Let me get this out of the way right off the bat: I've played The Legend of Zelda games exactly twice in my entire life. Both times were only increments of about 5 minutes each. First was at my sister's friend's house, which inexplicably had a Gamecube (or was it an N64?) with a copy of one of the early 3D Zelda games. Ocarina of Time, I believe (which would mean my assumption of N64 was correct). I think I got to a boss level and gave up out of frustration and then fact that my family was leaving anyway. The second time was fairly recently. The original on a free online NES emulator. This time, I gave up because I kept dying and had no idea where the fuck I was going.
Regardless of my very limited knowledge of the Zelda games, I've always enjoyed the imagery of them. A terrific blend of classical Tolkien fantasy with 80's pop sensibilities. And going off of the sheer amount of people who dress as the main character Link alone, I'm not the only one. Above, you see one such person. A woman. A very attractive, red-haired woman. Dressed as a character who is supposed to be a young blond boy. It really goes to show just how far-reaching the appeal of the franchise is. Which I suppose is the context it's intended to be viewed in. A show of someone showing their admiration of something they love. It invokes both the ethos of a familiar character like Link and the pathos of nostalgia that a long-time fan of the series would feel. But even outside of this context, it invokes a different kind of pathos, the kind that is sparked by almost any fantasy imagery: a sense of awe and wonder, a simple but effective way of unleashing the viewer's imagination, conjuring up further images of riders on horseback, epic battles, dragons, and princesses. It's a very well-composed image that inspires a very visceral reaction in me and anyone else who enjoys this type of imagery.
And there's also the fact that it's a really, really good costume.
No comments:
Post a Comment