Exploring “Gone Home” and “Riot Grrrl”

Gone Home

The Gone Home game was interesting to me, it’s not a game that I would typically play. It is a lot more relaxed than anything else I have ever played. I was expecting it to be a horror game because of the overall look and vibe of the game. It was surprising to find no horror elements when finally playing the game. I like the purpose of the game and the overall goal, but the actual gameplay isn’t something I am used to. The entire game is typically a small part of other games. In other games, searching around and reading through material takes up only a small portion of the game. However, Gone Home takes that same concept and makes it into an entire game.

This game reminds me a lot of Life is Strange, especially with Sam’s notes to Lonnie with the doodling included. It reminds me a lot of Max’s journals and the different doodles by a character named Kate that are seen throughout the game. Lonnie and Sam’s relationship also reminded my of the friendship/relationship of the main characters of Life is Strange.

Making Connections

In terms of connections to other material we’ve seen in this class. Sam and Lonnie’s situation reminds me of the coming out game. Sam mentioned wanting to go out with Lonnie to go to a concert. There is also a magazine or comic book titled, “Women outlaws.” One man is seen saying “no female is gonna tell me..” before being cut off by the main woman pictured kicking him. The comic is clearly all about empowering women and showing that they are just as capable as men despite the criticism from the other side. “To end patriarchy (another way of naming the institutionalized sexism) we need to be clear that we are all participants in perpetuating sexism until we change our minds and hearts, until we let go of sexist thought and action and replace it with feminist thought and action” (Hooks ix). This quote connects to the cover of the comic well. 

RIOT GRRRL

Riot Grrrl deals with several topics like seeking inclusion, patriarchy, empowerment, and a number of other things. The very beginning part says, “BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways.” This is related to concepts of women of color in feminist spaces even though it was originally targeted towards women in general. A lot of women of color tend to seek others like them because there are experiences regarding feminism that are unique to them. “It is the centrality of race, of institutionalized racism, and of struggles against racial oppression that link the various feminist perspectives within this framework. Together, they demonstrate that racial meanings offer new theoretical directions for feminist thought” (Zinn and Dill 321).

Research Essay Exploration

I potentially want to explore queer representation in video games or inclusion in the beauty/makeup communities. The topic of queerness in video games interests me because there are a lot of video games that I like that explore the topic of sexuality and I think it could be fun to possibly explore the topic. Games like Life is Strange and The last of us are games that I would be interested in focusing on. I would specifically want to look at how the games go about providing representation. The cultural artifact I could use is either a painting or a movie. For inclusion in the makeup community, I really enjoy makeup even though I struggle with perfecting it myself. I think it would be interesting to see what makeup has done for people with varying gender identities. For this topic, the cultural artifact I would want to include photographs of different makeup styles throughout history.