If the dude could just walk like a lady

I really don't have much to say this morning. So at the risk of not getting points for today's entry, I'll just copy and paste part of my LJ entry and a few FB comments. Last night's spat that spilled onto FB wound up with my male friends talking about how since the chick's have powers and whatnot in games that makes them "protagonists" - totes missing the points, dudes. But here's this so far this morning.  (I'll probably come up with something later today. But just in case I don't.)

"It started with my disparaging remark about the Final Fantasy series not having a female protagonist. (At least the main series.) My boyfriend replied that since one can switch party members to sometimes move and control a female character that Final Fantasy 12 did, indeed, have one. 

I argued that simply because one can play a female (and in the case of FF12, only peripherally) does not mean she's the main character. 

He agreed that video games need stronger female characters and more female main characters. He just said that the Final Fantasy series were not one of them.

In the case of FF12, the main conflict that needs resolving is restoring a lost princess to the throne. But stories that hinge on the plight of a woman - as many video games and most of the FF series does - does not a female protagonist make. It simply makes them the conflict in which the male characters solve. 

We argued about ensemble casts. We argued about whether or not large parties involve a protagonist at all. We argued about whether or not Luke was the protagonist in Star Wars, for Christ's sake. (He is and I was astounded that anyone would say differently.) We argued and argued and argued until finally both of us, irritated to no end, said "I'm tired of this. Let's talk about something else."

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 Me on FB this morning: In other words, just cuz the chick is tied to the railroad tracks doesn't make her the main character. It makes her the damsel in distress. Princess Peach is NOT the protagonist of Mario Brothers, etc etc etc."

My friend DA on FB:

"An easy way to tell whether a woman is the protagonist or the damsel: if the story works just as well with some other valuable item in place of the woman (a magic sword, possession of a kingdom, a sexy lamp), she's the damsel. Objects are not protagonists."


(More DA:) "Another character can be responsible for the triggering event that leads to the protagonist's change, but that character doesn't become the protagonist simply by acting as the trigger. (In fact, most adventure plots have a trigger-character who emphatically is NOT the protagonist; think of Obi-Wan, or Hagrid telling Harry Potter that Harry is in fact a wizard. Both trigger the quest, but neither are the protagonist.)"

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All of my male friends don't get this. All of my female friends do.

Because, you know, vagina.