What does all this paint a picture of? Juliet is both intellectually advanced and physically superior. Those bosses are great at using the environment to rain death on Juliet, but in a one-on-one fight, Juliet has the advantage. All of which are challenging, but not through physical means. Similarly her sisters – not brothers – are also zombie-slayers, and really the only men in this game with genuine power are the zombie bosses. Over the course of Juliet’s quest she is also responsible for rescuing classmates from zombies – both male and female – which presents her, physically, as the most superior being. Though his head can be placed on a zombie’s body to grant him temporary mobility, he can only move at the direction (and condescending encouragement) of Juliet. Nick is bodyless and incapable of even the most basic actions without being led by Juliet. Physically, Juliet is also greatly superior to the men around her. There are plenty more examples of this interplay throughout the game where Juliet demonstrates a greater intelligence than Nick, and, of course, at a very basic level she is the one that understands how to combat the zombie threat. So for instance early on in the game (early enough that any critic who actually played it before reviewing it should have noticed), Juliet asks Nick – the body-less head that she carries around with her – if he knows Japanese.
Starting with the character herself on the surface Juliet is indeed something straight from a 70s or 80s cheerleader film, but that’s merely a ruse with surprising subtlety the game’s writer, James Gunn, reveals an intelligent, articulate and empowered character in Juliet Sterling. But forget the marketing for a second, and look at the game itself – Lollipop Chainsaw, from start to finish, is not only turning the expectation that Juliet would be an airheaded piece of eye candy on the head it’s actually laughing at the very audience it was marketed to. Of course, it terms of the marketing is was exploitative right down the line to appeal the adolescent boys – Warner Bros needed a return on investment after all, and cheerleaders and upskirts are an easy sell. One of the more regular comments I see made about the game is that it is “sexist.” This confuses me greatly because my reading of Lollipop Chainsaw is the exact opposite – this game is one giant criticism of the sexual politics found in games. Now that Lollipop Chainsaw has been available for a while, there’s been a lot written about the game.
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