I grew up with 2 older sisters who were very stubborn. I didn’t get much say in the movies we watched or the books our mom would read to us. By the time I was old enough to have a voice in my very loud family, they had already outgrown “young kid” movies such as Snow White or Cinderella. They had matured enough to enjoy things like Twilight and Hanna Montana while I was just along for the ride. Whenever I had finally gotten sick of watching Vampires do strange things with their mouths or Hanna Montana sing another song (well, Hanna Montana was fire, I didn’t get sick of that), I would pipe up and insist that we watch something that I wanted to. After what seemed like hours of negotiations, we would usually come to the same compromise every time: Mulan.
When I think of feminism in media, I think of Mulan. She is a Woman hiding amongst men who is constantly seen as weak, lacking in skill, and a liability. Right when she is about to give up, she uses her strengths to overcome every obstacle thrown at her in a way that only she can. Watching this movie as a young boy was nothing short of empowering. Mulan’s struggles were mine. Mulan’s triumphs could be mine if I followed her example. In Chapter 4 of “Play Like a Feminist”, Chess talks about how “a good feminist story” is “conversational, personal, and relays narratives that surpass the expectations we tend to have of those ushered in to and for patriarchal audiences”. A narrative that “tells stories not just about women but also about characters who face the adversities set forth within our mainstream cultures”. To me, a feminist story isn’t just a story about women, for women. It’s a story that anyone can relate to and be inspired by.
This brings me to my feminist game: Celeste. On the surface, Celeste isn’t a feminist game. She isn’t climbing a mountain because a man told her she couldn’t, or she wants to prove that women can do anything. She is climbing a mountain because she doesn’t know if she can. She is just one person on a monumental, dangerous mountain that is trying to kill her at every turn. She isn’t battling external forces, but something far scarier and deadlier: herself. We have all had a mountain to climb. We all started at the bottom, only to look up and think “this is impossible”. That internal struggle is universal. Celeste is a female protagonist who overcomes her greatest obstacle with nothing but her skill and determination. Playing this game gave me the same feeling of empowerment and personal triumph that Mulan instilled in me all those years ago.
Chess believes video games need to act as a form of agency for all players. In order for video games to follow feminist ideals, they need to create power and agency for female players. Climbing an impossibly large mountain isn’t just agency in the form of mechanics or narrative. It’s agency in life.
