Super Mario as Transformative Icon for the Working Class
it is somewhat debatable in Donkey Kong , but in Mario ’ s most recent game Super Mario Odyssey , she is more distinctly upper class . In a Polygon article , Julia Alexander quotes one of the game ’ s producers who says , “ We knew that players know Pauline so we of course wanted to make her the mayor of New Donk City . It ’ s important to note that though they are called Kingdoms , they do not necessarily have royalty , and that ’ s why she ’ s the mayor .” Regardless of Pauline ’ s current social positioning , though , in Donkey Kong , Mario ’ s pursuit and salvation of the character points towards consummation and potential marriage within the context of the altogether common “ saving the girl ” narrative premise of video games . Marriage itself traditionally represents an act of socioeconomic betterment , and Mario , by enacting this seemingly traditional act of chivalry , ends up saving the girl in order to establish a potential relationship or in order to maintain one . Thus , he is striving towards marriage as one possible means of gaining upward mobility for he and Pauline or at least for himself .
Mario then can especially be accepted in his latter incarnations as a savior of princesses and as a form of our vicariously held dream of transforming from peasant to king , but more is needed to place him firmly in the tradition of what silent icons like Chaplin and Mickey Mouse were doing . To further support this , consider once again Eisenstein ’ s focus on the plasmatic , or in other words , on how transformative bodies can represent social transformation . Using the body to tell stories is ingrained both in silent film and in early video games . In his article , “ Silent Film ,” Manuel Garin says , “ the absence of synchronized dialogue and the supremacy of visual attractions pushed creators�both early filmmakers and game designers�toward truly imaginative ways of relating the moving image to its audiences ” ( 576 ). With this in mind ,
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