Jonata wrote...
I'm sorry but I have to disagree on this. To drop big words like "heteronormative sexual views" because I (and some other guys) stated that a bi-Jack would have been cliché I think it's a bit too far. As I said before, the bisexual bad girl with an attitude is a cliché, not because of BioWare views on sexuality but because of the way characters like her has been used in movies and entertainment in general during the last years. Jack would've been different? Absolutely, but it's pretty difficult to come up with a unique "bad girl" character, especially in these days where almost everyone need to be "bad" in order to look cool. Making her bisexual would have at least gave a reason for people to mark her as a cliché.
The reason I "drop big words" like heteronomativity on this is because it appears to me that this is what informs the, frankly, completely nonsensical point of view that characters like Jack being available to either gender would somehow constitute "pandering", and I note that the "pandering" and "cliché" argument only comes up when we're discussing the possibility of a same-sex romance. Like it isn't cliché or pandering that she and other characters from Mass Effect 2 are romanceable in the first place? Why not? Because they're all straight? What this argument boils down to is this: when BioWare caters to your tastes and inclinations as a heterosexual person by making all the love interests heterosexual, it's okay. It's what's "normal", and so it is not and cannot be cliché or pandering. But if BioWare were to cater to the tastes and inclinations of LGBTQ people (with, I may add, the one character who is most perfectly tailored for it), then it stands out, stands apart. That sort of "catering to" we can and do indeed start seeing it as problematic and wrong and, by implication, something that BioWare shouldn't do. That is pure heteronormativity. Understand? Any time that you actively or passively disregard the needs, proclivities and idiosyncracies of LGBTQ people in favor of those of heterosexual people, any time that you assume heterosexuality as the "normal", neutral value and marginalize everything else in the process, relegate it to the status of otherness, you're engaging in heteronormative behavior.
And as far as the "cliché" argument is concerned: as it turns out, Mass Effect is already riddled with so-called "clichés" and tropes taken from other works of western fiction. All art and all fiction takes from other things and inspires other things in turn, be they from real life or otherwise. There is nothing intrinsically bad about this. But even if there were, I'd like to think we could handle
one more little "cliché" if it meant that LGBTQ people could not only see themselves represented in something at least approximating equal step with everyone else, but also freely partake in the aspects of the gameplay concerning romance (which always has been one of the more charming and memorable elements in BioWare games in general and the Mass Effect series in particular) with characters who are like them. And this way, we also wouldn't be saddled with the aforementioned implications that stem from making a character like Jack only available as a romance option for men. I don't see how that can be anything other than a net gain in the mind of any fair and thinking person. And if some nearsighted people would've "marked" an extremely well-designed and extremely well-executed character who just happened to be queer as "cliché", so what? People already disregard and dismiss Jack a lot. It's their damn loss, and nothing that impacts on the people who enjoy her character. Certainly nothing worth attempting to erase queerness from a character who has it suffused into nearly every aspect of herself.
The whole point is moot, anyway. Mass Effect 2 came out over two years ago, and it's pretty unlikely that Jack or other previously-straight love interests will ever be turned into same-sex love interests, even through things like patching or DLC. People who want Jack and half of all the love interests in the series only for their straight Shepards have it the way they want it, and that's the way it's likely to stay. Everyone else who'd like to at least have an option, well...heaven forbid we pander to them with clichés.
Modifié par Padt, 20 juin 2012 - 11:57 .
Retour en haut
