放課後 Tea Time with Saber: Raidin' Tombs and Takin' Names! Who needs a Y chromosome, anyway!?

Aww snap, its that's time again! Houkago Tea Time with Saber! And today, we'll be talking about men with boobs! What? I'm serious!

Men with boobs, or more accurately, female-action-hero-characters-characterized-in-such-a-way-that-they're-reduced-to-little-more-than-a-male-character-with-female-body-parts, seems to be a bit of a problem in the gaming/movie/tv/literary industry. While I don't have any wild accusations of which character's are secretly post-op traps, I DO have an example of a character that DOESN'T have a Y chromosome! 

 　
This weekend I watched Day[9] play Tomb Raider(2013), and it was just as awesome as I expected it to be. Previously, busty-British-archaeologist/gunslinger Lara Croft was what I would have considered a seemingly empowering female character that in reality was just a sex object. While I don't have extensive experience with the game franchise, I would find this analysis hard to overturn based on the limited knowledge I do have. 

However, in the recent remake of the classic game, we see a complete 180 in terms of our heroine's portrayal. Focusing more on her backstory, we see Lara thrust into a situation where she's forced to kill, enduring gut-wrenching trauma and survive in a harsh wilderness. Cold. Wet. Puncture-wound through the abdomen the moment the action begins. This game is a series of events gone as wrong as possible, and with danger, intrigue and a pair of jaws around every corner, the action is raw, brutal and terrifyingly desperate. 

Lara's character is more practically clothed, covered in cuts, scrapes, bruises and all manner of dirt and grime. Breast-implants no longer! This girl means business! She'd give Jack Bauer a run for his money!

Now, that's all well and good, but what of her gender identity? What makes a female character female or a male character male?

First, let me draw your attention to an example of a gal done right in anime: 

Ryuuko as I've mentioned before challenges traditional gender roles, especially prevalent in shounen anime series', but at the same time, her designers haven't forgotten the essence of what maker her female. Much like the way Lara is written in Tomb Raider, Ryuuko's feminine side comes out through the way she interacts with others, the way she carries herself, and in the subtle details of her existence.

This is all very vague, and if I had a concrete formula of all the small details that define the feminine experience without being cliche and gender biased by citing vulnerable, weak, emotional traits, then I'd be on my way to a PhD right now! But at the same time, just by watching with an attentive eye, you might be able to see an example of what I'm talking about.

To better illustrate my point, lets listen to Rhianna Pratchett, the writer for the 2013 remake: 

Certainly with Lara, I wanted to make a human story. But I never wanted to forget that she was female either. And, I mean, certainly the way she reacts to things could be said to be more female as a reaction. I’m not talking about being scared, or being vulnerable. But the way she interacts with other characters, her friendship with Sam in particular…you wouldn't see a male character holding the hands of an in-pain male character or hugging a dying male character. 

I mean, I didn’t want to just make Lara a male character with boobs. It’s always kind of a…it is a human story at heart. But there things—the language she uses, or the way that she interacts—that could be said to be more feminine. I’m very much not talking about her sense of vulnerability or being scared. That again has been rolled out as: male characters aren’t shown as being scared or vulnerable, why should female characters? Well, just because it hasn’t been done with male characters doesn’t make it wrong! It’s probably more of a problem of the way we depict male characters. 

When it comes to these girls, there's no looking off into the distance through teary eyes, hands held to their bosom, wishing  the hero would come and save the day. They're ready to do what it takes to survive! Take up the master sword that's lying next to them and shove it up an over-sized big-human's ass!
If I were to hazard a guess, I would say there is an inseparable 'softness' in the feminine 'side' of things - not a pink-and-frilly-barbie-aisle-at-Toys-R-Us kind of softness necessarily, but a kind of softness that harkens to our biological differences, one who's extent is mirrored in the relative softness of a female body compared to a male's. Its not a limiting difference or a difference that necessitates a hierarchical disparity, or even necessitates anything other than its own existence, at all! But at the same time, I think this difference is key in representing the female experience in literature - without it, we would run into a series of testosterone driven humans with boobs running amok, or overly dainty damsels distressing over every little thing.

What does this all mean for you and me?

I'd very much like to replicate this feeling of intense, raw, down-and-dirty, cringe-worthy style of action in Sword Arte Online. I want readers to grimace at what our main heroine is forced to do to survive, knowing that there was nothing else to be done, and fearing that in her shoes they'd be paralyzed by fear and unable to fight on like she does. I want her to wade through the muck and emerge with victory clenched between her teeth, but at the same time, tenderly cultivating this fundamentally important ethereal softness that is necessary for her character to be fully realized. 

Much pondering ahead! But in the mean time, I think there's a game that needs downloading! Bee Are Bee!