The Damsel in Distress Trope:
A Necessary Evil?
This blog address a topic about the trope known as damsel in distress, a plot device used in fiction where women are portrayed as beautiful, yet passive and helpless in dangerous situations where they are rescued by a man who is portrayed as handsome, athletic an courageous. What caught my attention about the "Damsel in Distress" trope is when i was watched a video series on youtube titled "tropes vs women in video games" where a feminist named Anita Sarkeesian was criticising video games for depicting women as weak and helpless victims who is depend on a man to protect them when they cannot protect themselves.
In the trope vs women video series, Anita believes the damsel in distress trope involves using acts of violence against women in video games where they are beaten, tortured and murdered as a plot device to develop the story of the game further and to further develop the character of the male protagonist, referencing the "women in refrigerator" along with using violence in a story where the only way to save the female character is to end her life. She also believes the damsel in distress trope objectifies women as they are considered as objects like "prizes to be won" or "treasures to be found" rather than living beings with thoughts and emotion.
From her point view, Anita believes the damsel in distress trope in video games reinforces gender stereotypes that women are weak and helpless, implying that videos games are promoting sexism and misogyny as it degrades women and includes the use of violence against women. If that's the case, then why people both men and women enjoy playing these "sexist" or "misogynistic" video games? News flash, it works! the damsel in distress trope works well as a convenient plot device for engaging storytelling and to move the story further, although the trope is overused, perhaps lazy or arguably predictable, it has no intention of reinforcing gender stereotypes or degrading women.
The trope, in fact it illustrates heroism, where people risking their lives to same someone who they care about. Is it sexist where a woman is in danger and a man has risk his life to save her because he cares even if he would die in the process? What if a woman who is risking her own life to save a man, knowing she would die, is that sexist? No, because both cases displays heroism, not sexism, especially against women. Not only the trope is about heroism, but it is also romantic because the characters would risk their lives and go to the ends of the earth to save and be reunited with their loved ones, even if the odds are against them.
As for video games using violence against women, where women are to be killed as it is the only way to save them is not intended to be misogynic an act of euthanasia, where an individual ends the life of another to end his or her suffering. This is a difficult, yet heartbreaking scenario in video games storytelling because this places the protagonist in a situation where it would question the morals and goes against the beliefs of the protagonist when he or she has to kill their loved ones in order to relieve them of their suffering or to prevent a doomsday scenario. It also invokes emotional responses to the player and realising the protagonist is not the hero that he, she or the player as lead to believe.
When Anita Sarkeesian claims video games reinforces gender stereotypes in videos games and promoting sexism because of the overuse of the damsel in distress trope as storytelling plot device, she implies the game developers to be sexist as game developers are mostly commonly men as the gaming industry is predominately male. However, the damsel in distress trope has been used romance and they written by women and they use the damsel in distress trope more frequently. Shouldn't that be sexist for depicting women as the damsel in distress in romance novels? No, because it is a convenient and necessary plot device that works for providing an engaging and emotional storytelling, especially in video games.
In the end, the damsel in distress trope is just a plot device used for storytelling, despite being overused and there's no denying that, but it was never intended to degrade women and promote sexism. Nevertheless, as long as the trope works as a component for storytelling that provides interesting stories to entertain and inspire its audience, although it may unintentionally offend people like Anita Sarkeesian, then the damsel in distress trope is or can be indeed as necessary evil.
In the trope vs women video series, Anita believes the damsel in distress trope involves using acts of violence against women in video games where they are beaten, tortured and murdered as a plot device to develop the story of the game further and to further develop the character of the male protagonist, referencing the "women in refrigerator" along with using violence in a story where the only way to save the female character is to end her life. She also believes the damsel in distress trope objectifies women as they are considered as objects like "prizes to be won" or "treasures to be found" rather than living beings with thoughts and emotion.
From her point view, Anita believes the damsel in distress trope in video games reinforces gender stereotypes that women are weak and helpless, implying that videos games are promoting sexism and misogyny as it degrades women and includes the use of violence against women. If that's the case, then why people both men and women enjoy playing these "sexist" or "misogynistic" video games? News flash, it works! the damsel in distress trope works well as a convenient plot device for engaging storytelling and to move the story further, although the trope is overused, perhaps lazy or arguably predictable, it has no intention of reinforcing gender stereotypes or degrading women.
The trope, in fact it illustrates heroism, where people risking their lives to same someone who they care about. Is it sexist where a woman is in danger and a man has risk his life to save her because he cares even if he would die in the process? What if a woman who is risking her own life to save a man, knowing she would die, is that sexist? No, because both cases displays heroism, not sexism, especially against women. Not only the trope is about heroism, but it is also romantic because the characters would risk their lives and go to the ends of the earth to save and be reunited with their loved ones, even if the odds are against them.
As for video games using violence against women, where women are to be killed as it is the only way to save them is not intended to be misogynic an act of euthanasia, where an individual ends the life of another to end his or her suffering. This is a difficult, yet heartbreaking scenario in video games storytelling because this places the protagonist in a situation where it would question the morals and goes against the beliefs of the protagonist when he or she has to kill their loved ones in order to relieve them of their suffering or to prevent a doomsday scenario. It also invokes emotional responses to the player and realising the protagonist is not the hero that he, she or the player as lead to believe.
When Anita Sarkeesian claims video games reinforces gender stereotypes in videos games and promoting sexism because of the overuse of the damsel in distress trope as storytelling plot device, she implies the game developers to be sexist as game developers are mostly commonly men as the gaming industry is predominately male. However, the damsel in distress trope has been used romance and they written by women and they use the damsel in distress trope more frequently. Shouldn't that be sexist for depicting women as the damsel in distress in romance novels? No, because it is a convenient and necessary plot device that works for providing an engaging and emotional storytelling, especially in video games.
In the end, the damsel in distress trope is just a plot device used for storytelling, despite being overused and there's no denying that, but it was never intended to degrade women and promote sexism. Nevertheless, as long as the trope works as a component for storytelling that provides interesting stories to entertain and inspire its audience, although it may unintentionally offend people like Anita Sarkeesian, then the damsel in distress trope is or can be indeed as necessary evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment