Ground Zeroes Rape Apologists Baffle Me

[Fsyco]

EDIT:

Can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. Even Stephen King agrees.

From "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" ?Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler?s heart, kill your darlings.?

Is making the omelet referring to the effort of finding a good way to handle the topic or the process of making this particular work?

The omelette is probably referring to the particular work, but it could be both, really. If everybody keeps mishandling it, then the only way to figure out a better way is trial and error. It's true that you need to do some awful things to some characters to provide heroic motivation, though, or to act as a catalyst for someone becoming more evil (that isn't quite how psychology works but real life is less interesting). People don't just wake up and suddenly feel the urge to either do heroics or act like a twat.

What I see the issue is that the way Kojima handled the topic made Paz seem... expendable.

Gone through horrible suffering and then died.

To those saying this is a "nontroversy", I say that this work has fallen into the trap of "Women In Refrigerators" and its variants. There are ways of touch on the topic of rape without making the victim characters seem expendable or unimportant.

Except this is supposed to be the catalyst for Big Boss's Start of Darkness. I get that people are offended by the 'Stuffed into the fridge' trope, but, well, it's still pretty effective, both in fiction and in real life. If you want to really hurt somebody, and can't attack directly, you hurt their loved ones. Maybe she just seems unimportant because the game ends almost immediately after she dies.
The other problem is that men are vastly more 'expendable' than women. If, say, all this happened to Chico, it would probably not be nearly as impacting as it was. Hell, in most of these threads about this topic everybody seems to be talking about Paz (including some of them assuming SHE'S the underage person involved),and yet nobody shed a tear for poor Chico, who still went through a ton of shit, and also probably died at the end of Ground Zeroes too.

Also, you say that there are better ways of handling it. If you were in Kojima's shoes or on his writing staff, how would you have handled it, incidentally?

No "orifice" bombs that's for sure.

Subtle hints of the torture. The tape footage is shown to the characters, but not to the audience, and cue vomiting by the characters.

I suppose I can get behind your idea for the torture, but that kind of defeats the purpose of both what Kojima wanted and video games in general. If we, the player, are controlling Big Boss, we should know and see everything he knows and sees. I guess your idea might work if you just never showed the actual torture at all and just had the victims blubbering and being all traumatized about it. That might work. Leaves more to the imagination, and there's no disconnect between player and player character.

Still not sure why everybody gets upset over the implanted bombs. Since it's both a fairly effective tactic and they never actually say where the second bomb is. I'd say Kojima handled that much better than we gave him credit for, since everybody seems to assume it's in her hidey holes. Leaving it all up to the imagination of the audience. You know, like a good writer.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

What I see the issue is that the way Kojima handled the topic made Paz seem... expendable.

Gone through horrible suffering and then died.

To those saying this is a "nontroversy", I say that this work has fallen into the trap of "Women In Refrigerators" and its variants. There are ways of touch on the topic of rape without making the victim characters seem expendable or unimportant.

Except this is supposed to be the catalyst for Big Boss's Start of Darkness. I get that people are offended by the 'Stuffed into the fridge' trope, but, well, it's still pretty effective, both in fiction and in real life. If you want to really hurt somebody, and can't attack directly, you hurt their loved ones. Maybe she just seems unimportant because the game ends almost immediately after she dies.
The other problem is that men are vastly more 'expendable' than women. If, say, all this happened to Chico, it would probably not be nearly as impacting as it was. Hell, in most of these threads about this topic everybody seems to be talking about Paz (including some of them assuming SHE'S the underage person involved),and yet nobody shed a tear for poor Chico, who still went through a ton of shit, and also probably died at the end of Ground Zeroes too.

Also, you say that there are better ways of handling it. If you were in Kojima's shoes or on his writing staff, how would you have handled it, incidentally?

She is by no means in a refrigerator in terms of the series either.

Spoiler: Peace Walker Spoilers

She damn near succeeds in blowing up the world!

