8 Years Later, Metal Gear Solid 5's Quiet Actress Reflects on Sexualisation Debate
Stefanie Joosten, the actress who played Quiet in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, has said she understands both sides of the controversy surrounding the sexualisation of her character.
Quiet became the centre of debate surrounding the over-sexualisation of women in video games and the media in general due to the character wearing little more than a bikini despite being a military assassin.
"It's been interesting to see the discussions about the character," Joosten said in a new interview with IGN. "Of course, I've seen them, and read a lot of different perspectives on the character at the time. And still, I respect the choices Kojima made and his team in designing the character.
"And also, of course, there's also just a choice of creating a character that's visually appealing. I think video games are, in a way, still a sort of fantasy world you enter, so I definitely respect the choices regarding the Quiet appearance, for instance, being quite revealing."
Joosten said she understands why people aren't happy with how Quiet was portrayed too, however, and suggested the character is a product of the time.
"I also understand the perspective of the people that are not as happy with how she was portrayed," she said. "This game came out in 2015, and I think the video game landscape has changed quite a lot since then. People are looking for more representation, and I really get it."
PlayArtsKAI's Quiet is coming soon. Yoji, a supervisor says some soft materials enables to be pushed & lifted. lolpic.twitter.com/LtvO0g8PpL”
Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima implied he thought the character was quite forward facing at the time though, saying ahead of launch he created her "as an antithesis" to women characters
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