How Videogames Demonize Fat People

America’s most pervasive cultural product rarely treats its audience with respect

About

Author: Anshuman Iddamsetty

Publisher: The Outline

Pages: N/A

Description

“When I encounter the fat body in a video game, the disappointment that follows is so hot and pure that there is, as a matter of self-care, an urgent need to remove myself from the moment and get on a plane. I refuse to accept that in the world of prestige video games — AAA in industry speak — a body like mine and those of the people I love and admire, can only exist in one of two ways: a cheap laugh or a site of disgust, usually both. After the refusal is a bloom of something hope-adjacent. Perhaps somewhere on Twitter a fan community has rehabilitated this particular depiction into something empathetic and inclusive, or at the very least, cute, as they so often do.” – Anshuman Iddamsetty, The Outline

Curator: Steve Wilcox
Steve Wilcox is an assistant professor in the Game Design & Development program at Wilfrid Laurier University where he researches & creates knowledge translation games. He is also the co-founder & former editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar.

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