Key to my argument is that, while the muscled and war-hardened veteran seems far from the conventional depiction of feminine, The Boss succeeds as a character because she is a woman. She experiences love as a woman would – both as a lover and a mother – and her greatest weakness (or strength, depending on how you look at it) is her desire to protect the things she has helped to create, whether they be soldiers, sons or a nation at peace.
The Boss is maternal in the fact that she brings life as well as takes it, feminine in the way she is characterized as “Mother,” “Joy” and “Lady.” The game ends with her death at the hands of a son, Naked Snake, but her death is the very event that breathes life into his conflict and the events that follow from his branding as Big Boss to his defeat at the hands of Solid Snake and, finally, to the heartfelt scene over The Boss’s grave at the end of Metal Gear Solid IV.
The same character, conceived as a man, would have very likely failed to leave as large of an impact. And, without the ghost of The Boss driving the protagonists and the player, I’m not certain that the franchise would be the success that it is today.
With the multi-tiered, cloak-and-dagger announcement of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain having played out and earned the attention of old and new fans alike, I can’t help but wonder what role female characters such as Paz and Quiet will play in further strengthening the presence of powerfully real women in the series.
And, while I’m prepared for more than a few perverted jokes and Easter Eggs, I hope that Kojima’s efforts to “expand and revolutionize the Metal Gear Solid franchise,” as stated in an official announcement at GDC in March, will leave female fans of the series just as gratified as their male counterparts.
Judging from the trailer, however, I wouldn’t recommend the game for eight-year-olds.
