This is a very similar image to the Little Mermaid from my favorite card game Magic the gathering, and the artist who created her is named Livia Prima (which we can find on the card). From the drawing and background narrative (she yearned to walk on dry), we can find that she faces the same dilemma as the Little Mermaid.
But the difference is that she has a purpose other than romance – vengeance, a manifestation of the awakening of female consciousness that “we can do something great or heavy without the help of male power”.
Unfortunately, the image still has overtones of objectifying women. But considering that the author is a female artist, we can understand it as a personal aesthetic pursuit of hers, rather than an attempt to please men.
This is cool!
The mechanics of games can say just as much as the mechanics of a story. I want to know how this card performs in Magic. Is it good at the early game? is it not the meta? Is this card highly coveted or rare?
The allusion to the Little Mermaid makes the card familiar, but untrustworthy. This lends to a deceptive character. As I read through the card, I feel initially comfortable with the concept. She is like the Little Mermaid translated into a card game. She either defends you, or she becomes a human presumably to attack. Though once I reach the bottom, I lose trust in what I initially understood this card to be. For one, it’s a 3/2. which from my understanding of the game is relatively powerful. Similar cards are 1/1. Then, the flavor text defamiliarizes the card from the Little Mermaid.
Unfortunately, the strength of this card is relatively low. “Defender” is a negative ability for most situations. 3/2 is passable but needs to be paired with a positive ability to play properly
I absolutely love the setting of Eldraine in Magic, and this card encapsulates every reason why. The art is great, the flavor is spot on, and the fairy tale aesthetic that is so important to the plane is in full effect. It is unfortunate that such fantastic art was wasted on such a weak card, but that’s par for the course when it comes to Magic.
Although I know nothing about Magic the Gathering, this is still super cool. I would’ve liked to hear more on your thoughts about the artwork. Specifically, what in the image portrays the objectification of women? And you may be right about the conditions under which Livia Prima chose to create her artwork, but I think it’s important to note that women can still cater to the male gaze even under their own aesthetics. Wether it was an unconscious or conscious decision to add, I think it is an important conversation to have. Nice work!
I also know nothing about Magic the Gathering, but I think this is really cool. I don’t think I’ve seen an image like this before and it’s really interesting to see why you chose it as well. I think It would be good if you added more thoughts on why the artwork objectifies women in your opinion and hear more about why you chose it.