No "orifice" bombs that's for sure.

People complain about the "orifice bombs" a lot. What's wrong with them? Decoy bombs are very real. MGS has always been extreme and even if it wasn't, in terms of hiding a bomb, where better?

If they had done what you had suggested, it would have felt cheap, gratuitous and lazy to me. Can't satisfy everybody.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

I'm just going to say my peace and leave. It is easier to label people as "rape apologist" for trying to defend the shock content in this game rather than having a actual discussion on the issue. Listen I understand if something offends you or you find it distasteful on personal level. We have all been there when it comes to watching, reading or playing the media we consume. However we need to act like adults and drop the labels either it be "rape apologist" or "feminazi" etc. We also need to respect another persons opinion no matter if we agree with it or not. This is what adults actually do to win a debate, so people please start. That's it from me today, I shall resume to lurking in threads.

 

[Pogilrup]

Chairman Meow

I think you might have some misconceptions about characters "being stuffed into a fridge". The definition according TvTropes's laconic page is "A character is killed off in a gruesome manner and their body displayed to their loved one to cause emotional trauma."

There is also the Disposable Woman trope, the laconic of which is "A female character who is killed off purely to justify a male character's quest for Revenge."

It doesn't matter if Paz managed to hold the world at gunpoint. If she was such an important character, whom we are suppose to root for, then surely a better death could've been written.

 

[Fsyco]

Chairman Meow

I think you might have some misconceptions about characters "being stuffed into a fridge". The definition according TvTropes's laconic page is "A character is killed off in a gruesome manner and their body displayed to their loved one to cause emotional trauma."

There is also the Disposable Woman trope, the laconic of which is "A female character who is killed off purely to justify a male character's quest for Revenge."

It doesn't matter if Paz managed to hold the world at gunpoint. If she was such an important character, whom we are suppose to root for, then surely a better death could've been written.

And what would that better death have been, pray tell? Since you seem to have all the answers.

You should also remember that according to TvTropes, Tropes are Not Bad.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Chairman Meow

I think you might have some misconceptions about characters "being stuffed into a fridge". The definition according TvTropes's laconic page is "A character is killed off in a gruesome manner and their body displayed to their loved one to cause emotional trauma."

There is also the Disposable Woman trope, the laconic of which is "A female character who is killed off purely to justify a male character's quest for Revenge."

It doesn't matter if Paz managed to hold the world at gunpoint. If she was such an important character, whom we are suppose to root for, then surely a better death could've been written.

Apologies, I was remembering it as being women just kidnapped or whatever and then hidden away and only used as motivation for the hero. Don't really spend much time on TV tropes. What was wrong with her death?

 

[Pogilrup]

Chairman Meow

I think you might have some misconceptions about characters "being stuffed into a fridge". The definition according TvTropes's laconic page is "A character is killed off in a gruesome manner and their body displayed to their loved one to cause emotional trauma."

There is also the Disposable Woman trope, the laconic of which is "A female character who is killed off purely to justify a male character's quest for Revenge."

It doesn't matter if Paz managed to hold the world at gunpoint. If she was such an important character, whom we are suppose to root for, then surely a better death could've been written.

And what would that better death have been, pray tell? Since you seem to have all the answers.

You should also remember that according to TvTropes, Tropes are Not Bad.

Holding the line, Rasputinian death by various assailants, dying in duel, or perhaps a last laugh sabotage are possible options should a character have to die such a story.

Now that I think about it the death by implanted bomb by itself wouldn't be an issue. But the combination of that and the dying character to be a victim of rape produces some troubling implications.

 

[Fsyco]

Chairman Meow

I think you might have some misconceptions about characters "being stuffed into a fridge". The definition according TvTropes's laconic page is "A character is killed off in a gruesome manner and their body displayed to their loved one to cause emotional trauma."

