The Finale: “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here.”

Quite honestly, I did not expect a 1-credit course in my final semester as an undergrad to make any sort of impact on me, but ironically, it has turned out to be one of my favorite classes that I’ve taken as a student at this university. We’ve often quoted the little pearls of wisdom that have come out of this course (i.e. “you can love something and still criticize it,” “just because you love something that is broken doesn’t mean that you’re broken,” etc.) in casual conversation. In fact, just the other day, my friends and I saw Avengers: End Game, and Abby and I had a thoughtful discussion about “fridging” and the role of the female characters in the latest Marvel film. This course has genuinely altered not only the way I “read” video games, but also the way I “read” movies and TV shows. I cannot turn it off. I find it hard to watch anything without finding some sort of sexist trope or crude portrayal of men and women. It’s a double-edged sword because I am now aware of the portrayal of gender roles in popular media, but I find it hard to enjoy movies and TV shows because of the way these gender roles are being portrayed.

I’m not really sure if this course impacted me in the way that it did because it was low-stakes or because I really enjoyed the topics we were discussing or because the discussions we held in class were so honest and informative or because I took this course with all of my friends, but I feel like I will actually retain the knowledge that I acquired from a class for once. This course has opened my eyes to a whole ‘nother world that I hadn’t any clue existed. Now that I am no longer ignorant, I finally notice all of the blatant prejudice present in the video games I enjoyed playing during my childhood.

So, thank you. Thank you for making me aware of what was always in front of me but hadn’t had the tools necessary to reveal it myself. Thank you for making learning enjoyable and meaningful. Thank you for making my final semester memorable. I will continue to unpack the implicit biases of video games and carry on the thoughtful discussions we had in class with those around me.