LoganSnake

I was debating whether or not to put it into Cynth's "Why are we fat?" thread, but decided to make a separate one. If you think otherwise, by all means.

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I'm sure some of you have heard of the upcoming downloadable PlayStation Network game called Fat Princess. If you haven't, read on. Melissa McEwan of shakesville recently discovered the game and took offense at the concept.

Here's what she had to say:

I knew that with the word "Fat" in the game's title and the concept of overfeeding the princess to astronomical proportions it would only be a matter of time before somebody (without a doubt somebody overweight) took it close to heart. Apparently, we only had to wait a few days after its announcement. Are we at a point where words and concepts should be censored to remain politically correct? The game sounds ridiculously fun and I really hope that this blog post of hers doesn't generate any media attention.

Does anybody think she actually has a point? I've been trying to come up with one and really can't.

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Baraka_Guru

I think she has a point, to a degree.

Think of a game called Skinny Princess, where you get her to eat and then force her to vomit; or Black Princess, where you get the princess to do outrageously "Black" things; or Dyke Princess, where you get her to do outrageously "gay" things; or Handicapped Princess, where you get her to do outrageously "handicapped" things; or . . . .

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jorgelito

Ok I'll bite. Just to play devil's advocate here. The concept of Fat Princess uses the fat princess as an object of ridicule. Even though she's to be saved, the fat aspect and the comical nature pokes fun at her fatness. Think about it in terms of substitution. What if it were Ghetto Princess instead? Someone big and black, wearing a lot of bling and acting all high maintenance and dispensing a liberal amount of profanity and nagging. Bonus points if you figure out who is the real daddy of her baby. Or how about Jewish Princess? Instead of rescuing her you try to send her back to her mother. Bonus points for marrying a Gentile. if Fat Princess is ok, then the rest of these should be as well.

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thespian86

I couldn't of worded it any better. I mean it's all in good fun, but some people take that stuff really seriously, and I can definitely see how it would be offensive.

It takes all kinds. Plus her last few sentences were hilarious. Kudos to her.

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LoganSnake

Let's see.

Skinny Princess - puking all over? Bulimics all over the country would raise up in arms. Plus, it's politically incorrect.

Black Princess - what black things are you talking about? That's racism! Politically incorrect.

Dyke Princess - lesbian sex? Hell yes! The word, however, is politically incorrect.

Handicapped Princess - can't see the game being much fun there. Oh shit, I just went and said something that could be considered politically incorrect.

So the point is that we're slowly moving toward tippy-toeing even more than we do now in order to avoid insulting more and more groups of people every day?

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Bear Cub

Where may I play all of the previously mentioned titles?

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jorgelito

I think GTA takes care of it.

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timalkin

You're comparing apples and oranges.

People can't choose to have an eating disorder (Skinny Princess).
People can't choose to be a certain race (Black Princess).
People can't choose their sexual orientation (Dyke Princess).
People can't choose their level of physical/mental impairment (Handicapped Princess).

You're talking about factors that are uncontrollable by an individual, whereas being fat is a personal choice.

We have become too politically correct. Where does it end?

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Willravel

This strikes me as a passive aggressive way to tell your kid you think she's fat. That's not cool.

You know what would be nice? A game where the road of trials includes diet and exercise, and those choices are reflected on the character. Not as a main theme, of course (that'd be REALLY boring), but as a part of a larger game. Did the Sims do that?

Baraka_Guru

This isn't always true. Without getting too much into "what makes people fat," not everyone makes it a choice. There are genes, depression, and other factors.

Being fat can be the result of an eating disorder, and you've said you cannot choose whether to have that.

Apples and oranges? Maybe. But they're both fruit.

Even if being fat is somewhat a choice, or, more realistically, a "failure" to conform to a "norm," that does not make it open season for ridicule.

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—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
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Frosstbyte

I don't really have any feelings about the game. If people don't like it, they shouldn't buy it. The market is wonderful like that. If enough people don't like something, it won't be profitable and they won't make more things about it. Being fat isn't a suspect classification. Suck it up, don't buy the game and tell your friends not to buy the game. Pretty easy.

Also, for purposes of timalkin's post, I don't think you can separate the fat "eating disorders" from the skinny "eating disorders." They're either both choices or both not choices. Personally, I'm inclined to call them both choices because you can do something about either direction, though I guess I can see how it's a tough call. Compulsions are tricky like that, but ultimately they involve MUCH more volition than race, sexual orientation or mental capacity, and you'd have a very hard time convincing me otherwise.

inBOIL

They're just being controversial to get free advertising via outrage.

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LoganSnake

See? That's the problem. I don't think the game is controversial at all. GTA? Yeah. Fat Princess? Not quite.

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blahblah454

You don't like the game? Then don't buy it!! What a crazy concept!

Some people need to just relax

RetroGunslinger

I don't see the problem with making fun of anything. If you can't take words, you're pretty fucked. To me, this is just like a Catholic getting upset at a gay priest joke.

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Bear Cub

I say just let the people play Ethnic Cleansing. After that, they'll stop bitching about their little royal cherub.

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Sion

How do we know that it's fat people being made fun of and not royalty?

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*Nikki*

That princess has some fat cleavage

Sion

I wonder if Melissa McEwan is aware that there is an entire sub-culture of men and women who absolutely adore fat people? Chubby-chasers they are called.

