Apparently the trend today has been to argue on whether Pearl, a character from Splatoon 2, is or was ever racist towards Octolings.
If you’re new to Splatoon heres a quick mini run down.
In Splatoon two of the major races are Inklings, squids who can turn into kids…or is it kids who can turn into squids? Either way, they’re a kid now, they’re a squid now.
And then Octolings, which are exactly like Inklings except they’re Octopus. Which are also known as Octarians.
In the lore of the game Inklings and Octarians are opposed, for some reason or another. (I actually don’t know the entire depth of this as I almost never played the main story in these games, with the exception of Splatoon 2 Expansion pass DLC)
Anyways, during Splatoon 2 and the DLC you can see logs/conversations between Pearl and Marina (an octoling) where Pearl isn’t exactly pro Octolings/Octarians. Over the course of the game, and DLC you see that her opinion changes. Whether it be from Marina being concerned Pearl would reject her by finding out who she really is, or listening to Marina’s story about how she “woke up” from the Octarian call and became an Octoling and wanted to join Inkling society. While Splatoon is simply a fun, colorful, multiplayer “shooter” game, there is a lot of life lessons that can be applied if you’re paying attention.
So which is it, was Pearl racist towards Octolings/Octarians, or not? The answer is both.
In fact most Inklings are racist towards, especially in the beginning, Octarians and in the beginning of Octlings appear they often “hid” their identity for fear of what the Inklings might do or accuse them of. As mentioned above pearl eventualy does change her opinion and mindset about Octolings and works with Marina to integrate and welcome them into Inkling society.
It was very interesting to see this fan base speak so passionately about some admire and appreciate the fact that she was racist, listened, learned, and grew past that becoming an advocate and ally. It made me think about how if Pearl was living in the real world with us and had done something like this how very differently the world would’ve responded to her.
If Pearl was in the real world and had said or done these racist items people would be in an uproar when it “came out’ and they’d be calling for fans to stop supporting her, to stop listening to her show, to stop going to her events, they’d be reaching out to her network and sponsors to get those partnerships revoked and any apology she’d make would be ignored, mocked, or viewed with extreme skepticism, even if she had said them a decade ago or more. But because she doesn’t live in the real world, then shes given the seal of “growth and approval” from fans.
It’s kind of sad how we can forgive and move on from a digital character, but somehow, we can’t do it with another living breathing person. Instead the current culture is to just burn everyone at the stake for any thing they’ve ever done that hasn’t been perfect or ideal. Regardless if it happened a decade ago and isn’t how they are today, people just want them cancelled and gone.
Id encourage people to spend a lot more time connecting the dots between these situations and applying them in the real world, without coming up with some excuses as to why “its different”.
But, what are your thoughts on the matter?