There is also the Disposable Woman trope, the laconic of which is "A female character who is killed off purely to justify a male character's quest for Revenge."

It doesn't matter if Paz managed to hold the world at gunpoint. If she was such an important character, whom we are suppose to root for, then surely a better death could've been written.

And what would that better death have been, pray tell? Since you seem to have all the answers.

You should also remember that according to TvTropes, Tropes are Not Bad.

Holding the line, Rasputinian death by various assailants, dying in duel, or perhaps a last laugh sabotage are possible options should a character have to die such a story.

Now that I think about it the death by implanted bomb by itself wouldn't be an issue. But the combination of that and the dying character to be a victim of rape produces some troubling implications.

Paz isn't a fighter, she's a spy who relies on her innocent appearance to make people trust her. Giving her any kind of combat related death would not only be out of place, but would basically just be a pointless 'actionization' of the character for funsies. Having her innocence violated, and being used as a pawn in the villian's plan, seems much more fitting given the character. You might not like it and find it upsetting, but I can't think of any better way to end her character arc. Unless she does, in fact, survive and become Quiet in the Phantom Pain. That would be silly but I could sort of see it happening.

I'm not really seeing the 'troubling implications' besides 'the bad guy is evil' and 'people who do this in real life are evil'.

 

[Pogilrup]

The implication that I am seeing is the message that "rape victims are without hope for a healthy life" or "rape victims will die before they could get help".

Yes I know those are some rather extreme statements. But Paz didn't go through "suffer, get payback, and then die" or "suffer, die, and then explosive payback", it is just suffer and die.

Also I'm pretty many works in various media in the past decade exhibit the same flaws.

 

[gargantual]

The implication that I am seeing is the message that "rape victims are without hope for a healthy life" or "rape victims will die before they could get help".

Yes I know those are some rather extreme statements. But Paz didn't go through "suffer, get payback, and then die" or "suffer, die, and then explosive payback", it is just suffer and die.

Also I'm pretty many works in various media in the past decade exhibit the same flaws.

Yeah but if she goes down fighting, the viewer won't feel robbed. The viewer is supposed to feel robbed by her death.

Look at Shosanna Dreyfuss in Inglorious Basterds in contrast. She went down swinging, for vengeance. It was a vengeance story, not as a lamb, thus the viewer doesn't feel as robbed by her demise, because the intent was different. Ground Zeroes different intent. So we got what we got.

I see your intent of giving a character dignity for the sake of sensitive viewers who might feel Paz's plight will reflect negatively to their own life but that connection really shouldn't be established. It'll clash with a story that needs a sacrificial lamb for motivation.

Besides, exploitative dumb blonde and teen deaths in horror flicks are miles far cheaper than Paz's death. Paz's death was suprising to me, but no different than the guy in the Rainbow Six Patriots trailer or the citizen forcibly made into a suicide bomber in The Hurt Locker, an unfortunate casualty.

What could they both physically do to worm their way out?

Even though there's more than one way to have a lamb, and stuff like Law & Order SVU would (captain obviously) handle rape better, since its the fictionalizing of actual case files....without a lamb there's no episode.

So whether its a male or female, a character known for using their sexuality as a tool or someone who isn't, a lamb is a lamb.

 

[Lupine]

The implication that I am seeing is the message that "rape victims are without hope for a healthy life" or "rape victims will die before they could get help".

Yes I know those are some rather extreme statements. But Paz didn't go through "suffer, get payback, and then die" or "suffer, die, and then explosive payback", it is just suffer and die.

Also I'm pretty many works in various media in the past decade exhibit the same flaws.

Yeah but if she goes down fighting, the viewer won't feel robbed. The viewer is supposed to feel robbed by her death.

Look at Shosanna Dreyfuss in Inglorious Basterds in contrast. She went down swinging, for vengeance. It was a vengeance story, not as a lamb, thus the viewer doesn't feel as robbed by her demise, because the intent was different. Ground Zeroes different intent. So we got what we got.

