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playing final fantasy is an exercise of
love but
even the most ardent fans can agree the
plots are full of what an academia we
call
what the [ __ ] type moments are all
cloud's memories fake
is that really how interdimensional time
travel works people might wonder
why is sarah a crystal now and my
personal favorite how is titus a dream
not that he is dreaming titus literally
is a dream you know how many people have
played a final fantasy game
a lot you know how many people can
actually recount the plot of one of
these games
very few despite needlessly convoluted
storytelling the thing that fans latch
on to
is the wonderfully complex characters
and their personal struggles even though
each installment introduces a new cast
there's a significant amount of thematic
overlap that ties these characters
together and keeps the fans coming back
for more
at its core final fantasy is a series of
games that explores the intricacies of
dreams
desires spiritual environmentalism and
well
fantasy i'm jared and this is final
fantasy and psychology
part one putting the ph in fantasy on
one level final fantasy is an
exploration of the unconscious
it's a jaunt into the world of dreams
there's a difference between fantasy
and the psychoanalytic concept of
fantasy with a ph
what we traditionally think of as
fantasy is something like daydreams
wishes or desires
such as von's dreams of being a sky
pirate in ff12
or sid dreaming of being an astronaut in
ff7 or terra dreaming of her past in ff6
fantasy with a ph is the unconscious
drives behind our actions that we are
unaware of
and throughout the series we often see
physical manifestations of the
unconscious
titus is always dreaming about how much
he hates his alcoholic father
i hate you and in the same game seymour
makes the comment that he can smell the
far plane on oren
the far plane is a sort of literary
allusion to the underworld
or the dream world in final fantasy 6
they literally visit the dream world the
land of the espurs and fight the dream
suggests larry curly and mo
who beyond the three stooges reference
are sort of ironic stand-ins for the id
ego and superego in ff7 when tifa and
cloud fall into the live stream they
enter cloud's unconscious memories
in traditional psychoanalysis the
analyst talks the patient through the
process of naming their unconscious
fantasies and attaching
language to them so that they can work
out their maladies and traumas
encountering and working through trauma
is one of the defining themes of the
final fantasy games
ff characters always have a ton of
psychological baggage
cyan is tasked with seeing his family on
the phantom train that
carries the dead to the other side cloud
goes through a whole wreck of trauma
between the loss of his friend the
burning of his hometown
and hojo's experiments messing with his
memories cloud is basically broken
and his initial reaction to the trauma
isn't the greatest
zadon cracks when he finds out that he's
a genome a manufactured soulless being
in final fantasy 10 spirits become
vengeful if they can't overcome the
trauma of their death
and rex from final fantasy 12 is so
shaken by surviving the murder of his
family that he's institutionalized
and then there's the sorry case of
veebee the saddest little scarecrow in
blackface in the history of gaming his
loss is not just the morning of a friend
or a loved one
it's something akin to freud's
discussion of melancholia
of a self-directed sadness beyond object
loss what vivi has lost can never be
regained the
innocence of youth of belief in
immortality phoebe finds out that he's
just a mass-produced war doll with a
shelf life of about a year
the mages just sort of wake up into
consciousness are thrown into the world
like frankenstein's monster disconnected
from their creator and radically without
purpose
this existential quagmire is a microcosm
for the human condition as finite beings
we all grapple with the question
what does it mean to be a being that
will one day die how he's supposed to go
on with this knowledge seems to be his
central character arc
and the hint is there the name vivi is
literally italian for life
so the answer find a way to live one
reaction to trauma
is also the best part of soap operas
amnesia the way soap operas write
characters that they've killed back onto
the show is
pretty hilarious no your favorite soap
hunk isn't really dead
he has amnesia or is really his evil
twin
i wish that final fantasy were different
i really wish that it was
going back over these games the most
frequent plot hole fix is of course
amnesia in final fantasy 6 tara can't
remember being an esper and rachel falls
off a bridge and loses her memories
