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That one anon who said “sebastian is a grown-ass man still acting like a little brat about his sister existing” is so real!
And this is coming from who relates to Sebastian, specifically also feeling envious towards my younger likeable sibling, but hell— even I would side eye him and say:
“dude, calm tf down damn, your acting like it’s HER fault! She wants to have a brother, not a rival!” 💀
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Hi. Writing Nerd anon is back. Don’t care anymore. I am so tired with people beating around the bush about Stardew Valley’s covert misogyny. And how poorly written the bachelorettes are in comparison to the bachelors. Plus how the bachelorettes then get inevitably punished for it
And I often see people are saying it’s that the bachelorettes are less interesting. Not the case in my opinion. Actually they’re interesting on a base-line, just not realistic. Not gritty. And it majorly has to do with the inconsistent tone of the game. Yep, I actually moreso interpret the problem as a tonal gap between the bachelors and the bachelorettes to the point where it’s almost like they’re not in the same game. (Yes I do see Penny and Elliot as exceptions to this kinda given Penny has an alcoholic mother and Elliot is … well Elliot…)
A lot of people go into playing stardew valley (or continue their gameplay) with this positive review and selling point that ‘the characters feel real, flawed, and deep’ and while this is true for some characters (mostly the bachelors) it falsely gives people this expectation that this is true for the entire atmosphere of the game which in my opinion, keeps tipping the scales back and forth on what it wants to be tonally. For the romance-able women in the game, it is often a Disney channel tween-appropriate coming-of-age where their hardest battle is overcoming the expectations of their over-bearing parents. For the romance-able men in the game, it is often a genuine exploration of trauma, coping mechanisms, addictions, mental health issues, (even internalized homophobia in Alex’s case) akin to more adult media. And because of the male fixation, it suddenly makes everyone go like “oh my god Stardew is deep! The writing is insane! But also I hate ~insert bachelorette here~ idkkkk I just think she’s superficial. I think she’s a ‘pick me’. I think she is a trad-wife. Because nobody is actually enjoying the bachelorettes as they are. How could they? When we’re constantly able to be compared them to the matured and heavy, more well-written tone of the bachelor’s and their storylines?
Most of the fandom is not going to put in true effort into deeply resonating with female characters so miss me with the “it’s poor writing / she annoys me” cause while that is a valid personal opinion, I’ve still seen male video game characters be loved for less. I’ve seen background male characters given entire arcs and backstories made up from sheer love and appreciation by the fandom. More people in fandom are attracted to men than women. Us sapphics are a minority, and we sapphics who don’t like men are an even smaller minority. The majority of fandom will inevitably be more male-attracted. And that’s something I’ve come to understand will be the downfall of a lot of my favorite female characters ever getting positive attention, even when they’re flawed.
I’m not saying the bachelorettes can’t be deep, I’ve seen deeper interpretations of them. But the key word is : interpretations. Haley’s “comphet” arc for one. Is entirely fabricated. I keep seeing people say she’s the best bachelorette for something that isn’t even Concerned Ape’s credit. She doesn’t react questionably when your farmer is a woman, like how Alex does when your farmer is a man. If anybody has canonical comphet, it is probably Abigail. But she doesn’t fit the ‘but I’m a cheerleader’ hyperfeminine blonde girl with comphet aesthetic. She looks like she came out of the womb bisexual. So maybe it seems less interesting to most people (though I disagree). Beyond that, I still agree Haley’s arc is the best out of the women. But sorry. It isn’t THAT deep. It still in my opinion, feels very Disney.
She goes from upholding high standards of femininity, to becoming okay with working and getting dirty and expressing her passion for photography. And I’m like… ok sure. The narrative is clean. But that’s not the issue here. I love Haley, but that’s literally the plot of a My Little Pony episode (no actually). We don’t actually see the bachelorettes engaging in compelling habits that speak to their place in society. And I don’t just mean smoking cigarettes because your stepdad hates you. But even little innocent details like Sam writing notes to remember to do certain things, is a clever nod to his potential neurodivergence. Whereas Abigail eats rocks, busts out the flute, plays the drums, plays video games like a slug but somehow also manages to be active and explore caves. A walking mystical jack-of-all-trades.
