You know, I had never even thought of it that way before, but that's a really great point. The games definitely get across the idea that humans are the newcomers and tend to be not-so-popular, but since we play as Commander Shepard, Savior of the Galaxy, it's easy to forget just how rough life can be for humanity as a whole. Ashley (like any other character) is at least in part a product of her environment, and like you said, that environment is decidedly not human-friendly.
I had never heard of fundamental attribution error before (*is ignorant*), but after looking through that article, it exactly sums up how I often feel fandom views Ashley. It's so nice to finally have an actual term to put to that feeling!
I also think she's subject to the fandom's (at large) negative slant toward human female characters.
Mass Effect's human women do tend to get a disproportionate amount of hate from fandom, don't they? (With the possible exception of Kasumi--it seems like everyone loves Kasumi.) I think that definitely says a lot about fandom, and none of it good. Although in fairness, the human male squadmates also tend to get a fair amount of flak. The alien characters seem much more broadly loved by fandom than the human characters, overall.
The games definitely get across the idea that humans are the newcomers and tend to be not-so-popular, but since we play as Commander Shepard, Savior of the Galaxy, it's easy to forget just how rough life can be for humanity as a whole.
Exactly! As Shepard, we're used to getting our way and hanging out with the cool folk who like and respect us. And when a character IS rude to us, we almost always show them up (or, y'know, kill them.) We feel like we're on an equal playing field, if not at an advantage.
But the first game was all about humanity being crapped on by the Council and humanity (and Shepard) not being believed or listened to, and it ends with humanity finally breaking free and doing something incredible. But we know that didn't go anywhere; now the Citadel, one of the more united and civilized places in the galaxy, is filled with even more people who hate and distrust us for being pushy newcomers who are trying to co-op the government. The all-human council can't get anything done, and the mingled council won't let the human councilor do anything. Humanity is getting wiped out all over space, schoolhouses full of children are disappearing, and the galaxy at large is just kinda shrugging its arms and going "lol k." You had the plague on Omega, which everyone was blaming on humans, the trouble with getting humans hired on the Citadel, all the orphan kids running around that people don't give two turds about, etc. Even small things, like the angry asari mother on Illium, illustrate that humans are far from popular. That's not even touching the batarian debacle. And we are vastly outnumbered. And it's been less than, what? Thirty years since contact? Not even a life time. (Well, it's a vorcha lifetime.) All the other races (sans vorcha) well remember what life was like before humans derped their way into turian space for the first time.
I have a feeling that Ashley's words will be proven correct in ME3; somehow I don't see the other races giving one damn about helping Earth - thus the need to "convince" them. And that's how it is. Their own planets and people will always be more important.
Mass Effect's human women do tend to get a disproportionate amount of hate from fandom, don't they?
They do! It's like this in most fandoms, I've learned. With the human ladies, the hatred is really acidic. You have people who go out of their way to insult Ashley, Jack and Miranda, and call them horrible names and slam their appearance. When it comes to unpopular dudes, however, the fandom is sort of... indifferent. We'll talk about them when they're brought up, but you rarely see them being trashed on a whim, or with so much bile. Often fandom instead turns unpopular dudes into little jokes and makes it a funny thing rather than a hateful thing (Kaidan being boring, Jacob's "the prize.")
Maybe Kasumi is exempt from this because she's not involved in much plot and sticks to witty lines and lampshade humor. She's also not a love interest, which I think factors into some of the zeal. You don't see very much of her, so she's kind of nice and mysterious, whereas all the other female humans - Ash, Miri and Jack - are a lot more forward?
And perhaps alien characters are more accepted and forgiven because we can look at them and distance ourselves from the traits they have that remind us of ourselves - in a bad way - because what we see doesn't look like us.
I had never heard of fundamental attribution error before (*is ignorant*), but after looking through that article, it exactly sums up how I often feel fandom views Ashley. It's so nice to finally have an actual term to put to that feeling!
I also think she's subject to the fandom's (at large) negative slant toward human female characters.
Mass Effect's human women do tend to get a disproportionate amount of hate from fandom, don't they? (With the possible exception of Kasumi--it seems like everyone loves Kasumi.) I think that definitely says a lot about fandom, and none of it good. Although in fairness, the human male squadmates also tend to get a fair amount of flak. The alien characters seem much more broadly loved by fandom than the human characters, overall.
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Exactly! As Shepard, we're used to getting our way and hanging out with the cool folk who like and respect us. And when a character IS rude to us, we almost always show them up (or, y'know, kill them.) We feel like we're on an equal playing field, if not at an advantage.
But the first game was all about humanity being crapped on by the Council and humanity (and Shepard) not being believed or listened to, and it ends with humanity finally breaking free and doing something incredible. But we know that didn't go anywhere; now the Citadel, one of the more united and civilized places in the galaxy, is filled with even more people who hate and distrust us for being pushy newcomers who are trying to co-op the government. The all-human council can't get anything done, and the mingled council won't let the human councilor do anything. Humanity is getting wiped out all over space, schoolhouses full of children are disappearing, and the galaxy at large is just kinda shrugging its arms and going "lol k." You had the plague on Omega, which everyone was blaming on humans, the trouble with getting humans hired on the Citadel, all the orphan kids running around that people don't give two turds about, etc. Even small things, like the angry asari mother on Illium, illustrate that humans are far from popular. That's not even touching the batarian debacle. And we are vastly outnumbered. And it's been less than, what? Thirty years since contact? Not even a life time. (Well, it's a vorcha lifetime.) All the other races (sans vorcha) well remember what life was like before humans derped their way into turian space for the first time.
I have a feeling that Ashley's words will be proven correct in ME3; somehow I don't see the other races giving one damn about helping Earth - thus the need to "convince" them. And that's how it is. Their own planets and people will always be more important.
Mass Effect's human women do tend to get a disproportionate amount of hate from fandom, don't they?
They do! It's like this in most fandoms, I've learned. With the human ladies, the hatred is really acidic. You have people who go out of their way to insult Ashley, Jack and Miranda, and call them horrible names and slam their appearance. When it comes to unpopular dudes, however, the fandom is sort of... indifferent. We'll talk about them when they're brought up, but you rarely see them being trashed on a whim, or with so much bile. Often fandom instead turns unpopular dudes into little jokes and makes it a funny thing rather than a hateful thing (Kaidan being boring, Jacob's "the prize.")
Maybe Kasumi is exempt from this because she's not involved in much plot and sticks to witty lines and lampshade humor. She's also not a love interest, which I think factors into some of the zeal. You don't see very much of her, so she's kind of nice and mysterious, whereas all the other female humans - Ash, Miri and Jack - are a lot more forward?
And perhaps alien characters are more accepted and forgiven because we can look at them and distance ourselves from the traits they have that remind us of ourselves - in a bad way - because what we see doesn't look like us.
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