That post I just reblogged is part of why I like Lightning so much as a protagonist. She’s always been physically strong, and she’s always been mentally tough – it’s in gentleness and optimism, traits considered typically ‘female’ in movies, that she still needed to grow.
That is.
Her character arc was very ‘masculine’, without actually drawing attention to that fact or saying anything dumb like ‘see she needs to be more feminine’ or ‘she’s manly because manly is better’. She’s not manly at all, as far as the story’s concerned. She’s just tough and gruff and uncommunicative but ultimately kind, and none of these traits are gendered in the story. (Usually in media they are gendered, and if a woman has them it’s implied it’s because there’s something wrong with her. Not here.)
I’m not explaining this well. Her character arc is one that’s not typically used for female characters. It’s typically used for male action heroes. But the story doesn’t bring attention to the fact that it’s a ‘male’ character arc. It’s just her character arc. It’s a character arc about being a sibling and a sibling-parent and a protector and a knight, and gender doesn’t come into it at all.
Do you know how great that is? She’s an action hero. And no-one comments on her gender at all. It just is. Like it’s normal. Because it should be normal.
And.
AND.
She’s physically powerful right at the beginning of the story. She’s a woman hero and she’s physically powerful. Snow and Fang have more raw strength, but no-one beats Lightning for overall dangerousness. And the story presents that as perfectly normal. I LOVE THAT. And there is never a scene in the game where her strength is not enough, where there’s some kind of backhand implication that she’s trespassing by being strong.
Are there scenes where she’s horribly outnumbered and the cavalry arrives in the nick of time? Yes, several. But they arrive as teammates, not rescuers. These scenes play out like the hero of a shonen manga being helped out by his comrades – an ode to teamwork, not an undermining of the hero’s strength.
I’m not explaining this very well.
I just really appreciate that Lightning is strong and it’s not treated as notable because she just is and she’s never made weak and her strength her own; it isn’t because she’s an experiment of some sort or whatever and she’s treated the same by the narrative as any male final fantasy hero.
I mean, like. She’s an exceptional person, an exceptional warrior – not an exceptional woman.
A lot of narratives would present her as an exceptional woman. Which carries the undertone of exceptional… for a woman… nope. She’s exceptional and no-one’s gender plays a part in it.
I’m rambling.
Good job final fantasy. Is my point.
Yay.
THIS IS STILL REALLY IMPORTANT