Ive noticed people interpreting Sebastian or Sam as autistic. Meanwhile complaining that Abigail is too childish or feels like a fantasy for male players. The mystical ‘manic pixie’ interpretation of weird women specifically makes her behaviors enigmatic rather than potentially an actual hardship for her. Like the girl cannot rest. She is sooo incredibly autistic coded to me. But she was written by a man. Therefore i have to deal with endless, obvious, ‘no shit Sherlock ’ takes about how she is a male fantasy, therefore not a good character. See how tiring this is?
Maru is my heart, as a black neurodivergent woman. She is the only black woman in her rural town (which hosts canonical conservatives), and yet her biggest enemy is her own black father. Look, I’d be fine with the ‘I see no color’ fantasy of Pelican town, if there was actually diversity, and if homophobia and misogyny (intersections of racism) didn’t also exist. Now, I just see a girl with so much potential traumas and room to explore them. And you don’t have to do this in a way that is so overtly ‘woke’ if that’s what CA or anybody is afraid of. There could literally be a scene where she faints because she is not eating and overworking herself. She already seemingly has anxiety. And it’s very common to the black biracial woman experience to want to overachieve for respectability politics and be treated with equality to your white parent and peers. This could act as a perfect collision for her and Sebastian, who are going through similar but opposite things. I mean it when I say this. I really wish Maru had a secretly flawed relationship with Robin, like how Sebastian is with Demetrius. It would be soooooo interesting to explore the flawed white mother trope.
Someone mentioned how the bachelorettes appear significantly younger than the bachelors. And all of their bachelor counterparts. And that’s a very good observation. Harvey and Maru being the PEAK example of the entire point I’m making with this confession. For fucks sake, she’s seemingly the youngest, and he’s seemingly the oldest of the bachelors. And yet there are subtly strange diologue implying them to have feelings for each other? Almost as though Maru’s age, as a black woman, is vaguely implied because CA so badly wanted her to not be the loud-immature black stereotype. But accidentally made her into the ‘mystical black woman’ who’s somehow a nurse and able to build a robot. If she’s 18/19. Let her be 18/19. Don’t fear the opinions of racist fans. May I remind you that her OLDER brother, does code. Normal shit. Meanwhile Maru is a Disney character who can somehow create a robot.
I actually think the tone of bachelorettes stories are more appropriate for the game’s atmosphere. The mystical robot-making, flute-playing, blue haired hippie, high school valley girl, starving artist fits the same game that has … forest spirits! Monsters in caves! Mice selling hats! And Cozy atmospheres!
And that’s perfectly alright. But then it’s unfair to say, ‘the characters in this game are deeper than you expect from a cozy farming game’ when it is only half true, and only sets up the female characters for endless hate.
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"How DARE this woman not look the way I want her to?!?!"
That's what people who gripe about Maru's hair sound like. She likes her hair straight. Probably easier to take care of that way. Get over it.
ohhh my god shut the hell up maru is not a real person she's a black character designed by a white man she does not have thoughts or feelings or likes or dislikes SHES NOT REAL!!!!!
as a sebastian fan, some sebastian fans are so weird to me because they go out of their way to demonize every woman around him. maru? spoiled golden child that takes away all the attention how dare they. abigail? evil “pick me” who spends time with him how dare she do that. robin? negligent mother who pampers her daughter more than him ohhhh how dareee sheee
seriously like can people take a second and reevaluate WHY they hate these characters because its starting to reek of something else
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https://www.tumblr.com/sdv-confessions/818353472899514368/i-get-the-whole-maru-should-have-curly-hair
Ohhhh, brother…if your reasoning for why the only other person of color and the only Black woman in this game has 1A bone-straight hair is that she inherited it entirely from her white mom with 2A wavy hair instead of ConcernedApe having an implicit bias, idk what to tell you. Look up Maru’s design evolution up until her final look, and note how it gets progressively straighter and straighter…
Handwaving away her hairstyle (that in any other world would be straightened, relaxed hair) as just maternal genetics completing dominating Demetrius’s 4C hair type is not the move, especially when no character besides Demetrius has textured hair instead the game
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Ok for some more interesting and diverse submissions because I talked abt Abi enough. Given what we know abt Maru + Sebastian’s half-sibling dynamic they must have some sort of huge age gap. Like think about narratively. There needed to be enough time for Robin to breakup with Seb’s dad, Marry Demetrius, and become pregnant with Maru. All while Sebastian was at an age where he could significantly perceive this change ? Idk he doesn’t talk about Maru and Demetrius as though he knew them his entire life.
