Contrarian Corner: Bayonetta

[Charleh3]

Yeah this....this is ridiculous. I read half of the first paragraph, gave up and went to the last paragraph to see if it was just as poorly written. When I saw that it was, I went down here to the commented to see if anyone else thought this was a bunch of bulls**t. I can understand about one-tenth of the words in this paragraph.

I agree with mr_pops238. just because you have thesaurus.com in a tab, doesn't mean you should use it.

 

[Chris_14023]

Somebody has to much time to write this. It's a hot game and don't play it if you don't like it. It's not that complicated.

 

[Behold_My_Face]

Really, Really, Really, arrogant.

Also I love how make stereotypes about religion.
Im partially religous, however I often question my beliefs, just because you felt guilty for liking girls when you were young doesn't mean all religious people are out to stone sexually promiscous women, doesn't mean religion is inherently evil because of one bible verse in exodus.

I come from a family of strong religous tolerance, my mother is hardcore christian, but still accepts and loves my atheist brother the same as she always has, my father is jewish, and I believe in a higher power, but I am fully aware I have no evidence, and am very willing to accept alternate lifestyles.

I am not a sexually uncomfortable virgin who hates women for their vaginas. I guess I dont fit into uncomfortable stereotypes of religion that you impose on bayonetta.

Remeber the Japanese just see western religions as myth, it is not meant to insult or criticize but make a imaginative universe. The director of the Evangelion series used christian mythos only cause he thought "it seemed interesting".

 

[pennysbrough]

"There's always been something sexual about this phenomena to me, mirroring the kernel of transcendence inside the primal gyrations of our lower parts."

Is this guy for real?

Pretentious drivel.

 

[Xeuton]

I think the writer's use of unnecessarily obfuscatory vocabulary is very arrogant, however the points made are reasonably valid, if a little contrived.

I think the game deserves less than the amount of scrutiny given it here. That's what makes it fun. You set your brain to simmer, and enjoy the ride. At the same time, you have to leave your brain available to do useful things like timing stunts and carefully spacing out enemies for a perfect string of attacks.

It's a game for people with both ADHD and OCD, and it's a damn fine example of such.

 

[terraasymmetry]

IGN is really trying new blog-like things all over the site. It is all useless ****. Just dig harder for news, write more reviews, and stop showing off your fancy community college education.

Bayonetta is some fruity bull****. If you bought a $60 game to watch a dork witch kick around like a priss... You're a doofus, and likely a douchebag. Stop talking about the stupid game, just because Famitsu liked it doesn't mean it's worth a turd.

 

[citizenmike]

Behold: I actually don't say anything about religious people. My quotes were from the texts themselves and not about the people who believe in them, nor their various interpretations of those texts. And I agree Kamiya treats religion lightly, as a foreign mythos to exploit for interesting source material. It gets about as much of a close reading as does Yakuza culture in Red Steel. But again there is a wealth of evidence in the Torah and Old Testament to make a case for the immolation of female sexual pleasure. I've given you three direct references here, but there are many more than that. I understand you might have a different and more holistic interpretation of those texts, but in a game where a witch kills angels and storms the heavens to slay the creator with weaponry from hell, I think it's entirely relevant, and in fact necessary, to include those references.

 

[bcampe]

Holy f**k Mike Thomsen, get over yourself.

There are so many other games that are worse than this from an exploitation POV.

 

[jjacob32]

I'm all for an intellectual discussion of video games and usually quite like this writer, but dude, this is just bad, BAD writing. Don't get me wrong, I can read all of your big words and understand what you're saying, but this reads like my second-year philosophy papers. Lots of verbiage, that ultimately does more harm than good to your point.

After 7 years of academic writing, please PLEASE heed this advice: Keep it simple and use plain language.

I'm not saying to throw out all of your flowery flourishes or to avoid a nice turn of phrase here and there...but less is definitely more. Your last articles read WAY better when you weren't vomiting prose all over your article. In this one you went WAY too far. It's almost embarrassing. I doubt I would refer this article to anyone because people might think that I'M a pretentious douche.

Which you are not. But you keep this up, and people may get the wrong idea. Keep it simple, and keep up the good work!

