So, backstory for those of you who don't know a recently published Polygon article broke down and discussed three example of transgender characters in three different recent AAA titles. Now normally this is something I'd just put aside and continue playing my game, but I feel like this time around it's worth bringing up as a point of discussion as the industry continues to grow and evolve into something greater. While the main focus of this will be breaking down Mass Effect Andromeda and Hainly Abrams, I will be touching on Horizon and Zelda as well just for posterity.
Hainly Abrams is a character that you, Ryder/Pathfinder, encounter rather early into the the new Mass Effect game on Eos after you establish the first settlement there. Her role is minor at best, being the chief researcher on the base she has a handful of lines of dialogue, and a couple of small go here do that quests too. So she's a VERY small character in the entire game, which literally has multiple planets and dozen of characters that are like her. Now, and here comes my favorite phrase, THAT HAVING BEEN SAID, that doesn't mean that BioWare expressed her in a positive manner.
She feels like she was added a checkbox character, who does little to draw you in a build a better connection with, and is simply there as a "hey, we have a transgender character" kind of thing, which, if done in a careful manner, isn't necessarily a bad thing, showing their audience that inclusiveness is key and everyone is welcome. However Hainly just had to get it out there right away for the sake of getting it out there. To clarify this is done by a common question in the game that everybody asks each other "Why did you come to Andromeda." Her answer was simple, even if jarringly insensitive to the transgender community, simply saying she wanted to come so she could be who she was, and not stuck in a lab being tortured by people dead-naming her, and while this isn't her exact dialogue you get the idea.
This could have come from any number of different reasons on BioWare's end, maybe an intern brought it up and some slack jawed writer threw her in because they felt it was a good idea and didn't put too much thought into. But that doesn't excuse the lack of effort that went into her expose, and personally I'd rather they just kind have left it out all together, or bring it up in a different manner, like by maybe making the transgender character part of your crew and something you learn about over the course of the game as you become more and more connected with them they eventually come to confide in Ryder about this to help them solve a personal issue, which could be a number of things that I'm not even going to speculate. That would be an infinitely better way to handle this issue instead of just blurting it out there for all to see.
Now, this wouldn't be a Rantology if I didn't at least offer a bit of a different perspective on it, and while I'm doing this I would like to remind people who do read this that I'm not trying to be insensitive, unfriendly, or unsupportive of transgender individuals, but I'm simply trying to make some sort of bizarre sense of , if there is some sort, the deeper purpose here (though my money is on just some junior level writer didn't do their homework). This is surprising, to say the least, especially from the same company that is responsible for Krem who is not only one of the best representations of how to appropriately handle a transgender character, but also respect their boundaries as well.
You see with Krem it's not a one and done conversation with him to learn about his past, he slowly confides in you as you and Iron Bull grow closer over the course of the game, and a lot of the conversation is more focused around him finding people to accept him and not caring about people who don't. When the inquisitor asks Iron Bull about this his response is actually really simple: Krem is a man and deserves to be treated like the man he is. It's not such a matter of the inquisitor trying to learn of Krem's past, and Krem doesn't just go out and instantly tell you his story, in fact the only reason you learn it is by asking Iron Bull of his past, and by extension, the Chargers. Krem is a rare shining light for diverse characters in an industry widely populated by sex symbols, innuendos, chain mail bikinis, and genuine misunderstanding about the representations of sex, gender, and identity in both workplace and expression.
Speaking to the genuine misunderstanding, two other games that are mentioned in the article, and I honestly feel that the author misunderstood both of them. In Breath of the Wild Link is tasked with entering Gerudo Village, but there is an issue, they only allow in men stating that "This is a town of vai, not voe are allowed". In order to remedy this you hear a rumor of a man who managed to sneak in to the town and find two individuals looking for him, one outside the town says he travels between the town and previous outpost, and when you find the man looking for him he is confused as to his location but hints the Gerudo at the market talking of a Hylian vai, you later find him on the roof of the market where he insists you use female pronouns and if you do will offer to sell you an outfit, and after purchasing it and equipping it the wind picks up and flashes his beard.
