Instead of examining a handful of examples for each trope, we sift through hundreds of games across a variety of genres and platforms. For example, we referenced 182 games in our coverage of the Damsel in Distress trope alone. We have also
catalogued and documented over 548 examples of the Damsel in Distress throughout the history of video games.
Originally, I anticipated creating 10-12 minute videos for each trope. However, as the depth and breadth of our analysis grew, so did the videos.
~ The Damsel in Distress became a three-part miniseries clocking in at just over one hour
~ Ms. Male Character was 25 minutes long
~ Women as Background Decoration became a two-part miniseries clocking in at one hour
Our desire to be more specific in the analysis meant that we made connections to other related tropes, including some that we identified and named ourselves. For example, in the Damsel in Distress videos we also discussed new tropes such as the Helpful Damsel, the Damsel in the Refrigerator, the Disposable Damsel and the Euthanized Damsel. With all that and more, its easy to see how we ended up with an hour long multi-part mini series just on this one topic alone.
Many of my previous videos were off the cuff and only half scripted. In this series I have become much more intentional. Every sentence and every word is carefully considered and evaluated. There is nothing flippantly or casually stated. This can lead to hours of discussion about the accuracy of a particular term or rephrasing a single sentence until it is just right. Rather than small, casual analyses, each trope video has ended up feeling like we are trying to put together a masters thesis in just a few months.