 

[jjacob32]

Sorry, not to beat a dead horse here, but I just finished perusing most of the comments and there is quite a lot of criticism of your writing here. Not to make a big deal of it or anything, but there is a lot of constructive criticism here which I hope the writer takes to heart.

I've enjoyed reading Mike's substantive comments that he's posted, but I would like to see his response to the broad criticism of his writing here. I'm curious what your thoughts are on the charges of Bad Writing...and if you're open to revising your approach in light of the criticism.

I love these comments because they are a two way street and provide you guys at IGN with some feedback. So what do you say Mike to these charges of "pretention", "bad writing", and "douchebaggery"?

 

[robstein69]

...


Whatever makes people give up on the idiotic "RE5 iz teh racists!" argument, I suppose.

 

[_423946]

Reading this article was like listening to those dickhead guys from Good Will Hunting hit on Minnie Driver's character. I think you're a good writer but extremely long-winded. Just say how you feel and leave out the baggage. It seemed to me that you tried way to hard.

It was basically Anime converted into a game. How often is there gratuitous sexy scenes and over the top action in anime? That's kind of what I felt the game was going for so it makes sense. I do agree that they went a little far with the whip and that jagged horse torture device. But I do agree that there are far worse games. I mean you can run over innocent people at will in Grand Theft Auto. But I could write a whole article on this so I'll just stop.

 

[logan4179]

Oh God...

"Bayonetta is the very best kind of exploitation of those instincts. It's a usurping of an antiquated mode of entertainment for the snarling purpose of assaulting the stereotypes of its audience while openly attacking their source text that informs those negative stereotypes. It's openly kitsch and mired in genre convention"

You know, I'm glad you mentioned masturbation in this article, because, speaking of, I can tell you really get off on yourself with such amazing writing skills. After all, what makes a writer good is his ability to use words that no one ever uses in every day conversation, right? If that's the case, you should really need a snag-rag after that paragraph there, because that one really takes the cake(and could have been edited out). I'm surprised you don't start making posts correcting people's spelling and grammar in the comments section. You should know that you look like you either posted this article in this way for your own ego, or to make the article longer than it actually should have been for lack of not having that much to really be contrary about. I'm guessing it's a little of both. What I really can't stand is this line:

"Only a sociopath would imagine living in a world in which every moving thing acted as an antagonist."

Well Jack Thomps-err.... Mike Tomsen. This is the world of action video games. A world where you usually have fun blowing everything up and feeling empowered overcoming the odds of defeating everything that's after you. It's also a world where you suspend your disbelief (and your ridiculous ego) and, I don't know, HAVE SOME FUN. I applaud Kamiya and his team for not listening to all the egos out there. Even if I was a critic and it was my job to recognize the flaws in video games, I would make sure to recognize the simple fact that they are the designers, some of which are incredibly talented and experienced. In this case, these designers deserve respect and critical success. They went out and created something that, despite what you're saying, is new and different. They could have listened to all you "contrarians" a long time ago and then we wouldn't have games like this. All we would have would be the general xbox library, consisting (almost always)of space marines with the personalities of popsickle sticks who run around being hairy, and vulgar, and shooting aliens. I would accept the fact that they know how to create video games. I don't. I don't create if I'm a critic. At the end of the day I'm just a guy who sits there and bitches. That may be my job in part, but my job is also to make sure and recognize a game's qualities in a much better and more convincing way than you did when I go on for that long about a particularly over-analytical point.

 

[kiera2]

I agree, that's why I started out trying to link the game to my conception of Exploitation, which pretty closely mirrors what you've written. Sounds like you're arguing points that I didn't try to make and probably wouldn't support.

Fair enough. I misunderstood what you meant by 'exploitation' of sexuality. I usually hear the term used in the context of using sex to make sales, not parodying the overuse of sex. From what I've seen online, the majority of people don't buy this game for the sexual content. They tolerate the excessive sexual content for the sake of fantastic gameplay.

Remeber the Japanese just see western religions as myth, it is not meant to insult or criticize but make a imaginative universe.

I really wish some of the posters on this board would take this to heart and stop getting all bent out of shape about the "offensive" depictions of angels in Bayonetta.

 

[Ch0c0L4t3m1Lk]

i find this article masturbatory. after reading it, i am left with no more than i had in the beginning, except i managed to waste a little time.

were all real impressed with your thesaurus skills, and multi-syllabic masturbation, now write something worthwhile.

