Playing Miles Morales: Representation is Overrated

 

Warning: This rant comes from the Perspective of an ACTUAL PUERTO RICAN. This is not a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant commenting as an outsider, like most people who have praised the "diversity and representation" in Spider-Man Miles Morales the videogame. Also, it's not the perspective of a Nuyorican, which is what Miles is. I need to make the distintion because Nuyoricans and ACTUAL PUERTO RICANS are VERY Different. Unlike the usual racist and classist speeches that come with the distinctions between Nuyoricans and ACTUAL PUERTO RICANS, I'll TRY to avoid those. But before I do, I shall state my biases.

To ME, Nuyoricans are NOT Puerto Ricans. They are New Yorkers with Puerto Rican ancestry... both literally and culturally. If you're Born and Raised in New York,  that makes you a New Yorker. Now if you're Born in New York and Raised in Puerto Rico, you ARE kinda Puerto Rican, but not really... 

If you're Born in Puerto Rico and Raised in New York, you're kinda Puerto Rican, but not really.

Miles Morales doesn't represent me, NOT because he's Puerto Rican.(which to me he is not, based on my biases as an ACTUAL PUERTO RICAN) He represents me, because he's a guy who tries to do the right thing and FAILS. Despite his failures and dpubts, he still keeps going... which means that Peter Parker can easily represent me.

Usually by the 3rd generation most of the original cultural traits are lost. In this game's case Miles is a 3rd Generation "Puerto Rican" (really 2nd Generation Nuyorican) While he does speak a little Spanish, it's very obvious that He's really a New Yorker above everything else. His "Puerto Ricanhood" is nothing more than a rose-tinted fantasy that was taught to his mother,  which she passed on to him a more diluted version. It's because of these rose-tinted fantasies fed by homesick people who crossed the Atlantic searching for a better life, that these Nuyoricans can be even MORE Patriotic than ACTUAL PUERTO RICANS. I can attest to this, because, when I lived among the Continental 48, I did things I NEVER THOUGHT I'D BE DOING back in Puerto Rico. 

Listening to the Puerto Rican Anthem, Salsa Music were among the things I did in the States. The struggle was real to find the stuff to make a proper Arroz con Pollo or Mofongo. I suppose that Pasteles de Yuca are an even bigger pain in the ass to make on the Continental 48. 

The game is kinda short and I kinda blame part of it wasting WAY TOO MUCH TIME IN PROVING MILES'S PUERTO RICANHOOD for the whole Representation matters angle. Weird thing is that Aside Enter the Spider-Verse, this game has the only other media that has bothered with Miles's Puerto Ricanhood... and they pretty much got it right... well, capturing the Nuyoricanness.

The awkward Ceramic Rooster on the Kitchen (not photographed) and the Ceramic Coquíes in the Bathroom actually capture the Puerto Rican Abuela's house vibe perfectly.

Even the unintended multiple copies of the same book is something that happens at many grandmother's houses.

One thing that bothered me was the Christmas dinner. Rio was cooking tons of Puerto Rican food but they ate Ham and greens. But the mess in the house and the so-called "awkward" books reminded me of my own grandma's house... So for that, I thank you game makers...

So, why do I think "Representation is overrated"? I THINK I should've added an Asterisk, because Representation in itself isn't bad. The problem is that it becomes bad, the moment the story is bent in order to cater to Representation. The game BARELY dodged reaching that point, but it got dangerously close to it. Don't get me wrong, it was Nice to see Puerto Rican culture even if it was through the rose tinted glasses perspective of the children of the diaspora, but at the same time part of it felt like virtue signalling... but that's just me...