loved this game.
I’m sure your question was rhetorical, but no. They do not realize how ridiculous they sound. This generation of Americans is insulated from reality like no other generation before it. If they’re hungry, they can order a pizza or walk to the fridge for a cold beverage. If they want something to read, it’s at their fingertips. Too hot or too cold? A few key presses on the thermostat, and they’re comfy again.
Yet, the real world exists out there, and the liberated women of today are still dependent on men in ways they cannot apparently fathom. Who builds the buildings that house them, pumps oil for their vehicles, guards the borders, routes the cables and pipes that that lights the night and carries away their bodily wastes? I hazard to say it’s mostly men.
Let these technologies come apart and see how long these “independent” women last without the help and protection of men. I a man, and even I realize just how dependent on other people, mostly men, I am. Men built my house, they built my cars, they paved my roads, etc.
Now this is not to demean women or to say that women don’t work hard, physically demanding jobs alongside men. Some women do. It’s to say that these ridiculous gender games some people play these days are exactly that. One has to be very irrational (or amazingly self reliant) to think they are independent of others, that everything can be shared evenly and fairly without causing most people to give up, or that two men is a “marriage” in the same sense that a man and woman can be.
They cannot even imagine why we laugh at them.
That map on multi was always huge with only 4 players.
I can only imagine what Anita thinks about Leisure Suit Larry.
This be very funny.
The game is set in a fantasy medieval world.
In such a world, without technology, as provided by Sam Colt and his competitors, (and assuming she isn’t a powerful magician) women ARE more or less helpless and dependent on men for protection. What is amazing is that Western Civ during the Middle Ages developed the notion of chivalry, that men should voluntarily sacrifice themselves in the defense and protection of women rather than cheerfully abusing their power over them as has been the norm throughout history.
The master/journeyman/apprentice system was not originally particularly exploitative. The apprentice became a journeyman and then a master himself as he learned the trade. The semi-slavery of the apprentice was necessary to provide the master the control he needed to force the apprentice to learn. It merely gave the master about the same degree of control as a father teaching his minor son his trade. In fact, a father usually had to cough up quite a significant sum to get a master to take his son on as an apprentive. The system did indeed become exploitative as it decayed in the early modern period.
Ya know, Marx recognized the necessity of such systems given a particular system of production. He wasn’t as stupid as many of his followers, who seem to think modern ideas of equality can thrive in an economic system possibly 1% as productive as ours.
It is massive. It’s great for long distance GL bank shots.
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