The complete lack of a black protagonist in Life is Strange is disappointing
We've got 5 games and not a single game has gotten a single black protagonist.
I do love the series, but even I can see a problem. A complete lack of black characters in the franchise.
Found these two great articles that delves into the problem
Link 1
Link 2
None of the main characters are black. None of the secondary characters are black and the only black characters they have are side characters or background characters.
Like there was no reason whatsoever why Rachel, Warren, Kate, Steph, Ryan, Cassidy, Finn, Jacob, Sarah Lee or Chris couldn't have been black. Hell, there is no reason why Max, Chloe or Rachel couldn’t have been black.(although personally I would've loved it if Rachel was Indigenous)
And the black characters we do have is really bad in terms of representation.
Wells, a drunk and crooked principal.
Hayden, a stoner and member of the Vortex Club
Drew North, a bully jock who got in the drug trade
Charlotte, a likable character, but who's anger is consuming her and blaming others around her, tho I understand where she is coming from, but her characterization tends to be reminiscent of the unfortunate angry black woman stereotype. And just so happens to own a pot shop...
Ms Grant, Mikey, Penny, and Joey the Nurse seem to be the only positive black characters in the series.
And we still have not gotten a single black protagonist in the franchise.
I find it weird that we seemingly have little good black representation that isn't just associated with drugs.
Like I’m not trying to say DONTNOD, D9 or Square Enix are racist or anything, but I’m saying they need to do better when it comes to representation.
We were robbed of a black main character for Life Is Strange and are instead getting a cash grab sequel with Max who might as well be a completely new character seeing as how they’re throwing away everything that Max experienced and learned and everything we loved from LIS 1 to make it.
But considering how the fandom treated Sean and Daniel and their story, I can only imagine the disgusting hate a black protagonist would get in an extremely white franchise.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter 15 is up: “Monsters At Your Door”.
Back from hiatus, but I had a hectic move lately, and a busy few months.
On the upside, this being a "Present Day" chapter, and will heavily focus on the Diaz Brothers.
We will be finally catching up to what Sean's been up too since he's been released to Seattle, along with Finn and Cassidy. I also finally got to include Lyla Park! We will also be catching up to Daniel, Sarah Lee and Chris have been up to after Rachel found them.
Some of the segments here were written two years ago, and I've been waiting to post on them just as long. Some I’m just glad I finally got to post them.
Plus, I really want to get to covering FBC's investigation of Arcadia Bay for both “Route A” (Sacrifice Arcadia Bay) and “Route B” (Sacrifice Chloe) timelines. Which is also something I've been sitting on for two years; So that's something to look forward too for the next two chapters; Domestic Pricefield, or a Vampire Chloe.
This chapter is a little more lengthy than I wanted it too be, but I didn't want to make another “split” chapter. At least it shouldn't be a two hour read.
This is also a bit of a “Villain Focused Chapter”, as one segment covers Lisbeth Fischer, the antagonist in the Diaz brother’s arc. Another segment focuses on Mark Jefferson, and sets up his antagonist role for the present day. This was another reason it took me a while to post this; writing Jefferson’s POV required me to try to get into his thought process.
The less said about that the better.
“But Chris,” you say “Didn’t you have Jefferson appear in previous chapters ?”
Yes, but those were mostly flashbacks covering Rachel’s past life and Jefferson grooming her. Jefferson is the story’s secondary antagonist next to Mordred, and will play a role in the “present day” (2020) storyline.
Also, besides Until Dawn, Control and The Quarry, the crossver/cameo roster now includes House of Ashes.
Content Warning: This chapter contains mentions of religious trauma; grooming; outright depictions of vampire related violence, blood and gore; torture; Mark Jefferson, and Lisbeth Fischer are their own trigger warnings.
Went poking through some old WIPs, looking for something I could give some TLC to stretch the old art muscles, and found this cute one of Jacob doing Sarah Lee’s hair for her. Probably poorly, but it probably makes her happy nonetheless. And they’re probably on video chat with Daniel and/or Sean in a more ideal alternate universe where we could have had character witnesses to lighten Sean’s sentence 😭
I’m starting to realize why people who don’t like LiS 2 say the game is too political. There are so many choices that don’t matter all because it seems like the creators are trying to push a message. It honestly seems like player choice doesn’t matter, and especially if your going for a high morality play through. And player choice is the foundation of the game.
I usually play low morality/high brotherhood so the Sean and Daniel can stay together in Puerto Lobos, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best ending. It’s the best ending out of what we were given but it could’ve been a lot better. My original ending was Redemption. And that ending not only did it make me bawl it pissed me off.
Okay, so let’s say you go for the high morality ending. Let’s say you didn’t attack the Hank in the beginning of the game, you have an overall good relationship with Claire and Stephen helped out around the house and stuff, talked Chris and then his dad about his problem, you bond with everyone in Humbolt, and you don’t go through with the heist. You break out of out of the hospital in the most passive way (also remembering Sean is only breaking out because the police have no lead on where Daniel actually is; and he finds him.) Sean steals a car, yes, but with no forced entry; depends on the laws in that State what his charges will be for that. Next, you don’t set the church on fire and/or kill Lisbeth. The evidence against her wouldn’t be hard to convince a jury that she’s crazy and running a cult. You get the point by now.
It makes no sense for Sean to get fifthteen years. How would any of the evidence hold it in court anyway if the player made all the best decisions? How would they prove that Sean killed the cop? He wasn’t shot. There weren’t any signs of a fight between the cop. In the game it said that the police thought it was an explosion. Where’s the evidence? Where are the explosives? Why would they blow up their own front yard? There’s literally nothing against Sean and Daniel. If you play passive the only things that are brought up are things the player had no choice in and yet you still get punished. Sean shouldn’t have to spend almost half his life in jail.
And what’s the point with bonding with all those people and helping Jacob rescue his dying sister for seemly no one to speak up for Sean and Daniel in court? It’s ridiculous.
I’m starting to feel like there was an agenda based on the endings we get. And the wall was a huge indicator the the writers were trying to push a message rather then make an actual choice based game.
