Rachel Amber
Life Is Strange character
Rachel Amber in Life Is Strange: Before the Storm
First appearanceLife Is Strange - Episode 1: Chrysalis (2015)
Created by
Voiced byKylie Brown[1]

Rachel Dawn Amber is a fictional character in the Life Is Strange video game series by Square Enix. Created by Dontnod Entertainment for the original Life Is Strange game released in 2015, Rachel's character was significantly expanded upon by Deck Nine for a prequel game titled Life Is Strange: Before the Storm released in 2017. She is voiced by actress Kylie Brown.[2]

Her character is introduced in the eponymous Life Is Strange as an affluent, popular student who is the former best friend of character Chloe Price. She attended the protagonist Max Caulfield's school and has mysteriously vanished, serving as one theme of the story. In the prequel game Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, Rachel is a main character and forms a relationship with protagonist Chloe, which is optionally romantic.

Rachel's character was noted as an important theme in the original game and her portrayal in Before the Storm was generally received positively by critics and attracted fans. Commentators noted and criticized the eventual reveal of her being kidnapped and subsequently murdered in the original Life Is Strange as an LGBT variation[lower-alpha 1] of the "women in refrigerators" trope.

Concept and development

Dontnod Entertainment (Life Is Strange)

Michel Koch, the co-director and art director, stated in a January 2016 interview with Shacknews: "We really wanted to push [Rachel Amber as] this mysterious character that you never see. We really tried to create her and have characters talk about her to the point that she was in the game, even if you never see her. We really have her be one of the main characters, but one that's never seen."[3] Koch also stated that DontNod wanted her character arc to subvert favored plot directions by audiences, since the game was "about real life" and "not a fantasy game".[3]

Deck Nine (Before the Storm)

After publisher Square Enix chose Deck Nine to develop a Life Is Strange game, the developers chose a prequel expanding upon the plot threads established within the original game.[4][5] Within Before the Storm, they wanted to focus upon and establish Rachel Amber's relationship with Chloe Price. In a November 2017 interview with Engadget, Deck Nine's game director Chris Floyd stated that the team wanted to establish "that she was lovable. Extremely lovable, especially as we're seeing her through Chloe's eyes. And yet, we also know a lot of troubling things about her from season one. So we had to include a touch of that as well."[4]

In a March 2018 interview with Game Informer, Deck Nine lead writer Zak Garriss stated that the development of Rachel was "one of the biggest challenges in Before the Storm as a whole. We had instruction from the first game in that her absence from the story and characters' lives was felt. You could talk to every character, especially in the first episode, and someone would have something to say about Rachel."[5] He noted that it was a challenge to build her "as a compelling character. We just did our best with it. But it was fun. I think we all thought and wrote about people we've met in our lives that defined chapters for whatever reason. Your first love, the person who breaks your heart, someone who says something at just the right time and place to change the way you think about a fundamental facet of your life. We all have these people and we really focused on that and drew on that in building and creating Rachel."[5] Garris stated that the team wanted to leave it deliberately ambiguous on whether Rachel possessed some form of powers similar to that of other characters within the series. Saying that they wanted the story to primarily focus on "her ability to light Chloe up and change the spaces that she's in... [that] is really her gift".[5]

Fictional biography and portrayal

Life Is Strange (2015)

Rachel's six-month long disappearance acts as the theme for the events of the story, which concludes with her dead body being found.[6][7] Rachel is initially introduced as an affluent and popular student of Blackwell Academy who mysteriously vanishes without explanation.[8][9][10]

Rachel is stated to be the best friend of character Chloe Price and is implied to have had illicit romantic or sexual relationship with art teacher Mark Jefferson.[9][6] Throughout the town of Arcadia Bay, missing persons posters depicting Rachel, including those put up by Price, are seen.[9][6][11] Although many within the town initially dismiss concern about her situation, believing that she ran away from her parents to Los Angeles,[9][12] it is gradually revealed through the investigation of Max Caulfield and Price that her disappearance was the result of malicious activity.[9][13][14] Eventually, her body is discovered by Caulfield and Price at the Arcadia Bay junkyard.[13] It is revealed that she had been kidnapped by Jefferson and student Nathan Prescott, dying of a drug overdose.[13][14]

It is left ambiguous on who killed Rachel and whether her death was intentional.[15] Jefferson claims that Rachel was accidentally killed by Prescott in an attempt to render her unconscious. However, it is established that Jefferson is an unreliable narrator, and other parts of the story seem to conversely suggest that Jefferson intentionally murdered her.[13][14][15] Michel Koch, co-director and art director of the original Life Is Strange, said during a January 2016 interview with Shacknews about the conclusion of her character arc in Life Is Strange that "It was about real life and it was something dark and hard, but the most logical outcome was that maybe she's dead."[3]

Life Is Strange: Before the Storm (2017)