I see your intent of giving a character dignity for the sake of sensitive viewers who might feel Paz's plight will reflect negatively to their own life but that connection really shouldn't be established. It'll clash with a story that needs a sacrificial lamb for motivation.

Besides, exploitative dumb blonde and teen deaths in horror flicks are miles far cheaper than Paz's death. Paz's death was suprising to me, but no different than the guy in the Rainbow Six Patriots trailer or the citizen forcibly made into a suicide bomber in The Hurt Locker, an unfortunate casualty.

What could they both physically do to worm their way out?

Even though there's more than one way to have a lamb, and stuff like Law & Order SVU would (captain obviously) handle rape better, since its the fictionalizing of actual case files....without a lamb there's no episode.

So whether its a male or female, a character known for using their sexuality as a tool or someone who isn't, a lamb is a lamb.

This.

The point of Paz's death wasn't that she died or even how, at least not alone. Paz's death happens right as you get back to Mother Base. It is equal to being gunned down on your doorstep. Death when you should be safe. If you follow any of the conversation going on up until this point...everything is in the past for everyone. Chico has gone through hell too, but things "were" bad. It is past tense now. And then suddenly home isn't safe, it's a war zone, and finally ashes.

That was the point of Paz's death. Big Boss loses everything. He loses the chance to really understand Paz whom he no doubt wondered if he was wrong about, he loses men that are comrades and friends, he loses a home, and he loses Zeke. The only worst loss in his life was probably The Boss and that's the place where Ground Zeroes leaves him, unable to protect any of the important things in his life and robbed of most of them.

 

[Scow2]

so a 20 year old woman could not pass as a 19 year old woman (the age where high school usually ends)?

A 20 year old? Sure, she can.
That kid from OP's post? The only thing she can pass is... a KID.

well, if you bothered to actually read other poster resposnes, you would have known that the woman in OPs post is actually 20.

What matters is how old she appears to be, not the age that is written in some codex or something.

And she appears to be a 20-something-year-old that is capable of passing as a 16-year-old for the sake of a mission. If you think a real person that is 20 years old or so 'appears' to be 16, then the problem is on your end and your perception, not with the person. She is 20, and appears to be 20. That she also has features common to some people that are only 16 is incidental... although it does make it easier for her to disguise herself as a child and infiltrate an enemy's operations and earn misplaced trust. She needed to be an adult that appeared underage (Just like many real people are) for the sake of the story, so it's not even contrived or a random decision.

No, the character in question isn't real, but she's based on people that very much are real.

As for childish behaviors in adults - I'm 24. I play with trucks and legoes, and dress up as The Green Power Ranger when I can. Acting young is fun (Especially when it's about doing stuff you wanted to do as a kid but weren't old enough) And, if your job requires you to impersonate a youth, you better damn well be able to act like one when necessary.

 

[Pogilrup]

gargantual and Lupine

That's a lot like many other stories that came before this one.

By themselves, there is no problem with tales that contain events that lead to a tragic, virtually meaningless death of a female character.

However, taken together and they form a trend where predominant number of female characters are killed off just to motivate or test the will of a male protagonist.

This game is unfortunately yet another entry in that big list of works that use the Disposable Woman trope.

 

[Scow2]

gargantual and Lupine

That's a lot like many other stories that came before this one.

By themselves, there is no problem with tales that contain events that lead to a tragic, virtually meaningless death of a female character.

However, taken together and they form a trend where predominant number of female characters are killed off just to motivate or test the will of a male protagonist.

This game is unfortunately yet another entry in that big list of works that use the Disposable Woman trope.

There are also a lot of stories where a lot of male characters are killed off just to motivate/test the will of male protagonists, but nobody cares about those guys. As far as I can tell, Metal Gear has had more sympathetic male characters get killed off to motivate/test the hero than females.

 

[Pogilrup]

gargantual and Lupine

That's a lot like many other stories that came before this one.

