I Choose Paper 2

I am going to extend my second paper. I am going to continue my examination of the video game Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, through the eyes of Jenkins. I like longboarding and enjoy skateboarding games due to my understanding of longboarding. Through my examination of Tony Hawk's Proving Ground I gained a better understanding of skateboarding. I want to continue the learning process I started. I did not really have any interest or feelings invested in the advertisements or subject matter I used in the first paper. I did not view the advertisements in the first paper through Selfe's or Kilbourne's eyes because I did not fully agree with what they were saying. Since I care more about the subject matter involved in the second paper, I think I could write a better extension of that paper. Since I believe I could write a better extension of the second paper, I am choosing to continue to write on that subject.

Jenkins

I’ll be using Jenkins in my paper. Jenkins focuses more on gender roles and video games. He talks about what makes a game a boy’s  game and what makes a game a girl’s game, or at least labeled as such. I am going to focus on how Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground is directed towards young males. It is directed towards males because the only gender the player can be in the game, except for one character, is male. People like to be able to relate to the character they are. If a female wants to play the game and they cannot be a character they relate to, then they most likely will not play the game, leaving it open to only being played by males. Males seem to like violence and pranks. As Jenkins mentions, guys are conditioned to prove their value through their physical abilities. In Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground pranks are performed for some missions that involve spray painting public places. Another mission involves checking people, or knocking them down. Both fit into Jenkins’s comment about guys liking to perform pranks and be violent. In Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground there are also insane tricks that a player must perform. Most of the tricks are impossible to perform in reality, due to terrain or weather conditions. Due to the improbability of the ability to perform the tricks, they become dare devil tricks, which goes with Jenkins statement of guys liking to perform pranks and do other dare devil stunts that go against social norms.

My Game

I chose to write a paper about the game Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. The game is fairly realistic in graphics so I cannot really analyze the colors used in the game or its imagery in general. The game does have a feature that allows the player to personalize their own character. A Female model is not included as a possible choice for a character. There is also only one female skater represented in the whole game. I was thinking that I could use this angle to possibly argue that sexism exists within the game. That the game put out the idea that women cannot skate. Then on the other side of the argument, there are not as many female skaters in the actual skating realm as there are male skaters. This again could be contributed to social roles in society that would cause fewer females to be exposed to skateboarding.

The game also has different challenges that have to be completed in order for the player to move onto harder levels. There are three different styles of skaters the player can work their way up to (Career, Hardcore, and Rigger). Depending on which style is chosen, more stunts will be performed by the player to gain points toward their intended style. Some of the stunts might include checking, which involves ramming into and knocking down civilians. Another stunt might be tagging, which would involve decorating a sign or building with graffiti. It could be argued that Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground promotes violence and vandalism, which could be another argument. There are other great parts of the game though, that promote creativity and the ability to believe the impossible can happen. I’m not really sure where I am going to go with my argument yet.

My Paper

I will be taking the argument that advertisements prey on what people want. What advertisers think people want is companionship or just to be wanted. I will show this by examining the ways advertisers go about making an advertisement. I will use my advertisements as examples.

Coca-Cola Advertisement Analysis

The above advertisement for Coca-Cola is directed towards women. The bottom paragraph of text says that Coca-Cola is the perfect beverage for any occasion and that it puts each person at ease. The picture partly implies that if a girl drinks Coca-Cola then she will be so cool and at ease that she could attract a suitor or male caller. The possible male suitor is shown in the mirror behind her. Obvious interest is being shown by the suitor through the smile on his face and the possible at ease conversation that is being exchanged. This advertisement plays at a basic social idea that a women is looking to please a man and for a suitor of some sort.

This ad is similar to the Tom Ford ad. Both ads imply that the fragrance, in this case Axe, will make the product's user more desirable. In this ad just a women is shown making a call me sign with her hand. The signal she is giving implies that she wants to be with whoever is using Axe. The ad is referring to Axe as the women's reason for desiring whom ever she is looking at. The ad makes it known that Axe is the cause of her desire by printing "THE-AXE-EFFECT" at the bottom. The statement clearly states the Axe is the cause of the women's desires. This ad uses a person's desire to be wanted as a selling mechanism.

TOM FORD FOR MEN Advertisement Analysis

The above advertisement is directed towards men. It is trying to imply that men who use Tom Ford For Men will attract more women. This is suggested by the fact that the a woman's hand is caressing a man's partially bare chest. It almost looks like she is going to rip off his shirt with the way she is grabbing at him. It is implied that the attention he is getting is due to the fact that he is using Tom Ford For Men, due to the fact that the fragrance is shown in the picture. The bottle of fragrance is almost as big as the image of the man in the advertisement, commanding as much attention as the other image.