Rachel forms a relationship with protagonist Chloe, which is optionally romantic.[7][16][17][18][19] A post-credit scene shows Chloe calling Rachel's phone seventeen times without a response.[6][7] A five-star review of the game notes, “Rachel is a whirlwind who sweeps both Chloe and the player up into her world. It’s understandable why Chloe is so smitten with her.”[20] Before the Storm's lead writer Zak Garriss, said in an April 2018 interview that "that final moment, [we’re not trying] to shock our players or punch them in the stomach or anything like that, but simply do something that I think this medium alone can really do, which is make you feel the way Chloe felt".[6]

Life Is Strange: Comic Series (2018-2022)

Rachel is one of the main characters in the Life Is Strange comic series, published by Titan Comics. The comic-book serves as a sequel to the video-game, taking place after the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending of the original game.[21] Rachel makes her main debut at the end of the fourth issue when Max is forced into an alternate timeline where Chloe and Rachel are living a life together in Santa Monica.[22]

Wavelengths (2021)

Rachel makes a brief cameo appearance in the DLC Wavelengths as a friend of Steph Gingrich and Chloe Price in a flashback.[23]

Reception and analysis

The portrayal of Chloe and Rachel's relationship in Before the Storm has been cited by several publications, including Gayming Magazine, as a positive example of LGBT relationships in gaming.[7][16][19][18] Critics including Kotaku noted her character as an intentional allusion or subversion of the manic pixie dream girl archetype.[24][4]

Scholar of English Renee Ann Drouin notes the devotion of numerous characters in Life is Strange to missing queer Rachel Amber. When it becomes clear that she "has been kidnapped, murdered, and potentially raped", Rachel appears as "the subject of a queer trauma archive [an in-game collection of notes and artefacts], possesses a dual role of spectre and centrepiece. Haunting the archive, she is voiceless; details about her come second hand, and there are limited artefacts to compose her history. Players cannot fully understand her sexuality without the biased influence of Chloe, who is in love with her, or the prequel game, Life Is Strange: Before the Storm."[25]

Reviewer Tim McDonald found that the series' strength of allowing "for alternative character interpretations" by showing different sides of the characters is realised for Rachel Amber only in Before the Storm: There she appears as "a free spirit who has a legitimate love for and kinship with Chloe, but maybe doesn’t entirely think things through", but a darker manipulative streak with "sudden outbursts and irrational behaviour" is also shown.[8] Emily Brown from PC Gamer remarked that while Rachel was more a plot device in Life is Strange, the prequel presents her as "a fully fleshed out and complex character, making the later events of Life is Strange even more tragic".[26]

Arts scholar Mark Kaethler points out that the root of the devastating storm in Life is Strange lies in "Rachel's fury at her father’s supposed infidelity", as transported by her performance of Prospero in The Tempest depicted in Before the Storm. When Rachel's deviation from the play's text serves to advance her relationship with Chloe, Kaethler sees two developments in play: "the romantic union between Rachel and Chloe" is "a chrono-normative bond that develops through heteronormative conventions: their love story’s arc could be said to mirror teenage heteronormative fantasies. On the other hand, however, this can only be accomplished through queering the Shakespearean text."[27]

Dramatics researcher Jonathan Partecke characterizes Rachel Amber as "confident, exciting, tantalizing", a "charismatic allrounder", and assigns her the type of fille fatale. He calls her a "hyper ideal" of rebellious "independent young women, who "truely life their live"", which may be designed to instill a last-minute panic of "never having rebelled as "well"" in the viewer. In Life is Strange Rachel seems a perfect person exactly because she is not present. Before the Storm transforms this "mythos to a character", the "cold ideal" becomes a human with faults, and it is this humanity that makes her a likeable figure.[28]

Conclusion and use of trope

The conclusion of Rachel's storyline in Life Is Strange, which it is revealed that she had been kidnapped and subsequently murdered, received negative response from critics and scholars; with Rock Paper Shotgun's Jessica Castello citing it as an LGBT variation[lower-alpha 1] of the "women in refrigerators" trope.[29][7][30][31][32][26] Criticisms of Rachel's narrative include it was exploitative, simplistic, sensational, and cliché.[6][7][32] Drouin countered that "Chloe's attachment of Rachel" is one of the elements showing that "the Life Is Strange universe equally hinges upon female devotion".[25] Castello argued that it undercut the emotional impact of Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, saying that while "Deck Nine did an admirable job in telling Chloe and Rachel’s story" it ultimately rendered a story in which... "When bad things happen to them, it just feels unfair because we already know that they suffer enough. When they’re happy, it’s only a reminder that it will be all too fleeting."[7]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. 1 2 In the context of LGBT characters, it is sometimes referred to as the "bury your gays" trope.