I hypothesize their age gap has to be decent. At LEAST 5 years and at most maybe 7 or 8. Essentially, at some point Maru was 5 while Sebastian was 10… Maru was 10 while Sebastian was 15…. Maru was 15 while Sebastian was 20 or something of the sort. Ok so my point is, there is NOOOOO way the alienation within their relationship is just Maru’s fault for not reaching out and the way I see some Maru haters talk about her is pretty weird. Luckily it’s other apps mostly not tumblr. Ya’ll aight I think. But Idk, it’s like ppl perceive black women as older and having to be the ‘bigger person’ in a conflict cuz of misogynoir,, or if Sebastian is just THAT infantilized. I know a lot of white writers struggle to make black characters have personality out of fear of making them stereotypical, which can then, make fans of the media dislike them with the pretense of them being “not that interesting” Maru falls into this unfortunately. She is also unrealistically successful and smart to where her character becomes easy for people to dehumanize (i mean her robot thing intentionally parallels who CA wrote her to be) but it’s a little jarring to watch as a black woman in this fandom given that smart and successful black women DO exist in real life and are brushed aside and ignored similarly.
So here’s a black perspective esp. for other black ppl in this fandom in case yall need the headcanons & the tea. 1. Maru being the only black girl in a rural town with canon conservative residents unfortunately makes her character very traumatic as much as I hate the lack of diversity in this game and not to diminish what Sebastian is going through, more fans need to recognize Maru’s blackness as a catalyst for very necessary & heavy conversation between these two if they were to ever get along, and regarding Demetrius’s obsession with Maru’s success and likely Maru’s perception being that she is a black girl 2. She is so definitely an autistic golden child HBCU black girl, who might, like so many of us black autistic women, burn out in college. 3. She may have SOME Internalized anti-blackness. This whole “why is maru’s hair flat” yes the real answer is not that deep, concerned ape seemingly didn’t know the importance of black characters having black hairstyles, BUT imagine if Robin simply never properly learned how to do her daughter’s hair. Imagine if Robin was flawed oh my. Real mixed girl trauma is at play here idk why people can explore so many real world issues of homophobia with Alex’s farmer arc and give him alllll this character development for his misogyny, but don’t want to address race with Maru. If homophobia and misogyny exists in the sdv universe, racism does. The three intersect each other.
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Is it me, or is Haley (the blonde one with long hair) the least wisest out of the bachelorettes?
1. Falls in love with boys ALL THE TIME at first glance at them (Regardless if they are evil or not, like dumb jock Alex, while actually moral people, like the Farmer, are cast aside like pigs) compared to the others
2. Maru and Penny actually are COMPETENT at their jobs as a nurse and a teacher AND as kind natural community caregivers compared to Haley. Haley seems to have a bad track record of neglecting her duties, both in the photography field, domestic caregiving, and did I mention RELATIONSHIPS WITH GOOD MEN?
3. Emily in the Heart Events is shown to actually be INTELLEGENT beneath all that crazy, since she tailors well. (I think Leah is good at her intelligence artistically as well) Is Haley good at her studies compared to the other two? (My guess is no).
4. Abigail (and Leah…to an extent) is street-smart enough not to fall for traps or evil men. Haley just hits on anyone that’s hot or rich or muscular and falls for a lot of dumb stuff. (In the six-heart event, she freakin loses the bracelet THAT WAS PASSED DOWN BY HER GREAT GRANDMOTHER!! WHAT THE HELL.)
Anyways, what are your thoughts, is Haley one of the least intelligent bachelorettes of the game?
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Okay maybe its just because I'm early game, so I maybe don't understand as much yet but *why* is there so much dislike for Maru? Why is Maru consitered boring? Shes into stars and science and constilations and thats cool as hell. She seems so into science and studying shes awesome as hell. I wanna be her friend and talk about cool shit with her. She seems awesome!
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