Muy Macho!

Tough Guise is a documentary film that takes on how the media has perpetuated societal performances of what it means to be a man or manly. One of main focuses in the beginning of the film discusses violence and how it is presented in today's society. The focus is mainly on how violence committed by men are seen as acts of violence not done by a man to a person, place, or thing but as just violence in general but that if women commit violence then it is highlighted and needs to be discussed. This is mostly due to the fact that historically men are suppose to be violent and macho but women are suppose to heal, protect, and be submissive. This aspect is clearly seen in the realm of video games as explored in the movies on PennyArcade.com: Extra Credit. In these vignettes video games are looked at in terms of how they explore societal constructs, especially in regards to race, religion, and gender.

Taking the above issues a step further, PennyArcade.com: Extra Credit, discusses how video games, especially propaganda games, need to keep in mind that what is in the game is being integrated into the minds of the game players. The games that were focused on societal constructs that are being exploited for the creators own agenda, such as the neo-nazi game discussed or more shockingly the mainstream game called Call of Juarez: The Cartel. By using these games as examples, Penny Arcade, shows how "lazy design" leads to perpetuating racist, sexist, and other societal taboos but they also provide a resolution to these issues - pay attention to the content in the game and only use stereotypes and negative tropes as a way to educate and incite thought processes.

However, even this resolution is not foolproof as seen in the video about female roles in video games. Stereotypical tropes are abound in video games, such as the large muscled hero with hundred guns and testosterone oozing from every pixel or the nameless bad guys in turbans or do-rags. However, women seem to get the worse stereotyping in all of games, as they are seen as merely damsels in distress (Princess from Mario Bro.), big breasted, scantily clad heroines, or the evil harpy or witch there to destroy and wreck havoc. There are no strong women characters that truly examine what women have to go through in life, such as motherhood. Instead, women characters simply mimic male characters but with larger breasts, tinier clothes, pretty faces, and "sugar and spice and everything nice." I can not think of one female character in the games I have come across that truly represents a female character in  real terms - all female characters seem to have been born out of adolescence male mind without and real thought as to what constitutes a proper female character.