Hi. Writing Nerd anon is back. Don’t care anymore. I am so tired with people beating around the bush about Stardew Valley’s covert misogyny. And how poorly written the bachelorettes are in comparison to the bachelors. Plus how the bachelorettes then get inevitably punished for it
And I often see people are saying it’s that the bachelorettes are less interesting. Not the case in my opinion. Actually they’re interesting on a base-line, just not realistic. Not gritty. And it majorly has to do with the inconsistent tone of the game. Yep, I actually moreso interpret the problem as a tonal gap between the bachelors and the bachelorettes to the point where it’s almost like they’re not in the same game. (Yes I do see Penny and Elliot as exceptions to this kinda given Penny has an alcoholic mother and Elliot is … well Elliot…)
A lot of people go into playing stardew valley (or continue their gameplay) with this positive review and selling point that ‘the characters feel real, flawed, and deep’ and while this is true for some characters (mostly the bachelors) it falsely gives people this expectation that this is true for the entire atmosphere of the game which in my opinion, keeps tipping the scales back and forth on what it wants to be tonally. For the romance-able women in the game, it is often a Disney channel tween-appropriate coming-of-age where their hardest battle is overcoming the expectations of their over-bearing parents. For the romance-able men in the game, it is often a genuine exploration of trauma, coping mechanisms, addictions, mental health issues, (even internalized homophobia in Alex’s case) akin to more adult media. And because of the male fixation, it suddenly makes everyone go like “oh my god Stardew is deep! The writing is insane! But also I hate ~insert bachelorette here~ idkkkk I just think she’s superficial. I think she’s a ‘pick me’. I think she is a trad-wife. Because nobody is actually enjoying the bachelorettes as they are. How could they? When we’re constantly able to be compared them to the matured and heavy, more well-written tone of the bachelor’s and their storylines?
Most of the fandom is not going to put in true effort into deeply resonating with female characters so miss me with the “it’s poor writing / she annoys me” cause while that is a valid personal opinion, I’ve still seen male video game characters be loved for less. I’ve seen background male characters given entire arcs and backstories made up from sheer love and appreciation by the fandom. More people in fandom are attracted to men than women. Us sapphics are a minority, and we sapphics who don’t like men are an even smaller minority. The majority of fandom will inevitably be more male-attracted. And that’s something I’ve come to understand will be the downfall of a lot of my favorite female characters ever getting positive attention, even when they’re flawed.
I’m not saying the bachelorettes can’t be deep, I’ve seen deeper interpretations of them. But the key word is : interpretations. Haley’s “comphet” arc for one. Is entirely fabricated. I keep seeing people say she’s the best bachelorette for something that isn’t even Concerned Ape’s credit. She doesn’t react questionably when your farmer is a woman, like how Alex does when your farmer is a man. If anybody has canonical comphet, it is probably Abigail. But she doesn’t fit the ‘but I’m a cheerleader’ hyperfeminine blonde girl with comphet aesthetic. She looks like she came out of the womb bisexual. So maybe it seems less interesting to most people (though I disagree). Beyond that, I still agree Haley’s arc is the best out of the women. But sorry. It isn’t THAT deep. It still in my opinion, feels very Disney.
She goes from upholding high standards of femininity, to becoming okay with working and getting dirty and expressing her passion for photography. And I’m like… ok sure. The narrative is clean. But that’s not the issue here. I love Haley, but that’s literally the plot of a My Little Pony episode (no actually). We don’t actually see the bachelorettes engaging in compelling habits that speak to their place in society. And I don’t just mean smoking cigarettes because your stepdad hates you. But even little innocent details like Sam writing notes to remember to do certain things, is a clever nod to his potential neurodivergence. Whereas Abigail eats rocks, busts out the flute, plays the drums, plays video games like a slug but somehow also manages to be active and explore caves. A walking mystical jack-of-all-trades.
Ive noticed people interpreting Sebastian or Sam as autistic. Meanwhile complaining that Abigail is too childish or feels like a fantasy for male players. The mystical ‘manic pixie’ interpretation of weird women specifically makes her behaviors enigmatic rather than potentially an actual hardship for her. Like the girl cannot rest. She is sooo incredibly autistic coded to me. But she was written by a man. Therefore i have to deal with endless, obvious, ‘no shit Sherlock ’ takes about how she is a male fantasy, therefore not a good character. See how tiring this is?
Maru is my heart, as a black neurodivergent woman. She is the only black woman in her rural town (which hosts canonical conservatives), and yet her biggest enemy is her own black father. Look, I’d be fine with the ‘I see no color’ fantasy of Pelican town, if there was actually diversity, and if homophobia and misogyny (intersections of racism) didn’t also exist. Now, I just see a girl with so much potential traumas and room to explore them. And you don’t have to do this in a way that is so overtly ‘woke’ if that’s what CA or anybody is afraid of. There could literally be a scene where she faints because she is not eating and overworking herself. She already seemingly has anxiety. And it’s very common to the black biracial woman experience to want to overachieve for respectability politics and be treated with equality to your white parent and peers. This could act as a perfect collision for her and Sebastian, who are going through similar but opposite things. I mean it when I say this. I really wish Maru had a secretly flawed relationship with Robin, like how Sebastian is with Demetrius. It would be soooooo interesting to explore the flawed white mother trope.
Someone mentioned how the bachelorettes appear significantly younger than the bachelors. And all of their bachelor counterparts. And that’s a very good observation. Harvey and Maru being the PEAK example of the entire point I’m making with this confession. For fucks sake, she’s seemingly the youngest, and he’s seemingly the oldest of the bachelors. And yet there are subtly strange diologue implying them to have feelings for each other? Almost as though Maru’s age, as a black woman, is vaguely implied because CA so badly wanted her to not be the loud-immature black stereotype. But accidentally made her into the ‘mystical black woman’ who’s somehow a nurse and able to build a robot. If she’s 18/19. Let her be 18/19. Don’t fear the opinions of racist fans. May I remind you that her OLDER brother, does code. Normal shit. Meanwhile Maru is a Disney character who can somehow create a robot.
I actually think the tone of bachelorettes stories are more appropriate for the game’s atmosphere. The mystical robot-making, flute-playing, blue haired hippie, high school valley girl, starving artist fits the same game that has … forest spirits! Monsters in caves! Mice selling hats! And Cozy atmospheres!
And that’s perfectly alright. But then it’s unfair to say, ‘the characters in this game are deeper than you expect from a cozy farming game’ when it is only half true, and only sets up the female characters for endless hate.
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