I felt really excited for Resident Evil 8, the follow up to Capcom’s 2017 Resident Evil 7. It’s the first time in a long time that a Resident Evil game has built on the story of its predecessor, and I was curious to see where the story could go. I was also extremely excited, like the rest of the world, to meet Lady Dimitrescu, the 9-foot-tall vampire lady that every ad seemed to showcase. I even wrote about her for work. No regrets there.
In brief, I loved the game, and played through it over the weekend, immediately starting over once I was done. However, to really enjoy Resident Evil 8, I had to completely shut off my brain to one particular character. Now, I’m ready to talk about him.
The Duke is fat, and has been the source of some criticism from reviewers who felt angered by his appearance. Suriel Vazquez described the Duke best in his Polygon review:
The Duke is a boring, eye-rolling caricature of a fat person meant to cut through the tension of exploring all of these dreary locales. Most rooms he sets up shop in are decorated or fitted to highlight how fat he is; his stomach pops out of his clothes, revealing a bulging, desaturated pouch. He’s constantly spouting lines like, “To be hungry ... is to be alive.” As if that weren’t enough, health and defense upgrades come from finding and killing farm animals to turn into meals for him, with his leftovers acting as my power-ups. As someone who’s struggled with their weight for most of their life, I found the Duke’s portrayal a frustrating reminder that yes, people still see the overweight as grotesque and slovenly.
Yes, the Duke, a character with no plotline of his own, who functions as a merchant (and sometimes-guide when Village’s plot gets too complicated), is grotesquely fat for no discernable reason. To a lot of reviewers and gamers seeing blatant fatphobia (outside the context of idolizing thin bodies) for the first time, the Duke is a shocking character. I wish I was more surprised by his undulating belly, his obsession with cooking and eating, and his massive frame, but I’m not. The Duke’s appearance and character are shorthand for stereotypes fat people experience every day in media and in real life.
Toxic motherhood>fatshaming
The Duke is lazy, though he somehow has extravagant amounts of money (I guess from being a Duke?). He never stands, never moves the lower half of his body. While he’s happy to buy the goodies Ethan Winters brings to him for sale, the Duke never actually goes to collect anything for himself. While his laziness could be seen as a commentary on class (the Duke is too rich to do anything for himself), it’s also a popular stereotype about weight. Of course the Duke can’t get up and do anything—he’s too fat! All the Duke can manage is sitting quietly in the back of his wagon, smoking cigars and falling asleep while reading.
There’s also a strange tie between food and the Duke. The Duke will cook stat-boosting meals for Ethan and himself to enjoy if players bring him enough ingredients. He frequently discusses how delicious the food is, and how hunger is tied to life itself. Look, I love food, but is it very creative to have an absurdly fat character be obsessed with food? More than that, is it interesting?
Here’s the thing: Resident Evil 8’s developers could have made the Duke an interesting character, without erasing his fat or making him look normative. Instead of making him a caricature of a person, they might have explored his backstory, his relationship to Mother Miranda, or any other number of non-weight related plotlines. Instead, when Ethan finally asks the Duke about his origins (near the end of the game), the Duke responds vaguely, saying that even he doesn’t know what he is. Are you kidding me? I’m not sure how it’s possible for someone to not know what they are, or have any further insight into the matter. The Duke’s response to Ethan’s question seems to be the developers speaking through him. “We don’t know what the Duke is,” they could be saying. “We just thought it would be funny.”
At the end of the game, that’s all the Duke is: a joke. He’s meant to be some sort of distraction from all the horror Resident Evil 8 offers, but the biggest horror of the game to me was how poorly fat people are treated in media, even now. We’re not people, not really. We’re just desexualized, amorphous comedy vessels to be used, then thrown away when we’re not convenient anymore. As soon as the Duke was no longer convenient to the plot, he was shoved aside with no further explanation. Take a moment and think of how many television shows, movies, and other games do similar things to fat characters. I’ll wait.
If all this sounds harsh, or if I sound bitter, I get that feeling. I wrote a whole dissertation about fat characters in young adult lit. I’ve spent a lot of time reading about fat studies and living in the world as a fat person. I’ve shopped for a wedding dress only to discover stores don’t carry my size in most styles. I’ve settled for a t-shirt and jeans wardrobe because it’s easier than hunting for inclusive brands and spending thousands of dollars to get a stylish closet. I bring all this up in hopes that someone, anyone reading this, takes a moment to think about how fat bodies are portrayed in popular works, and think about how we can push for that image to change.
The Duke—and fat people everywhere—deserves better.
He could’ve done more!