SuperNova said: Whats with all the rage? The guy did a nice little thing for his daughter. He didn't even *gasp* make Link female. If anything he very closely adhered to the philosophy the character is build on. I mean, he is called LINK because he is supposed to link the player to the experience. They are supposed to be able to project themselves on him. Referring to him in gender neutral language is just that basic concept brought to completion. Literally everyone can now project themselves on their Link to the game. I see this Link argument bought up whenever there is talk of giving him more of a character or even giving him a voice. The argument is always 'I'm against it because he is supposed to be a blank slate fo me to project on, that's his concept', but when someone dares to bring this concept to it's logical conclusion there's suddenly puzzlement, over why anyone would do this. |
He is white, blonde and blue eyed I can't link with him.
Hynad said:
What illusion is he feeding her? You are the ones judging his parenting without even knowing who he is, or who she is. |
He is feeding the ilusion that if you don't like something about someone else or someone's else work you can always change and force it to be of your liking?
SuperNova said:
Yes, I try to look at things objectively, while i see alot of you give a very emotional respones. So what? And to continue my socratian paper, that thing in the manual was a decision drawn by one guy based on his, even by then, outdated conception of what a protagonist should look like. I honestly think Myamoto mostly defaulted to a male protgonist because he himself is male and because it's the standart for fantasy (and other) protagonists. I don't think it runs much deeper than that. (And there's nothing wrong with that either) I would absolutely agree. Ironically that argument goes both ways, though. Doesn't your tired and latently angry (I apologize if I have misinterpreted that) response also just show your own inability to cope with things you don't like? Yeah, Link has always been a boy, and I never minded that. But if Nintendo were to take a step to make him gender neutral, I wouldn't mind either, because it goes with the characters conception and they have every right to do with their intellectual property whatever they please. After all they should have creative freedom right? Now, of course this guy has nothing to do with Nintendo at all and it's just his private little change. I also wonder why people always have to gravitate to the most negative of possible lessons to retrieve from such a thing. Yes, some things must be dealt with, but there is also a lot of things that, with a little creativity and effort you can change and turn around your way, or make more enjoyable for others. Why couldn't that be the lesson here? Yes, there are more lessons than one to be had here, and the one you bring up is also a very good one. But it's not like that girl is now forever banned from learning that. Theres more than enough games that have an actual defined protagonist with a real character. Protagonists that aren't supposed to be blank slates in the first place. Not to mention, you know, real life. Yes, media has a considerable impact on us, but if you have an ok upbringing that should only go so far. It's like all those disney movies telling you to believe in your dreams and people getting up in arms about how that teaches kids that you just have to lay back, do nothing and everything will turn out your way. Yet I've never actually met someone who truly believed that. Real life ensues. In the end it's people getting worked up about something they personally don't like.
I think you would have a case if Link indeed had any sort of defining character. But he doesn't. All of the things you mentioned can be done just as well by a girl or a genderless person. Anyone can grow into adulthood, overcome evil, and rescue a princess. (Seriously why could the princess not be rescued by her female/genderless best buddy? Hell, Impa would probably be more than capable in most incarnations to rescue her, but get's impaired by the story in favor of link because he is your Avatar.) This universal relatability is one of the things that make the Zelda franchise great. Because we all can relate to growing up and taking resposibilities. Don't get me wrong, I love boy Link. I think he is awesome, and there is nothing wrong with a 'boy grows up' story at all. (They've been done to death, but hey, you can alway add a new little twist to the formula and make it great again.) He is one of the few characters out there where a change like this is actually not intrusive because it makes sense to to concept of the character though. I would be fully with you if we were talking about Nathan Drake or Lara Croft, but we are talking about Link. About the mascot thing, I think people would just refer to him as what they think he is. It would be similar to Shepherd. He would just be Link. |
To make Link gender neutral after creation would be an enourmous and ridiculous retcom. If they want to start a spin-off with genderless character ok.
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http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363
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