Looking at
today’s media you see a lot of posters and movies that depict females in a much
objectified fashion. Most of these advocate unrealistic body proportions that
cause many females in society to torture themselves physically and
psychologically in order to replicate these models. These issues are displayed
in the article Cultural Expectations of
Thinness in Women1, linking eating disorders with the cultural
expectation to be thin. Although this is a serious issue and needs to be
addressed, there is also a problem on the other side with males being
objectified in unrealistic ways.
The issues
between body expectations of males and females are similar, but are depicted in
different ways and lead to different reactions of people to them. Evolving Ideals of Male Body Image as Seen
Through Action Toys2, an
article discussing the relation between action figures and the male body
expectation through the past few decades emphasizes how males are expected to
look, especially at an early age. It shows how toys have become more muscular
and inadvertently imply that stronger males are more superior. Another article,
Sociocultural Expectations of
Attractiveness for Males3, touches on the same topic but uses
several popular magazines as a way to expose how mainly high muscle mass is the
most culturally desired aspect of men.
Coming from
the perspective of a male who has dealt with not having the ideal male body
image, I wanted to show how irritating it is trying to impress others with
looks alone. The game involves three options to try and win the heart of a girl
who represents society that expects the perfect body from a male. Each of the
options individually are possible to achieve, but all three are not possible to
achieve at the same time. The decision to include more than just becoming
strong stems from my own observations of how men of certain looks are treated.
If a man has nice skin without blemishes and having a nice color to it, he is
attractive. Also if a man is dressed the way society deems as attractive, than
he is attractive. All of these things are outside appearances that qualify
males as being ideal and attractive to the world. These issues can also relate
with females as well, but for this game it is only from the male perspective.
What makes
it more frustrating is that in order to woo the girl, or society, all three
options must be done simultaneously. It is similar to Depression Quest in the
fact that it points out the issue and uses the game as a realistic example of
how one experiences this issue. My game cannot be finished which was done on
purpose because it represents the continual process that males go through in
order to try to make themselves attractive for the world. In the end only very
few men can achieve this.
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