Resident Evil: Asexual Revelations

Put Leon and Chris in a zombie infested village in the middle of nowhere, and they'll dive out of the window of two story buildings, drive jeeps off of cliffs, dive in the way of bullets and be your perfect action hero - exuding such an excess of testosterone than they could manifest it into C4 putty in their hands. But put them in a room with a female character and they'll be completely dead pan, and show as much interest as a 2-piece chicken in a box.

Resident Evil was never one to play on love relationships between characters in the same way that Final Fantasy did / does, and it never will. It's not that kind of game, and it's not something anybody expects from a Resi game. But why the embargo on these men showing a lack of interest in the women in their lives and continually putting B.O.W's before hoes?

Let's talk Chris Redfield. From the very start when Chris, Jill, Barry and Albert all ran into that blasted mansion back in July of 1998 you got a vibe in regards to Chris and Jill. They had something, which went beyond just being partners - even if you had nothing to go on and was unsure of what exactly it was. And in its ending, they share a moment on the helicopter ride out of Raccoon city which alluded to the two of them either having been in a relationship, or due to embark on one. But nothing is made of Chris and Jill in this capacity ever again. Jill resting her head on Chris shoulder is seen as nothing more than, well...Jill resting her head on Chris's shoulder.

In Resident Evil 5, Chris emerged showcasing his new whey diet, a spiffy new hair do and box fresh  Sketchers. Jill is in her Nina Williams catsuit and is all kinds of physically capable in ways she wasn't before. Yet despite the ramped up sexual physicality of both of these characters and their history, nothing is made of anything between them. They are partners. What they have is plutonic. Even though the whole time you're thinking that there should probably be something more.

In Resident Evil 5, Chris will not stop going on about Jill. 'But Jill....', 'Oh Jill!', 'It's gotta be Jill!', 'JIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLL!'. And then once he finds Jill, what does he do? Beat her up. Knock her out. Then shake the hell out of her as she tries to regain consciousness from the beating that HE just gave her. The Chris and Jill reunion we'd all been waiting for, and there's not so much as a hug. Jill jumped out of a fucking window to save this man. I think the least Chris could have done after finding her alive after years of thinking she was dead is apologise and give her a hug.



Then there's Leon Kennedy. Whilst he was running around with an upgradeable shotgun and a pistol wielding woman in a red dress to help his ventures, Claire had to hustle for her life with a fucking crossbow and an 8 year old girl. Leon was no man. He was a little bitch. Even taking a bullet in his shoulder did nothing for his 'man points' or street cred. But it's amazing what diving out of glass windows, kicking doors in and making like Neo in a room full of death lasers can do for you - because Leon became our all American action hero in Resident Evil 4. Well. To a point. There were few attempts to flirt with Ingrid, even though she was keen for him to. And then there was the flat out rejection of Ashley. Honestly, if I were her in that moment after that rejection, I would have jumped off the jet ski and let the current take me.

Two lead Resident evil characters. Completely asexual. What gives? I think it's great. Not every male action hero needs to have a leading lady who they fall in love with. And I'm certainly not expecting Capcom to remedy this by turning Leon and Chris into the likes of Dante from Devil May Cry. But I find it strange that despite both having prominent females in their story timelines whom they have crossed paths with on several occasions and (in Chris's case) trust implicitly - that nothing substantial is made of their relationships with these women within the story. And it's strange that sexual tension is presented at moments for no reason, when by the third game of seeing these couples together, we know there is absolutely nothing. Why include any of it at all?

Chris and Jill seem no closer in Resident Evil 5 than they did 10 years ago. Despite Leon and Ada having a history in Resident Evil 2, they may as well have met for the first time in Resident Evil 4. The only Resident Evil character who showed some form of invested emotion and affection to another character is Steve Burnside. Yes. That whiny ginger-haired boy from Code: Veronica actually had feelings for Claire and told her so. But before Claire and you as the player even have a chance to process this, Steve's EKG flatlines. Slightly premature given these two had only known each for a couple of days. But Claire and Steve made more strides in their three days of knowing one another than Chris and Jill have shown in the space of a decade.

I've already resided with Wesker being gay and not-so-secretly longing for Chris. But that's a whole other post.