Okay, so I was talking to @bumblerhizal the other day. And I learned that I had mistakenly assumed that Julia was not physically abused by her dad (she was), but that Ricardo received the harsher punishments. And this, naturally, made me run to the wiki (AFAIK, none of the things I will be discussing here are spoilers for Revelations, but I cannot guarantee that since I haven't played through all of the routes. I believe the section about Ortega's childhood from the wiki is spoilered for mentions of child abuse tho, not for spoilers for Revelations. Either way, proceed with the care you deem appropriate)
While Enrique genuinely loved Ortega,[nb 5] he resented their hyperactivity and unruliness, and the two rarely saw eye to eye.[13] He sometimes physically abused them.[nb 7][4] They were made to call him 'sir'.[nb 102]
Okay. So both abused for the same reason! But here come in the very gendered differences:
Julia had no interest in fitting into the role of being a daughter, and two argued frequently. Enrique disapproved of her (lack of) career choices and was unsure how to connect with her due to her gender. If he had survived, they may have eventually reconciled.[nb 104]
Enrique was extremely controlling towards Ricardo, saddling him with expectations that he would have a military career like his own father and grandfather.[nb 105] Ricardo was difficult to discipline, thus the violence was worse against him, which he is more reluctant to admit to Sidestep about than Julia.[nb 95] Had Enrique survived, it is doubtful they would ever have reconciled.[nb 104] Ricardo grew his mustache as he got older to less resemble his father,[nb 49] which Enrique would have hated.[nb 26]
And this is where it gets interesting.
I have been chewing on the differences between both Ortega for some time now (on and off), because for as much as they are the same character, they do feel different. And that's because they are! And they are different, specifically, in a very gendered way. The wiki goes into it as follows:
Julia is slightly more in touch with her personal baggage than Ricardo,[nb 63] sometimes perceived as more aggressive than him[nb 95] Others tend to perceive her as more aggressive, violent,[nb 32] and less authoritative than compared to Ricardo, who by contrast is slightly goofier.[nb 96]
To sum up, Julia is:
1. Slightly more aware of her issues (and slightly more comfortable with her bisexuality, as stated in the paragraph below the quote above)
2. Perceived as more aggressive and violent
While Ricardo is:
1. Perceived as more authoritative
2. Slightly goofier
Julia being perceived as more aggressive and Ricardo being perceived as more authoritative is, on one hand, clearly just misogyny at work. Forceful woman boohoo scary, while forceful man oh so manly and determined and let's all listen to him. But misogyny and gendered dynamics are very real forces in the world, and they do shape personalities. We need to look no further than at Julia herself:
Julia was initially more tomboyish growing up, and embraced being masculine because of her height and training, perceiving that it gave her more respect, power and freedom.
It is pretty much spelled out: as a child, Julia leaned into her more masculine characteristics because she felt that she was treated better if she did so. However, as a trade-off, people also perceived her as more aggressive and violent. Case closed, so far. But what really interests me about this statement is that she got that power and freedom. In contrast to Ricardo. Who is, and I quote, goofier.
Let me explain. Ricardo was more heavily physically abused and had intense expectations placed on him. Expectations that, it has to be noted, he did eventually conform to! In a different way than Enrique would have wanted to, but conform he did. He works for the US. government in the business of violence; he is, essentially and in some ways practically, military. Let's do a quick aside and acknowledge that that must suck. Unless, of course, you keep yourself blind to it.
Meanwhile, Julia had no grand plans heaved upon her. Because she was a girl. And girls don't go on to become soldiers. She also suffered less physical punishment, probably in part because, since there was less pressure placed on her, she acted out less, but also and I suspect primarily because she was a girl, and men don't hit girls. Enrique García seems like the kind of guy to abide by that (mostly).
What kind of picture does this paint? We have a girl, who is abused, and whose father doesn't know what to do with. And we have a boy, who is abused, and whose father has a very clear idea of what he wants the boy to do. So he subjects the boy to all the control he is capable of to make sure that his son follows his footsteps, and his grandfather's footsteps. Meanwhile the girl gets away with much more! No expectations means less control, because nobody is trying to make her do anything (and if they are trying to control her, it's probably to keep her from doing something. This difference is important). The girl has some room to move and develope. The boy? Decidedly less so.
What I want to propose with this little essay is that Ortega's gender, in the ways it shapes their childhood experience, directly influences them to develope the traits listed above. Julia lives in an environment that physically abuses her, but punishes only unruly behavior. If she wanted to, for example, paint, she could (and would maybe be encouraged to do so). Now a physically abusive environment is not a comfortable one, and being molded by force to be more agreeable than you are does not feel good either. So she acts out. She actively searches for more power, respect and freedom; these things are attainable to her, and she knows it. She is viewed as somewhat aggressive and violent for it (and probably punished for that, which makes her act out more, etc). But the point is that she has an avenue for escape, and she has the ability to accrue a modicum of power in her life. Julia's childhood might therefore be understood as a run for agency, a run away from home.
