May 30th 2024.
I recently learned something interesting about one of my all-time favorite characters in the Mario franchise. It was a simple line spoken by Vivian, a character in Nintendo's latest game, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. She said, "Truth is, it took me a while to realize I was their sister... not their brother." This statement holds a deeper significance as Vivian is now openly transgender in the re-released version of the game for Nintendo Switch.
I have been a fan of the Mario games since I was a child, and I remember playing Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door when it first came out on Gamecube in 2004. Vivian was always a fun and interesting character to me, and I related to her because she shared stories about being bullied. However, I had no idea that the English version of the game I played was hiding something from me.
It turns out that the translators had not accurately portrayed Vivian's story in the earlier versions of the game. Instead of her being bullied by her two older sisters, known as the Three Shadow Sisters, for being trans, they had said it was because she was ugly. This erasure of her trans identity was rectified in the new version, and Vivian now proudly references her identity.
Unfortunately, some people have reacted negatively to this change, with some saying that "Nintendo has gone woke" or that this "trans bullsh*t has gone too far." As someone who grew up in rural Iceland with very little positive representation of trans people, I find it disheartening that some people are unable to accept a trans character in a video game.
As a child, I rarely saw any positive representation of trans people, and when I did, it was often in a negative light. This only added to the shame and disgust I felt towards my own identity. It took me a long time to unlearn and shed that shame. Seeing characters like Vivian would have helped me feel seen and accepted, and it would have shown me that there is nothing wrong with being trans.
Some may argue that video games should not feature diverse characters, but I believe the opposite. Queer people exist, and they should be represented in all forms of media, including video games. Vivian is not even the first trans character in the Mario series, with Birdo being introduced in 1988 as a character who "thinks he is a girl" and would rather be called "Birdetta."
Those who are offended by the inclusion of a trans character in a video game need to step out of their narrow world view and realize that diversity is important. It is ironic that these same people claim that "woke" individuals get easily offended, yet they cannot handle a character simply existing in a video game.
The fact is, trans people have always existed in society and will continue to do so. We deserve to see ourselves positively represented in all forms of media, and the increasing visibility of diverse characters in video games is a step in the right direction. Those who oppose it will soon find themselves with very few games to play.
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