Latest news with #queerRepresentation
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Cute dates, bisexual chaos and game-changing kisses: video games' best queer moments
Life Is Strange, as a series, is really characterised by a patented mix of earnestness and cringe for me – but you can't fault its determination to put queer characters front and centre. It has been variably successful at this – the messy relationship between shy, photography-obsessed Max and chaotic blue-haired Chloe in 2015's original Life Is Strange was left somewhat ambiguous, but Alex Chen in Life Is Strange: True Colors was openly bi and pretty laidback about it. My favourite queer moment from the series, though, came in last year's Double Exposure. Max Caulfield is now a grownup with a photography residency at a small-town college, and has finally figured herself out. She flirts confidently with Vince, the handsome but terrible it-boy on campus. But when it comes to Amanda, the exceedingly cool lesbian behind the bar at the local pub? She is so awkward it's painful. I loved this because it is my firm personal belief that all bisexual people are both terrified by and attracted to cool lesbians. If you get to the point when you take Amanda on a date, you are treated to one of the sweetest scenes I've ever seen in a game: they go to an imaginary gig. The women riff off each other, conjuring the most chaotic show imaginable with words and laughter. It is, along with Nathan Drake and Elena playing Crash Bandicoot together in Uncharted 4, the most believable relationship scene in games. (And yes, even after the date goes really well, Max still hesitates over kissing her.)Keza MacDonald, the Guardian's video games editor It has to be the relationship between Ellie and Dina in The Last of Us Part II. I know this one gets a lot of attention, but it's for good reason. There are so few queer stories in media that don't revolve around traumatic experiences. Acknowledging the struggles of any marginalised group is vital to sharing that perspective – but so is highlighting the joy. I think it's incredible that, in a game that deals with such heavy themes and tragic character development, these two were allowed to experience a joyful, supportive relationship. They could be people with flaws who made choices, instead of being defined solely by their queerness. The evolution of the narrative and eventual conflict between them was the result of Ellie's choices and actions – which made the story that much more impactful to Hufford, producer of (and voice of Ducky in) Date Everything!, out now When I was a teenager, I came across this game called Fable. I played through the tutorial. I wanted to spice it up. I used a cheat engine. I made my character really buff. It felt a little … wrong. Not because I cheated. But because I didn't look like that. Does this character still represent me? Am I allowed to do this? > Don't know. I got to the first town. I came across a merchant. I bought out everything he had. I regifted everything back to him. I saw a heart begin to form. Can I … really do this? > Guess so. I gave him the wedding ring. We got gay-married. We moved into this house I bought. And then I never touched the game again. – I was a closeted teenager. Everyone around me knew. Everyone but me of course. I was a chubby little kid. Everyone around me knew. And everyone kept reminding me. I can't help but laugh. Guilty for being swole in-game. But never for being gay-married. Funny how a teenage mind Boozayaangool of Tan Ant Games, developer of Building Relationships, out later this year My love for queer games exists at two ends of a spectrum. At one end is 'beautifully done nuance and subtlety' and at the other is 'delightful, wilful chaos'. This feels in keeping with being a gender-wobbly bisexual. In the realm of nuance and subtlety, my earliest love was playing Gone Home, and the slow discovery of your sister Sam's queerness, and the catharsis of her getting to live her life authentically after rejection by her parents. Then there was Unpacking, about making space for a new partner after the nightmare that was trying to fit your things around a boyfriend who wouldn't budge. Or most recently, there was the (spoiler alert) very natural growth of Henry and Hans's relationship in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, which has to be one of the most beautifully written romances in games in years. Of course, on the other side of the coin is mischief and honesty. Thirsty Suitors captures the messiness and interconnectedness of queer dating, and the fallout that can occur when someone is still figuring themselves out. When it comes to my own game, Crescent County, we absolutely come down on the side of chaos. There is often pressure to perform 'perfect' queer representation, but that robs characters of their bite and humanity. I completely understand the draw of pure wholesomeness, but we shouldn't sanitise ourselves for the sake of acceptability!Anna Hollinrake, creative director of Crescent County, out next year The thing about a lot of queer moments in the video game era I grew up in – which my child loves to refer to as 'the late 1900s' (my bones are dust) – is that it was the villains who were queer coded. Wholesome queer moments were as rare