By themselves, there is no problem with tales that contain events that lead to a tragic, virtually meaningless death of a female character.

However, taken together and they form a trend where predominant number of female characters are killed off just to motivate or test the will of a male protagonist.

This game is unfortunately yet another entry in that big list of works that use the Disposable Woman trope.

There are also a lot of stories where a lot of male characters are killed off just to motivate/test the will of male protagonists, but nobody cares about those guys. As far as I can tell, Metal Gear has had more sympathetic male characters get killed off to motivate/test the hero than females.

Male characters get roughly equal screen time as both victim and protectors.

Female characters portrayed as victims still outnumber the portrayals as protectors.

 

[gargantual]

gargantual and Lupine

That's a lot like many other stories that came before this one.

By themselves, there is no problem with tales that contain events that lead to a tragic, virtually meaningless death of a female character.

However, taken together and they form a trend where predominant number of female characters are killed off just to motivate or test the will of a male protagonist.

This game is unfortunately yet another entry in that big list of works that use the Disposable Woman trope.

Yeah ask yourself but should it have been Chico instead, literally unwriting and re-writing the events of MGS Peace Walker making him the traitor to MSF and conflicting personality to be tortured by skullface wheras Paz would not as likely to go to the camp to attempt to save him, and all just for the sake of not appearing like it's marginalizing young women?

See where this is heading? The story appears to be too far written to merely judge these turn of events through the lens of gender politics ramifications.

As opposed to B-Horror, where 'again' its relatively easy for many women characters used as villain-bait to exercise the minimal amount of intelligence to avoid danger and not end up as a blatantly obvious sex sacrifice.

When two bombs are deeply inserted into any characters nethers, what could any of them really do to save themselves?

 

[Pogilrup]

gargantual and Lupine

That's a lot like many other stories that came before this one.

By themselves, there is no problem with tales that contain events that lead to a tragic, virtually meaningless death of a female character.

However, taken together and they form a trend where predominant number of female characters are killed off just to motivate or test the will of a male protagonist.

This game is unfortunately yet another entry in that big list of works that use the Disposable Woman trope.

Yeah ask yourself but should it have been Chico instead, literally unwriting and re-writing the events of MGS Peace Walker making him the traitor to MSF and conflicting personality to be tortured by skullface wheras Paz would not as likely to go to the camp to attempt to save him, and all just for the sake of not appearing like it's marginalizing young women?

See where this is heading? The story appears to be too far written to merely judge these turn of events through the lens of gender politics ramifications.

As opposed to B-Horror, where 'again' its relatively easy for many women characters used as villain-bait to exercise the minimal amount of intelligence to avoid danger and not end up as a blatantly obvious sex sacrifice.

When two bombs are deeply inserted into any characters nethers, what could any of them really do to save themselves?

I cannot change the canon, only Kojima can.

But what I can personally do is realize the shortcomings of this work and hope that others would do so as well. Of course, video game fans are notorious for refusing to accept the possibility of a work having flaws in the areas of gender representation.

 

[gargantual]

gargantual and Lupine

That's a lot like many other stories that came before this one.

By themselves, there is no problem with tales that contain events that lead to a tragic, virtually meaningless death of a female character.

However, taken together and they form a trend where predominant number of female characters are killed off just to motivate or test the will of a male protagonist.

This game is unfortunately yet another entry in that big list of works that use the Disposable Woman trope.

Yeah ask yourself but should it have been Chico instead, literally unwriting and re-writing the events of MGS Peace Walker making him the traitor to MSF and conflicting personality to be tortured by skullface wheras Paz would not as likely to go to the camp to attempt to save him, and all just for the sake of not appearing like it's marginalizing young women?

See where this is heading? The story appears to be too far written to merely judge these turn of events through the lens of gender politics ramifications.

