Protagonists?
Apr. 19th, 2010 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sathor I was up for a bit of nostalgia so I decided to reinstall Final Fantasy 7. Seven and eight were always my favorites, and the truth is it's because they follow a much more appealing framework.
Cloud and Squall both represent true protagonists...in FF10, we had Tidus who was more or less a teenager who's life had been pretty good...he was a blitzball star until things went ballistic and he started time travelling/getting teleported due to SIN, whatever SIN might represent. Interestingly enough the TV channels in Midgar (FF7) also have the word SIN (Shinra Information Network?) plastered on them, as though it's either indicative of the name of the network or literally just a metaphor for Television in general. I'll be playing through FF8 again following FF7, hopefully to find yet more similarities. In Final Fantasy 12, we have a kid from the slums who basically ends up leading a team against an entire military empire...and yes, I mean a kid. A child. Not even a fully grown teenager. Definitely very disinteresting, very immature writing...Bosch was by far the real protagonist but he is not introduced until later, actually stabs his sword into the main character and (possibly?) kills his brother in the very beginning of the game. The earlier final fantasies never quite had their stories as well developed, although the light warriors in FF1 certainly represent true protagonists, but we know nothing about them as characters, we only know their story starting from the beginning of the game. In FF2 we have "Onion Kids."
But Squall and Cloud, they are both rather special characters. Cloud is genetically modified, infused with Mako (spiritual/physical) energies and doesn't quite remember much of anything about himself - although as far as we can tell Tifa is indeed his real childhood friend, he steals the memories of Zack, and this Zack character has connections with both Tifa and Aeris. He's violent, irrational and without direction until he meets up with Barret and AVALANCHE, and eventually the emotional ties he develops, having previously lacked seemingly any whatsoever, grants him purpose and meaning to his life, as well as an understanding of what is really going on in the world - how terrible Shinra and Mako reactors really are - and puts him on a collision with the antagonist Sephiroth. With the fall of the plate above Sector 7 in Midgar, every single person Cloud had worked with and became close to is killed besides Tifa, Barret and Aeris. The irony is that it is their own actions which cause this result, and it is also an act of karma, as a great number of innocents were killed in the first reactor explosion which was initiated by AVALANCHE.
Squall on the other hand is a quiet, almost anti-hero. He hardly remembers any of his youth before the orphanage, where he and the others who eventually join his party were all once a part of. Garden takes them into their hands to raise and train as soldiers eventually, but they become split up and forget mostly everything about each other, partially due to the powerful entities they have to contain within themselves to fight effectively, but also likely because they were first taken by Garden at a young age, none of them even teenagers yet. His life is sad and meaningless, and he's not even quite sure why he fights for Garden...but it's all he has ever known. Eventually the plot of the time-travelling sorceress Ultimecia is made aware to him and his allies, and this is the final catalyst that drives the plot line to the inevitable final confrontation. Squall, however, and his love for Rinoa, is definitely a focal point of the story as well. Cloud does not have this - Tifa and Aeris are basically fighting over him up until the point where Aeris is slain by Sephiroth, and the storyline never quite develops in such a way as to make one or the other a true love interest. Even in Advent Children, which gives us an understanding of what happens after the game ends, Cloud hasn't exactly hooked up with his childhood friend who was always infuriated by Cloud's attention towards Aeris. It seems out hero ultimately obsesses over the death of Aeris - maybe that was his true love? I suppose if it were a book, Aeris would have been the one - but her death would have definitely left a place in his heart for Tifa. Besides, Zack dated Aeris.
Cloud and Squall both represent true protagonists...in FF10, we had Tidus who was more or less a teenager who's life had been pretty good...he was a blitzball star until things went ballistic and he started time travelling/getting teleported due to SIN, whatever SIN might represent. Interestingly enough the TV channels in Midgar (FF7) also have the word SIN (Shinra Information Network?) plastered on them, as though it's either indicative of the name of the network or literally just a metaphor for Television in general. I'll be playing through FF8 again following FF7, hopefully to find yet more similarities. In Final Fantasy 12, we have a kid from the slums who basically ends up leading a team against an entire military empire...and yes, I mean a kid. A child. Not even a fully grown teenager. Definitely very disinteresting, very immature writing...Bosch was by far the real protagonist but he is not introduced until later, actually stabs his sword into the main character and (possibly?) kills his brother in the very beginning of the game. The earlier final fantasies never quite had their stories as well developed, although the light warriors in FF1 certainly represent true protagonists, but we know nothing about them as characters, we only know their story starting from the beginning of the game. In FF2 we have "Onion Kids."
But Squall and Cloud, they are both rather special characters. Cloud is genetically modified, infused with Mako (spiritual/physical) energies and doesn't quite remember much of anything about himself - although as far as we can tell Tifa is indeed his real childhood friend, he steals the memories of Zack, and this Zack character has connections with both Tifa and Aeris. He's violent, irrational and without direction until he meets up with Barret and AVALANCHE, and eventually the emotional ties he develops, having previously lacked seemingly any whatsoever, grants him purpose and meaning to his life, as well as an understanding of what is really going on in the world - how terrible Shinra and Mako reactors really are - and puts him on a collision with the antagonist Sephiroth. With the fall of the plate above Sector 7 in Midgar, every single person Cloud had worked with and became close to is killed besides Tifa, Barret and Aeris. The irony is that it is their own actions which cause this result, and it is also an act of karma, as a great number of innocents were killed in the first reactor explosion which was initiated by AVALANCHE.
Squall on the other hand is a quiet, almost anti-hero. He hardly remembers any of his youth before the orphanage, where he and the others who eventually join his party were all once a part of. Garden takes them into their hands to raise and train as soldiers eventually, but they become split up and forget mostly everything about each other, partially due to the powerful entities they have to contain within themselves to fight effectively, but also likely because they were first taken by Garden at a young age, none of them even teenagers yet. His life is sad and meaningless, and he's not even quite sure why he fights for Garden...but it's all he has ever known. Eventually the plot of the time-travelling sorceress Ultimecia is made aware to him and his allies, and this is the final catalyst that drives the plot line to the inevitable final confrontation. Squall, however, and his love for Rinoa, is definitely a focal point of the story as well. Cloud does not have this - Tifa and Aeris are basically fighting over him up until the point where Aeris is slain by Sephiroth, and the storyline never quite develops in such a way as to make one or the other a true love interest. Even in Advent Children, which gives us an understanding of what happens after the game ends, Cloud hasn't exactly hooked up with his childhood friend who was always infuriated by Cloud's attention towards Aeris. It seems out hero ultimately obsesses over the death of Aeris - maybe that was his true love? I suppose if it were a book, Aeris would have been the one - but her death would have definitely left a place in his heart for Tifa. Besides, Zack dated Aeris.
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Date: 2010-04-20 06:55 am (UTC)And Cloud has to dress up as a girl for you to find her there ;)
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Date: 2010-04-20 06:56 am (UTC)