as a writer who can come up with a new and original 'as rare as' simile. That's why I loved Unpacking so much. On the face of it, the game is simply about unpacking your belongings as you move from place to place, but it's a masterpiece of show-not-tell. You move out of your parents' house, get room-mates, and eventually move in with your boyfriend, who immediately minimises your space and self expression. At that point I yelled to my wife 'SHE'S GAY!' But I often do that with characters I like, so she took no note. However, I was right. As the game progresses she meets a new partner, grows closer to them, and eventually they have a child together and you're unpacking the baby's bedroom. It finishes with the most wholesome lesbian representation I've ever seen in a video creator of Quantum Witch, out now
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Cute dates, bisexual chaos and game-changing kisses: video games' best queer moments
Life Is Strange, as a series, is really characterised by a patented mix of earnestness and cringe for me – but you can't fault its determination to put queer characters front and centre. It has been variably successful at this – the messy relationship between shy, photography-obsessed Max and chaotic blue-haired Chloe in 2015's original Life Is Strange was left somewhat ambiguous, but Alex Chen in Life Is Strange: True Colors was openly bi and pretty laidback about it. My favourite queer moment from the series, though, came in last year's Double Exposure. Max Caulfield is now a grownup with a photography residency at a small-town college, and has finally figured herself out. She flirts confidently with Vince, the handsome but terrible it-boy on campus. But when it comes to Amanda, the exceedingly cool lesbian behind the bar at the local pub? She is so awkward it's painful. I loved this because it is my firm personal belief that all bisexual people are both terrified by and attracted to cool lesbians. If you get to the point when you take Amanda on a date, you are treated to one of the sweetest scenes I've ever seen in a game: they go to an imaginary gig. The women riff off each other, conjuring the most chaotic show imaginable with words and laughter. It is, along with Nathan Drake and Elena playing Crash Bandicoot together in Uncharted 4, the most believable relationship scene in games. (And yes, even after the date goes really well, Max still hesitates over kissing her.)Keza MacDonald, the Guardian's video games editor It has to be the relationship between Ellie and Dina in The Last of Us Part II. I know this one gets a lot of attention, but it's for good reason. There are so few queer stories in media that don't revolve around traumatic experiences. Acknowledging the struggles of any marginalised group is vital to sharing that perspective – but so is highlighting the joy. I think it's incredible that, in a game that deals with such heavy themes and tragic character development, these two were allowed to experience a joyful, supportive relationship. They could be people with flaws who made choices, instead of being defined solely by their queerness. The evolution of the narrative and eventual conflict between them was the result of Ellie's choices and actions – which made the story that much more impactful to Hufford, producer of (and voice of Ducky in) Date Everything!, out now When I was a teenager, I came across this game called Fable. I played through the tutorial. I wanted to spice it up. I used a cheat engine. I made my character really buff. It felt a little … wrong. Not because I cheated. But because I didn't look like that. Does this character still represent me? Am I allowed to do this? > Don't know. I got to the first town. I came across a merchant. I bought out everything he had. I regifted everything back to him. I saw a heart begin to form. Can I … really do this? > Guess so. I gave him the wedding ring. We got gay-married. We moved into this house I bought. And then I never touched the game again. – I was a closeted teenager. Everyone around me knew. Everyone but me of course. I was a chubby little kid. Everyone around me knew. And everyone kept reminding me. I can't help but laugh. Guilty for being swole in-game. But never for being gay-married. Funny how a teenage mind Boozayaangool of Tan Ant Games, developer of Building Relationships, out later this year My love for queer games exists at two ends of a spectrum. At one end is 'beautifully done nuance and subtlety' and at the other is 'delightful, wilful chaos'. This feels in keeping with being a gender-wobbly bisexual. In the realm of nuance and subtlety, my earliest love was playing Gone Home, and the slow discovery of your sister Sam's queerness, and the catharsis of her getting to live her life authentically after rejection by her parents. Then there was Unpacking, about making space for a new partner after the nightmare that was trying to fit your things around a boyfriend who wouldn't budge. Or most recently, there was the (spoiler alert) very natural growth of Henry and Hans's relationship in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, which has to be one of the most beautifully written romances in games in years. Of course, on the other side of the coin is mischief and honesty. Thirsty Suitors