 

[WilliamFaulkner]

I personally LOVED this article..."an inverted fairy tale." I think more VG journalists need to analyze these games so closely. Games are literature, and anyone accusing Mike of using a thesaurus lack a high school vocabulary.

 

[luvs2spooj]

What a superb article, it never entered my mind to think of the juxtaposition of sexuality and religion in the game, and perhaps feel a little naive for having missed it, but it's all there in front of us. I wonder if Hideki Kamiya actually meant to imply that, or whether it was a happy by-product of his lavacious imagination.

 

[T-Catchu]

Hmmm... let's boil this down to one sentence and save readers a lot of precious time...

"Bayonetta is a well-made game aimed at horny teenage and college boys."

There... did it for you. Now move on.

 

[SammL.]

I certainly appreciate the in-depth literary research that must have be conducted to create the religious figures in the game, specifically the attention to detail of angels from Dante's Divine Comedy (Paradiso). However, I think that Bayonetta is neither completely exploitation nor female empowering whatsoever. The sexuality of the character is overt but there are certainly flaws to it. Her proportions are incorrect, she's got a mediocre face and the poses and ass/crotch shots are laughable. If anything, it seems more like poking fun at the outrageous sexuality of the character and the audience who just eats it up. She is simply an extremely sexual woman and that's important to the game's plot, rather than being gratuitous for the sake of gratuity. It's a mix of making fun of the sexuality and creating a more compelling character that is cohesive in the story. Personally, I enjoy the game and appreciate the beautiful imagery throughout. Also, I agree that gaming is masturbatory. What is the point of all that work without the climax?

 

[KennedyX8]

@SammL.

I agree. I found every innuendo in this game comical and not serious whatsoever. To me, this also was not exploitation or empowerment. It was just silly, but I still enjoyed it.

 

[Narcotika]

I simply can't understand the praise this title received. I love DMC series, specially DMC 3, and this is nothing like it.
I'm used and pretty much adore over the top universes and characters, but this one is just too much much for nothing.
And worst, the gameplay itself is goofy and annoying.

 

[robstein69]

Want 100% FREE Stuff From Amazon? Get $2.50 FREE for Signing Up! You can even play games to win points!

Thank god! I was beginning to worry this thread would be nothing but post after post of "Look how smart I am!"

 

[kill4food]

i barely understand this at all, all i know and that everyone should know is, its got characters that are almost naked, their witches, and u have to fight things from the developers idea of dante's divine comedy. if heaven and hell do exist, why shouldnt they be darker/lighter versions of our own world?

 

[Dante-]

[blockquote]robstein69 posted:

---

[blockquote]TatataTazamanai posted:

---

Want 100% FREE Stuff From Amazon? Get $2.50 FREE for Signing Up! You can even play games to win points!

---

[/blockquote]

Thank god! I was beginning to worry this thread would be nothing but post after post of "Look how smart I am!"

---

[/blockquote]  

 

[iWraith]

Dude. Seriously? Get a life, man.

You're trying to put some serious analysis into a game where all it's really about, is ass and tits jiggling.

C'mon.

 

[jfive555]

It is entirely refreshing to see that some people are actually thinking about our favorite media in intelligent and analytical ways. Videogames are expressions of the developers' pysches, just like any other media, and deserve to be critically examined in the same way. Huzzah for videogames.

 

[elninio76]

Makes no reference to any other female characters who have previously slid down the proverbial gaming dance pole!

 

[Rapefruit]

What a piece of steaming pretentious dog-faeces.
Poorly written, and it tries way too hard (embarrassingly so) to achieve some high intellectual level that it falls short of.

This is desperate college-student level, Mikey.
You're on thin ice. You call yourself a professional?

Grow up, and better luck next time, Michael.

