Diversity in writing means writing without fear
Ok, so I just found out that originally, The Last of Us was going to be called Mankind and the disease was supposed to only infect women. As a woman myself who love zombie apocalypse video games, if they decided to keep this concept, it wouldn't have bothered me. It's because it's just a game and most zombie media, the zombies and monster are predominantly male with the exception of Silent Hill that had games with feminine monsters of which it could be interpreted that the MC could be a predator, it still wasn't sexist. Silent Hill makes a point of reinforcing that no one gets a free pass from their sins which extends to the MC. Or how especially in modern times, the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise is often seen as a female. It's not a representation or an opinion on women.
Also, the concept of Joel of protecting Ellie who is immune would have remained which to me is proof that there's misogyny there anymore than how in the famous graphic novel Y: The Last Man is misandrist because a disease wipes out all men from the world with the exception of a young man named Yorick.
Even in the real world, there are medical conditions that are unique to each gender. It's not hate, so in theory (though I hope it never happens), a terrible disease that only affects men or only affects women can happen and may have in history. Accepting that is not sexist. It's how you write the plot in such a story that is sexist. The disease as well as its cause and effect are just things that are.
If you want an example of a media that is misogynistic, it's a film where only women can become infected with the zombie virus and while it passed off as a horror comedy, the MCs obviously always looked down on women and make a game out of slaying the zombies just because they're women. THAT is sexist.
I mean, it's right up there with how people got mad that Resident Evil 5 and accused of racism. It really isn't because Chris Redfield never, ever showed an inkling of racism throughout his run in the franchise. The setting happened to take place in Africa so the victims getting infected were predominantly black. It's not an opinion on how Capcom sees race. I would argue that after seeing the game, it was treated very tastefully and just as tragically as every other setting which had the bad luck of being touched by Umbrella. Same goes with how Resident Evil 6 took place in China.
With that said, I think we need to not be afraid to write our stories how we want. It's great that we are being sensitive, kind, inclusive and anti-bigoted, but there is such a thing as taking it too far. We have to be aware that there is a difference between details that just are and actual opinions on a group. Accepting that good and evil can come from anyone is not bigoted. A setting taking place in a BIPOC society where the heroes, victims, casualties and even the bad guys can be BIPOC is not bigoted. Your monster being recognizably male or female is not bigoted. What is bigoted is how the plot treats these details and how MC does. Other examples include how...
Jason Vorhees does not represent the disabled.
The Terminator does not represent muscle men.
Imhotep from the Mummy does not represent Egyptians.
Sil from Species does not represent progressive women.
Commander Blue from Dragon Ball does not represent gay men.
Megatron does not represent the poor or orphaned.
Ezma from the Emperor's New Groove does not represent unconventional looking women.
And so on. They are just characters who happen to be what they are and realizing that is in fact going to bring people a lot of peace as well as freedom. When you stop worrying so much about waking the giant, you come to realize that the giant was only in your head.
Also with all our talks on diversity and inclusion, what about diversity in settings? How many games out there take place in Africa, China, Brazil, the Middle East or modern Japan? Or touch upon the lore of those countries which allows us to have both diverse heroes as well as diverse villains? I mean, we all remember how cool the Huns from Mulan were and Dr. Facilier from the Princess and the Frog.
This is also why artistic freedom needs to make a comeback because in attempt to control diversity, we have less of its. Like I said before, being mindful is a good thing, but being afraid is not. You're not going to please everyone anyway.
Like one guy said, when you try too hard to please everyone, you please no one.
@lonelydreams-world @blade-liger-4ever @sassycandypoetry @tntmtheshow
