Raffi Tashjian
February 22, 2012
English 114B

Gamer Essay


“Gamer” functions as a social commentary and gives the audience a look at what life has become. It gives a clear view at what our society and culture have become and where we’re headed. During the last few decades, our society has transitioned from being very conservative to being very sexualized and liberal. “Gamer”’s society reflects what our society and culture are like now. It also gives us a look at who’s behind these changes and how they control what’s going on. Overall, the movie was kind of like one big metaphor for society in the 21st century.

The “Gamer” society depicts exactly what our society and culture are like. Throughout the movie, there are scenes in which there are half naked women, girls kissing each other, and basically a very sexual society. It shows the person watching it, how our society has changed and how the world is exposed to sex more than ever, right now. The last 50 years have brought drastic changes to our society and culture. The majority of people have become a lot more accepting of almost everything. The 50’s were a very conservative time; a time where women always covered up and Lucy and Ricky had to sleep in two different beds on “I Love Lucy”. Between the 60’s and the 80’s the sexual revolution occurred, which led to the society we live. During that time, modern birth control was introduced and Madonna became famous. A few decades passed and now we are living in a world where girls are dressed in very revealing outfits, the city’s filled with billboards with half naked women on them, and if pop stars don’t act like a sluts, they won’t have a hit (except Adele, of course). The scenes with the girls, who were dressed in revealing clothes, mirror the looks of girls in our world; we have girls wearing short shorts that are getting shorter everyday and girls wearing shirts that have their stomachs showing. As society has changed its views, so has the culture. Music and movies have become very sexualized. It’s almost like singers have turned in to a big group of whores. Every aspect of pop music exposes sex. Some examples are Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Nicki Minaj. In her video for her song, “California Gurls”, Katy Perry is shooting whipped cream out of her bra and in her “Teenage Dream” video, she is having sex with her boyfriend. Her song “Peacock” takes it to another level, in which she sings about wanting to see a guy’s “peacock”. Most Britney songs and videos are sexual; a great example of a Britney song is “3” which is about a threesome. Nicki Minaj, on the other hand is, getting a lot of attention for her “assets”. These pop stars are seen by the whole world and teenage girls look up to them. With “role models” like these and a culture that exposes sex every chance it gets, a very sex-driven and liberal society is created. “Gamer” did a very good job of showing what our world looks like.

The scene in “Gamer” where two girls are kissing each other also shows what our society is like. People have become much more accepting of people and don’t really care so much about things like two girls kissing. They feel like people should do whatever makes them happy and that people should express who they are. This was made clear during the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, when Madonna kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. This was kind of controversial but for the most part people viewed it as normal. Years later, Lady Gaga has made videos that feature her kissing girls; an example is her “Telephone” video, where she is kissing a girl while she is at jail. Everyone loves Lady Gaga and don’t think her videos are controversial; and know ones shocked by them, her meat dress does that. Overall, “Gamer” showed how our society has come to accept people’s differences and feel okay with everything.

Another part of “Gamer” was the part where the fat, gray guy was controlling the girl. He controls her every move. This is a very important part of the movie because it really shows what our society has been like and what it’s still like. It shows the audience that men have controlled and still control women. It has always been this way. Men have always been the leaders and women did everything they were told to do. Here and there a woman came along who didn’t bow down to men, but for the most part women were the weaker sex and had to be obedient and listen to men. Going back to the example of pop stars; we know that these stars do everything their record company tells them to do. The record company is filled with rich, powerful men who help the singer become famous, but in order to get to the superstardom they get to they have to be controlled by the industry. The way they dress, the way the act, what they say, and what songs and videos they release are controlled by the record company owners and music industry executives. With these singers under their control, the industry is able to control the teenagers who look up to the singers. Another thing that popped into my head is that my sister had a Barbie back in the day, which had a shirt that only covered her breasts, leaving her stomach open. This is kind of control by the toy industry that tells girls from a young age what they’re supposed to wear. Both of these examples show how men control women and society. Through these they show what society has to be like. “Gamer” revealed this perfectly, showing a man behind the scenes controlling a woman.

“Gamer” functioned as a social commentary in a number of ways. It showed how our society and culture have evolved and changed from a conservative society to a sexualized society. The girls dressed in revealing clothing showed how it is becoming more common for women to be dressed like that. The girls kissing shows how our society has become accepting. The man controlling the woman is showing how no matter how much everything is changing, men are still in control. Overall, “Gamer” reflected the world we live in and showed the audience what our society has come to be.