PERSPECTIVE
Trigger Happy
Shoot first, ask questions later
STEVEN POOLE
Has Mario gone woke? That, at least, was the opinion of some furious Twitterers, through whose gimlet eyes it appeared that Nintendo had dialed down Mario’s masculinity in favour of a more feminised version. Nothing, fulminated one, could “excuse making a traditional man appear cute and feminine”. Lucky, then, that at least his black fluffy cloud of a moustache has remained, or incels would have been rioting in the streets. And despite the change of voice actor, his voice is still that reassuringly gruff baritone, er, squeak, that we all know and love.
But who is Mario anyway? I would submit that, although the artist originally known as Jumpman is nominally a plumber – the most perfectly masculine of trades, of course; women don’t even know what pipes and washers actually are or whether water flows up or down – he is really something between an athlete and a circus clown. And, of course, he is the child in every one of us.