Now, some of you may be wondering why I'm using "he/him", well simply put it's because this character isn't a progressive stance that some have claimed him to be, not he is instead a joke by Nintendo at the notion of transgender individuals by taking a the bathroom example, a Conservative favorite, to its most extreme, or a pervert dressing as a women to get a peek at an all women town. His insistence on female pronouns only exists to further his guise and continue to be allowed into Gerudo Village. People have tried to convince me it is a joke at the Gerudos for being unable to identify the difference between genders in other cultures, but this is proven wrong as both the chief and her bodyguard recognize Link as male. See all of this was most likely done to reflect upon Japans strict principles of gender roles and stereotypes and the overwhelming backlash to the reaction to the reduction of a female link in Breath of the Wild. This was a major punch-down by Nintendo, and quite honestly something it feels like is overlooked in many eyes because of 1) it gives you "sexy Link", and 2) Zelda is released so infrequently people are willing to overlook these things and give Nintendo/Zelda a pass.
See as much as people want to give Nintendo and Zelda a pass on something like this for a variety of reasons including what I have argued before of Zelda being a "golden game" (can do no wrong), but the truth is often much darker, and while I can only speculate intentions, knowing the culture and companies history gives me a very good idea. Similarly Horizon Zero Dawn seemed to receive some flak from the article for reasons that I just can't tell? Honestly I'm having a tough time really understanding trying to understand the point the author took here in her article. Part of me wants to say she didn't like it but then she goes on to say that Janeva was a significant character in the game and an overall positive for trans inclusion, though didn't like the social norms imposed on the character.
While all of this is understandable frustrating I think the takeaway, from Aloy's perspective at least, is that this is a completely new situation and she has never encountered someone like him before, so her instincts were to refer to him as her. This seems so appalling to us because our society has overcome these hurdles already and we have a level of social acceptance in the matter. We know to respect someones gender identity and expression, Aloy doesn't. Despite the game taking place in the future she has no idea about even the first thing to think in a situation like this. In our society we completely understand what is and isn't appropriate because we've had these discussions, we've sat down and talked about what is and isn't alright, Aloy hasn't. Aloy, in all honesty, has been too busy fighting for her right to live and exist her entire life to be able to stop and think about it, and while part of me really wants to sit down and really hammer and nail it into Guerilla about how they approached this topic in Horizon and how they could have been more sensitive about it...I just can't.
I totally understand why this is the case, effectively they're living in a world where everyday is a literal fight to survive the machines and struggles of dealing with the fallout from the older empire. None of it is easy, and this is such a rare occurrence because of the perceived social implications in their society and I think that's what Guerilla was trying to get at. The fact that we didn't just arrive at this point of acceptance overnight, and at our core we still have instincts and urges and it's our social doctrine that really overcomes them. I'm not trying to say that people who are transgender aren't natural or aren't validated, but instead we all have base perceptions about the world around us that, because of our social advancements, can subconsciously control. So while Aloy doesn't exactly stand on the pinnacle of how to treat transgender individuals, she's not meant to.
Janeva on the other hand is exactly what the industry needs right now though, yes he is surrounded by a strict set of social doctrine that dictates how men and women act, but at the same point in time he is just as, if not more, capable than any other man in the Carja army. He rose through the ranks with skill and determination set out to show the world he is who he says he is. While he is surrounded by an air that doesn't explicitly state he is transgender, the connotations and subtext is there, and to add to it he states that he is a soldier, even going so far as saying "No woman can wear Carja armor". He stands firm to his identity and his loyalty to the Carja, because honestly he could have just as easily just been like, well fuck it, I'm not going to deal with this, and peaced out.
Really what should we take from all of this? Well honestly its that the gaming industry still has a REALLY long way to go when it comes to being able to appropriately handle gender identity and gender representation. Additionally we need to be able to take a more objective look and understand intentions of these topics, because quite frankly things are getting either lost in translation or outright forgiven due to the series or media its in. Mass Effect handled it wrong, Zelda handled it wrong, Horizon handled it...differently, it's hard to say, and Dragon Age did fantastic. I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers, but I sure as hell can hopefully provide an insightful look onto some of the most recent bits of social commentary on these games. Till next time.
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