captures the messiness and interconnectedness of queer dating, and the fallout that can occur when someone is still figuring themselves out. When it comes to my own game, Crescent County, we absolutely come down on the side of chaos. There is often pressure to perform 'perfect' queer representation, but that robs characters of their bite and humanity. I completely understand the draw of pure wholesomeness, but we shouldn't sanitise ourselves for the sake of acceptability!Anna Hollinrake, creative director of Crescent County, out next year The thing about a lot of queer moments in the video game era I grew up in – which my child loves to refer to as 'the late 1900s' (my bones are dust) – is that it was the villains who were queer coded. Wholesome queer moments were as rare as a writer who can come up with a new and original 'as rare as' simile. That's why I loved Unpacking so much. On the face of it, the game is simply about unpacking your belongings as you move from place to place, but it's a masterpiece of show-not-tell. You move out of your parents' house, get room-mates, and eventually move in with your boyfriend, who immediately minimises your space and self expression. At that point I yelled to my wife 'SHE'S GAY!' But I often do that with characters I like, so she took no note. However, I was right. As the game progresses she meets a new partner, grows closer to them, and eventually they have a child together and you're unpacking the baby's bedroom. It finishes with the most wholesome lesbian representation I've ever seen in a video creator of Quantum Witch, out now
The Guardian
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
My unexpected Pride icon: Link from the Zelda games, a non-binary hero who helped me work out who I was
Growing up steeped in the aggressive gender stereotypes of the 1990s was a real trip for most queer millennials, but I think gamers had it especially hard. Almost all video game characters were hypermasculine military men, unrealistically curvaceous fantasy women wearing barely enough armour to cover their nipples, or cartoon animals. Most of these characters catered exclusively to straight teenage boys (or, I guess, furries); overt queer representation in games was pretty much nonexistent until the mid 2010s. Before that, we had to take what we could get. And what I had was Link, from The Legend of Zelda. Link is a boy, but he didn't really look like one. He wore a green tunic and a serious expression under a mop of blond hair. He is the adventurous, mostly silent hero of the Zelda games, unassuming and often vulnerable, but also resourceful, daring and handy with a sword. In most of the early Zelda games, he is a kid of about 10, but even when he grew into a teenager in 1998's Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64, he didn't become a furious lump of muscle. He stayed androgynous, in his tunic and tights. As a kid, I would dress up like him for Halloween, carefully centre-parting my blond fringe. Link may officially be a boy, but for me he has always been a non-binary icon. As time has gone on and game graphics have evolved, Link has stayed somewhat gender-ambiguous. Gay guys and gender-fluid types alike appreciate his ageless twink energy. And given the total lack of thought that most game developers gave to players who weren't straight and male, I felt vindicated when I found out that this was intentional. In 2016, the Zelda series' producer Eiji Aonuma told Time magazine that the development team had experimented a little with Link's gender presentation over the years, but that he felt that the character's androgyny was part of who he was. '[Even] back during the Ocarina of Time days, I wanted Link to be gender neutral,' he said. 'I wanted the player to think: 'Maybe Link is a boy or a girl.' If you saw Link as a guy, he'd have more of a feminine touch. Or vice versa … I've always thought that for either female or male players, I wanted them to be able to relate to Link.' As it turns out, Link appeals perhaps most of all to those of us somewhere in between. In 2023, the tech blog io9 spoke to many transgender and non-binary people who saw something of themselves in Link: he has acquired a reputation as an egg-cracker, a fictional character who prompts a realisation about your own gender identity. Despite their outdated reputation as a pursuit for adolescent boys, video games have always been playgrounds for gender experimentation and expression. There are legions of trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people who first started exploring their identity with customisable game characters in World of Warcraft, or gender-swapping themselves in The Sims – the digital equivalent of dressing up. Video games are the closest you can come to stepping into a new body for a bit and seeing how it feels. It is no surprise to me that a lot of queer people are drawn to video games. A 2024 survey by GLAAD found that 17% of gamers identify as LGBTQ+, a huge number compared with the general population. It may be because people who play games skew younger – 40 and below – but I also think it's because gender is all about play. What fun it is to mess with the rules, subvert people's expectations and create your own character. It is as empowering as any world-saving quest.
