I don’t usually post raw videos from the insufferable assholes I write about on this site because, well, they’re insufferable assholes, and listening to them smugly opine about shit they’re completely ignorant about is generally about as entertaining as, you know, GirlWritesWhat videos. (I know, that’s a bit circular, but I really couldn’t come up with anything more insufferable than that.)
Anyhoo, I’ve broken my rule and posted this video because the two guys who made this video — the would-be filmmaking duo of jordanowen42 and Davis Aurini — are so over-the-top in their insufferable assholism that it’s actually kind of perversely charming.
You see, these two woman-hating YouTube blabbers — the first a belligerent doofus whose apartment is nearly as unkempt as mine, the other a sort of PUA version of Anton LaVey — are pitching what they claim will be an important new documentary exposing the evil “Social Justice Warrior” agenda of evil women and traitor men like Anita Sarkeesian, Zoe Quinn, and, well, I can’t remember the names of any of the men. It’s called The Sarkeesian Effect. And they want your money to fund it.
Their promised “feature-length documentary” will be a powerful work of investigative journalism that will give a voice to the voiceless — to the “silent majority” of, well, angry white dudes who spend whatever time they don’t spend playing video games posting obnoxious and abusive comments about Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn to YouTube and Reddit and eleven zillion other websites that cater to them.
In other words, this is the loudest “silent majority” I’ve ever run across.
But these are guys who love to pretend that their bold thoughts are being silenced, and PUA Anton LaVey Davis Aurini happily panders to their persecution complex:
Don’t let these people silence us. Your contribution will be a defiant strike against the degeneration and corruption that is going on in this world.
The word “degeneration” helps remind us that Aurini considers himself a part of the neo-Nazi-lite “Dark Enlightenment.”
Anyway, they argue that you should send them lots of money, because PUA Anton LaVey’s suits can’t be cheap you’ll be striking a blow for every dude who’s ever called Anita Sarkeesian a “whore” in a YouTube comment. Well, they don’t literally put it that way, but, you know, come on. That’s what they mean.
And hey, who wouldn’t trust this dude with their hard-earned cash?
I found this video hilarious from start to finish. Stick with it at least until, a little after 6 minutes in, PUA Anton LaVey Aurini lights up his second cigarette, showing what a devil-may-care attitude he has by mumbling his lines with a cigarette in his mouth as he fiddles with his lighter.
Yep, that’s the kind of quality investigative journalism you can expect from these two.
@GrumpyOldNurse
But in Warhammer 40K, the only sniper unit fieldable is made up of Hobbits.
Jordan Owen is the guy who spent ages scrutinizing pictures of Anita Sarkeesian, saw a slight difference in complexion between two pictures (because of diferent lighting/different make up/different colour shirts) and decided that Sarkeesian must be “trying to look more white.”
1) There is nothing in this line of reasoning that is not gross.
2) Even if anyone were inclined to entertain the idea, she’s Armenian, i.e. from the Caucasus, which makes the whole thing, in addition to gross, completely absurd.
I KNEW Feminist Frequency and WAM and Mammoth and my local GSA chapter and that slightly political clerk at the VHS rental place and my 6-year-old niece were all just fronts for a get-rich-quick feigned social justice scheme!! I KNEW it!! It’s an outrage, and somebody’s got to tell this story! Thank goodness these guys gained access to the INTERPOL Archives of Investigatey Investigativeness Concerning the Overuse of Political Correctness for Fame and Profit (IAIICOPCFP). Exclusive access. Because they’re, you know, just super, super important vloggers.
Aaahahahaha, this is just too great. Small props to them for discouraging outright hate speech, I guess… but holy underwritten metropolis is this a fail, Batman.
@girlscientist LOLWUT that makes him sound like even more of an asinine blowhard waste of space. That’s almost as good as those people who try to discredit her by saying, “BUT, LOOK, SHE HAS GENDER SIGNIFIERS. THEREFORE FEMINISM IS INVALID.”
@kobun37:
There’s a really great article by Tracey Lien at Polygon breaking down the history of videogames and marketing thereof, that explains how games were marketed in a pretty gender-neutral way right up until the mid-90s, so this idea that gaming is and always has been “for boys” is a marketing creation, and a recent one at that.
Holy Run-On Sentence Full Of Comma Splices, Batman!
Holy Poorly Researched Claims about FemFreq’s Production Quality, Batman!
(For the part where they said getting way beyond her stretch funding didn’t affect the quality of her videos at all. And that’s without even mentioning that she expanded the series significantly and added a classroom curriculum.)
