Saturday, June 29, 2013

The Last of Us Review




The Last of Us was a brutal, emotional tough game. It is not even remotely a fun game. You will probably cry at least once. But you sure as hell should play it. It follows the story of Joel and Ellie as they travel across the country in a futuristic America torn apart by a zombie-like fungus. Along the way you must fight infected people and groups of rebelling non-infected in order to reach your goal. Within this horrific world Naughty Dog has managed to create something beautiful. Most of America has been overtaken by nature and such a gorgeous background contrasted with the brutality of the storyline creates an interesting atmosphere. I found myself really appreciating the scenery because of what was happening in the game and because of how well the game is crafted. And the soundtrack. Oh my god. I cannot accurately describe how perfect it was.


For existing in such a terrible world, it sure is pretty

 Now, I can't talk about this game without spoilers so the rest of the review is below:
***Warning: Below are spoilers!!!***

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The Last of Us relies on a lot of clichés in regards to zombies and diseases, but it manages to feel wholly new.  I think this was due to the amount of emotion and weight put on each of the characters. Normally these types of movies will kill off characters, but only a few. The Last of Us writers clearly studied at the Joss Whedon School of Introducing Characters, Making You Like Them, and Then Killing Them. I knew Tess, Sam and Henry were going to die from the second they were introduced. But it was still heart wrenching when they did. I enjoyed the amount of diversity put into the game, as there were characters of color, female characters, and even a gay character. The most important part of all these character is that it wasn't thrown in your face and no one was tokenized. There were usually multiples of characters (i.e multiple female characters), and the point wasn't their race, gender, or orientation. With Bill, the point of his story was not that he was gay; rather it was the tragedy of his relationship with his partner that was his storyline.

 I also think the game felt new because of the ending, which I was surprised by. I was fairly certain that Joel was going to die, mostly because I assumed Naughty Dog was aiming for a trilogy like with Uncharted, and Ellie would continue the journey. I did have a problem with how the hospital played out, as I felt both Joel and Marlene were taking away Ellie's agency. In a perfect game, she would be allowed to choose for herself.  However, I did like that Ellie knew that Joel was lying because it conveyed that the lie was for Joel's sake, not Ellie's. Joel's decision to kill Marlene fit in with the overall tone of the game: You do what you have to do. I enjoyed that the character we play as isn't necessarily the best person, nor does he pretend to be.

Now, onto the portrayal of the female characters in the game.

The rest of this review is mostly a direct response to this article


To call Ellie anything less than equal to Joel is a gross misreading of the game. Although having a playable female character is something the gaming industry is sorely lacking, I wholeheartedly reject the notion that any game, movie, tv show, book, etc. with a male lead cannot be feminist. And the Last of Us gives us a male character that is only surrounded by one well written character, but many. 

In the article "Strong Female Characters are Bad for Women" by Shana Mlawski, she says: 

"I think the major problem here is that women were clamoring for “strong female characters,” and male writers misunderstood.  They thought the feminists meant [Strong Female] Characters.  The feminists meant [Strong Characters], Female."

The writer of The New York Times article clearly wanted the former when he got the latter. 
A lot of people think there is a cookie-cutter way to create a feminist character. That usually includes guns and a snarky attitude. Now, I love any snarky character, but there are multiple ways to write feminist characters.

Here's a different way to think about it. I will list what I think are the some of most feminist television show on right now:
The Good Wife
Pretty Little Liars
Parks and Recreation
Castle
Grey's Anatomy
Lost Girl


Now, all these shows are different.  Grey's Anatomy and Pretty Little Liars are more ensemble casts. Pretty Little Liars and Lost Girl are mysteries. Lost Girl, Castle and The Good Wife are procedurals. Parks and Recreation is the only comedy. All of the shows have different types of feminism and patriarchy influences our characters on these show in different ways. And Castle has a male lead. There is no one right way to write a strong character, female.




His daughter is not a woman in a refrigerator. This trope mostly refers to storylines of revenge, which this is not. Sarah dies, but we understand that Joel has attempted to deal with it over the past 20 years. And we watch Joel deal with her death throughout the course of the game: at the beginning he cannot even mention her, and at the end he can talk freely about her with Ellie. The journey in this game for Joel is to cope with his daughter's death, and for Ellie it is a coming-of-age journey. Her death is not a plot device, rather one of many heartbreaking deaths that occur within the game. The magnitude of deaths in this game make sense, as we are in an broken society, and these deaths are not limited to female characters. Men and women die and both of our leads have near death experiences.