 

[fireworka]

Oh, Michael Thomsen, I love you so. You clearly got up one day and said to yourself "I'll write a contrarian corner article that that poor mass of ignorant IGN readers won't understand a bit." And it worked.
I enjoyed this article, mostly because I didn't take it too seriously. Whether you really feel all those things while playing Bayonetta is hardly important. It's even less important, as I learned through literary analysis classes, whether or not the developers thought of all that. You make some very interesting points, all of which are entertaining and thoroughly valid, but it's obvious that there's no point in making these points. No one should take Bayonetta any more seriously than I took your article. I think you understand that and wrote this article just for the kicks of exercising - may I say masturbatorily? - some writing muscle in the attempt to write something that'll be over most people's heads. I kind of get that, the entertainment you find in this, as I find it too. I just hope I'm right about this, that entertainment is an excuse for self-indulgence, because if not, I'll be hard-pressed to tell the ignorant masses that this isn't just some arrogant douche bag showing off. But I don't think it is.

 

[voidhelix]

Seriously I stopped reading after the second stanza, Thomsen you`re a world-class no-mind. Do you , even for a second think that the overt sexuality of Bayonetta might just be multi-dimensional? IDIOT(sensationalistic dumbazz) Firstly she is EASILY the most progressive, empowered female character of all time. `she behaves like a man`???? WOW that`s the biggest pile of crap i`ve ever heard. You`re the very worst kind of chauvenist, hiding behind p.c rhetoric to make half-assed comments. Bayonetta fights with her most lethal weapon: her sexuality. It`s not the applied voyeuristic sexuality you allude to( and the camera clicks and dialogue refernce this this you asinine retard) that i`m referring to but the flourish and unfettered ammorality of Bayonetta`s movements and her dialogue highlights this perfectly. She knows you`re looking and depending on her mood she might flirt with you or cut your head off.

For the first time in a decade as a male gamer I can actively idolize a female character rather than lust after a cleavage and a smile. She makes Lara Croft look like an objectified `rack` with no substance and sets the bar for at least one new female paradigm. Oh and as a footnote MY GOD MAN learn to laugh a little, it`s as if you had never played a Devil May Cry game before...parodies are what these guys do! But then crying foul always garners more attention doesn`t it? Go back to playing your overtly sexist and westernized Heavenly Sword/ Tomb Raider/ Velvet Assassin with their pseudo-feminist agendas and uber eye candy coating.....HACK.

 

[vhayste]

Come on guys... that's why its called the Contrarian Corner. You should expect whines and rants here. No need to take it seriously.

 

[citizenmike]

voldhelix: You seem to have sailed by the fact that I liked this game a lot, and much of what I wrote was actually complimentary.

 

[Napoleon1066]

@citizenmike

voldhelix thinks prose comes in stanzas and stopped reading after the second, um, paragraph. I wouldn't expect intelligence.

Anyway, great piece. Your finest work yet.

 

[DukeMagnum]

@citizenmike

voldhelix thinks prose comes in stanzas and stopped reading after the second, um, paragraph. I wouldn't expect intelligence.

Anyway, great piece. Your finest work yet.

No, it wasn't. It was simply trash. For ANYONE that thinks otherwise, I challenge you to find ONE credible (English teacher, professor) source who would call this a quality piece of writing. You won't find one, because this was a train wreck.

This was, possibly, the worst thing I've ever read in my LIFE. This is FAR, FAR, FAR, worse than annoying kids on the internet that confuse you're and your, to, too, and two, or anything else. Their writing only comes off as stupid, this one comes across as pretentious AND stupid. It's a jumbled mess. Sure, maybe Mike had good ideas... but they're lost in the clumsy verboseness of the article.

It seems that Mike is SO diluted by his own big words that he doesn't even grasp the SIMPLE concept of Contrarian's Corner. This article was not contrary in the slightest. First, Mike needs to understand what a contrarian is... to help him out, here is the definition that fits best within our context:

a person who expresses a contradicting viewpoint, esp. one who denounces the majority persuasion

Mike, you expressed a PHILOSOPHICAL viewpoint that was in no way contradicting anything anyone had said. Taking a metaphysical look at video games in general, or a particular game, is certainly OK. Is it truly necessary on the site? Nah, I think it's reading too much into it, but I'd read one such article per month--not one written as poorly as this, however. To analyze a game's societal and religious implications, sexual innuendo and undertones, etc., in the Contrarian's Corner is to misunderstand the nature of the monthly(?) feature.

