The Joker Issue

[sinvraal]

I have to get something off my chest, but it's annoyingly complicated. I find I can't wholly agree with either side of this Joker issue. The only spoiler here has to do with him in ME3, as I've seen very little of the other spoilers. This is a reaction to a reaction, an attempt to articulate what I consider a nuanced problem

Comments

[skellington1]

I think you already know that I disagree, strongly, when you say it isn't actually a disability issue. For a whole lot of us it is. Saying that EDI isn't a lesser being would be well and good if we didn't exist in a society where so many people think that virtual love is IT for people with disabilities; unfortunately, we don't. In fact, it feels like being expected to laugh at being the brunt of a joke.

...because I do think the whole 'robot body' and 'he loves a computer' is a joke. A lot of that actually stems from things you point out -- EDI is used as a superficial gag character in many ways, without any investigation over what it means to be an AI. Why would an AI feel any kind of pair bonding? Why would an AI accept a bipedial robot body, over the abilities of a starship? How would a being that can be tracking so many different things at once at such fast speed ever really relate to a human? Instead, it'll be "As she gets more 'intelligent', she gets more human, and boom, human body and luv."

In short, it lessens both characters, while reducing the interestingly-alien qualities that make a sci-fi universe interesting.

[sinvraal]

It'll be interesting to see exactly how it's handled, but I see what you mean about how it will likely be read by the audience. I don't personally see it as meaning Joker isn't 'good enough' for a relationship with another human (or alien), but I can see how it might be read that way by an audience steeped in certain biases toward disabled people.

It could be an issue of viewpoint. I guess I'm looking at it from the perspective of wondering how exactly EDI's relationship with humans works from her point of view. But sadly those nuances won't be explored, so instead of being a fascinating dissection of what it means to be sentient, it falls back on feeding a negative stereotype. And most players will only see the latter.

I'll reserve more judgment until I see the final result, because for me a great deal will lean on how exactly it's executed. But I do see your point! So thanks for making it.