A couple thoughts that solidified while editing: As you can see, I am very white, and should not be the person to do a long intersectional analysis of Fortune’s character, but I can say what I see: Ocelot, an old white man, shoots her and tells her “You have nothing that we didn’t give you,” but she stands up and proves him wrong and goes out like a queen. I really think the point of Fortune is something like this: you are not empowering yourself by joining the military and wallowing in misery and dyeing your hair blonde - you are playing right into their hands. In a story so much about American culture and propaganda, I think it was very smart to include a character like her. The other thing that came to me was about Raiden and sexual violence. The entire game is Raiden being objectified - as they say to Rose, “no matter where I go, I get used.” They are literally sexually assaulted twice - being groped by the president, then stripped and tied up while unconscious and choked by their father, which happens directly before and after the section about Hal and Emma. This is a story about power and abuse and reproduction and autonomy and humans; of course there’s a sexual layer to it. Olga and Fortune’s respective maternity trauma is also a form of bodily violence. This might sound silly, but I wonder if Raiden being designed so sexy is part of this - they obviously knew what they were doing; did they expect you to ogle him? Is wanting this twink obliterated participating in the Patriots’ dehumanization? I realize that this is a very uncomfortable conversation, but it’s worth having.
A couple thoughts that solidified while editing:
As you can see, I am very white, and should not be the person to do a long intersectional analysis of Fortune’s character, but I can say what I see: Ocelot, an old white man, shoots her and tells her “You have nothing that we didn’t give you,” but she stands up and proves him wrong and goes out like a queen. I really think the point of Fortune is something like this: you are not empowering yourself by joining the military and wallowing in misery and dyeing your hair blonde - you are playing right into their hands. In a story so much about American culture and propaganda, I think it was very smart to include a character like her.
The other thing that came to me was about Raiden and sexual violence. The entire game is Raiden being objectified - as they say to Rose, “no matter where I go, I get used.” They are literally sexually assaulted twice - being groped by the president, then stripped and tied up while unconscious and choked by their father, which happens directly before and after the section about Hal and Emma. This is a story about power and abuse and reproduction and autonomy and humans; of course there’s a sexual layer to it. Olga and Fortune’s respective maternity trauma is also a form of bodily violence. This might sound silly, but I wonder if Raiden being designed so sexy is part of this - they obviously knew what they were doing; did they expect you to ogle him? Is wanting this twink obliterated participating in the Patriots’ dehumanization? I realize that this is a very uncomfortable conversation, but it’s worth having.