Street Fighter IV and Ludacris: The Purpose of Media

Sorry for the long period since my last post. Confession: I've spent every single available hour playing the recently released Street Fighter IV on the Xbox 360. In the past two or three years I have grown into the fighting game genre playing DOA4, a CvS machine at college, and VF5 while I was in Japan (lord help you if you can unravel all those acronyms with ease). Street Fighter is my latest and most dedicated attempt to master the genre. Finally, QCF+P is something I understand and can do consistently. My nerd powers have increased ten fold.

And yet, for all the fun that last two weeks and 250 matches have borne, I cannot shake my guilty conscious as I play. Close-ups of Cammy's butt litter my HDTV making me wonder why I'm playing into some developer's fantastical, degrading creation. As I circle around the character select screen, I come upon El Fuerte, the Mexican lucha libre wrestler. A little stereotypical? Yes, of course, but it's made worse by his second occupation as a cook which plays into that American conception of Mexicans/Latinos as low-skilled laborers. Everywhere I look I can find something wrong. African Americans are portrayed as ruthless, violent creatures who are driven by greed and materialism (Balrog). India is presented as poor and desolate, yet somehow mystical and mysterious (Dhalsim). And the portrayal of women is par for the course: sexually appealing for a male audience (see Sakura's Alternate Costume Color 10).

For all these complaints, the game never ceases to be an amazingly rewarding and deep fighting game experience. Sadly, this is the key to victory for any triple-A titles: they can ignore any sense of socially conscious responsibility as long as they make a good game. I don't care how consciously on-point your game is, if it's no fun to play then I do not want to struggle through it. At the end of the day, it is the gameplay experience which appeals and moves units.

This obvious yet disappointing lesson is inherent in any kind of entertainment/art media. Case in point: Ludacris. If I take one more drink/I'm gonna end up fucking you. A wonderfully classy anthem in these most uncertain of times -_- While we can descontruct, criticize, and decolonize ourselves of the awful mysognist expletives in Ludacris' latest, it is ultimately hard to deny that is a good song. It is musically pleasing with a luscious, flowing bass line and a smooth wordsmith at the helm. Irregardless of your consciousness level, anyone from Upperclass White Boy to Radical Feminist of Color can be found dancing together at your local club scene or college after party.

In the past I would have called this a contradiction, but today I recognize the ability to live purely and devoid of all things problematic and exploitative to be impossible. There is a necessity for release. Art/Entertainment is able to connect with us on a level that transcends the academic and intellectual. Music, videogames, film, books, etc. help extend the level of human expression. Art and entertainment allow us to create, imagine, and explore ourselves in a spiritual and cathartic manner. We may be able to analyze why media represents this in that way, but we cannot deny that its power and influence is everpresent and worthy of respect.

Street Fighter is racist and sexist. Ludacris is misogynist and immature. But they're both doing something right. For my socially conscious, left of the left, progressive radical anarchists of color, I ask you to consider these media expressions as challenges. Let Ludacris teach you how to write a damn good sounding song. Let Capcom teach you how to create a deep yet accessible fighter. Do not simply consume your media, but learn from it and move forward. Create with a purpose and a message but cultivate your creativity and imagination. Reserve your arrogance, maintain an open-mind and learn from those you disagree with most.

--david