Telegraph
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Doctor Who promotes queer tolerance, says show's trans writer
Doctor Who promotes queer tolerance, the show's first transgender writer has said. Juno Dawson, a bestselling author known for young adult novels, joined Russell T Davies earlier this year to help script the regenerated series starring Ncuti Gatwa. The 43-year-old, who is the first openly transgender writer for the popular BBC show, said that a childhood love of Doctor Who and Eurovision 'was my way of saying I was queer before I knew what it was to be queer'. Writing in this week's Radio Times, Dawson said that it was unsurprising that both the European song contest and the science fiction TV series are 'so beloved by LGBTQ+ people'. 'Both shows occasionally address queer themes – last year's Eurovision winner, Nemo, was the first non-binary performer,' Dawson said. 'But more generally, the DNA of Doctor Who and Eurovision is fairness, tolerance, peace and the triumph of joy over hatred. 'It's not hard to see why queer people feel so seen and so safe in both worlds.' Gatwa's starring role marked the first time the Doctor has been played by an openly queer actor, as well as a black actor, in the show's 61-year history. The Sex Education star, 32, came out as queer in Aug 2023 in an interview with Elle magazine when discussing the importance of representation in the media. He described his role in the hit Netflix series as Eric Effiong, who is one of the few gay students at school, as 'healing' for him. 'Shout out to [the screenwriter] Laurie Nunn for giving nuance to this gay, black character and gifting him to the world,' Gatwa said. 'He's so fierce and unashamed. It was healing for me, and great for people to see themselves represented. 'It taught me the importance of representation: it's so powerful and necessary.' He has been playing The Doctor since the 2023 Christmas special and since last month, the two lead parts have been portrayed by minority ethnic actors for the first time. Previously, Davies – the head writer for Doctor Who – has criticised 'toxic' people who claim the show is too woke. The Welsh screenwriter and television producer, 62, said he had no time for complaints about the show's 'diversity and wokeness'. In May last year, Gatwa said he felt 'sad' for critics of the show's diversity. 'For me, personally, I find it fascinating that it matters so much to these people,' he said. In recent episodes a transgender character referred to the Doctor as 'male-presenting' and a drag queen made the point of using 'them' as a personal pronoun. Dawson, who also co-hosted The Official Doctor Who Podcast and penned the series' spin-off podcast, said that Eurovision had inspired the show's content in the form of an 'Interstellar Song Contest'. The author explained: 'There might not be an obvious link between the Eurovision Song Contest and Doctor Who, but I think they're cousins – if not sisters… But more than that, fans of Doctor Who and Eurovision can sometimes feel like outsiders, and that becomes part of someone's identity. 'When I was asked to write this episode, I was determined that my Interstellar Song Contest wouldn't make fun of Eurovision by having aliens dance around in tin foil dresses,' Dawson added. 'Why would the show devolve in the far future? If anything, I thought it would continue to become even grander.' Explaining that the episode is not 'all camp and glitter', Dawson added: 'I wanted to tell a human story… because that's how you win Eurovision.' The season two finale is set to premiere simultaneously on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on May 31.
