{"id":2521,"date":"2021-02-11T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/?p=2521"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:38:25","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:38:25","slug":"the-men-of-wolfenstein-tno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2021\/02\/the-men-of-wolfenstein-tno\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Masculinity: The Men of Wolfenstein: The New Order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is part of a series on masculinity and the game Wolfenstein: A New Order. The series focuses exclusively on Wolfenstein: A New Order and the characters within it, though it does reference the backstories of characters that may not be revealed until later games in that series. Much of the specific details here were sourced in the Wolfenstein Wiki.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content warning: Nazis, hate crimes, domestic abuse (parent-child, spousal), violence, homophobia, racism, ableism, eugenics, torture, suicide, animal cruelty<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPOILERS for Wolfenstein: The New Order and elements of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I want to talk about so many things in the realm of Wolfenstein and how it portrays masculine characters, but I want to talk first about the characters themselves. We\u2019ve addressed how Wolfenstein: The New Order talks about masculinity<\/a> through the main character William \u201cB.J.\u201d Blazkowicz, and how it functions in genre<\/a>. Now I want to address some of the other characters that are in the game and how they are presented (I may not address all your faves, sorry). I also played the Wyatt timeline, one of the most vital decisions in the game, so I won\u2019t address Fergus or his timeline much (playing thru again hasn\u2019t been possible with my cognitive issues). I\u2019ll likely address characters like Caroline, Frau Engel, and Anya in a separate article, because that\u2019s a very different matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: I may not discuss Sigrun, Frau Engel\u2019s daughter, from The New Colossus in detail due to how her experiences are related to my own trauma, and since she is from a later game. We\u2019ll see!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up, we\u2019ll address the Resistance. Note that I don\u2019t think that these characters are without flaws, but I want to appreciate their good characteristics.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Max
Max Hass from Wolfenstein: The New Order. Image from user joumur on Steam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I want to talk about Max Hass<\/strong><\/a> with a desperation. Max is a pacifist, and was born with a brain injury and abandoned as a child. I love Max for a lot of reasons, but I will note that he experiences the stereotype of many mentally disabled folks in that he is physically minimally vulnerable, very strong, and speaks simplistically – only saying his name. This portrayal is obviously from a challenging perspective and can be harmful. However, the character is well-loved, heroic, shown to be mostly capable except for his own traumatic responses, and while he is shown to be childlike, he is distinctly masculine in his presentation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Max is flawed in his presentation in regards to ability, though he is definitely fitting a trope. But he\u2019s portrayed as a masculine character in a youthful way, which is something we rarely see in war games. Childlike natures are often presented as juvenile, rather than something understandable that people respect and support, like when B.J. helps recover Max\u2019s lost toys as part of an achievement and story thread. Max Hass is an example of a character that could have been done better, but to me his inclusion was valuable – it\u2019s okay to be disabled, to perhaps be childlike, regardless of the reasons behind those things. You can still be loved, still be a boy at heart. These are things we often strip from disabled masculine people, so it mattered to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next to Max, we don\u2019t go so far to find Klaus Kreutz<\/strong><\/a>, who is the one who recovered Max from behind a dumpster after losing his own disabled child to the Nazis eugenics. He was originally a Nazi soldier, and after losing his son and<\/em> his wife in a tragic encounter, grew to deeply hate the Nazis and their ideology. He turned against the Nazis and became a member of the Resistance, and while he encountered initial conflict with B.J., they eventually become colleagues that respect each other. This encounter is shown in The New Order, and is important because in many instances, we frame Nazis or fascists as not real men<\/em> or even men who change sides as not real men<\/em> because they\u2019re disloyal or because Real Men don\u2019t do violence, and this is a flawed and messed up concept. In the game, they don\u2019t portray the situation as such, instead focusing on the Nazi atrocities and whether Klaus might harbor any Nazi beliefs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klaus is shown as caring, and loving towards Max. He is without a doubt portrayed as a masculine character with a past of violence, but now he instead cares for Max as if he was his own child, and doesn\u2019t question giving his life for the resistance. He embodies heroic qualities and paternal qualities we associate with adoptive fathers. Doing this to someone who left Nazi service and showing that people can<\/em> change is a vital element of the storytelling in The New Order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wyatt