References

  1. ↑ "Rachel Amber Voice (Life is Strange: Before the Storm) - Behind The Voice Actors". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 15 July 2023. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  2. ↑ Browne, Emily (2017-12-11). "Talking to the voice of Rachel from Life is Strange: Before the Storm". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
  3. 1 2 3 Mejia, Ozzie (January 22, 2016). "Life is Strange co-director discusses the game's endings, production, and answers Chatty questions". Shacknews. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 Conditt, Jessica (November 23, 2017). "How 'Life is Strange' landed in Deck Nine's hands". Engadget. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Favis, Elise (March 27, 2018). "Deck Nine Talks Deleted Scenes And Queer Characters In Life Is Strange Prequel". Game Informer. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Farokhmanesh, Megan (April 5, 2018). "Life is Strange: Before the Storm dev still isn't sure the game's ending was 'the right move'". The Verge. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Castello, Jay (March 8, 2018). "Life Is Strange: Before The Storm can't escape the first game's use of harmful tropes". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  8. 1 2 McDonald, Tim (March 7, 2018). "Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Farewell – Full Season Review". PC Invasion. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Dontnod Entertainment (24 March 2015). Life Is Strange (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360). Square Enix. Level/area: Out of Time.
  10. ↑ Browne, Emily (December 11, 2017). "Talking to the voice of Rachel from Life is Strange: Before the Storm". PC Gamer. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  11. ↑ Clarke, Dan (August 5, 2016). "Gay themes and video games together at last". Star Observer. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  12. ↑ Arbuckle, Alyssa; Bath, Jon; Saklofske, Jon (2019). Feminist War Games? Mechanisms of War, Feminist Values, and Interventional Games. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000751208.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Dontnod Entertainment (24 March 2015). Life Is Strange (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360). Square Enix. Level/area: Dark Room.
  14. 1 2 3 Dontnod Entertainment (24 March 2015). Life Is Strange (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360). Square Enix. Level/area: Polarized.
  15. 1 2 Jessey, Ben (February 4, 2022). "Life Is Strange: How Did Rachel Die?". The Gamer. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  16. 1 2 Olszar, Aleksandra (December 7, 2021). "Life is Strange's Depiction of Queerness". Gamereactor. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  17. ↑ Riendeau, Danielle (September 7, 2017). "With 'Before the Storm,' Life Is Strange Finally Leans into the Gay". Vice. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  18. 1 2 Liang, Nathan (February 1, 2018). "Love Done Right". The Tech. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  19. 1 2 Hart, Aimee (February 3, 2020). "Gayme of the Week: Life is Strange Before the Storm". Gayming Magazine. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  20. ↑ Lauren Kelly. ‘Life is Strange’ prequel defies worried expectations. The Other Press. Sep 13, 2017. https://theotherpress.ca/life-is-strange-prequel-defies-worried-expectations/ |access-date=July 3, 2023. The Other Press.
  21. ↑ Knezevic, Kevin (November 8, 2018). "New Life Is Strange Comic Series Continues Max And Chloe's Story". GAMESPOT. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  22. ↑ Birks, James (2019-07-12). "Life is Strange Issue #6 – Comic Review". TheXboxHub. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  23. ↑ Carey, Sean (September 9, 2021). "Life is Strange: True Colors DLC credits confirm return of major characters [spoilers]". TrueAchievements. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  24. ↑ Hernandez, Patricia (October 23, 2017). "Life is Strange: Before The Storm Ep. Two Captures The Recklessness of Teenage Crushes". Kotaku. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  25. 1 2 Drouin, Renee Ann (2019). "Games of archiving queerly: artefact collection and defining queer romance in Gone Home and Life is Strange". Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. 16: 24–37. doi:10.33178/alpha.16.02. hdl:10468/7395.
  26. 1 2 Browne, Emily (January 19, 2018). "Life is Strange: Before the Storm broke our hearts in good and bad ways". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  27. ↑ Kaethler, Mark (2020). What's Past Is Prologue: Rewriting and Interfacing Shakespeare in Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. CSDH-SCHN 2020. doi:10.17613/gvkt-6311.
  28. ↑ Partecke, Jonathan (2021). Der ästhetische Vektor: Eine Studie über filmische Postperformativität (in German). Springer VS. p. 173, 182. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-33841-1. ISBN 978-3-658-33840-4. S2CID 245590691.
  29. ↑ Fredenburg, Tara (May 31, 2019). "QUEER LIFE IS TRAGIC: Lauren Berlant's "Cruel Optimism" and Lee Edelman's Negative Queerness in Life is Strange". Sprinkle: An Undergraduate Journal of Feminist and Queer Studies. 12 – via Digital Commons.
  30. ↑ Needham, Jessica (August 2018). "Queering Player Agency and Paratexts: An Analysis and Expansion of Queerbaiting in Video Games". Cultural Analysis and Social Theory.
  31. ↑ Pötzsch, Holger; Waszkiewicz, Agata (December 1, 2019). "Life Is Bleak (in Particular for Women Who Exert Power and Try to Change the World): The Poetics and Politics of Life Is Strange". Game Studies. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  32. 1 2 Flores, Natalie (May 16, 2019). "Why Life Is Strange 2's Ungraceful Depiction of Queerness Is Important". Paste Magazine. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
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