There is one death that could be considered a "woman in refrigerator" and that is Tess. But the reviewer doesn't even mention her by name even though she is apart of the storyline for almost half of the game. I found her death to be the most plot device-y, but I mostly had a problem with how she and not that it happened. Her death was used more as motivation and we did not see Ellie and Joel deal with it like the others. Death is a major theme in this game. Of the 9 characters we really get to know, 6 of them die. And two of them almost die. In fact, the entire plot of the game is to survive or "not die". I mean, that's generally the plot of most games, but this one heavily relies on this. You are put into a gruelling and gruesome situation and you have to make it out the other side.

As I said before, we see Joel deal with the death of Sarah. We also see him contemplate his killing of other characters. And we see Ellie deal with her killing a man and the death of her friend. This article erases any importance of these characters other than that they died, and that devalues them as well-written female characters. And for a video game to not have 1, but 4 is something I have never seen. The characters aren't perfectly feminist, but that does not mean that they are completely terrible. This isn't and either or situation, and we need to stop treating female characters as such. Feminists are not always perfect feminists, and that's okay. And its okay for our characters to be that way too.



Don't Behead Me, I'm Behind-Game of Thrones 2X01

A few thoughts about season 1 before I begin:

  • DRAGONS!!
  • I knew Ned Stark was going to die and it was still rather horrifying to watch
  • I really don't understand all the Sansa hate. I know that masculinity is valued over femininity, ergo Arya is more liked than Sansa, but really?! Sansa at 14 years of age has to beg for her father's life in front of the court and her fiancé, then watch her fiancé go back on his word and behead her father. THEN he makes her look at her father's head on a stick and listen to him call her father a traitor and enter into an incredibly abusive relationship with Joffrey. Also, Arya has escaped, so she's alone in this. AND she had to listen to Joffrey say the phrase: "Once you have your first blood, then I'll put a son in you" which is just barf-worthy (Joffrey's such a romantic). I'm now judging everyone who doesn't like Sansa so hard. 
  • Half of me loves Dany and half of me is side-eyeing the white savior-ness and rape apologist-ness of her storylines. But, dragons
  • I like how Arya and Sansa each have a path that reflects their character. Sansa is doing her duty by marrying Joffrey and denouncing her father, while Arya is literally being a boy in order to escape. Talk about gender roles.
  • Have I mentioned the dragons?
Now on to season 2. Now, I know that everyone and their brother watches this show (even my brother does) so I do know some spoilers. However, please, please don't spoil me. I know some things, but not everything, and I would like to keep it that way.

Dany

Dragons!!!! (side-note, the dragons make a similar noise to that of the clicker in The Last of Us, so that was a little creepy).


But in all seriousness, I don't know how they're going to make it out of this. They are literally in the middle of the desert with nothing. 

Sansa

Man, poor Sansa. She's just trying to survive and she's stuck with Joffrey, who I sincerely hope dies a long and painful death at some point in the series. On top of that, I hope he's killed by a woman. In a perfect world it would be Sansa herself.



Catelyn/Robb

I weirdly like this mother/son war-raging duo. Although the deal they made at the end of last season was less that optimal, the two seem to be doing okay. Also, Robb (and his wolf) threatening Jamie was the best.

Okay, I will admit I know a few spoilers. Like I totally know what happens at the Red Wedding. Or what Jamie does for the most of the 3rd season. And some of these storylines are starting to show the hows and whys of what will happen. So I'm not really spoiled? Which is good, because I was worried it might ruin the series for me.


Bran

Poor Bran. His dad is dead, his siblings and his mother have left, he's paralysed, and now he has to run Winterfell at like 8 years old. I really hope his life gets better (I know, I know, I know. It's not.) 

Tyrion

I'm starting to understand why people like Tyrion. He manages to say some awesome stuff, like his comment about Ned being Sansa father despite also being a traitor, and then he sasses everyone throughout the entire episode. I think he will do well as the Hand, mostly because I think Joffrey is scared of him.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Summer Stuff

Okay, I know I've been pretty lacking on the updates. A few things happened:

I graduated from college!
Brother!


I moved home.
I own too many things

I got a new kitten!
Buster!

So you know, nothing too major. Anyways, here is what I will be blogging about for the summer:
Pretty Little Liars
Haven
Rizzoli and Isles (maybe?)
Game of Thrones!

I know what you're saying. Game of Thrones ended a few weeks ago. Guess what, I'm behind! I just finished season 1, so I will be blogging about season 2 and 3 as I catch up.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

What are You Doing with My Fries?-Pretty Little Liars 4X02

Aaaaaannnndd we're back!


Mona

I'm incredibly divided on Mona. Part of me want to trust her, and I think that if she really is on our side she will bear the majority of A's wrath (see: strangled in a car), but I think she may still be evil. Nothing is as it seems in Rosewood, so I'm considering all possibilities.

