The Meaning of Quiet

[Bloody Five]

Hello,

I’d like to share some thoughts I had regarding the character of Quiet.
Initially, I was puzzled by her design and appearance.
As if Kojima has designed her as the total woman in gaming stereotype.

Then I thought, there is something more to it.
Anyone familiar with the MGS series knows that:
1-Kojima can design and write believable and strong women characters (Olga in MGS 2 and especially Meryl in MGS 4)
2-There is always some kind of subtext behind most of Kojima’s work.

Please note that I am not trying to defend Kojima but rather attempt to understand why he did design Quiet this way.

After thinking about his for a while, it hit me.
MGS V is all about the player and the player’s agency, even more so once you have seen the true ending of the game.

In light of this, I believe that Quiet is a mirror.
It’s a character designed to be represent the way the video game industry and a lot of gamers see women
A nice pair of tits, a good tool to use in battle and pretty but silent girl
In French there is a saying “ Sois belle et tais-toi” “Be pretty and be quiet” which is now considered a very rude thing to say to women but was socially accepted until the 50’s and 60’s.

Quiet is the embodiment of that saying.
I see Quiet as a mirror that Kojima is holding to the video game industry and sexist players saying:
“This is what you want, this is what you like”.
Quiet is an embarrassing character because the way this industry treats women is just that: embarrassing.

If that’s the case, I think it’s a genius move by Kojima and pushing this sexist logic and design to the point of unease is one of the best way to make people realize how abject the treatment of women is and make things change.

What do you think about this theory?

[Player 1]

Google says making little or no noise. Google is always right. You lose.

[Bloody Five]

Duly noted but apart from that, what do you think?

[Scottrf]

Solid theory.

But to contradict it you just have to look at MGS. Tonnes of sexist posters the soldiers oogled over. Same in this to put on your cardboard box. You can only have so much 'ironic' sexism.

[E|E]

you are overthinking.

sex sells. Thats why Quiet dressed like that.

[Zombie]

I think that people need to take their gender crusades away from video gaming. MGS V is primarily going to be enjoyed by males so it's not surprising that he'd make characters that would interest males more.

People who claim women are about 50% of the gaming industry now are horribly wrong. All you have to do is look at the statistical figures of how much money ''male'' games like Halo and Gears of war made, compared to games like Tomb Raider(which Sony considered to be a massive failure) and mirrors edge(completely PALES in comparison to any AAA male-oriented game).

Games have definitely started to become more inclusive to women, but the main money and demographic is towards male gamers still, and in a military-stealth action game like Metal Gear the core fanbase is definitely going to be male-oriented.


Most studies that claim females make a large portion of gaming almost always include mobile gaming, and while many may think ''Oh what does it matter, gamers are gamers, there is no such thing as a ''hardcore'' gamer and a ''casual'' gamer'' fail to see the bigger picture. You can't just thrust your stilletos in any random medium of gaming you want to just because you played a few phone games and suddenly you are a qualified gamer who knows what they're talking about.


Kojima most likely said that Quiets looks are justified because he was told to abuse the controversy of the issue to stir up both sides of the debate and indirectly increase awareness for the game, like Hatred or Grand Theft Auto, it works.


Honestly if you think people view women as inferior and terrible beings because a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ video game has a sexy female in it you really need to see a therapist, and if you just want stronger females in gaming, you're attacking the wrong genre and wrong area of gaming to get what you want. It's unfortunate, but that's a majority of what you're going to see in gaming because that simply is the core demographic.


There is nothing wrong with quiet being sexualized, just like there's nothing wrong with men being sexualized and given unreal expectations in dirty old lady romance novels or ♥♥♥♥ like Twilight, that's what the core demograpghic eats up.

[Sophie]

Originally posted by Scottrf:

Solid theory.

But to contradict it you just have to look at MGS. Tonnes of sexist posters the soldiers oogled over. Same in this to put on your cardboard box. You can only have so much 'ironic' sexism.

One could argue that thought it might be objectification of women, it is more so showing how men (in-game) percieve those women. Remember, they did program the men in those games to behave that way when they see those posters/cardboard-boxes/magazines.

On the other hand, maybe we are just over-analyzing it? Would you be frustrated and upset if there were female soldiers and you could trick them with male models posing in shorts?

I know I wouldn't. Women and men who get offended at this need to grow up: go fight for equal rights in countries were women actually need it - not in video-games.

[Bloody Five]

Fair point but it seems to me that men are ridiculed for falling for the poster trick.
The animation when a soldier is "seduced" by the poster makes it pretty clear.

Replaying MGS 2 made me reconsider Kojima's take on women because beneath the B-movie veneer, the dialogue between Rose and Raiden covers some pretty adult and subtle stuff.
And the most emotional parts take place when Raiden is naked.
Coincidence?

[Zombie]

So a mostly-male military base having sexy posters of women is suddenly sexist and shocking? Really?

Soldiers losing their tension by seeing sexy women on a cardboard box is shocking?

[Bloody Five]

I think it would be great if we could do use men posters to seduce female soldiers ;)

As for gender crusades, this is not the case here.

For decades, people have been analyzing literature, film, theater and musicin an effort to understand the idea the author is trying to convey and get more enjoyment and personal wealth out of it.

For some strange reason, doing that is video games is going on a crusade and spoiling the fun.

I can understand that some people might not enjoy analytical examination but personaly, I think it's very exciting and a lot of fun.

[Scottrf]

Originally posted by cronnoponno:

So a mostly-male military base having sexy posters of women is suddenly sexist and shocking? Really?

Soldiers losing their tension by seeing sexy women on a cardboard box is shocking?

Who said it was shocking?

[Bloody Five]

As for the place of women in modern society, it still is far from equal:
-paid less ( 20-30%)
-less representation as top positions in business and politics
-discouraged from going into "men's domains" : hard science, military combat position

We are still a long way from equality in the West and things are much worse in other parts of the world.

The presentation of women in video games just shows that things are not quite settled.

[Scottrf]

Originally posted by Bloody Five:

I think it would be great if we could do use men posters to seduce female soldiers ;)

Would be interesting for the Meryl part of MGS1.

[Bloody Five]

Originally posted by Bloody Five:

As for the place of women in modern society, it still is far from equal:
-paid less ( 20-30%)
-less representation as top positions in business and politics
-discouraged from going into "men's domains" : hard science, military combat position
-stereotypical representation in popular culture

We are still a long way from equality in the West and things are much worse in other parts of the world.

The presentation of women in video games just shows that things are not quite settled.

[Sophie]

Forgive me, I didn't mean the things I said about YOUR topic.

It is interesting, and I can see Kojima doing something like that. But we won't really know unless he said so.

[Bloody Five]

Originally posted by Ostrava:

Forgive me, I didn't mean the things I said about YOUR topic.

It is interesting, and I can see Kojima doing something like that. But we won't really know unless he said so.

Well, I think it's good that artists let their work do the talking instead of confirming views.
Kojima is ambiguous but based on the body of this work it's rather clear where he stands on women issues.