Male Body and Kratos is a Dick.

Susan Bordo's "Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body" was one of the most engaging, fascinating articles that I've read in awhile. Enough fan-girling.

Yes, that was a pun at the end there, but I think it's a decent segue. Men aren't supposed to lose control, they're not supposed to be weak or impressionable. Men are meant to make the decisions, to take action, and to dominate. However, Bordo shows that advertising for men has taken a turn. It's now becoming acceptable to be desired while still maintaining masculinity. I'm not exactly sure when her piece was written, but Bordo seems to have been viewing a turn in the culture of fashion and sexuality, albeit a more recent one. I'd have to say that the stigma's of men being "beautiful" and "objectified" is almost on the same level as women being subjected to the same thing, at least with an eye on today's media. I'll use the film "Magic Mike" as an example. The movie was built upon the idea of selling men through sex. It was a cast of famous, handsome actors, that also happened to be in great shape and shirtless throughout portions of the film (I'm speculating here). There has been movement, at least in terms of sexuality. Men are allowed to be viewed, to decorate themselves now, to be an idol rather than the viewer.

However, I don't necessarily think all gender roles and positioning in society have been wiped away. Take one of the more recent Doctor Pepper commercials, for Doctor Pepper 10. It's a pseudo action scene, in which a man shoots his way through an exploding forest, all while explaining how this "diet" soda isn't for women, because the great taste is completely manly, even though there's a focus on nutrition. Or even the now very famous Old Spice commercials, with the shirtless man who is seducing women watching the commercial. He ends up shirtless on a horse. He's confident, in shape, and asserts himself, explicitly telling female viewers to ignore their men, while at the same time suggesting to men that if they wear Old Spice body spray, they'll achieve the epitome of masculinity, presumably this man.

Even more than that, just take commercials for dinner products or grocery shopping. It's normally a woman that's doing the shopping, or setting the table, or slaving over the stove, while if a man is ever shown cooking, it's generally out back, on the grill, drinking a beer with a bunch of buddies. Then there's Vodka commercials, like Skyy Vodka, in which Amber Rose, a woman who is considered to have goddess like proportions, sells the product. Women drink Vodka, men drink beer. Or, as I'm going on this tangent, take the 1800 Tequila commercials, in which a man in a suit talks to the viewers about how he's tired of all the "emotional" men out there, getting all "done up" and acting feminine, and how they drink feminine drinks, while he drinks 1800, which is for men.

Then there's the question of race in terms of the masculine/feminine binary. It's acceptable for black men to wear "loud" clothing, to match their outfits to a tee, because they have "swag." White men have no "style." Yet, black men are also very rarely shown as dressing up in suits, going to the high class events, stepping out of a chauffeured cars. Black women are generally shown as having bigger butts and getting their hair done, take Nicki Minaj for example. Yet, white women are generally shown as wearing workplace outfits, power suits, or practical clothing. So not only does sex play a factor, race plays a factor into advertising as well.

Moving on to the EC take on God of War III, I'd have to say their take was valid. Look, I played all three games. I loved the first one, second one was somewhat forgettable, and the third was fun. I say fun tentatively. It wasn't fun in an engaging way, at least not intellectually or emotionally engaging. It was fun in how "epic" it was, how everything was so hyperbolic and ridiculous. The scale of the game was amazing. But that's all I took from it; it was a massive game, with massive amounts of violence and gore, and looking back, minimal amounts of story. Now the question that has been asked is if it's fair to be so harsh on a game for bad storytelling. My answer is a simple yes. Especially if gaming culture as a whole wants video games to be taken as an art form. The God of War trilogy was the perfect forum to express to critics that games could be a form of basic entertainment, while at the same time telling an epic story. I say this because of the gameplay, game scale, and the subject and form through which the game was telling a story. Greek tragedies are widely recognized and respected in literature, so what better way to show narrative through a game then to turn a new take on a respected narrative archetype. The first game delivered, but tragedies and epics are expansive, so God of War went to follow that path. Except without the story. It just brought Kratos along by the hand, and put bigger, bloodier places for him to show off his design. That is a disappointment, and we should demand better. We as consumers and players set the bar for what's acceptable, and we do so by shelling out money for an experience, a full one, not just a series of bloody mini games. So yes, I think it's fair to be so harsh, and I think story should play a bigger role, rather than just a testosterone driven killing spree.