Comment on Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Director Says It Did Gay Romance "Right" By Not Going "Woke"
scholar@lemmy.world 4 days agoThe game has a gay romance option, which is something that you can unlock over the course of the game with the right dialogue options and is fairly tastefully done. The game is very intent on being a 1403 simulator and the characters are all written with that in mind, but it’s nice that the game recognises that gay people would have existed regardless of the cultural attitudes at the time.
I think his comments refer to the implementation of the romance in the way that it doesn’t feel like it was put there so the studio could boast about how progressive they are.
I think his comments refer to the implementation of the romance in the way that it doesn’t feel like it was put there so the studio could boast about how progressive they are.
Big “I’m doing the thing I complain about, but it’s different when I do it” energy from this statement.
It looks like he’s really commenting on the way these relationships are portrayed in KCD2 compared to other games, but he doesn’t specify which other games he’s on about so it’s hard to say exactly what he’s referring to other than a general perception of modern media lazily inserting LGBT characters without integrating them more deeply into the setting or narrative.
a general perception of modern media lazily inserting LGBT characters without integrating them more deeply into the setting or narrative.
And that complaint is an example of the issue. You’re effectively complaining about normalization of LGBT+ characters and relationships, so you see it as lazy, instead of tokenizing them and making them some kind of not-just-a-normal-person character.
No, you’ve misread my comment: the tokenisation is lazy, having characters whose sole defining characteristic is their gender or sexuality (or race, disability, etc.) is lazy, failing to make them fully rounded characters beyond their superficial traits is lazy.
What Daniel is talking about is presenting these issues in a modern framing, in a time period which understood them in a very different way.
This is exactly what KCD2 has done well with this particular romance option, having the characters be rounded individuals first with ambitions and flaws, and also give them the opportunity to explore their sexuality in a way that occurs naturally through the game (depending on choices you make).
tabris@lemmy.world 4 days ago
The late mediaeval period was actually fairly accepting of gay relationships, with a legal doctrine of Brotherment being practiced in several countries, where two men would legally join their lives and assets, and which often included declarations of affection.