Why Mario Works: Super Mario as Transformative Icon for the Working Class

Abstract

Nintendo's Mario has transcended the realm of character and sits firmly in the realm of icon. Despite his appearance as a simple working man, nevertheless, just as Mario takes different forms throughout his adventure series, he is also a pliable figure of transformation throughout culture in general. Mario is a transformative and easily adaptable figure in the lineage of silent film stars, but Mario echoes them even further as a specifically transformative hero of the working class, a group who greatly desire the freedom of form that he represents. Thus, it is, perhaps, unsurprising that the 1980s, the era of Mario, would look for something of a solution to the problem of the working class or at least attempt to ameliorate their situation by adding a virtuous component to working hard in order to survive, a kind of heroics that comes along with hard work and economic struggle.