Even before its release, Stellar Blade seemed to have garnered some of the worst attention and sparked the hottest takes. Some are calling it anti-woke because the main character is a scantily clad woman in full makeup. Others are calling for boycotts because they see the design as backwards, sexist and exploitative.
Claims of unrealistic beauty standards are countered with the insistence that the character is based on a real person, which bogs down the argument in the difference between realistic and attainable, fantasy versus aspiration and a whole heap of cultural beauty standards. I’m not one to wuss out and take the centrist approach, but there is a middle ground here, and I’m betting a lot of people also find themselves there, not being invested enough to care either way.
Firstly, we do need video game characters that represent us, all of us – diversity makes better stories. We’re also past the age of the chainmail bikini. BUT (yes that’s a big but) there is space for characters to be, what I’m going to call, conventionally attractive.
Just as there’s space for mindless violence, there should also be space for saving the princess. The more we have good representation, the more we continue to crush stereotypes and the more room we make for a bit of trope-filled fun.
Art can explore and even appeal to our vices without being damaging or exploitative. There’s a non-zero number of the TYG team that enjoy the anime tiddies, for instance, but still have the capacity to recognise women as full human people, healthy and respectful relationships included. Games can explore concepts and aesthetics beyond our day-to-day life without changing us, Stellar Blade included.
I’ve not even covered the alleged censorship that seems to have generated some rage. I’ll stand against artistic censorship but adding a flap of material to a costume but keeping other more revealing costumes unaltered just isn’t going to get me riled up.
Stellar Blade is looking to be a decent enough game, but the conversations around it have just gone off the rails. Sometimes it’s best just to enjoy things in isolation.
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