Thanks for the comment which has reminded me that I do, in fact, have a Medium and now I feel incredibly guilty that I never write forit.
The article you linked to me is… an opinion… I suppose. I think the terminology of “girl” and “chick” betray the author’s real position, so much so that it’s not that surprising that the piece is a fairly shallow presentation of the scenario. And I say that in full knowledge that this piece, that I wrote years ago, isn’t the most in-depth look at Nintendo’s continuing shitty handling of women in their properties. Similarly, I note that the writer is a dude in the full knowledge that I, a white guy, wrote this one, too.
There’s absolutely an element of subjectivity in these discussions, and the author of that piece does acknowledge a general sense of problematic portrayals that he appears to suggest have been resolved with characters like Rosalina — though looking at Zelda, and the Gerudo (and every female character) in Breath of the Wild, it’s obvious Nintendo haven’t made much progress at all. However, that Nintendo has a pretty medieval attitude towards woman isn’t so subjective, and they certainly aren’t worthy of praise in whatever minor growth they have achieved as it’s nowhere near enough given that it is 2019.
This kind of piece, which posits some kind of “power” — which often feels a patronising word in the hands of male writers — in female characters that have been created solely by and for men is replete over the internet. Around the same time I wrote another piece about Hideo Kojima and his use of women, in particular in MGS5, and in searching for sources found most of Google covered with pieces from creepy dudes defending his decision to include naked women with no agency as characters, with legitimate criticism relegated to the back pages of Google’s directory — one imagines because a lot of guys flocked to the support of the shitty pieces on how great Kojima is.
I don’t recall fully the intent behind this piece, though I do remember it being more about how Nintendo treat femininity rather than just sexism. So I hope it still helps with your project. It’s been a long time since I’ve tackled the subject, so I’d be really interested to see/read/watch the outcome.