What I am trying to explain to you, Mike, is that a contrarian should pick a game (I'd pick one game per month, the highest reviewed game in that particular month), play the hell out of it and then nitpick on every flaw. Smash its balls with a sledgehammer, tear it apart, pointing out every little gripe you can to convince us that it sucks. That's what a contrarian would do in this case. You see, the contradicting viewpoint you are expressing should actually contradict something--something like the IGN review, or other general opinions.

Contrarian's Corner should be satire, not a moron pulling out the thesaurus and going to town on his keyboard.

EDIT: Also, like a couple of other posters, I would like to see Mike try to defend his abomination. When you write something that poorly, Mike, there's really no defense for it.

 

[citizenmike]

Duke: At least we both share an interest in adjectives, huh? Anyway, I feel like I have a little leeway with contrarian's because they're a column I started 2 years ago. They were originally binary, as you suggested, but I thought that might actually be the least interesting application of the idea of contrarianism. Under your definition I wouldn't have been able to write about Bayonetta because it's gotten good reviews and this article is likewise laudatory. What I think makes the column concept more interesting is treating any game, regardless of its critical reception, to critical comment that views games as expressive works rather than entertainment.

As for the writing itself, I confess, there isn't a single thing I've ever written that couldn't be improved in some way. What do you want, a pound of flesh? Anyway, happy to listen to any of your stylistic notes, but you haven't made any specific criticisms so there's nothing I can really respond to. If you think it's trash, it may well be for you. I threw out a pair of pants this weekend. They were perfectly good and in fine shape, I just hated the way they looked. So they became trash in my eyes and I treated them that way. But that assessment had just as much to do with me as it did my pants.

 

[robstein69]

@citizenmike

voldhelix thinks prose comes in stanzas and stopped reading after the second, um, paragraph. I wouldn't expect intelligence.

Anyway, great piece. Your finest work yet.

No, it wasn't. It was simply trash. For ANYONE that thinks otherwise, I challenge you to find ONE credible (English teacher, professor) source who would call this a quality piece of writing. You won't find one, because this was a train wreck.

This was, possibly, the worst thing I've ever read in my LIFE. This is FAR, FAR, FAR, worse than annoying kids on the internet that confuse you're and your, to, too, and two, or anything else. Their writing only comes off as stupid, this one comes across as pretentious AND stupid. It's a jumbled mess. Sure, maybe Mike had good ideas... but they're lost in the clumsy verboseness of the article.

Overreact much?

Granted I wholeheartedly disagree with most (read: all) of the assertions of exploitation and the like in this article, but that's really no reason to attack the author's skill (or alleged lack-thereof) at writing. Aside from the fact that I believe he may have been trying too hard at times, I don't really see anything wrong with the way the article is written.

 

[DukeMagnum]

Duke: At least we both share an interest in adjectives, huh? Anyway, I feel like I have a little leeway with contrarian's because they're a column I started 2 years ago. They were originally binary, as you suggested, but I thought that might actually be the least interesting application of the idea of contrarianism. Under your definition I wouldn't have been able to write about Bayonetta because it's gotten good reviews and this article is likewise laudatory. What I think makes the column concept more interesting is treating any game, regardless of its critical reception, to critical comment that views games as expressive works rather than entertainment.

A little leeway, sure. Enough to make it something totally unrecognizable by its title? No. I'd be interested in reading a second feature where you take your ideas and use them as a basis for making an in depth cultural analysis or whatever you want to do. I just don't think Contrarian's Corner is really the place if you don't have anything contrary to say. You're telling me you couldn't find one single thing to slam Bayonetta for? Come on....

As for the writing itself, I confess, there isn't a single thing I've ever written that couldn't be improved in some way. What do you want, a pound of flesh? Anyway, happy to listen to any of your stylistic notes, but you haven't made any specific criticisms so there's nothing I can really respond to. If you think it's trash, it may well be for you. I threw out a pair of pants this weekend. They were perfectly good and in fine shape, I just hated the way they looked. So they became trash in my eyes and I treated them that way. But that assessment had just as much to do with me as it did my pants.

What I'd like is for you to admit you wrote crap, then promise not to do it again. I've read legalese that was easier to follow than that diarrhea dump you took on your keyboard. Throwing too much crap out there is confusing. Some people thing it makes you look smart because they don't understand it, some think it makes themselves look smart when they want to waste time deciphering it, and some see it for what it is: convoluted and verbose.