As opposed to B-Horror, where 'again' its relatively easy for many women characters used as villain-bait to exercise the minimal amount of intelligence to avoid danger and not end up as a blatantly obvious sex sacrifice.

When two bombs are deeply inserted into any characters nethers, what could any of them really do to save themselves?

I cannot change the canon, only Kojima can.

But what I can personally do is realize the shortcomings of this work and hope that others would do so as well. Of course, video game fans are notorious for refusing to accept the possibility of a work having flaws in the areas of gender representation.

Not saying its without its flaws but its more glaring ones are how the loaded 'guantanamo prison abuse tone of Ground Zeroes, contrasts against the campy silly depiction of Peace Walker, wheras earlier games in the series managed to be dramatic whilst switching back and forth between campy and serious in the same game. That's a weakness that can objectively be noticed.

Paz's death while players certainly notice, as you've seen from the thread don't objectively treat it as a failure. To you representation matters more, to others the story matters more. So they see it as unfortunate loss of a character, than 'the destruction of a straw woman'.

I didn't like token black characters getting knocked off in older action films, but its like Morgan Freeman dying in the movie 'Red' I don't have the energy or see the need to cry racist, because his character didn't even come into the story with a winning deck or a full bill of health to begin with.

Give someone a objectively big fighting chance, and rob it away without explanation, and THEN there's a cause for 'writer bias'. Personally, I didn't see Kojima doing that.

 

[Lupine]

gargantual and Lupine

That's a lot like many other stories that came before this one.

By themselves, there is no problem with tales that contain events that lead to a tragic, virtually meaningless death of a female character.

However, taken together and they form a trend where predominant number of female characters are killed off just to motivate or test the will of a male protagonist.

This game is unfortunately yet another entry in that big list of works that use the Disposable Woman trope.

There are also a lot of stories where a lot of male characters are killed off just to motivate/test the will of male protagonists, but nobody cares about those guys. As far as I can tell, Metal Gear has had more sympathetic male characters get killed off to motivate/test the hero than females.

Well I can agree with the part about this being like stories that have come before. That is sort of where the concept of things being cliche comes from, except by the same token there are things that can be accepted as universal truths in literature or at the very least they don't require much exposition for the audience to understand as motivations.

As humans there are certain societal norms that reach across culture or time period, and so for the sake of expedience I'll call them universal truths even if they aren't universal in the personal but they tend to be so at least generally speaking. So, universal truth. People love their families. People are protective of their homes. People don't like their way of life forcefully changed against their will. Stories tend to be made of conflict. If you're breaking down things to their smallest and perhaps truest parts, most things are the same or at the very least similar. All of that is to ask the question, does it really matter that it is the same as other stories? If it did, archetypes wouldn't be such a part of the literary process I think. However as has already been pointed out, Metal Gear does this quite a bit, it plays on simplistic action tropes, sometimes straight sometimes subverted, but the tropes tend to mean less than the emotions experienced during the journey.

I'm not saying that Paz's death wasn't playing on the fridge trope or that her treatment isn't an example of kicking the puppy to show that the villain is really evil, however I am arguing that your assertion is wrong that these things together some how combines to make women disposable. If anything I'd point out that in most fiction and action fiction to say the least that people are disposable. Life is cheap. I remember reading this quote from Stephen King and as a writer myself I feel that it is probably the truest thing a man might have said about the art: ?Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler?s heart, kill your darlings."

As a writer it isn't about how you are attached to the characters, it isn't about how your cultural or religious leanings subconsciously touch your decisions as you write, more and more or at least if you are trying to be a good writer at any rate it comes down to what in your opinion is best for the story. However at the end of the day, it is your opinion. There might be better writers that see something you don't, there might be options that you don't realize you have because of your upbringing and personal experiences, but in the end it is your opinion that matters as the author of a particular work.

