There’s been a lot of talk (well, mostly whining from folks with nothing better to whine about) about ‘wokeness’ of late. Gamers shrieking aboutAloy’s same-sex kiss in Burning Shores, or complaining that theResident Evil 4remake is ‘woke’ because it usedan American-Asian voice actress for Ada Wong, and because Ashley has become too damn independent (so much so that she deserves her own game). Argh, the horror of it all!
Yep, apparently there’s a ‘woke agenda’ out (even though LGBT representation in games is still markedly low,as we recently pointed out). But I don’t know why people are complaining now, because we’ve been living in a woke-pocalypse for well over a decade now. And you know what Ground Zero is for this ongoing cataclysm? None other than the most anti-woke, problematic game developer of all time: Rockstar Games.
It took me a while to realize, too, but it all started out back in 2009, with the GTA 4 single-player DLC story expansion ‘The Ballad of Gay Tony’. To be fair, it’s in the name, and it’s in bright neon lettering, so more fool me for being blind to it.
GTA 4’s The Ballad of Gay Tony is one of the best examples of single-player DLC done right, but it also gave us a positive gay character to not just root for, but to fight for, too. Gay Tony, the flamboyantly out-there coke-addled club magnate serves as the game’s deuteragonist. While we don’t get to play as him, we, the players, work for him as his right-hand man, Luis. He barks and bitches instructions to Luis and it’s our job to follow his every command, otherwise, it’s ‘Mission Failed’ and a do-over from the last checkpoint.
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Younger me, who was certainly more prone to making crude jokes and insensitive observations, didn’t even realize I could have been making a dozen immature gay jokes every hour - I was too caught up in the story and the characters to care that one of the main movers and shakers in Liberty City had more moves and shakes than your average straight dude. I was welcomed into the world of seedy nightclub management with a gay fella as my guiding light, and I didn’t question it once.
2009, was a time when it was still all too “normal” for LGBT folk to be the butt of the joke on TV, in movies, and even in our beloved video games; The Hangover, Little Britain re-runs, and even Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ jibe was hidden away, but it’s there. While Rockstar painted Gay Tony as your stereotypicaldrama slay Queen, they didn’t do him dirty. He was a balanced character. He had a good side and a bad side. He was flawed, just like everyone else, though perhaps a little more to keep up with GTA 4’s over-the-top lens of reality, but he was ultimately a likable character whose sexuality had very little to do with his character arc. There was no perverse dialogue between Tony and Luis, with the former seeing the titular deuteragonist as a father figure— - a role Tony seemingly takes to heart and performs admirably, at least within the context of GTA 4’s warped world. In my book, Tony goes down as a win.
Where Gay Tony was definitely “out there” and obvious, Rockstar has also gone for the super subtle approach. Gay Tony’s flamboyant nature was fine because it fit the time - the 2000s were something of a renaissance for gay culture, and though still lightly mocked by society, the lifestyle was generally accepted by all with more than a couple of lonely brain cells.
Bill Williamson ofRed Dead Redemption 2, however, was the opposite of Gay Tony. Where Gay Tony would have tied a navel knot in his denim shirt and accessorized the hell out of his cowboy hat, ol' Bill lurked in the background—quiet, large, and unassuming. In fact, many players may not have even picked up on the casual hints toward Bill being that way inclined. Back in those days, the late 1800s, being anything other than straight brought about a severe case of moral outrage, and one could find themselves ostracized by their community, and even slammed head-first into some holy water in the hope of drowning the gay demons.
Williamson represses his true self, projecting the “hard man” image of a big, burly brute while secretly longing for a man to love.
Bill is very much a character of his time, and in some ways, a reflection of some modern men who choose to hide themselves for fear of persecution. Look at the English football pyramid as a prime example. Thousands of men playing football every week, yet how many are openly gay? Very few. Yet statistically, at least a couple of hundred of them are LGBT, but they hide it. They take out injunctions against newspapers to hide their sexual preferences for fear of being subjected to vile chants from the so-called supporters.
This is very much Bill’s situation. While he has a firm family with the Van der Linde gang, he knows he will be made fun of and mocked for who he chooses to get down and dirty with, so he represses his true self, projecting the “hard man” image of a big, burly brute while secretly longing for a man to love. The gang at large still makes some sly, subtle dig at his discharge from the army for “deviancy”, but that familial bond stops short of all-out homophobia.
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And then we have Trevor from GTA 5. Yes, Trevor is a part of the LGBT community, though he might not necessarily be considered a “positive” representation of that portion of society (every slice of society has its rotters, right?). He’s crass, crude, and clearly unhinged, yet he’s the go-to character for many GTA 5 memes. Ask your general GTA 5 player who their favorite character is and I’d bet good money that the majority would name Trevor as their favorite, myself included.
He’s the atypical character in a world where we want to pigeonhole everybody; there’s simply no hole for him, nor is there any hole off-limits for this drugged-up degenerate. He openly threatens to molest his friends, brags about his previous sexual conquests with men and women, and even falls head over (brain-matter-spattered) heels for a much older lady. He’s an oddity, for sure, and while he’s definitely repping the rainbow flag, he doesn’t see himself as part of anybody’s group. He’s Trevor. He does what he wants when he wants, and he doesn’t let society’s hang-ups slow him down, though perhaps a moment of consideration every now and then wouldn’t be the worst thing for the guy. That, and a bath…
So, yeah. Rockstar has been pushing video gamers to appreciate and enjoy LGBT characters well before representation was a corporate checkmark. And you know what? I look forward to what Rockstar does next. Give me a trans character who bucks the trend. Give me a lesbian who I can relate to. Give me whatever you want—just make sure it’s likable, fun, and grounded in the trademark Rockstar twist on reality that can sell just about anything.
