Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Super Mario Gender Identity?

I came across the discussion about Super Mario and the lesbian perspective of the character you choose just a few days ago on AfterEllen.com. I gotta say I was a little intrigued about this topic. I love Mario Bros. I play it and I have discussed about different aspects of the game a million times before but never thought this video game could turn into any discussion relating gender identity. Then again, when I started reading the post, it kinda started to make sense. Everyone is going to interpret it differently and not all can relate to it, but you know what? It made total sense to me. No, really, it did.
Peach is, obviously, the ultimate femme pick, with the pink gown, the earing and the tiara, submissive in the first games, but totally in control in later games like Mario Kart and Mario Party.



I think Yoshi, that in fact is a dinosaur, is very effeminate and fits the twink category, as it was implied by the post.

Toad that was described as the "genderless mushroom character" does in fact fit the description. And, if we take a closer look at it, the game has added so many different versions of  Toad in the latest games. There's a different color for each mushroom head! Maybe Mario Bros is subliminally supporting the "genderless". I know that's pushing it. But really, looking at the very rainbow colored mushrooms makes you wonder.


OK, I went too far. Lets get back on track. So Luigi was described as "more effeminate than Mario". I think that's true, but I also think that picking Luigi just means you don't want to be so obvious by picking Mario.



And then Mario. This is what was said, “Mario brings out my inner butch. While I consider myself a femme, I just can’t drive around wearing Princess Peach’s godawful pink dress.” I was always Mario.

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