I have to bring this up because in the 20 years since the surprise ending of Metroid, Samus has evolved into a bona fide Videogame Feminist Icon. She's constantly trotted out as a prime example of how videogames provide strong female protagonists and role models for girls, and have been doing so since day one. And the more I read these gushing homages (like this one) to a great shattering of the videogame glass ceiling, the more of a fraud I think it is. I mean, isn't it clear she wasn't conceived as female?
It's actually a serious point. If she wasn't intended to be a female character, and her female identity was thought up and added as a postscript for a cheap "gotcha!" moment, then where does that leave the people who say that she represents gaming's first strong female protagonist?
Here's the original Metroid director, Yoshio Sakamoto, talking to IGN.com in 2007: "We were partway through the development process, when one of the staff members said Hey, wouldn't that be kind of cool if it turned out that this person inside the suit was a woman?" Exactly. The character had already been designed and scripted, and then they gave her a gender. And let's remember, this was a game that had a secret password to let you play as Samus in a leotard, and a bonus ending showing you Samus in a bikini. This is not the Marie Curie of videogames. This is joke territory, replete with 8-bit titillation.
Apparently I'm not the only one who feels that the empowered-woman reputation of Samus is sort of at odds with the way she's actually shown in the game. Here's Gamespot editor Greg Kasavin in the article "Samus' Suit Was Made by Men":
"Metroid, the perennial favorite sci-fi series from Nintendo, has a female main character. This was first discovered by surprise at the end of the original 1986 Metroid game, in which, if you finished the game having met certain special conditions, you'd see a brief cutscene of Samus Aran's red and gold armor magically disappear to reveal a shapely, scantily clad woman, who then waves at you. It comes as a bit of a shock, and why shouldn't it? Samus doesn't sound like a woman's name. ... While I wouldn't go so far as to say that I disapprove of this--I like the series, after all, and it's targeted at people like me--it also rubs me the wrong way. I don't appreciate that Samus being a woman is a punch line. Ironically, Metroid is often cited as one of those games that's quite progressive in its portrayal of women. It's obvious, I hope, that I happen not to think so."
Yes yes, this is all a big nitpick, but I've had to listen and read about the historic nature of Samus and her inspiration to girl gamers everywhere for 20 years. I've had to listen to how videogames were ahead of their time, morally serious responsible citizens because Nintendo had strong female protagonists like Samus Aran. And you know, if some young person out there is genuinely inspired by the example of Samus from Metroid, a retroactively designated woman, then shucks, I have no desire to piss on their parade, but how about we set the record straight for everyone else?
6 comments:
i like your blog......
To be fair, if Samus' identity were a joke, why would the developers continue to keep it that way? If it were a joke, her gender wouldn't be referenced throughout the rest of the Metroid franchise? It would be like the legendary ending at the original Halo, where the Master Chief takes of his helmet to reveal another ending, which was, of course, never spoken of again. Also, Samus' gender could hail from the Alien Protagonist Ellen Ripley, since Metroid and Alien share many similarities.
okay if her identity was a joke why was she continued as a girl? if it was supposed to be a good plot twist and a hey i got ya they wouldn't have continued to keep her gender as a woman. maybe YOU should think your thoughts out before posting them on the internet your opinion is your opinion but i'm just stating the obvious factors that prove your opinion to in fact be just an opinion not a fact
Hey Anon 2, did it ever occur to you she was continued as a girl as a mean for a big reveal and that sex sells? They WOULD continued to keep her gender as a woman. I’m sick and tired of you SJWs alway ruining video games for everyone. YOU are the one who should think your thoughts out before posting them on the internet. What the poster said was NOT an opinion and you didn’t prove jack. All you proven is that you have an insecure mindset that everyone is misogynistic over video game facts and logic. Also you didn’t state obvious factors, you stated obvious bullcrap. Speaking of rich those so called “obvious factors” didn’t prove his opinion is in fact just an opinion not a fact. It actually proved his opinion was just a FACT not a opinion. Go do some research you feminist blowhard.
Anon 1 you can’t be serious about that bull. The developers kept that as a joke because they know that sex sells. If it was a joke her gender WOULD be referenced throughout the rest of the Metroid franchise. It wouldn’t be like a legendary ending at the original halo. Also Samus’s gender does NOT hail from the alien protagonist Ellen Ripley. Metroid and Alien do NOT share many similarities. Samus is a woman and woo always be a women. She isn’t a feminist icon and shall never be one since that is cringe. END OF STORY.
omg you people are so annoying lol
samus doesn't deserve to be a goddamn male, ALL GENDERS MATTER.
If you hate that samus is a female, then you're just a sexist human being who doesn't want armored-helmet people to be a male, shut your mouth up and forget about it.
and i'm annoyed with people's brand of personal feminism involving dictating to other people what they should or shouldn't get value out of, which nothing violates the core concept of feminism more than that
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