If you’re even remotely familiar with the entertainment industry, you’ll have noticed a call to action by actors, producers and consumers for popular media to be more inclusive in their projects and representation of black men and women. Whatever you might feel about these developments, the bottom line is that black men and women want to see people who look like them in more than solely stereotypical or otherwise limiting roles. We want to see ourselves represented in different types of projects and see these opportunities develop into the brilliant creative works we know they can. This call for change has extended into the world of gaming as well (a growing part of the entertainment industry). With a projected $107 billion in worldwide revenue from global gaming coming in 2017 (up from an estimated $91.5 billion in 2015), there are no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
With that type of money coming in, the sheer scale of these projects has grown to reach audiences who are at times larger than those reached by movie and television alone. This is relevant because if we are shown to the world in only one-dimensional roles, that is what the world will only see us to be. Enter Mirror’s Edge, a recent release by EA Digital Illusions CE (DICE). In the game you play the role of Faith Connors, a sometimes unwilling participant in the fight against the aggressive control of growing corporations. In the city of Glass in which she lives, faith uses her advanced parkour techniques in her role as a runner — a hired courier delivering secret communications between the members of the city’s revolutionary groups and for the corporations who want to avoid using the city’s heavily monitored communication systems. During a routine run, Faith stumbles upon information that would tip the scales for either side of the conflict and she is trapped between maintaining her neutral stance and choosing a side as the walls close in from both directions. Faith, however, isn’t the main subject of our conversation today.
(I won’t continue for fear of excitedly revealing the entire story. You’ll have to play the game for the rest.)
Contrasting the ‘angry black woman’ archetype through character development
Although Faith is a highly capable runner, her mission in its entirety would have been impossible if not for the help of her friend Plastic and (indirectly) by Rebecca Thane, leader of the Black November resistance movement. Although both Plastic and Thane are both black women, they exist at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their goals and motivation. I think the decision by DICE to have both these black women exist in the same space is important to the argument for character diversity among the roles presented to black women especially. Thane had a take charge, commanding personality which she utilized to accomplish her goals of bringing down corporate influence by any means necessary.
With Thane, however, DICE neatly contrasted the “angry black woman” diatribe we’ve seen all too often by developing a layered backstory to why Thane’s position is so staunch. Thane is cold, calculated and intelligent, but DICE allowed the characters emotion to blossom in ways that would have been limited by other projects. You learn through communication with her character as the game moves along that Thane deeply cares for her city but has taken a “sacrifice some for the greater good” approach, often conflicting with Faith, the protagonist of the story.
Plastic is more real than you know
Plastic is one of Faith’s close friends who is a supporting character but one without which the story could not progress. Plastic is the city’s best coder (hacker) and is hailed by every character in the game as such. Plastic is responsible for decryption of the information that sets Faith on her quest and providing near omniscient support throughout the course of the game — even a hideout at her place on several occasions. Although she didn’t directly jump into the field of battle, Plastic moved the story along through her constant updates, communications and finding the safest routes for Faith to move throughout the city. She is responsible for saving Faith’s life on more than one occasion, but you might be asking why a supporting role is so important to this particular conversation. Let’s take a look at the reasons why.
Her intelligence and the other character’s awareness of it
Plastic is the city’s top coder and completes a number of otherwise impossible tasks that allow Faith to succeed in her mission. And she is praised for it, in game, by the other characters. Plastic as a black woman (a teen at that) shows young black women that they can thrive in the growing tech industry and be praised for their knowledge regardless of age or race. I envision her character motivating more black women to enter the field as a direct result of her representation.
Her awkward social interactions
Plastic is often insulated by her technology and prefers the company of machines to people. Although some would think of this as a character flaw or limitation, as a coder myself, I consider it an accurate portrayal of what real coders can be like. Although she is extremely intelligent, she struggles with human interaction, which demonstrates that it’s ok if you don’t naturally develop into the social butterfly that black women are often pressured to. It’s ok to be you.
Her independence
Plastic makes her own money and supports herself even though she’s extremely young. With the argument for black women’s independence being met with criticism from all sides, Plastic is an important advocate for the cause, using her intelligence to live the life she wants to lead on her terms.
The Future
When I think of all the young black women who will play this game and see themselves in these characters, I can’t help but get excited for a future in which this diverse representation exists across all forms of media and for what it will do for our perception of ourselves and in the eyes of others. I applaud the DICE team for releasing such a great project in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and look forward to replaying it time and time again. (If you haven’t taken a look at the game I encourage you to do so here). It will be the most fun you’ve had from a video game in years, and not so difficult that you want to pick it up for the story.
