A Lesson In Irony, Via Morgan Webb
December 11th, 2007, 12:02am by GeoffFirst, I’ll note the irony inherent in the fact that Kotaku has run a post on Morgan Webb - in classic “I’m so much more than just a pretty face!” style - alongside a photograph of Webb in a bikini. (I can only assume that the room was quite chilly, adding bonus irony points to the total.) Good job, guys.
The second irony stems from the fact that, Webb’s hopes to the contrary, her minor fame is predicated largely on her appearance. To her credit, Webb seems largely aware of this fact in the interview Kotaku links to. At the same time, though, she seems largely unconcerned with, or unaware of, the way in which her actions seem designed to perpetuate an image of herself that she appears to find distasteful. For example, Webb’s photo spreads in Maxim and FHM: those magazines’ entire raison d’etre is to objectify women while stripping them of almost any professional or intellectual context. (Viz., the women of “America’s Hottest Firefighters” aren’t there because of their expertise with search and rescue operations.) I have no particular objection to Maxim in principle. Hey, I used to subscribe. But if I were seeking to divorce my appearance from questions regarding my professional qualifications, I’d definitely think twice about posing in it.
And that seems to be the crux of Webb’s problem here: she was more than happy to pose when she perceived that it advanced her career, but resentful of the implication that her career advancement is based far more on her appearance than her gaming bona fides. As a result, she’s forced to accept a bitter compromise: accept a professional tv career by trading credibility for attractiveness, or reject that path and be respected on her own terms. But if you’re going to pick Option A, you can’t really object when people stop you in the street to ask if you “really play games”… no matter how many interviews you give asking for the contrary.
Posted in Geoff, Personalities |
December 11th, 2007 at 12:59 am
“As a result, she’s forced to accept a bitter compromise: accept a professional tv career by trading credibility for attractiveness, or reject that path and be respected on her own terms.”
Of course, for a TV show, particular with her likely base audience, there’s not much of a choice there. She would still be responding to the question of if she “really plays games” whether she had posed in those magazines or not. Such is the way the gaming community, and really the TV audience at large, basically works. Maybe it shouldn’t really be that way, but it is what it is for now.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
There’s a big difference between dealing with a stereotype and perpetuating it.
My concern is with her objections. It’s fine to complain about such questions if they’re structural (i.e., because she’s an attractive television presenter) since there’s nothing inherent in those characteristics to justify them. But as soon as you start, say, posing in Maxim - actually celebrating style over substance - you *invite* the questions.