Anita Sarkeesian has released the second part of her "Damsel in Distress: Tropes vs Women in Video Games," a video series that explores roles and representations of women in video games. Today's installment looks at the "dark and edgy" side of the trope in modern video games, primarily the "Damsel in the Refrigerator" trope.
"Over the past decade we’ve seen developers try to spice up the old Damsel in Distress cliche by combining it with other tropes involving victimized women including the disposable woman, the mercy killing and the woman in the refrigerator," Sarkeesian writes. As you'll see in the video below, this type of plot device has been used on multiple occasions in modern video games.
For those who haven't yet seen Sarkeesian's video series, which has drawn plenty of unfair criticism due to the sensitive nature of the topic discussed, I highly suggest you begin with part one of the series. And although Sarkeesian was met with harsh reaction when running the Kickstarter for this project — including intense online harassment — she has managed to maintain a professional and educational tone throughout the series.
