Ashley Graham isn’t everything she could have been in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Resident Evil 4 Remake, but is still a substantial improvement over the doe-eyed damsel in distress from the original. Her character has more line⛎s, more agency, and more of a rebellious attitude befitting of a young girl who is kidnapped and infected with an evil bug virus. While she isn’t trained to fight back and depends on Leo🌄n to keep her safe, in context of who she is in the game’s narrative there is little to complain about. She is a strong female character with substantial development.
How exactly Capcom would depict her was always going to be a concern when remaking a game like Resident Evil 4. Her initial design is one built around feminine vulnerability. With a shrill voice, big boobs, and a fairly minimal outfit we are asked to treat her as ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚa lesser being compared to Leon, in dire need of protection. She still requires that helping hand, but would you claim otherwise in her situation? I sure can’t fire a gun and wouldn’t know where to go amidst a horde of deadly zombies, although I would adapt and grow stronger with each and every passing ordeal. Ashley does just that, in all the ways we should expect her to.
We first meet Ashley held up in an abandoned church where before this she has presumably been dragged across the globe not knowing where she is or whether she is going to make it out alive. Leon is the first person she’s seen in days who doesn’t try to put her in danger, and of course it takes her a few chapters to warm up to him. Initial interactions are cold and b💮rief as she cries in fear at aggressive villagers and asks to take a break in the midst of escape, a part of her privileged upbringing likely shining through. She is denied a brief respite and told to keep moving, and to her credit, doesn’t ask any questions. With no means of reaching the outside world - it is 2004 after all - we push forward and try to find a way back home.
After rushing through a village in the rai⭕n with ravenous hounds and a homicidal priest at their back, our duo emerge alive and well with yet another gauntlet of obstacles in front of them. They trust one another now, even if so many questions remain unanswered. I feel like some expected Ashley to pick up a gun and start blasting fools away, yet this doesn’t work within the story Resident Evil 4 is trying to tell. Ashley is depicted as a college student here, a resourceful woman who doesn’t quite figure out how she can aid Leon until further into the campaign.
The boss battle against Mendez ends with Ashley breaking a window for Leon to escape through, while the cabin sequence concludes in a similar fashion. This character isn’t trained to fight, but she is far from stupid and more than capable of thinking quickly to defend herself and protect others. We see it constantly and consi𒀰stently throughout the story mode.
Later set pieces have her operating a wrecking ball to defend Leon as she breaks down a wall, and she now protests about needing to hide in times of danger, despite it remaining a necess🅷ity. I didn’t ask her to hop into a locker once during my playthrough, but the option is available and d𝕴ialogue expresses how absurd the idea is in practice. Resi 4 is never able to fully shake off the misogynistic tropes that once undermined this character, yet it does try to subvert them and present Ashley as a capable woman within the time period she originates from.
Her playable section is still geared towards puzzles and defending herself with a fancy torch, given she has no firearm traininꦬg, but it’s brimming with detail and treats her as a true character who isn’t merely there to serve and be saved by Leon. She is the person to figure out the blue flame weakness of the sentient knights, and uses them to save her partner in a time of need. Ashley is proud of this contribution, and not in a way that serves to sexualise or present her as an object for us to ogle. Leon’s praise is similarly framed towards how driven and capable she is in these circumstances, more than an object of romantic interest. Such a spark is there, but it isn’t pushed unreasonably or even the endpoint for either character arc.
Resident Evil always seems to deal with female characters in the extremes, either as strong heroines, femme fatales, or ditzy school girl-esque protagonists who are somehow entrusted with saving the world. Ashley Graham, at least in her modern iteration, ꦰjust feels normal, ꦍand there is something refreshing about that. Her smashed up cell phone features a cute sticker referencing her college, and she isn’t afraid to moan about getting dirty or putting up with the bullshit that crosses her path.
Yet beneath this superficial exterior sits a deceptive capability that shines through the entire campaign as she becomes more confident 🅺and figures out how far she needs to go in order to survive. Even when you disregard all the campy Resident Evil nonsense, she acts like any reasonable person would in this situation, never afraid to voice her displeasure or think up solutions that might otherwise go unsought. More could have been done to make Ashley Graham shine, but she is far from the confines of failure.
