*Edit: I didn't know that Metaneira at Empowered Fire already posted a much more well written post about this. Go check her post out.
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I came across this video parody of Katy Perry’s California Girls on Geekologie. First, take a look at the video:
And yes, that was Stan Lee in the video. The video (click the link to see the video if the Youtube video ends up going away for copyright stuff or whatever) was on Wired. An interview with the group, Team Unicorn, provides interesting information like:
Why the name “Team Unicorn?”
Because like unicorns, geek girls are not supposed to exist!
Why do you think it’s important that geek & gamer girls stand up and be proud of their geekiness?
Everyone is a geek about something, whether it be football, gaming, politics or comic books! It’s so amazing that girls are becoming more accepted and holding their own against a typically male-dominated field. Really, we’re all just enjoying expressing what we love so much, and we hope other girls feel the same!
The interview article also has the full lyrics of this song, which include:
Epic Lootz
Gamer ladies? (Yeah?)
For the Win
Hyjal’s what we’re raiding in
Raidin’ tonight babies? (Uh huh!)
I’m all up on y’as
Cuz you representin’ geek and gamer girls
Ok, I'm not even sure where to start. First, let's just start with the lyrics. Raiding Hyjal? Really? Really? Come on, if you're going to make a WoW reference, at least make it current.
Ok next. While I'm all for the notion of female gamers, I have a hard time getting behind this video. I don't know, maybe its the girls lying conspicuously naked with their goodie bits covered by geek paraphernalia? Perhaps it's part of the Kary Perry parody? I guess I find the whole notion of trying overly hard to not just make it about geek and gamer girls, but hot and half naked geek and gamer girls a bit irritating.
Here's the thing. I do appreciate the notion of getting out there that yes, normal and even attractive girls could play video games. I mean look at Felicia Day in The Guild's two videos. They clearly highlight her looks, whether its more in a spirit of a parody or not. So I don't know, is Felicia Day pretending to get spanked in "Do You Want to Date My Avatar" really that different from this video?
I guess my thought with this video is that it seems to overly make the girls sex objects, parody or not. While it's nice to get out into the common conscience that normal everyday females play video games, it'll be even nicer when that notion doesn't have to be tied to hawt model type girls.
It's all about the Benjamins.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of The Guild, it would make no sense to not do a bit of slutification when joking about cybering.
ReplyDeleteBut really, I doubt we can call it all even until there are hot men being hired to play Halo with women.
I believe that Felicia Day is actually in that the geek and gamers video.
ReplyDeleteI think it's sometimes confusing to me as to when its ok to joke about "slutification" as you call it (awesome word btw Klep) in the form of a parody and when it takes the joke and crosses some line.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy The Guild's videos. With this video, I found it mildly amusing, but try as I did to just enjoy it for the sake of the parody, something just did not sit well with me.
And finally Klep, are you volunteering yourself for hire to play Halo with women?
@Anon: I don't think Felicia Day is in this video, unless I totally missed a huge part of it. The four actresses in it are Milynn Sarley, Clare Grant, Rileah Vanderbilt, and Michele Boyd. Apparently Michele Boyd has been in The Guild however.
What sort of image do we need to try and project? - Unfortunately I am not sure a video of chicks staring at Pc's with headsets on in daggy pj's or snuggies. ( ew!) or even chicks in tshirts and jeans playing xbox games is going to sell anything. No matter how skinny or sexy they are. Pwning boys with bad language and attitudes makes us agressive and 'unfeminine' and near nakidness makes us skanky. So what makes it great to be a chick and a gamer.. I think we need to work that out, and sell that - rather then just an image
ReplyDeleteI started typing a response and it turned into a blog post >_>
ReplyDeletehttp://dreambound-druid.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-does-it-mean-to-be-girl-gamer.html
She doe's make a cameo in it, like in the middle of it.
ReplyDeleteIf Seth approves of it, then I'm fine with it. I worship all things Seth Green.
It's not Felicia Day. We're talking about the redhead, right? That's Katee Sackhoff, who played Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica. Please note the line, "So say we all," at her appearance.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, I did ask Team Unicorn about the Hyjal reference. They pointed out that it's going to be a raid in Cataclysm.
ReplyDelete@Zahraah: Very true... the image doesn't reflect the reality, though I guess the reality is different for every female gamer. Kae did a great post starting to talk about this though!
ReplyDelete@Kae: :)
@appletellsall: Um yeah, I was totally confused because I was pretty sure Felicia Day was not in it. Im glad she's not in it because while I would still like her, I would probably like her a little less.
@Anonymous: Putting a song out in September referencing an old raid that will be a raid again in Cataclysm sometime in the future just makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about.