The Internet Reacts To Hunter Schafer Playing A Switch For Vogue
Hunter Schafer, the actor you may know from Euphoria, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and Kojima Productions’ upcoming Xbox game OD, was recently part of a cover story and photoshoot for Vogue Magazine. Most of these photos show Schafer doing mundane things like reading and picking up trash. But one in particular has caught the eye of the games industry, as it shows her playing a Nintendo Switch, but in a way that seems a bit odd.
The “play anywhere” mantra has been key to the handheld/console hybrid device since it launched in 2017. In Schafer’s case, the “anywhere” is on the ground between a couch and a coffee table. Honestly, that’s deeply relatable to me as someone who would like to rot and play video games wherever the compulsion strikes, and sometimes that’s on the ground in inconvenient places. But in the photo, she’s holding her Switch and looking at something off-screen. The shot almost reads like she’s using the Switch as a controller for a game on a television. That would have worked for a Wii U, which has a handheld tablet as a controller but typically displayed the main action on a TV. The other option is that she’s playing her Switch on the floor, but is watching something on the TV. Who among us hasn’t been grinding out an RPG on our Switch while marathoning something on Netflix? That’s a universal experience.
The photo intentionally plays up the silliness of Schafer’s position, as we’re all prone to lose all concept of sitting comfortably while playing games. So the internet weighed in to praise the realness of gamer rot and also wonder just what could she be looking at. What could she be playing? This is where I’d ask you to weigh in about what game she’s playing, but our comments are still turned off. So just ponder it internally, for now.
Maybe the first time I've ever seen an artistic depiction of the universal experience of looking up from game on little screen to watch show on large screen https://t.co/kU8flMbH9r
— Mulvaholland Drive (@Seinpeaks) May 23, 2024
People keep saying she's using the entire console as a controller in an impossible way like she's some plebeian, but she's obviously using it in handheld mode to Masuda Method while watching something on TV. It's a very realistic scenario! https://t.co/XzCJvt5waH
— Tama (@TamashiiHiroka) May 23, 2024
what the fuck is she looking at?? your switch is in portable mode girl!!!! https://t.co/PHjO1q7UjG
— kit moving anxiety (@kitskoonk) May 22, 2024
People are saying she doesn’t look like she’s actually engaging with the Switch other than as a prop but this is the correct position to assume between loading screens when the screen is blank so you don’t see all your chins reflected back at you. https://t.co/dQAriii5Vg
— Hannah Nicklin 🍞🌹 (@hannahnicklin) May 23, 2024
do you think she's playing shin megami tensei v: vengeance https://t.co/x3V7VG3VmD
— kate bush's husband (@airbagged) May 22, 2024
“what is she looking at?” SHES COUNTING THE CARDS IN HER DRAW PILE TO FIND THE LIKELIHOOD OF DRAWING 5 STRIKES ON TURN 3 BOSS SLIME AND IF SHE SHOULD TRY TO FORCE SPLIT THEN OR LATER GOD YOU PEOPLE ARE SO FUCKING STUPID https://t.co/WD1hI69HQ6
— Ludwig’s Holy Babe (@oldwitchsring) May 22, 2024
me after getting sniped by a ten year old using water bending again https://t.co/okzR3CNPcE
— natalie watson [KEYBLADE MASTER] (@nataliewatson) May 22, 2024
Ignore the fake gamers in the comments, she’s playing Balatro while watching TV like I do constantly. https://t.co/rOTfNHkUVs
— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) May 22, 2024
Me pretending to ignore the Mario Kart loading screen so it loads faster: https://t.co/Sx6IhJcyPH
— earthghostpurrp (@EARTHGHOSTPURRP) May 22, 2024
this photo is so funny. stunningly beautiful woman, holding entire console like it’s just the controller. whatever you say, queen!!! https://t.co/wwbhweDjwd
— bailey meyers (@baileymeyers) May 23, 2024
Personally, I hope she’s playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in preparation for one day being cast as Princess Zelda in the live-action movie Nintendo greenlit. You gotta study up on the role, and what better way to do that than with a game that Zelda disappears from for dozens of hours?