This is probably going
to be the most asinine thing I’ve ever written (with the emphasis on ass), but
bear with me here. What I do, I do for
the sake of…well, not science, but just to gauge the opinions of fellow gamers. Or writers.
Or kung-fu cassowary slayers. I
know you’re a niche audience, but you guys need some love too.
Anyway. A while back, the snafu with Jessica Nigri and Lollipop Chainsaw got me thinking. The game’s lead heroine, I’d wager, was
designed with a specific goal in mind to convey a specific feel for the
game. Say what you will about how many
zombie games there are (too many, in my opinion) but there’s a contrast that I
like in seeing rotting, moaning hordes of the undead going up against a cute,
bubbly cheerleader. As if to hammer that
point home, this same character attacks with a roaring chainsaw, yet fires off
rainbows and hearts just as quickly as she does zombie blood.
Juliet fulfills certain
requirements that need to be checked off -- and at a base level, she does so
with her looks. She’s lithe and leggy,
befitting her cheerleader status; in fact, some art I’ve seen depicts her as
being roughly eight heads tall compared to the usual five or six. (It’s a design decision that evokes thephilosophy of the much-discussed Bayonetta.)
In addition, being a blonde comes with all its own tropes -- doubly so
thanks to the twin pigtails. She was
designed to be identifiable and quantifiable ten seconds after first meeting
her, as she would if you were in high school and you cane face-to-face with a cheerleader. In the case of “judging a book by its cover”
Juliet makes an unabashed statement.