Papers have big words and complex language to explain complex ideas. Your ideas were simple, they don't require all the filler. When you string all that together it just doesn't sound good--at all. It doesn't flow, it isn't easy to read, and it isn't really interesting. It feels like you're trying to toss out big words for the sake of it, rather than to convey an opinion. You fail to address your audience. An article can be well written without all the extra crap.

Old DMC games were built around the Castlevania ethos of combat married to exploration and incremental unlocking of a connected environment.

What will remain is Bayonetta's remorseless embrace of sexual impropriety and the eradication of the piety which would mandate guilt for hearing the music of the crotch before the austere chorales of religious guilt.

This tradition, to me, has always been an audience directed sneer, a pantomime of the worst social stereotypes and fears for the sake of deriding those for who believe in them.

There's always been something sexual about this phenomena to me, mirroring the kernel of transcendence inside the primal gyrations of our lower parts.

Those sentences aren't good. They're the product of a writer trying too hard--trying so hard to sound intelligent that it becomes painfully obvious that he isn't. You're probably a smart guy, so cut the crap, mean what you say and say what you mean.

 

[mweflen1]

Mr. Thomsen,

The number of run-on sentences in this piece is nothing short of astonishing. After about the third one, I lost whatever point was being made. What exactly are you putting your piece up as "contrary" to? Did someone advance the opinion that Bayonetta is asexual, non-exploitative, and restrained? Were you saying that it is a good game because of or in spite of its flamboyance? Just what is a "snarling purpose" anyway?

Sometimes, writing simply is an indication of far greater skill and insight than cramming in every 25-cent word you know. This read like the most pretentious undergraduate philosophy paper I've ever graded... so here's your grade:

C-. Please submit a new draft that contains an actual thesis statement and develops it in a logical manner.

 

[Swordmaven]

Hmm...another wrongheaded IGN article. Here we see the kneejerk opinion of "exploitation." Some folks would have you believe that whenever a member of any gender is shown in a sexual way, that is exploitation. Sure, it exists. But to some, there is no question in any context. The idea that Bayonetta is a game that has exploitation at its core is an easy idea to have, if you're not paying attention. Yes, in the current social environment, a woman who can allow her sexuality to show while also blowing shit up and punishing her enemies is the picture of empowerment. I'm surprised this writer didn't call Bayonetta an "activist."

Go ask Jenna Jameson if she feels "exploited." How about Beyonce Knowles. Is she being exploited or is she the one doing the exploiting? Women like this who use their sexuality (not necessarily any talent they may or may not possess) to empower and enrich themselves. And they have men in the palm of their hands because of that. Yes, that's empowerment and this writer no doubt feels emasculated by such a character as Bayonetta that would kick his ass and then blow him a kiss before he went into a coma.

Hey...dude. Turn off Fox News, exercise the left side of your brain and start over.

sheesh

 

[rware3]

Amazing piece. I think if video games were given this type of critical scrutiny more often, we'd be playing and talking about entirely different, better games in entirely different, better ways. (IMHO.)

I'm off to find more writing by Thomsen. Thanks for taking the time to give this to the gaming community; the other countless vidya reviewer-types could learn something valuable here.

 

[citizenmike]

Duke: Well, I'm not sure you're a better barometer for who the audience is than I am. Anyway, I'll decline your invitation to declare my article a diarrhea dump on a keyboard. I simply disagree, and I think it's a metaphor that takes us further away from an actual exchange.

It seems like your only real beef, grammar aside, is with what you presume to be my motivations for writing. You could argue about my points but you veer into a rhetorical dead end when you start projecting motivation on a person without knowing them. I don't particularly care whether or not people think I'm smart, so if that's your final assessment, it seems we've reached a loggerhead and I leave you to that conclusion. What I am actually interested in is sharing what a game experience meant to me, and trying to put that experience into a cultural context that is explicitly subjective. My hope is that this would encourage other people to share there own subjective experiences about the game, and we could have an actual conversation; a meaningful exchange of ideas and feelings. Or we could just go on talking about what a piece of shit the frame is, while losing sight of the fact there's a picture contained within.

