This is the Modern World

Internet ephemera typically falls into one of two categories: stuff worth checking out for a laugh, and then the stuff that *begs* for commentary. Currently making the rounds among those who thought they were beyond astonishment is a trailer for “Line-Kill Spirits,” a new Japanese “upskirt fighting game” in which the damage you inflict upon your fellow schoolgirl opponent gains a lasting effect only if you photograph her panties. Aside from the immediate and obvious questions which come to mind –- “Do I hear an entire genre being born?” “What is with this Japanese fetish for schoolgirl panties?” “How do I get a copy of this?”–- come some less obvious ones, such as “Where does the player fit into the erotic economy of this game?”

This is a game which revolves around two core fantasies: watching two adorable prepubescent girls beat the crap out of each other, and the (still) illicit activity of upskirt photography. (In at least one case, it also involves a horse, but I will leave that for you to decode by yourselves). In both cases, voyeurism is at the heart of the matter. But what makes this different than a photo-essay featuring ass-kicking, camera-wielding schoolgirls is the interactive nature of the game. Sure you get to control all that girl on girl fighting action from a spectator’s perspective; but the minute you click that virtual shutter, you are rewarded with a first person look at your own handiwork: first through the viewfinder inset at the bottom left, and then over the entire screen.

So what is going on here? We’ve all heard –- ok, all of us who made the terrible mistake of taking an Arts degree –- endlessly and ad nauseum about “the gaze.” In essence, it’s the notion that all forms of prolonged looking implicitly propose an asymmetrical power relationship in which the object of the gaze can be mastered, even possessed, by the gazer. Well at least in the mind of the gazer, which is of course one of the critical distinctions between pornography and real life. Yet importantly, gazing also maintains an ironic (not to mention, sanitary) distance from the object of desire. Hence the particular erotic charge of voyeurism! Possession without the mess, emotional or otherwise, that typically accompanies actual sex.

In gaming however the connection between gazing and control over the object of the gaze is literalized: you do in fact control at least one of the characters at which you stare unblinkingly. In the case of a game which offers a third-person perspective, you are both aligned with and separated from your character in a most peculiar manner. However, the shift to a first person perspective instantly deepens the immersion. And who are you aligned with here? An all but unstoppable man of war? No, a cute but vicious little girl who destroys her opponents by dominating them through pervy photography!

Clearly this game was designed as an educational tool by feminist theorists to reveal the inherent violence of the gaze. As Adam West’s Batman was so prone to declare, “No other explanation is possible!”