[PART 3] Life is Strange 2 is so anti-toxic masculinity and I’m loving it (spoilers for episode 3):

My other “anti-toxic masculinity” posts (will be updated as episodes release): [Episode 1] [Episode 2] [Episode 4] [Episode 5]

And I’m back! This post took so long to write because at first glance, a lot of episode 3 does seem guilty of toxic masculinity. However, the way this episode’s relationships unfolded was complex, and most importantly, not reliant on gender roles or stereotypes.

Let’s start with Daniel:

- All of Daniel’s behavior: his disobedience, confrontations with Sean, abusing his powers, and aggression– is presented as the conflict.

- Daniel is not the antagonist here, but instead the powers that make him overconfident and disregard others, and by extension, the societal forces pressuring him to act the way he does. As he says, “I know I’m not always nice with you, but things aren’t nice anymore,” and he believes he has to be powerful (violent and scary) to be “grown-up” in response to the harsh, violent setting he now lives in.

- Through Daniel, Dontnod portrays traits related to toxic masculinity as bad: they’re detrimental to his character, an obstacle in the middle of his and Sean’s character arcs, and those around him.

As for Sean:

- Sean is given more focus in this episode as he is revealed to be bi, but the best part is that his personality does not drastically change. That sends the message that Sean’s sensitivity, kindness, and emotional responses are independent of his sexuality. He’s not emotional and sensitive (usually interpreted as “non-masculine”) because he’s not straight, that’s just the way he’s always been.

- Now that romance is in the mix, it’s nice to see Sean being respectful of boundaries and that there were no lustful or invasive moments played off for laughs or “boys will be boys.”

- For all of Daniel’s brattiness and defiance, Sean remains level-headed. Like episode 2, he never raises his voice at Daniel or is rough with him, in stark contrast to the flashback at the beginning of the episode. Most importantly, the brother’s bonding moment in the tent has Daniel apologizing and opening up about his problems and Sean telling Daniel a bedtime story about them always being together.

Also, AGAIN WITH TEARS. Both brothers can cry twice each in this episode:

- 1st time: Sean has tears on his face while talking about his worst memory. If Sean’s too wasted, Daniel will cry while admitting that he feels like he’s letting everyone down. In both cases, the brothers aren’t afraid to be emotional, vulnerable, and honest around their teenage and adult friends, even though they’ve only known them for about a month. He can also admit to the others that Daniel’s powers scare him, another act of vulnerability.

- 2nd time: Daniel has angry tears when he turns back to glare at Sean while lifting the tree trunk at the lake. Under all the anger, Daniel is just a lonely, sad, and hurt kid who wants his old life back.

- 3rd/4th time: Sean starts crying out of stress during the heist when Merrill catches him. No doubt affected by the trauma of his dad’s death, you can clearly hear how torn up he is while telling Daniel to obey. If Finn dies, both brothers will cry again. Otherwise, Daniel will have tears of pain on his face after he is shot.

Now, the two major relationships:

- Episode 3 demonstrates anti-toxic masculinity the most through how neither Finn/Sean or Cassidy/Sean fall into any gender stereotypes or roles:

- Sean, Finn, and Cassidy don’t act in any overtly feminine or masculine way when interacting with each other, romantic or not. None of them feel pressured to act a certain way. They just exist as they are.

- Cassidy isn’t submissive around Sean: she tells him he doesn’t need to be her white knight, and while she’s angry about Sean’s rejection (which I hated), she doesn’t pressure him into having sex because of his gender or any other assumptions.

Bonus: Penny is a superb addition to the LiS cast. An out black gay man (!!!), his sexuality is treated as normally as everyone else’s, and his backstory introduces homophobia without it being played up for drama or shock value.

Episode 3 presents a diverse cast of new characters and fleshes out Sean’s character as not only a bisexual man of color but a teen struggling to make sense of the world around him and raise his younger brother. I love how Life is Strange 2 encourages communication, kindness, and morality through its male protagonist, and crafts complex characters alongside a very human story.