 

[citizenmike]

mwenflen: Here's the thesis, since you missed it:

"It's also an exploitive reduction of religion to the level of soap opera that, when combined with the sexual jubilation, make it possible to see with new eyes a genre that has languished for years."

I think you'll find everything connects directly back to that summation of my experience. There may well be gaps in logic which are worth looking at, but I leave it to you to point those out, though I appreciate your pedagogic evaluation, if only for the kink appeal of it.

 

[deus837]

"There's always been something sexual about this phenomena to me, mirroring the kernel of transcendence inside the primal gyrations of our lower parts."

Sorry Mike, but that smells like Grade-AAA BS to me.

 

[Rapefruit]

Was my comment deleted?
Unfortunately I think it was.
Let me re-state, as everyone else, correctly, has been: This is the single most pretentious and unnecessary thing I have ever seen in my 10+ years on the various incarnations of IGN.

Arrogant and completely amateur. It doesn't take much of an education to see how hard Mikey here was trying to come off as intelligent and sophisticated. In the end this is just desperate-student-material.

Am I familiar with his other "work"? Nope. But from now on, when I see his name, I will either be skipping the article, grinning while reading it, or taking it with a grain of salt.

Making things worse, he even reads these comments, and defends his drivel with things like "I appreciate your pedagogic evaluation, if only for the kink appeal of it."

Does being a pretentious tool really come this easy for people? My God, grow up, Michael.

Guys, if you really want a laugh, Google around and watch this man-child defend Metroid Prime as the "Citizen Kane" of videogames. My sides have been split. Thank you for the laughs, champ.

Usually I don't make such mean-spirited posts. Usually.
But it's hard not to when
A) the article, in its essence, is frustrating, and
B) the writer insults his critics in the comments section

This, Michael, is why you write for a silly videogame site, and not a legitimate news source ie. a newspaper.

 

[bjc166]

To join the debate would mean reading past the first page,sorry fellas.

 

[scorion78]

I loved this article!

 

[parkerscott]

@Mike

I'm very surpised to hear you praise Bayonetta. I suppose I expected to hear you rail against the ostensible and compelling need to put Bayonetta in a violent context in order to establish her as gender equal, much like your criticism of Devil May Cry. You touched on this a little. Both games are openly tacky and kitschy, featuring sexual under and overtones, but one places the spotlight on the woman and it's suddenly liberating. I don't get it.

 

[degreatmartini]

@Rapefruit

"Does being a pretentious tool really come this easy for people?"

It came pretty easy for you

 

[citizenmike]

Mr Fruit: I solemnly pledge to you that I'll use "salubrious" in an article before this year is up. I have no idea how or when but it's coming, and I'll think of you as I type it.

 

[citizenmike]

Parker: Well, I don't mean to imply that Bayonetta is liberating in any sense. Games shouldn't be about liberation, nor empowerment, because they ultimately can do neither. And I also did point out that Bayonetta's femininity is forced into a typically masculine series of traits like physical prowess, destructive force, and emotional disengagement (is that a kid, grrroosss).

We agree on those points. But what I like in the game is my sense of the social phenomenon it's exploiting (or Exploiting). Religious villification of sexual women, male fixation on aesthetics, and the absurdity of valuing someone based on their ability to fight/destroy. With DMC, I don't really get the punchline. It's kitchen sink absurdity, which I appreciate, but I can't dig much deeper because a sulky male demon seeking revenge is overfamiliar. Everything from Milton to Anne Rice have taken a turn rendering it. If it's exploiting that cultural cliche, that seems like low hanging fruit. Satisfying for a punchline or two, but a little thin to stretch across a whole game, or series of games.

Women, religion, and violent subjugation are not revelatory experiences either. But I still find the cultural baggage surrounding it remains much too current. Do you know any women who fear being branded "sluts" or lash out at other women with an accusation of sluttery? What is the cultural root of that impulse? Who is designed to please? Or what about the persistence of "rape" jokes. Will Ferrel made them on SNL. Borat soaked them up. And clearly a lot of people in the gaming community still invoke that term, the absolute invalidation of another person's sexual identity, for fun. For fun; I repeat it because it's such an insidious phenomenon.

Bayonetta is an Exploitation of all of those loosely hung cultural hangups, and I bask in it on those terms.