Okay, I just watched the video: the guy with cigarette definitely thinks he’s Don Draper (but he’s just not that smooth – and also, this is 2014).
I wish a was the gambling type so I could put money on the reasons they eventually give for this all falling through. I don’t think ‘being completely ridiculous and pointless’ will be one of them sadly.
Honestly, I enjoy the FemFreq videos, but they are really tame. She lists off examples of tropes – that’s pretty much it. You may as well be outraged at the TV Tropes website. She provides a tool to kickstart conversations about representation and storytelling. Useful – hardly extreme!
@strivingally
My mother and my aunts became rather avid videogamers when we got our first Gameboy during the 90s. I don’t think they ever bothered with Super Mario and such, but I clearly remember them all playing Tetris as if they had found their new religion.
I managed two minutes of that video. Snore. The BBC “have refused to acknowledge and explore” your issues, because there’s too much real news!
I love how they went on about production quality but they couldn’t keep Davis’ cigarette consistent in length.
Also, I say this as a smoker, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. What the hell are you doing.
@kobun37
Remember My Buddy? And how there was initially no “girl” equivalent, and when one was released it was Kid Sister? I was never 100% sure what to think about that.
@NonServiam
My theory about FemFreq is that the many references to lesser-known games fuels some of the froth. Dudes played these games, fell in love with them, and felt superior over having played/enjoyed a game that wasn’t widespread. Think about how people sometimes behave when they “discover” a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has amazing cuisine.
Then Sarkeesian comes in and points out that the appetizers are just dressed-up McDonald’s and the health department gave the place a C pending clean up of the rat feces in the kitchen, and they explode in a way that never happens when it’s an actual McDonald’s with the rats.
Also, thank you to emilygoddess. I am coming to the thread late and did not have to see ANY of those gifs. My appreciation knows no bounds.
Policy of Madness: Yeah, that must be it. I wonder if they know that the games companies want a wide audience?
But really, if Smokey and Sideburns want to make their movie – they can go ahead. I think they’ll be disappointed when they try to get a mainstream release though. If FemFreq isn’t getting on Netflix, why would a documentary trying to discredit Sarkeesian be of any commercial value at all?
They sound like the typical woo-peddler complaining that peer review is too hard.
There’s some overlap between the male gamer demographic and the male comic book demographic, and we’ve seen that comic book companies are not necessarily amused when dudes run lady-money out of comic books, but it’s not like that stops them.
Smokey and Sideburns needs to be a slapstick buddy comedy about two self important, bumbling misogynists with no self awareness and the adventures they encounter while trying to make their “film”.
I feel they should have an adorable but mischievous pet monkey to instigates some shenanigans.
The only thing this thread has taught me is that I’m still confused as to why one would wear pants and flip-flops at the same time.
@boogerghost, my point exactly. The “Damsels in Distress” video is nearly 90 minutes long if you look at all three parts. And she recently released Part 1. of a new series about women as background decoration. And some of the graphics look original too; like she’s got an illustrator/animator to help with the art.
So saying theres “no appreciable increase in quality post Kickstarter” is tantamount to saying “I didn’t actually watch Anita’s videos”.
Though her old videos about fembots, Katniss Everdeen and the Bechdel test are also p. funny.
@idledillettante: The other possibility is that the two of them know absolutely nothing about video production quality. Given the fact that the strongest (only?) light source in the room with jordanowen42 in their video is behind him, I think that’s a likely possibility. (I mean, come on, I know almost nothing about photography and lighting, and I know better than that!)
Lea, I like all of that but might I suggest we replace the monkey with a surly mutated otter who got stuck with them via various mishaps? I just don’t think they need anything is instigate shenanigans. They would probably have that covered. The otter’s name can be Whiskers Gregory.
*anything TO instigate shenanigans.
I need to read before I post.
Re: Video game demographics
I remember my parents were addicted to Tetris. My mother was especially addicted to Dr Mario. As a kid I was upset because it meant more competition for the Nintendo, but not because my mother was a woman.
Haha, that was my thought too! I’m not much of a gamer, but I will sing the praises of Okami to anyone who sits still long enough.
That’s easy: Eastern civilizations tend not to be made of white people.
Poe’sS’eop law: when you’re not sure if it’s a parody or not.
Whoa. This is a really excellent point!
Or a lab puppy that they get because it’s a “chick magnet”, but who turns out to be smarter than them and tries in vain to stop them from doing sexist shit.