Why it should turn into a cultural thing if it wasn’t it before? And what kind of notable culture is that in America?
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This is Activision Blizzard who created Overwatch, a game which has taken upon itself to focus way too much of fictive characters sexual preference. So yeah, I’m inclined to believe this is a “current year” culture thing.
As long as wow provides interesting characters, I don’t mind. Unfortunately sometimes these characters and not as interesting as their writers think.
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Feminism in novels is about writing female characters as if they were CHARACTERS! as simple as that,not tokens,not stereotypes,not foils ! Honestly I feel Blizzard does a good job at portraying Women like actual people, the movies that have been quoted such as Captain Marvel etc…showcase the unstoppable Mary-Sue type only, which is cool, however like Daelinna said in WOW we have all kinds of females doing miraculous things and failing at others.
As for ‘‘Toxic masculinity’’ I really don’t get that term, is it bad now for men to be Macho and aggressive? are we going against human nature now?
How is that a bad thing? Characters need to be detailed,they need to inspire or influence the reader,beyond personal opinions homosexuality exists in the world, why not include it in a story arc of a character? They did not completely focus the plot on sexual orientation it was just referenced I feel you are being biased.
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I didn’t say it was a bad thing. I’m not saying it’s a good thing either. Like I said, I find it really unusual to have so many specific sexual preferences in a shooter game meant for both adults and kids. Almost feels like someone is trying way too hard to make a statement. Or that’s the impression I get.
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What statement? Homosexuals exist?
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Well in American media in general they are a lot more prudish than in many European countries and certainly my country. Yet they seem okay with a lot of violence in their media. This is not new either, it’s been joked about for 15 years at least and that’s just what I personally remember. You could argue of course that it has gotten worse lately, but that was not really my point to begin with.
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Politics permeat everything around us, including media. Take a look at the classics. Lord of the Rings was affected by Tolkien’s experiences in the Great War and represented his opposition to modernity and especially war and industrialisation. Conan was a response to the Great Depression. Earthsea would be considered “SJW” even by modern standards. I’m not even talking about more modern fantasy like Harry Potter.
Political agendas are part of the zeitgeist. It is impossible for any author to create outside them, because rejecting them would also serve a political agenda - of conservatives and traditionalists, who seek to return to status quo pro ante.
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This is true, the entire fantasy genre was born because of the horror of the trenches.
C.S. Lewis was a war veteran too.
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I think that’s been well established with I don’t know how many gay characters. I was pointing out towards how often sexual orientation is brought up.
In WoW it’s really rare actually. I remember just a few quests with references that they’re gay.
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Are we talking in WOW or Overwatch? In WOW none of the major characters is actually Gay…while in Overwatch you have 2 referenced in comic books not the actual game…
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You’re implying that orcs and free-willed undead having completely alien moral codes and being inherently unequal to normal red-blooded humans is an inherently Warcraft thing. It’s not. Zombies in Warcraft aren’t evil just because they are zombies; they are evil either because they are controlled by someone or because they have been twisted into evil by the pain of loss and persection.
And again, what does BfA’s poor writing have to do with “SJWs”? Its one-dimensional Allance-centric morality is, if anything, problematic: non-European Horde races are portrayed as evil and in need of moral lecturing by the good and benevolent European Alliance races, especially the blue-eyed blond Anduin. We’re the ones who should be offended here, not you “anti-SJWs”!
I don’t understand your point in general, barring some generic rage against the modern world and social justice (which is a political position in itself). Talanji being strong is “SJW” and therefore bad, but Jaina being weak and emotionally vulnerable is… also “SJW” and therefore bad? Am I therefore to conclude that the only way to “un-SJW” something and cleanse it of “political agendas” is to remove women of important status altogether? Would that not in itself be a political agenda?
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You know what they say. One gay character is pandering, two gay characters is political, and three gay characters is a globalist plot to destroy the white race.
In the end. there are only two sexual orientations: straight and political.
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Toxic masculinity is masculinity that is either dangerous to others or to yourself, such as when you pick fights or repress your emotions to be manly. It’s not “masculinity, which is toxic overall” but “a particular brand of masculinity which is toxic”.
Also, a good portion of what we consider “human nature” is actually socially mandated, because humans are social animals, but that’s besides the point.
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Overwatch of course.
Look, I honestly don’t give a crap what characters do in their sack unless it creeps me the hell out, I don’t care what gender they are. If that character is entertaining and well built, he or she is in my favorite book. That’s the message I was trying to get across.
That being said, considering the current cultural trends, Blizzard Activision background and one of the writers making comments about “toxic masculinity”, I’m inclined to, at least, suspect that this indeed a “current year” cultural thing.
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True. But there is a difference between your writing and what is important to you being formed in parts by political thought, and starting with the political message you want to send and trying to force a story around it. If the story is build to reflect one specific message, and worthless without it, everyone who is not on board with that message will just be pushed away by it. And with mass media, like an MMO, or a hollywood movie, that does sound worthy of criticism to me.
I’ll agree that a message with political relevance can be gleamed from every story. But that doesn’t make writing for the political message instead of writing to create a vibrant story a good idea. I’m sure there are master storytellers out there that can think like this and still create something great… but quite often that’s not the case, and the audience would be much better served if the author concentrated on what would happen in the world, and what the characters would do in that situation, rather than what moral the reader might draw from it.
If we were going for great art, I guess we would want everything to fit, including the message, and the way it is told. But with mass entertainment? Entertain me first, then we can talk about you teaching me lessons. And that’s what I sometimes feel has been forgotten by the corporations that try to advertise with wokeness, fake or not.
But well, as I said before, I actually don’t think this is anywhere near the relevant problems I see with WoW. If WoW has some SJW-message, it’s so muddled that it’s irrelevant. So I guess that was a bit of off-topic.
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The question is: does the media become worse by handling modern political issues or not?
When it comes to Overwatch, the early feminist outrage has served, in my opinion, to enrich the game’s character design, not make it worse. Early Overwatch female characters, from Mercy to Widowmaker, all looked roughly the same: generically feminine and sexy. Now we have Moira, Mei, Zarya and Sombra: all unique and distinct from one another. A net positive overall.
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Men by nature have very high testosterone,they behave aggressively in order to protect their families, that is natural…impulsive,aggressive,dominant, and not very emotional are normal traits of a healthy male what is so toxic about that? on the other hand I have no problem with men taking more passive roles or being emotional and well spoken about their feelings.
true,since cultural things attract a wider audience, they will do their best to make the most money.
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There are two aspects to toxic masculinity. The first one is when men, driven by these natural masculine impulses you speak of, do dangerous and self-destructive (in other words, toxic) things. The second one is when men who are pethaps not very naturally manly compensate for failing to conform to social expectations of masculinity - by doing dangerous and self-destructive things. I presume what Christie wants to do using Anduin is to present a positive male character who’s not aggressive but instead diplomatic and gentle, so that young boys would grow up
If you are okay with men taking roles that are not traditionally masculine, then you should be fine with such men appearing in media as well, so that younger generations would understand that it’s okay to be like that as well.[quote=“Ansger-argent-dawn, post:43, topic:86306”]
sit with their legs too far apart in public transportation
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I think that is more or less universal lack of politness, which women know how to deal with for unrelated reasons, and men don’t.
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I never stated that I had any problem with men who are not traditionally masculine appearing in media.
Thank you for explaining the concept,I hear it quite often but never understood it.