in seven cloud has all sorts of false
memories in final fantasy viii
selfie kisses cipher alone zell and
squall were all somehow
suppressing a memory of living in an
orphanage together as kids
in final fantasy 9 fratley is suffering
from amnesia garnett forgot a giant die
in the sky that destroyed her city
and feng in final fantasy 13 also has
amnesia
but none of this compares to titus yeah
we're going there again
what the [ __ ] titus doesn't just have
amnesia he's forgotten that he isn't a
real boy he's
actually a dream i'm sorry i just can't
get over this it's not that you're
dreaming
you are a dream when people think of the
fantasy element of final fantasy they
often think of something like
larping and the magic that gives it that
fantasy feel but lest we forget that
some are decidedly sci-fi
the real fantasy that binds these games
together is a struggle with trauma
part two bad guys and death drive and
the desire for annihilation
while each big boss in the games have
interesting justifications for their
actions
most also act as a response to trauma
looking for a way to explain the
motivation of soldiers returning from
world war one
afflicted with motivation that was
inexplicable using his drives based on
eros or sexuality
freud coined the term the death drive or
death instinct
sometimes called thanatos the death
drive is an instinct or a drive towards
self-destruction it's a desire to return
to inorganic chemistry where all desires
are satisfied it is a desire to be free
of conflict or suffering
kind of like curling up on a couch with
some ice cream in sherlock forever this
manifests in a desire for either
self-annihilation or apotheosis
a desire to transform into a god
and much like prometheus faith in and
icarus cutting corners on a path to
divinity doesn't usually end well
in final fantasy 9 cooge's response to
his finitude and inevitable impending
death
is destroy all life with him in one
blaze of glory
in final fantasy vii sephiroth is an
abandoned and lonely soul that attempts
to gain ultimate power by harnessing the
life stream of the planet by hitting it
with a giant meteor
many of these antagonists justify their
actions from the perspective of negative
utilitarianism
unlike traditional utilitarianism that
attempts to maximize happiness
negative utilitarianism is all about
minimizing suffering
and the surest way to ensure that there
is net less suffering forever is to
quickly snuff out all of life so that it
can never suffer again
in final fantasy 13 the falci want to
eliminate all disharmony and suffering
by bringing back the maker to
re-establish order and peace i will set
you free
in final fantasy 10 seymour grew up with
all the suffering taunting and
harassment of being a half-breed so
his solution helped sin destroy spira to
end all suffering on the planet
if all life were to end in spira
all suffering would end don't you see
part three the environment and the world
as standing reserve
with all the crystals in the final
fantasy series overlooking new age
spirituality would be a mistake
exemplified by shops that sell incense
wind chimes
australian didgeridoos polished rocks
and a lot of crystals the new age
movement gained traction in the 1970s
and is an amalgam of spiritual beliefs
that stress
holistic divinity and the
interconnectedness of all life
while not necessarily related to new age
spirituality the gaia hypothesis
is similar in that it asserts that the
earth is one harmonious living system
and disrupting that system has serious
implications for everyone living on the
earth
final fantasy seems to take a lot of
inspiration from the gaia hypothesis
in final fantasy vii all life goes back
to the planet as life stream
in final fantasy 12 9 7 the planet is
aptly named gaia whether it's an evil
corporation
or a megalomaniac moving crystals or
statues around
the games focus on a balance with the
environment and as such
is full of environmentalist undertones
in seven cloud is in cahoots with an
environmental terrorist group that
challenges the exploitative shinra
corporation
the albed and final fantasy 10 are the
last users of machina
a type of technology whereas most of the
world is anti-technology
sin is sort of like a mix between the
unabomber and the sea
shepherd if they were a giant whale
beast
thing its purpose for existence is to
punish people for using technology but
to focus
just on technology misses out on the
root of the problem something more is
going on than your usual captain planet
tree hugger affair
final fantasy vii tips its hat with the
introduction of a minor character
heidegger that's right the notorious
martin himself the master of being in
time makes an appearance as the head of
public safety for the shinra corporation
