Venus Meets Venus

Venus Meets Venus is a linear hypertext story, as is described in the opening passages (see title of review). One of the links in each passage always advances the story, while the other links function as asides or footnotes. It is a story of a relationship between two women, Lynn (the narrator) and Macy, and their struggles through sexuality and politics. Both of them are normal, flawed people (Lynn much more flawed, seemingly). The writing is excellent throughout. The language can be overwrought sometimes, but there are so many memorable lines. While there are no "branches" in the narrative, it feels much more interactive than it actually is. Links function as pacing and a way to explore Lynn's thought processes. She is someone who feels as if she lives on autopilot, and always picks the worst choice at any moment.

This was one of the first twine things I had ever played, and it was one of the reasons I became interested in interactive narrative in the first place. It was really influential for me.

Personal notes: (Spoiler - click to show)I played this game during a time when I was starting to come to the realization that I was trans and queer or something like that. It was one of the first stories I read that featured a literal non-metaphorical trans woman as a main character, and treated her as someone who was basically a normal person, and was someone who could be desirable. For better or for worse I saw bits of myself in both of the main characters. I'm not sure the story would have resonated with me as much if I hadn't been able to personally identify with the experiences described.

By most metrics concerning interactive fiction, this game is very flawed: it is far too linear even for a Twine game, the writing can be overwritten, the metaphors are heavy, etc.

But it might be one of the most incisive, rawest works about LGBTQ+ relationships ever. The major theme of the game is acceptance, but unfortunately that can be complicated for reasons rarely explored even by the most beloved queer media.

The protagonist, Lynn, has a complicated relationship with Macy. Throughout the story, she wonders if Macy is the person she wants to be with. But she keeps finding reasons to not get close to her: she hesitates; she loathes herself for not being a good ally; she doesn't know why she can't accept Macy for who she is, so she keeps finding ways to make Macy someone more comprehensible to her.

This often means categorizing her into a simple stereotype. I am reminded of what the creator of the Caligula Effect series had to say about the young LGBTQ+ people of today:

"When you say 'LGBTQ people have these kinds of problems' in the hopes of getting outsiders to quickly empathize with them, it actually means that you’re categorizing them by seeing them through a uniform perspective. It may not be a huge, drastic mistake, but it’s very different from something like being talked about as a single element of potential knowledge and feeling that you’ve actually been properly understood."

However, this train of small mistakes culminates into a huge fuck up, which the game constantly warns you about since the very beginning. You know Lynn is going to fuck up somehow and the limited choice sets mean you'll see her fuck up very hard. She wants to make amends, but she keeps making mistakes and she knows that. She doesn't know how to accept Macy in a way that works for both of them. It's clear she has feelings for her, but she keeps fucking up for various reasons related to sexuality, gender, and just utter confusion.

The story explores so many interesting aspects about this relationship but also leaves questions unanswered. Why? It's obviously intentional; LGBTQ+ acceptance remains an unsolved mystery, even for queer people and their purported allies. It's difficult to accept that we can't ever understand someone 100%, even if we love and "accept" them. Acceptance is much, much more complicated than waving a flag and marching in some Pride thing. It's psychological, physiological, and everything in-between. We want easy answers, especially when it comes to sexuality. It would be nice if answers like "just accept, man" are fine, but they don't come easy for everyone involved. People don't just accept trans rights, that's a fantasy for people who believe transphobia can be erased with the snap of a finger.

We, even the queer folks, are all suffering because we find it difficult to accept queerness in our lives. After all, we are born under this heteronormative patriarchy hellscape. Accepting the unacceptable is anathema to even the queerest of people.

I see this story not just about relationships but about untangling what it means to be queer even today. I'm shocked this is a 2014 work because it feels like something many queer people today are figuring out themselves. I don't think it's prescient; rather, the game is far more honest than even LGBTQ+ discourses today.

I appreciate its honesty. Venus Meets Venus is a messy work that, in spite of its flaws, melts my heart. I can't really stress how much the characters hurt my soul and yet, they are lovable in their own right. It's queer in a way that isn't lovable by mainstream conventions but what I want to see more.

Without delay, Venus Meets Venus makes it clear: this relationship will not end well, and the blame for it will fall squarely upon the protagonist's shoulders. Knowing this, I instinctively braced myself. How is it going to happen? Will it be related to this detail, or maybe that one? Ah, surely it'll involve this. Is Lynn going to say something thoughtless and stupid? Will there be a big fight of some kind?

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop — and it is to the writing's credit that it never does. Of course it doesn't; that'd be too simple, too easy. Had Lynn only made a singular big mistake that ruined everything, she could've comforted herself by thinking, ah, if only I hadn't done that one thing. If only I'd made a different choice at that point. Then, everything would've been fine. But what to do when one's failures are instead numerous, yet nearly invisible individually? What comfort can be had if, by the time you notice their accumulation, it's already long been too late?

As someone who's grown rather tired of straightforward, successful romance stories, Venus Meets Venus is energizing. I might've found the narration a little too dramatic or blunt at times, but it's hard for me to complain about that when the characters of Lynn and Macy, as well as their relationship, are all so soberingly real. Yes! Give me not fantasy, but this: the depressing, unsolvable complexity of the real world.

All of the above would have already been enough to make Venus stand out as a queer work, but it is the specifics of its realism that marks it as one of the greats in my mind. I've simply not seen anything else ever acknowledge the particular kind of transphobic violence it details, and honestly, no wonder. It's difficult to even imagine this desire to make things simple, to flatten individual complexities into easily-digestible general narratives, as violence in the first place. Further, these narratives have become so entrenched in society as of late that they've become nearly inescapable — hell, even I succumb to them sometimes, and I'm a trans woman too.

But this is still violence. This is still dehumanization. If there is a core to all of Lynn's failures, then surely it is (Spoiler - click to show)her instinct to see Macy as a "Trans Woman", rather than a person. And how beautiful it is that, unlike what the game claims at the start, I actually can't blame her for it. After all, who is at fault here: her as an individual, or an entire society that has come to care more about Representation than the lives of real human beings?

It truly boggles the mind that Venus Meets Venus is nearly 10 years old, when it feels like it could've been written today. We long have been, and still continue to be, in desperate need of more stories like it.