GCG Feature: 'Katamari Damacy – A Critique: Part Three'

In the final part of the three-part series on Keita Takahashi's whimsical, wonderful Katamari Damacy on sister site Game Career Guide, Vancouver Film School student Ryan Stancl talks about critical approaches to the game using Feminist, Psychoanalytical, and Post-Colonial forms of analysis. Stancl begins his piece on Feminism as follows: "In looking at the work itself, it may be easy to forget about the roles the characters themselves play. For that, Feminism is the school of criticism to turn to, as it analyzes gender roles in a work of art, paying particular attention to the treatment of women and oppression in general (Rivkin, 1998). Katamari Damacy is a rather male-centric game. The story is an offshoot of the monomyth, the Hero’s Journey, as discussed last time. The player is the Prince, working for his father, the King of All Cosmos. Both are overly male, the King having a rather large package, quite the built physique, and spreading his seed/the stars all over the cosmos, while the Prince’s head and body look rather phallic and he’s rolling around a gigantic ball. Other males in the game also seem to be emphasized over the females. The young boy is the only one that actually sees what’s going on, and the father is doing the manliest of things – exploring space in his phallic rocket." You can now read the full Game Career Guide feature for insights on Feminist, Psychoanalytical, and Post-Colonial forms of analysis of Katamari Damacy (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).