There are plenty of sexist and even misogynist games. It's crucial that the word misogyny isn't overused so it loses all meaning. Gunn's admitted that he revelled in the idea of toying with the ideas of gender objectification, and his involvement helped mould another madcap Suda project into something more relatable and, bizarrely, conventional. She can use him, against his will, in gameplay, or stick him on an otherwise-headless corpse to carry out her every pom pom-led whim. Jim Sterling observed that Nick's role is not only an emasculated male (he's not only incapable of battling the zombies himself - he's incapable of doing anything), but literally as an object that Juliet has hanging from her belt like an accessory. If anything, Lollipop Chainsaw isn't an exercise in objectification, it's one in objectification flipped. It reminds me of the nascent parts of a relationship where a doting male will go along with whatever his new love wants, not out of duty or reluctance, but just because he wants to be with her. The way Michael Rosenbaum's Nick reacts to Juliet's ever-increasingly insane ideas is hilarious. The interplay between Starling and Nick is splendid throughout. It just happens to also be one with a zombie-hunting cheerleader who is falling in love with a decapitated head.Ĭredit must also go to Kadokawa games, who handled the mechanical and functional side of things. Gunn has likened the game to a cross between Dawn Of The Dead and The Powerpuff Girls, and the candy-coated madness on screen can occasionally mask what is, essentially, a story of romance and young love. Juliet's relationship with disembodied head and boyfriend Nick is both the best thing about Lollipop Chainsaw and one of its most thought-provoking points. There's quality and warmth in the writing too, and it's not all just boobs and brutality. Perhaps this is the Tromeo And Juliet sequel he'd always dreamed of. It just so happens that Suda, and James Gunn in particular, choose the type of subversion born in the grindhouse and through Gunn's own work for Troma early in his career. Horror notoriously enjoys subverting gender roles and placing strong female heroines at the fore - Alien's Ripley, Halloween's Laurie Strode and through to Planet Terror's Cherry Darling. Exploitation cinema has over time been allowed a certain amount of respect - could this just be an example of exploitation gaming?Īrguably it is more than that. Given Lollipop Chainsaw's overt connection with horror cinema - particularly the schlock and grindhouse of the late 70s - the volume of bare and barely legal flesh shouldn't come as a huge surprise. She completely ignores the grimy advances of the high school students she rescues ("I'm totally gonna masturbate to you tonight"). She takes everything in her stride but worries about her weight. She has hopes and dreams, she's driven by her own desire to succeed and to make her father proud, she's powered by relentless positivity but tinged with self-doubt. Juliet is fleshed out and oddly believable - not just the one-dimensional wank fantasy that many have casually dismissed her as - and played with spark and verve by Tara Strong. Of course, it's the rather delightful subtext pulsating through Lollipop Chainsaw that casts any notion of misogyny or sexism over the rainbow and into the distant yonder entirely. While the marketing may have focused on Juliet's looks, there's so much more to Lollipop Chainsaw. The opening scenes depicting Juliet Starling in her bedroom sucking on a lollipop are suggestive, sure, and there's a touch of uncomfortable upskirt (and one scene where her pervy old sensei falls face first into her breasts) but is this really anything more than Carry On humour? At a completely base level it might be titillating, puerile and even a bit crass, but as with everything Suda 51 puts his name to, there's so much more going on. At a glance it's just another in a long line of cynical action games, ready to fade into insignificance alongside Onechanbara and X-Blades.īut Lollipop Chainsaw isn't misogynist. Pretty girl, cheerleader outfit, perilously short skirt. Beyond the Tomb Raider fiasco (which to me seems a non-debate until the actual game is released), the most common target for the ire of the misogynista is Grasshopper's Lollipop Chainsaw. The word misogyny has crept its way into the gaming vernacular recently, thrown about accusingly and often - if you ask me - incorrectly at any game that dares to show a female in any light other than stoic and masculine.
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