in his work the question of technology
martin heidegger asks
what is the essence of technology
heidegger's answer nothing technological
rather the drive to technology is based
not in machines but in a particular type
of thinking and seeing
called in framing and framing renders
the totality of the field of vision or
the earth to beshtan
or standing reserve as a matter simply
waiting to be exploited for us
the way the schindler corporation merely
sees life stream as a means to make the
profitable substance mako or how dracula
laboratories artificially creates
nethersite or how the falci are enslaved
to power the cities of cocoon
or extracting magic from espers are all
examples of in framing
it stems from an inauthentic need to
master and control the world
to settle the wilderness to pacify the
precocity of life by making everything
needed
ready at hand however the urge to
mastery doesn't just end at objects when
humanity views life from the perspective
of instrumentality
human beings themselves are seen as
standing reserve as materials as a means
to an end
it's a form of objectification and
subjugation throughout the entirety of
the series there are odd parallels
between the world and politics of final
fantasy and the fascist genocidal
regimes of earth
a couple of shared elements might be a
coincidence but final fantasy 4's
murderous antagonist
is called golbez which bears a striking
resemblance to the minister of
propaganda for the nazi reich
paul joseph goebbels jewish imagery is
also interspersed throughout the game
sephiroth is close to seffirot the 10
attributes of god
final fantasy 13 takes place under the
backdrop of the relocation and mass
execution of the lacie
called the purge lacie are a branded
people chosen by the falcy gods and
final fantasy vii
takes place under the guise that they
will return to the promised land
complete with a joseph mengele-like
character in the maniacal hojo
mengele of course was one of the nazi
doctors responsible for selecting people
for the gas chambers and human
experimentation in auschwitz
experimentation and objectification are
constant themes in final fantasy
in eight idea is possessed by ultimisha
to help advance her master plan to
possess people in several timelines
celeste is created through genetic
engineering in final fantasy vi
in final fantasy 13 cocoon is a giant
production facility to create human
thralls for the falci
and just like prison sex hooja does what
has done to him creating a production
facility of black mage dolls as weapons
that reflect his
own empty puppet-like existence as a
genome also
trains final fantasy 6 has the phantom
train 7 has several trains eight has the
timber train
nine has an air cab that is a sort of
monorail 12 has abandoned railroad
tracks everywhere
and in 13 trains transport lacie to
their mass extermination the role of
railroads are significant given the
history of their use for the
acceleration of the mass
exodus and elimination of people in nazi
germany and through facilitating the
extermination of the native people of
north america through the expansion of
the western border into indigenous lands
trains have always been a symbol of
technological advancement they stand as
the archetype of the industrial
revolution and manifest destiny in
dostoevsky's the idiot
trains were even a symbol of the
antichrist as a sort of bad omen
trains are a reminder of the power of
technology and the responsibility that
comes with wielding immense power
whether it be medieval times or space
epics in final fantasy
magic is treated pretty similar to
technology and in some instances they
are used interchangeably
it isn't a question of technology or
magic being bad in and of itself
their responsibility lies in the hands
that use the tools or cast the spells
conclusion final fantasy in the end is
about the unbreakable human spirit
about overcoming impossible odds of
persevering when success seems like a
pipe dream or a fantasy
it's about the power of friendship love
and the transformative potential of hope
no one decides to sacrifice their lives
in final fantasy 10. they all choose to
accept a world of death
suffering and pain all the party members
in seven find a reason to fight for the
planet and in nine the party fights
against necron and asserts a will to
live
even angstfield vivi finds the will to
make little vivy babies and in final
fantasy vi
they respond to kefka's nihilism with
it's the day-to-day concerns
personal victories and the celebration
of life and love
that matters hey wisecrack thanks for
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in the meantime i gotta go [ __ ] up
nashandra for the dark souls video
catch y'all next time peace
you