| Khuutra said: This feels like the Other M arguments all over again. In fact, they are the Other M arguments all over again. Other M's biggest failing was in getting in its own way. Samus is most effective as a faceless, voiceless hero. Everything important about Metroid exists outside of Samus. I covered the body of these ideas in the section about why Metroid Prime did Samus perfectly. Ideally, Samus is not a person, as has been said in a few posts here (not just mine). Samus is a suit of armor who kills things. Anyone could be in there. Even ignoring the problematic elements of the Zero Suit on its own, and that is difficult for me to do but possible because I'm writing up a reply to Rol in another window (you and he have very different disagreements with me here) the problem is that when Samus is in that suit, she ain't me. |
I tried to ask in the last post, but I'm sorry if my words were too rambled. When you mention "Metroid Prime" are you speaking of the first one? Or do you mean the Metroid Prime franchise as a whole?
If I understand correctly, your problem is not with objectifying or sexual in nature for zero suit samus, but rather the fact that when you explicitly see she's a female, she instantly becomes not you? Or what part of Zero Suit Samus ruins it for you? What type of under-suit would you rationally expect her to be wearing under that tight chozo armor? Seeing a more femenine side of her, whether it's sexual in nature or not, will make her seem less like you since you're a male, won't it? Agh I'm getting confused. I don't see Zero Suit Samus portrayed as a sex object in the games, so I'm trying to understand where the disconnect here is. Please explain again?
Is any character development for her bad? Is this an argument running along the same lines of the Silent Link hero, and how if he was given a deeper personality and voice he wouldn't be "us" anymore?
I'm confused because I feel like your original argument relied more heavily on the sex portrayal than the character development that pushes her into being a distinct person and away from "us." I also felt like the picture showing Zero Suit Samus and it's caption were completely irrelevent to the topic of "this isn't Samus" but rather catering to the "this isn't Samus projected onto my person." That zero suit picture definitely is her and while the artwork is a bit more sexual, I definitely didn't feel that objectification in the games where you see her as zero suit.
Dammit now I feel like I'm rambling again.
