I really enjoyed this article. I was never a big fan of the Aliens franchise, but it truly is amazing how much games borrow a ton of ideas from the movie and still seem to miss the point of it entirely by minimizing the role of the "fighting mother." I do have to disagree with the notion that this archetype is never used or hasn't been noticed by the game industry.
In the same way that the games latched onto the idea of a bad ass space marine who's only job is to blow the hell out of everything, games also took the idea of an equally bad ass woman. It's hard to look at a character like Samus Aran and then look back at Ripley in the exoskeleton and think that they aren't somehow related. I can even picture the meeting that took place at Nintendo.
"I saw Aliens the other night and at the end of the movie she kicks the alien queen's ass with a cargo loading robot. Now think if she had that robot exoskeleton the whole time? Wouldn't have that been awesome? I think we can pull that off."
As my example illustrates, they probably missed some of those minor character traits Ray Huling talked about. However, they took a few steps in the right direction that eventually lead to the best example of a fighting mom character in all of gaming.
Yes, there is one character that embodies all the ideas of a fighting mother. That character is The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3. This is a woman who gave everything she had without a second's hesitation with the idea that it would benefit her "child".
It's fair to warn you that there are some MGS3 spoilers ahead.
It's easy to see Naked Snake as being the son she never got to raise, but while Snake does see Boss as a mother figure, Boss doesn't seem to "raise him" to be a son. If that were true, why not bring Snake along with her into the Cobra unit? No, she's really raising Snake to be her successor, to prove that he is worthy of taking care of her real baby known as the United States of America. She didn't give her life for her country like a marine does, not simply an unfortunate end during their tour of duty. She accepts the mission knowing she's going to sacrifice everything she has, including her life. Now that is something a mother would do for their child.
There are key differences to be sure, such as her child being her country instead of a physical person and, ironically noted by the author that "the cinematic release [of Aliens] was right to cut this storyline," that she had previously lossed her biological child to the Philosophers. Despite the technical differences, the character of the Boss is as close to Ellen Ripley as we have gotten so far. If you would just take the motivations of someone like the Boss and made it the main character's motivation instead of the final boss, we may be very close to the type of game described at the end of this article.
Video games have taken the ideas of the space marine and adapted it to both genders, but the archetype of the fighting mom has begun taking shape in video game form. We are not far from the type of game described by Ray Huling, a game where we must desperately fight for something that we care for. Something that is more important than humanity itself. Something we can never bear to lose.
Gamers are ready to be a mom.
In the same way that the games latched onto the idea of a bad ass space marine who's only job is to blow the hell out of everything, games also took the idea of an equally bad ass woman. It's hard to look at a character like Samus Aran and then look back at Ripley in the exoskeleton and think that they aren't somehow related. I can even picture the meeting that took place at Nintendo.
"I saw Aliens the other night and at the end of the movie she kicks the alien queen's ass with a cargo loading robot. Now think if she had that robot exoskeleton the whole time? Wouldn't have that been awesome? I think we can pull that off."
As my example illustrates, they probably missed some of those minor character traits Ray Huling talked about. However, they took a few steps in the right direction that eventually lead to the best example of a fighting mom character in all of gaming.
Yes, there is one character that embodies all the ideas of a fighting mother. That character is The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3. This is a woman who gave everything she had without a second's hesitation with the idea that it would benefit her "child".
It's fair to warn you that there are some MGS3 spoilers ahead.
It's easy to see Naked Snake as being the son she never got to raise, but while Snake does see Boss as a mother figure, Boss doesn't seem to "raise him" to be a son. If that were true, why not bring Snake along with her into the Cobra unit? No, she's really raising Snake to be her successor, to prove that he is worthy of taking care of her real baby known as the United States of America. She didn't give her life for her country like a marine does, not simply an unfortunate end during their tour of duty. She accepts the mission knowing she's going to sacrifice everything she has, including her life. Now that is something a mother would do for their child.
There are key differences to be sure, such as her child being her country instead of a physical person and, ironically noted by the author that "the cinematic release [of Aliens] was right to cut this storyline," that she had previously lossed her biological child to the Philosophers. Despite the technical differences, the character of the Boss is as close to Ellen Ripley as we have gotten so far. If you would just take the motivations of someone like the Boss and made it the main character's motivation instead of the final boss, we may be very close to the type of game described at the end of this article.
Video games have taken the ideas of the space marine and adapted it to both genders, but the archetype of the fighting mom has begun taking shape in video game form. We are not far from the type of game described by Ray Huling, a game where we must desperately fight for something that we care for. Something that is more important than humanity itself. Something we can never bear to lose.
Gamers are ready to be a mom.
from me.
