Current Events > Dixie Kong's Gender Trouble | A Feminist View on Donkey Kong Country

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdkpSIYgxRc

Just so I'm not that guy posting an hour long video with no summation:

The DKC trilogy is a series with a central theme of proving your worth as a hero with the requirements escalating with each game. Donkey is considered successful just for completing the game and finding the bonus rooms. Diddy must find not only complete the game, he must complete his bonus objectives, find all the DK coins, and defeat the Lost World. Dixie must do the same in DKC3 while also saving the captured Banana Birds, but she doesn't receive the same recognition.

Cranky is argued to fundamentally be a misogynist. He notes in the DKC2 manual that Dixie is meant to be a damsel, not the hero, and he doesn't even bother to help them out in DKC3 the way he did in the previous entries, instead choosing to fuck around at Swanky's carnival games. And while Cranky does eventually applaud Donkey and Diddy for 10X% completion, he outright dismisses Dixie efforts regardless. The DKC3 manual doesn't even include Cranky's commentary, something the other games including DK64 did.

DKC3 is basically a story where Dixie faces gender discrimination. Her abilities are dismissed despite doing just as much to save Donkey and defeat the Kremlings and she's shanghaied into babysitting Kiddy. No one seems to have expected her to defeat KAOS and defeat the two other Kongs.

At the same time its a 30 year old game about monkeys collecting bananas

The_Popo posted...

At the same time its a 30 year old game about monkeys collecting bananas

I love overanalyzing stupid things.

And she makes some solid arguments based on what little there is.

The most 2015 sounding YouTube video ever. Love that. And DKC. Going to watch list.

I never cared for DKC3 as a kid, it was easily the weak link of the trilogy. That was less about Dixie and more me rolling my eyes at the overgrown toddler Kong. Just felt too silly compared to the first 2.

DisgracefulSins posted...

That was less about Dixie and more me rolling my eyes at the overgrown toddler Kong.

She actually talks about Kiddy a bit too and says this in the description:

Bonus meme: Kiddy Kong is genuinely rad. Like he is a really fun character to play as and the balance he provides in Donkey Kong Country 3 is honestly amazing. It's kind of sad how a lot of us have just been focusing so hard on the way he looks that all of the good he does has been completely overshadowed by hate. We have probably watched every single Donkey Kong Country based video there is to be found, and the amount of times we have seen people claim that they just kill him first chance they get so they don't have to play as him is honestly ridiculous. One of the reasons cited is because of how much slower than Dixie Kong he is, but that is actually not really quite true at all in reality Kiddy and Dixie have the exact same running speed. But I can see why someone would miss that when they even go out of their way to avoid playing as him.

People are actually so mad about this boy that they make stuff up based on what he looks like he is chunky so therefore he must be a slow runner. Gosh, I dunno. Dixie Kong's Double Trouble changes the focus a bit, makes the characters move at similar speeds and instead focuses on their specific abilities as differentiating factors, and I actually think it is better for it. Maybe we should just be a bit nicer about Kiddy Kong and not be freaking babies about it. Kiddy Kong is good, and you should all just stop being mean.

I always got the impressions they didn't team her up with Donkey Kong and instead a dumb throwaway Kong so she could be the star.

Tbf, she was held back by that stupid baby gorilla.

voldothegr8 posted...

I always got the impressions they didn't team her up with Donkey Kong and instead a dumb throwaway Kong so she could be the star.

That's one of the points she makes in the video about how her role in the Kong verse is the result of subtle misogyny. The only way she could be superior to another male character is if he's a literal baby.

pegusus123456 posted...

That's one of the points she makes in the video about how her role in the Kong verse is the result of subtle misogyny. The only way she could be superior to another male character is if he's a literal baby.

It could be worse. Look at the shit Lanky had to deal with.

Sounds like the kind of video Id have to tape my eyeballs down for to keep them from rolling.

tag

nocturnal_traveler posted...

It could be worse. Look at the shit Lanky had to deal with.

Lanky's a literal clown though

HudGard posted...

Sounds like the kind of video Id have to tape my eyeballs down for to keep them from rolling.

I thought that too when I first read the video title, but it's pretty solid and she's not as serious about it as you might be thinking.

pegusus123456 posted...

That's one of the points she makes in the video about how her role in the Kong verse is the result of subtle misogyny. The only way she could be superior to another male character is if he's a literal baby.

Well that's stupid. None of the Kongs are superior to Donkey, sex need not apply. Everyone takes a backseat to him.

pegusus123456 posted...

Lanky's a literal clown though

He was set up to fail.

I for one cant believe how much Dixie Kong is objectified. What kind of disgustingly phallocentric, patriarchal game would make her success partially dependent on how many bananas she grabs. Talk about catering to the male gaze.

Is this another Anita Sarkeesian thing?

What bugs me is how the hell does Donkey Kong get kidnapped twice in his own game series? DK could have easily been in Kiddys spot.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Yeah, K. Rool kidnaps him in the second game, then he kidnaps Donkey and Diddy in the third.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

DK AND Diddy get kidnapped.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

You agree with the video lol. She's not arguing that Dixie is a sexist character. She's arguing that despite being just as capable as the boys, Dixie is seen as lesser simply because she's a girl.

Bump

This is a hilarious analysis. I'll have to watch this video when I have more time.

pegusus123456 posted...

You agree with the video lol. She's not arguing that Dixie is a sexist character. She's arguing that despite being just as capable as the boys, Dixie is seen as lesser simply because she's a girl.

Nobody ever thought that. Dixie is the best character of the SNES games because of her helicopter spin, which is far more useful than Donkey, Diddy or Kiddy. That alone elevates her above the others.

That theme also fits into the game over screen.

In 1, you see Donkey and Diddy beaten up for their failure.

In 2, you see Diddy and Dixie in a jail cell. The sun sinking as they realize that they're going to die in there.

And 3 has Dixie being in the crib with Kiddy. Infantized. Her failure means that a girl "Can't be a real hero" (Which hopefully makes you want to try again and not mess it up this time!).

nocturnal_traveler posted...

It could be worse. Look at the shit Lanky had to deal with.

Yeah, but Lanky is clearly a plant from the Orang-utan Gang and is there to act as a mole for the Manky Kongs' eventual revenge, something that was shaping up to be the central plot line of the next Donkey Kong game before Rare was bought out.

G1_Nightbeat posted...

Nobody ever thought that. Dixie is the best character of the SNES games because of her helicopter spin, which is far more useful than Donkey, Diddy or Kiddy. That alone elevates her above the others.

Again, she mostly just means in the narrative.

I'd also argue that Diddy is better than Dixie once you reach a certain skill level.

Credit for not having a cringe thumbnail with red arrows pointing out obvious images and a dumb reaction

_____Cait posted...

Credit for not having a cringe thumbnail with red arrows pointing out obvious images and a dumb reaction

blame YouTube for forcing creators to resort to having to do such things to get their videos noticed

The_Popo posted...

At the same time its a 30 year old game about monkeys collecting bananas

My Apex character in Starbound while exploring Miniknog facilities on various worlds in a nutshell.