I'm still not done with Mother 3. You could say I'm savouring it (something Mackey can surely appreciate).
I'm coming close to the end though, so I'm in an adequate position to talk about the game on message boards. This is an especially fun way to waste time because Mother's papa, Shigesato Itoi, never struck me as a convential game designer. He's a writer first, something that I think comes out clearly in his games.
For instance, I was talking with a dapper gentleman in a tophat about some of Itoi's characters in Earthbound and Mother 3. Both games feature at least one gay character. This is nothing new in Japanese-developed games and anime, where gays and transvestites serve the same function as our own laughtracks. Everyone laugh at the flamboyant man fretting over his shoes and dress! It's funny 'cause men aren't supposed to do that!
The difference with Itoi's characters is that the player is not really supposed to laugh at them. They're vital to the plot, but they just so happen to be gay.
Earthbound has Tony, a boy who boards with Jeff in the Winters' School. Even in the game's translation, it's (very surprisingly) obvious that Tony harbours a special affection for his roommate. Mother 3's translator, Tomato, posted a snippet of an interview with Itoi wherein he talks about his decision to make Tony bat for the other team:
"Well, for example, there’s a gay person in MOTHER 2. A really passionate friend who lives in an England-like place. I designed him to be a gay child. In a normal, real-life society, there are gay children, and I have many gay friends as well. So I thought it would be nice to add one in the game, too."
Needless to say, Tony is pretty young, but that's what's cute about his devotion: there's a childlike innocence to it that stays comfortably far away from sexuality. It's precisely like the crushes we had as schoolchildren, before puberty made its noxious presence known. I'm unclear about how many gay men become aware of their orientation before puberty (feel free to enlighten me), but the fact that Tony has accepted his own orientation at such a young age--and the fact that nobody seems to isolate him because of it--is nice.
Even nicer is that Itoi's writing of a gay character is miles above the Internet fangirl standard. Tony loves Jeff, but when the time comes for Jeff to leave, Tony understands and helps him get past the school's gates. There's no extended sessions of weeping and wailing, but there is a certain excitement towards adventure, even if it's an adventure he can't participate in. In other words, Tony acts like a boy who's gay. Itoi didn't just give Scarlett O'Hara a penis and say, "There, I have a gay character."
Now that I've revealed the write-by-numbers method of the yaoi fandom, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you with the Crimson Spear of the Seme.
Mother 3's portrayal of gay characters is more coomplicated and worth an entry of its own. Say, I just gave myself an idea.
Something besides "Chicken for dinner sounds good."
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