This week, Janine invites her friend and student onto the show to discuss her research on World of Warcraft. They chat about one prominent character, Sylvanas Windrunner, and what type of feminism she embodies.
What to expect from episode 36: All About Sylvanas Windrunner?
Welcome back
Janine welcomes back listeners and introduces a special guest for this episode. Her friend and student, Jonette, came onto the show today to talk about World of Warcraft. Jonette briefly introduces herself and her research on World of Warcraft.
Sylvanas Windrunner
Janine reminisces on how she and Jonette used to play World of Warcraft as kids. She then elaborates a bit on what postfeminism is. Jonette responds by explaining how Sylvanas is a typical postfeminist character.
Armor
The discussion leads to male versus female armor in World of Warcraft and video games in general. Jonette explains how Sylvanas’s armor is not practical, but is there to place emphasis on her sexy and idealized body. They especially discuss the appearance of corsets on female video game characters.
Blizzard scandal
The next topic they discuss is a scandal that recently happened at Blizzard. This leads to a short discussion of toxic workplaces and structural sexism in the video game industry. Janine and Jonette also chat about the impact sexualized video game characters had on them as kids. Lara Croft also finds her way into this discussion.
Body ideals
Janine and Jonette then chat a bit about body ideals presented by characters like Sylvanas and Lara Croft. Jonette, as a fashion designer, also elaborates a bit on these issues in the fashion industry.
Revenge narratives
The next topic they explore is the ides of the rape/revenge narrative in representations of powerful women. Here Janine and Jonette also chat about how Sylvanas is also a femme fatale character.
Sylvanas’s progression
Janine summarizes Jonette’s research: Sylvanas is still a postfeminist character like she was since the beginning. As they discuss, Sylvanas is not really an empowering female character.
Genderbending online
The final topic Janine and Jonette discuss is hiding your gender online as a woman. Jonette shares some of her experiences as a woman playing World of Warcraft online. Janine also recounts some of her experiences playing Destiny online.
Wrap up
Janine wraps up the episode by thanking Jonette and asking Jonette for a movie recommendation. Jonette recommends Midsommar and they bid listeners farewell.
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Small Print
The theme music is "Dashboard Light" by One Two Feet, and is licenced by Holosuite Media through Epidemic Sound.
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