I'm not saying that no one has the right to question your decisions or discuss them, not by half. If you're a writer and you can't take criticism you might as well quit, but what I am saying is that something to you that seems like glaring misrepresentation or simulated woman abuse, might simply have never even occurred to Kojima. In fact I'm pretty sure it didn't, especially with the music at the time of Paz's death. I feel like for him this was Paz's big moment, she hadn't gotten to make a whole lot of choices in her life and suddenly she makes the one that decides the fate of the series. She was murdered sure, but she was also a martyr and a hero.

That's the thing about writing though, you don't get to pick what people see or don't see in your work. You just get to bare the little piece of yourself that you would and see what happens.

 

[gargantual]

gargantual and Lupine

That's a lot like many other stories that came before this one.

By themselves, there is no problem with tales that contain events that lead to a tragic, virtually meaningless death of a female character.

However, taken together and they form a trend where predominant number of female characters are killed off just to motivate or test the will of a male protagonist.

This game is unfortunately yet another entry in that big list of works that use the Disposable Woman trope.

There are also a lot of stories where a lot of male characters are killed off just to motivate/test the will of male protagonists, but nobody cares about those guys. As far as I can tell, Metal Gear has had more sympathetic male characters get killed off to motivate/test the hero than females.

Well I can agree with the part about this being like stories that have come before. That is sort of where the concept of things being cliche comes from, except by the same token there are things that can be accepted as universal truths in literature or at the very least they don't require much exposition for the audience to understand as motivations.

As humans there are certain societal norms that reach across culture or time period, and so for the sake of expedience I'll call them universal truths even if they aren't universal in the personal but they tend to be so at least generally speaking. So, universal truth. People love their families. People are protective of their homes. People don't like their way of life forcefully changed against their will. Stories tend to be made of conflict. If you're breaking down things to their smallest and perhaps truest parts, most things are the same or at the very least similar. All of that is to ask the question, does it really matter that it is the same as other stories? If it did, archetypes wouldn't be such a part of the literary process I think. However as has already been pointed out, Metal Gear does this quite a bit, it plays on simplistic action tropes, sometimes straight sometimes subverted, but the tropes tend to mean less than the emotions experienced during the journey.

I'm not saying that Paz's death wasn't playing on the fridge trope or that her treatment isn't an example of kicking the puppy to show that the villain is really evil, however I am arguing that your assertion is wrong that these things together some how combines to make women disposable. If anything I'd point out that in most fiction and action fiction to say the least that people are disposable. Life is cheap. I remember reading this quote from Stephen King and as a writer myself I feel that it is probably the truest thing a man might have said about the art: ?Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler?s heart, kill your darlings."

As a writer it isn't about how you are attached to the characters, it isn't about how your cultural or religious leanings subconsciously touch your decisions as you write, more and more or at least if you are trying to be a good writer at any rate it comes down to what in your opinion is best for the story. However at the end of the day, it is your opinion. There might be better writers that see something you don't, there might be options that you don't realize you have because of your upbringing and personal experiences, but in the end it is your opinion that matters as the author of a particular work.

I'm not saying that no one has the right to question your decisions or discuss them, not by half. If you're a writer and you can't take criticism you might as well quit, but what I am saying is that something to you that seems like glaring misrepresentation or simulated woman abuse, might simply have never even occurred to Kojima. In fact I'm pretty sure it didn't, especially with the music at the time of Paz's death. I feel like for him this was Paz's big moment, she hadn't gotten to make a whole lot of choices in her life and suddenly she makes the one that decides the fate of the series. She was murdered sure, but she was also a martyr and a hero.

That's the thing about writing though, you don't get to pick what people see or don't see in your work. You just get to bare the little piece of yourself that you would and see what happens.

Bravisimo! Bravisimo! Man that's what I've been trying to say. She saved Snake's/Miller's and Chico's lives for what they were worth, and lets not forget Snake's offspring is merely a pawn and viral death carrier on a short lifespan. These are all vessels made to be used stretched, changed, and done whatever with for the sake of the story's impact.