| Helios said: No, that's a strawman (and that goes for you, too, Weegee). What I am saying is that a realistic take on a male/female character takes the general characteristics of human gender roles into account. A story does not exist in a vacum - it extends to, and is inspired by, the world, and must therefore reflect it. And, in reality, there is some difference between the men and women. I played Odin Sphere recently; George Kitami could well be critizised in some respects, but I still think very highly of his portrayal (or rather, characterization) of women, mainly because it, on the whole, makes sense - and thematically, it is quite brilliant. I won't spoil the excellent ending, but I will say the women are women, yet in the game, one of the leading females foils the plans of her insurgent cousin; the other two break free of their respective father/grandfather's influence. A feminist creed, would you not agree? |
I tend to agree with you, here, though I think it bears clarifying that an acknowledgment of certain qualities inherent to observed tendencies of either gender (or, beyond that, qualities which are considered inherent to the gender itself, like the difference between maternal and paternal love) does not preclude qualities that are considered masculine.
My favrotie example here is probably Kreia from Knights of the Old Republic II: she's an immensely maternal figure in many ways, intrinsically female in ways that will uncomfortably remind many players of their own mothers, but she's also a nihilistic embodiment of Nietzsche's rejection of man's reliance on God.
I think the message here is that it is okay to have characters like Commander Shepard, who is (mostly, excludingn how they approach romance) the same whether male or female, so long as tey do not represent the entire spectrum of female portrayals.
Gwendolyn and Oswald was one of my favorite love stories from that year, for the record.