"I'm positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes."

I also wonder if she realizes that blaming video games (or movies, tv shows, music, etc) for behavior is horseshit?

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I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

percy

Ms. McEwan sounds abit like the spoon fed self righteous morons who would hi-jack every Women's Studies lecture I ever attended to promote the same old, same old men are evil bastards who only want to fuck us, control us, then put us aside until the next episode.

I wonder if she realizes that being so patronizing of fat people (women) that she is actually insulting them for apparently being LESS than human and inferior to others because they are being symbolized in their true sense,...that being FAT.

I wouldn't worry about Ms. McEwan though. Most people, men and women with half a brain know people like her are the exception to the rule and generally are taken more as a nutjob than seriously anyway. And if fat people(women or men) are offended by this video game, they need to dig deep within and ask themselves honestly,...WHY!!

Jinn

I for one don't think the game is funny, nor do I think it's okay to tell someone to "lighten up", or tell them they're "taking it too seriously".

I agree with her 100%, and I'm not obese nor a woman. "Walk a mile in someone's shoes" would benefit most of you mid-20s white males who think that everyone just needs to 'suck it up.'

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abaya

Jinn, truly, you are a different man than the one who first registered on this site.

I will ask, though, about the first line in your signature... doesn't it contradict your post somehow?

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Jinn

What kind of man would I be without being a little hypocritical?

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abaya

Well, you'd be a different man again, I suppose. But I see that you edited your sig a little... would you apply the new version to someone who is obese?

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LoganSnake

I don't need to walk in anybody else's shoes. Not a mile, not three inches. The point is that if she's that insecure about her weight to get offended at a video game, it is in her power to do something to change it. Blaming it on something else is so typical of Americans. Unlike other instances mentioned in this thread, weight is something people have a degree of control over. They just need to want it enough.

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Slims

If she's so uncomfortable with her weight that she cares about a game called "fat princess" she should go on a hunger strike until either Sony caves, or she is no longer fat enough to care.

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QuasiMondo

I'm sure I'll become a fat-hating heterntormative asshole from playing this game like I've become a homicidal, drug dealing sociopath from plaing Grand Theft Auto, or like I've bevome a thrill-seeking illegal street racer from playing Need for Speed: Underground, or like I've become a cold-blooded killer from playing Hitman, or a turtle-hating mushroom smasher from playing Super Mario Bros.

Sometimes a game is just a game, people.

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genuinegirly

Description from playstation.com :


So, let me get this straight...

A princess is locked in a dungeon. She is fed constantly against her will.
The prince or whomever chooses to rescue her. This requires teamwork to save her from a fate worse than death - helpless obesity.
You are not saving her from herself. You are saving her from perpetual confinement by a worthy adversary.

Where does it state that the princess chooses to overeat?
Oh, wait, it didn't.

Where does it state that fat people aren't worth rescuing from a dungeon?
Ummm, nowhere.

Does the game include getting the princess back into shape?
Doesn't look like it.

Designed in bad taste?
Subjective, but probably so. For this reason, I am not shocked that some are offended by it.

A blatant insult to fat people?
Honestly, no.

I personally don't think it looks like much fun. I probably wouldn't play it. I definitely wouldn't purchase it. There are a lot of stupid games out there. I will add this to the stupid list, alongside "Hail to the Chimp."

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JumpinJesus

Who is that dumbass woman in that dumbass video?

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ipollux

I don't think a person has control over what their race or sexuality is or if they are handicapped, but I do believe person has control over their weight. I realize some people are going to be a little heavier than others, but if you're just huge, it's typically your own fault.

I admire my grandparents for just admitting they are fat and not caring because they love food, rather than crying on everyone's shoulder and begging for pity. This, of course, doesn't mean I think fat people should be picked on; I'm just merely pointing out that it's a little different than race and sexuality.

Atreides88

I think the blogger(bloggerette?) needs to lighten up and rectify her rectal-cranial inversion. If she's so upset about a stupid game making fun of her(and others) because she is fat, why doesn't she work at it and choose not to be fat? Speaking as someone who used to be a fat kid, and is no longer, it's really not that difficult, you just have to want it. But that revelation would ruin her sense of victimhood because she would actually have to take responsibility for herself; and we can't be having that now can we?
She needs to suck it up and get out and actually walk a mile in her shoes.

/RANT

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Baraka_Guru

A little different, yes. But I think this is not so much about whether it can be controlled and more about whether it is okay to ridicule.

I don't think it's okay, for example, to call one "Fatty" on the basis that they weren't born that way and could maybe (yes, maybe) not be so fat one day.

In regards as to whether they're at fault, there is this bit of information:
Source: Hill J.O., et al. (2000). Genetic and environmental contributions to obesity. Medical Clinics of North America, 84(2): 333–346.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Lasereth

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas sort of incorporated this. CJ (the main character) would get fat if you kept feeding him fast food without exercising. Once you started hitting the gym and doing the weight training minigames (which were very entertaining) he very gradually start to get buff. I made my CJ run everywhere and sprint so often that he was very toned and slender yet had enough muscle to look decent. It was very cool that the way you played your character (take the easy fast food and car-riding route and you get fat, eat smaller proportions and run everywhere and you get fit) actually reflected it in the game.