Ricardo, meanwhile, retreats. He does not have Julia's avenue of escape, because in his case, it is not only unruly behavior that is punished; it is any undesirable behavior that is, because for him, there is a plan. So he might very well not be allowed to paint. Because that's girly. Where Julia sees power, respect and freedom as accessible to her, Ricardo instead retreats more behind jokes. Since his situation is inescapable, his father insurmountably powerful physically and socially, his relief comes from making light of the situation. He is goofier; the hitting doesn't hurt as much if he laughs about it. Ricardo's childhood may thus be understood as a shielding, and, consequently, as a hiding.
However, in the process, both Ortegas have to leave something behind, sacrifice something to their continued survival. It seems to me that in Ricardo's case, that something may have been being in touch with himself. Denying his own feelings and putting on a jester's mask for the world to see may have slightly limited his capacity for introspection. After all, he's smiling! Nothing hurts, see? And maybe this is why Julia is (slightly) more aware of her baggage. She has been able to afford to notice it more.
Now, on the other side of the coin, what did Julia leave behind? This is what really keeps me up at night, because I have not figured her out (yet). Nothing in the text or the wiki has yet helped me determine this, but I have two theories:
A) She left exactly the same thing behind as Ricardo (her introspection), but in a different way. Her flight seems to have been a flight outside, into the world, into sports, into activity and adrenaline. Adrenaline will quieten your thoughts just as well as any joking facade would, but it does fade once the high subsides. It would explain why Julia is a little (but only a little!) more aware of her baggage. It might also explain her being perceived as more aggressive and violent (aside from good old misogyny); she might genuinely just be more physical, and maybe a bit more of an adrenaline junkie than Ricardo.
B) She left home (metaphorically), so she has nowhere to go. A logical hypothesis might be that Julia left her sense of belonging and/or her ability to form connections with people a little behind. She may be a bit more awkward than Ricardo (even if she might not come across as such). She may often feel like she is too much, or too loud, all feedback she probably got from the adults in her childhood. It is fun for me to imagine her relationship with her mother might be a little more strained than Ricardo's (but this one is definitely not supported in the text and even contradicts it). If she is continuing to lean into masculine traits for that feeling of power, freedom, respect, she may also be more quick to throw a punch, just to show that she can, which will not help her image or her self image of being better at a fight than with words. She may be a bit more conscious of the fact that she is a weapon; she may suppress the thought that this weapon will be used by hands others than her own more readily than Ricardo, who has more memories attached to being controlled by Enrique.
And this is my grand old thesis. If you have made it this far, I am begging for you to let me know what you think, because I have been chewing on this for months and it intrigues me to no end. You may also have been able to tell that I am maybe a bit more focused on Julia? The simple truth is, I haven't finished a playthrough with him yet (much less one where I romance him. I still have to see if Stephanie is only going to play with her food or actually eat it too). But none of this is by any means meant to be a slight against Ricardo. I love him, he's great, I just have spent most of my time going insane about his non-sister and her obsession with Sidestep. That's all
Oh! But I do hate to end on a too abrupt note, so here are some more headcanons that were part of the conversation but that I couldn't fit into the text above:
Ricardo is more secretive than Julia because he got subjected to violence and scrutiny more. Julia is more hungry for attention because her father did not know how to engage with her
Ricardo more suspicious when somebody asks him too many questions. Julia a little flattered and eager to make use of the opportunity
Ricardo more reactive and aggressive when somebody criticises his choices. Julia much less defensive, but more willing to confront the critic and, if necessary, pick a fight
Last but not least, thank you so much @autistic-sidestep and everyone else who helps out with the wiki for the enormous amount of work you do and for having such a well-organized and detailed database on the Fallen Hero verse. You guys are awesome!
REVELATIONS ORTEGA SPOILERS UNDER CUT!!! BE WARNED (i just wanted to ramble)
going through the ortega apartment innocent stepcrash route had me multiple times laughing my ass off. julia is broiling herself in her distrust of the government and how there might be danger of government action to "pacify" the west coast meanwhile vex is like "shit man i steal jewels and stuff i dont know what the fuck im doing here." truly just the funniest worst option narratively for that route. celia hero hunter might have more of a point to stand on while cupid mob boss (maybe anarachist? i've been flip flopping on their route) has even better grounds to relate to ortega's stance. vex has just been stealing shiny shit. being the only one of my three sidesteps with access to this route (for now) due to how i set up their retribution runs is infinitely funny to me. any other sidestep could probably convince ortega that their cause is just but vex has just been hoarding pretty paintings for shits and giggles.
wheezes updated the Argos suit just in time for artfight, this time w/ more of a martial classical greco-roman vibe to match the imposing tag and the crest from before and more white to match with the shining/white definition of argós. the helmet has also been tweaked slightly and i’ve added pteruges on the shoulders and waist!
fun fact i am deliberating on switching sura from strength mod to armor thus why the mod loadout is missing up there lol.
ellievsbear
stormborns
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theartofmadeline