Wyatt from Wolfenstein: The New Order. Image from user Joey Stick on Steam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The flip of the coin is Probst Wyatt II<\/strong><\/a>, a dedicated and initially idealistic soldier who served alongside B.J. and in one timeline of the game, he is the character saved from the terrifying Deathshead, a villain who tortures the characters quite horrifically. Wyatt experiences post-traumatic stress disorder from the war and depression after the suicide of his mother. He is one of the few genuine portrayals of mental illness in a masculine character I\u2019ve seen in AAA games where the illness is recognized<\/em> and respected<\/em>. Wyatt is given space to struggle through his illnesses and not forced <\/em>to participate in further war, and granted space within the Resistance compound to recover and rest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cannot describe how much Wyatt\u2019s story impacted me. I am so very used to seeing symptoms of mental illness hidden in games, washed over or described as supernatural or unreal. They\u2019re often shamed, or dismissed as unmanly<\/em> or unmasculine<\/em> and masculine people who struggle with mental illness are emasculated and lose their agency. They\u2019re shamed if they take space to deal with or struggle with their trauma. How many moments ask you to \u201cMan Up\u201d? Doesn\u2019t Wolfenstein itself use a frankly shitty difficulty level imagery with B.J. in baby clothes if you choose the easier difficulty? (Don\u2019t think I\u2019ve forgotten it, I think about it every day.) Wyatt\u2019s struggle is vital and important, and the way the rest of the characters treat it is even more important for any type of character, but definitely a masculine one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: From what I know, Wyatt copes with addiction in an attempt to help his illness in The New Colossus, but does recover after some challenges. I think this is also an important story, and hope to play through it someday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

J<\/strong>, one of my favorite characters,<\/a> is one of the few Black characters featured in The New Order (aside from Bombate, who I adore) and is the survivor of a hate crime by United States white supremacists. He is a guitarist and initially, as mentioned in the previous article, finds conflict with B.J. because he tells B.J. that in the U.S., white people (and implicitly, I think, the military) were <\/em>the Nazis. J is so important to the story that it disappoints me not all players might fully engage with his story and his scenes, since they aren\u2019t mandatory, but he opens B.J.\u2019s mind literally and figuratively by playing music and giving B.J. drugs that cause him to hallucinate, but also reflect on his thoughts about Black Americans and<\/em> about the role of white U.S. citizens in the oppression of Black people. It\u2019s a beautiful scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"J
J from Wolfenstein: The New Order. Image from user eg0rikTM on Steam.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

J himself is portrayed in many ways like Jimi Hendrix, who he appears to be based on – natural hair, colorful clothing styled like 60s and 70s funk fashion (as much as can be managed in the war). He does not fit the white concept of masculinity, and that\u2019s important. He could be seen by some to be flamboyant, but instead he is presented as expressing himself. He could have been presented as hyper masculine and robust in a racist stereotype, but instead he is thin, scarred, but still resilient. I could say a lot more about J, but I would want to hear more from Black players on his masculine portrayal, and on that of Bombate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bombate <\/strong><\/a>is a Resistance fighter and I know that in The New Colossus he is portrayed somewhat as a womanizer, cheating on one character with another. However, in The New Order, he\u2019s steadfast and tells stories of his experiences at the hands of the Nazis. Bombate traveled north from his home in Southwest Africa (Namibia) to face the Nazis head on, and after two years was put into a forced labor camp. He has been through immense trauma, but it never once is designed in The New Order for you to feel any disrespect for him for the way he processes that trauma or to see him as anything other than heroic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is framed as masculine, and is not dismissed as a threat to the Nazis. Bombate is an immediate powerful ally for the player as B.J., respected and trusted. It is refreshing to see a character presented so simply as someone just and who did the right thing, even if they suffered, and not have the whole story be how they are now weak because of their trauma (but not presenting them as unrealistically powerful, either). Especially for masculine characters, I feel like this is underrepresented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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