PLL Drinking Game: Take a shot everytime someone is almost run over by a car
Emily
Is anyone else expecting Paige and Emily to break up this season? They are way too happy (because that always works out real well in this show...) and a little out of touch. I mean, they're 18 and talking about moving in together at Stanford? This is one of the moments I'm reminded that they're teenagers. 

Spencer
Poor Spencer. First Radley, then rejected from UPenn? One of her family members is probably already a murderer (*Ahem* Melissa), so telling her family is going to be oh so much fun. I'm glad that she told someone and I'm glad Ezra was able to provide normal teacher support for a student rather than sleeping with them. His advice was right, maybe she should only talk about Allison's death and leave out the stalking/crazy parts of her life. 

Ezra that was the not creepiest thing you have ever done
I was also really impressed with how they're doing Toby/Spencer. I imagined the writers having Toby be shifty and Spencer being suspicious, which happened, but I thought they would drag it out over a few episodes. I'm glad Toby's involvement was revealed and I'm interested in learning more about his mom. If they're bringing this story in, is she connected to A/Allison?

Hannah
Hannah's mom killed Wilden. At least, I'm pretty sure of it. PLL is very good about misdirection, but all roads lead to murder. 
Since when did you become Spencer?

Aria

I'm really glad Aria decided to go get some lessons in self-defense. At this point, all the girls should seek out military-level weapons and combat training because A means serious business. Also, karate instructor is cute. When do we start taking bets on when he turns creepy? 

Other Notes
  • I'm pretty sure the writer's start off every season trying to come up with creepy things to insert into the show. Exhibit A(ha!):
C.R.E.E.P.Y
  • Other than weird animals, I'm glad we have Ms. DiLaurentis on the show. It allows for flashbacks from someone other than the girls. Seriously, how many things are they going to conveniently forget?
  • Also, she totally reminds me of Celia Hodes from Weeds
  • When Allison was holding her breath, did anyone else think she was going to make something float? Or break something with her mind? I've heard the spin-off is supernatural, so I thought that Allison was actually a witch.




Monday, June 3, 2013

"I Should be Celebrating"- Nashville 1X21

Juliette

For most of the season I feel like the writers haven't known what to do with Juliette. She has storylines that start and stop and only in the past few episodes have we been able to see a progressive storyline that sticks. With the death of her mother, I think that the storyline of her writing new music will return fuelled by the pain of losing her mother. This may be my favorite Juliette episode, and it really showcased Hayden Panatierre's talents. Her song at the end was wonderful, and I LOVED the conversation between her and Rayna. This scene was where I thought the show was going; eventually the two would become good friends. This was a step in that direction.


I'm also interested in Juliette and Avery's potential relationship. I really like couples that are made of two kind of terrible people who redeem each other, and I think Avery and Juliette would be able to do that with each other. Also, Juliette needs someone who is screwed up as her. Her husband was just a little too nice. I felt like Juliette pretended to be a very wholesome person with him, and with Avery she can just be fucked up.
Female friendships for the win.


Deacon, Teddy, Rayna, etc.

For the entire season I have been unable to comprehend how and why Rayna chose Teddy. Deacon has been portrayed as a good man who happens to have an addiction. Very little references what that addiction entailed. However, this episode I finally get it. A little bit. Deacon's attack on Teddy showcased the violence and anger that is drunk Deacon. Hopefully next season we will be able to explore his addiction, because the writers have been handling his and Juliette's mother's addictions with aplomb.
Sad for Deacon's addiction. Sadder he didn't get a really good punch in.


 I wasn't a fan of how Rayna and Teddy handled their daughter's parentage situation. There was too much yelling, I think they should have had a calm discussion instead of yelling. I hope next season they explore the family relationship a little more, especially between Rayna and her daughters. I understand that Deacon is upset about Rayna not telling him he was a father. I more annoyed with Teddy, who made sure Rayna kept it from him. Can Rayna and Deacon fix their relationship? And their bodies, because car crash.

The second they got in this car, it was going to crash



Gunnar and Scarlett

Gunnar. What. What are you doing. Calling Juliette when you went to go see Deacon, that was nice. That was good boyfriend stuff. But proposing??!! A proposal is not a solution. I really like Gunnar, and I want him to figure his shit out, but come on. Fix yourself before you try to fix your relationship.
Gunnar. What.



Other Notes:

  • Of course there's an unplanned pregnancy. And of course it's Peggy.
  • I really hope Tandi takes down her father because he is an ass. And Tandi' awesome. The end.
  • Really excited for Will's forthcoming storylines that the show has been hinting about. I loved the scene at the club at the end
  • Speaking of, not only was Juliette's song great, but having it played over the last few defining moments of the season was great editing.
  • Damsels in Discussion's podcast here is awesome about this episode. And they cover Game of Thrones and Mad Men, so spoilers for that.