Your most powerful magic-using support character? Hope, a male!
Oh dear Lord, I think you're reading my mind. I LOVE this. It even goes beyond that, though; he is the only party member to fit the traditional heroine archetype. Vulnerable, needs the protection of the hero (Lightning - and, in fact, Vanille earlier on), serves as the gentle and emotional one who draws the hero out of their shell? He's totally the Aerith to Lightning's Cloud. And the storyline never emasculates him for needing Lightning's protection, or having such a close relationship with his mother, either.
And the other great thing about XIII is that - well, a lot of discussions like this (including your argument) end up implying that traditionally feminine things, from being a support class to being soft-spoken, are inherently weak, and the game trampled all over that. As you mentioned, Vanille is very much the quintessential girly-girl, and she's also one of the biggest movers and shakers in the game. Not just girl power, but girliness power, alongside the traditional (and also very important, don't get me wrong) girl-power archetypes of Fang and Lightning.
While I'm ranting about the three of them, you complained about all the female-fronted games being ensemble pieces. Although this is a very valid argument, the ensemble format of FFXIII basically just split the lead between three awesome ladies.
As to the other games, I'm really not too qualified to talk about them. I do know enough to say that you're right about them being primarily magic users, and your description of FFVIII fits my limited knowledge to a T and does sound amazingly creepy. As to FFVII, when you say Tifa suffers from being too supportive of Cloud - I'm not as familiar with canon as I should be, but you're exactly right: she suffers . It's almost a deconstruction of the silently supportive heroine role, isn't it? Because there really are people who try to do that, and I thought Advent Children , especially, showed how much pain that caused her. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me to be really showing how roles like that actually work, and in doing so made her a totally three-dimensional person. I could be wrong here, or twisting it because I adore her, but that's certainly how I see it.
I do agree that we need at least more nonconventionally attractive women, which might even be happening - have you noticed that in the promotional materials available for FFVersusXIII, Stella has been shown wearing a) a calf-length dress with very modest cleavage, and b)
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First of all:
<i> Your most powerful magic-using support character? Hope, a male! </i>
Oh dear Lord, I think you're reading my mind. I LOVE this. It even goes beyond that, though; he is the only party member to fit the traditional heroine archetype. Vulnerable, needs the protection of the hero (Lightning - and, in fact, Vanille earlier on), serves as the gentle and emotional one who draws the hero out of their shell? He's totally the Aerith to Lightning's Cloud. And the storyline never emasculates him for needing Lightning's protection, or having such a close relationship with his mother, either.
And the other great thing about XIII is that - well, a lot of discussions like this (including your argument) end up implying that traditionally feminine things, from being a support class to being soft-spoken, are inherently weak, and the game trampled all over that. As you mentioned, Vanille is very much the quintessential girly-girl, and she's also one of the biggest movers and shakers in the game. Not just girl power, but girliness power, alongside the traditional (and also very important, don't get me wrong) girl-power archetypes of Fang and Lightning.
While I'm ranting about the three of them, you complained about all the female-fronted games being ensemble pieces. Although this is a very valid argument, the ensemble format of FFXIII basically just split the lead between <i> three </i> awesome ladies.
As to the other games, I'm really not too qualified to talk about them. I do know enough to say that you're right about them being primarily magic users, and your description of FFVIII fits my limited knowledge to a T and does sound amazingly creepy. As to FFVII, when you say Tifa suffers from being too supportive of Cloud - I'm not as familiar with canon as I should be, but you're exactly right: she <i> suffers </i>. It's almost a deconstruction of the silently supportive heroine role, isn't it? Because there really are people who try to do that, and I thought <i> Advent Children </i>, especially, showed how much pain that caused her. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me to be really showing how roles like that actually work, and in doing so made her a totally three-dimensional person. I could be wrong here, or twisting it because I adore her, but that's certainly how I see it.
I do agree that we need at least more nonconventionally attractive women, which might even be happening - have you noticed that in the promotional materials available for FFVersusXIII, Stella has been shown wearing a) a calf-length dress with very modest cleavage, and b) <a href="http://www.finalfantasyxiii.net/images/characters/stella-nox-fleuret.jpg" an outfit that would turn no heads if worn on the street? </a> And that her face is less model-pretty than it is really expressive? And the B-cups?
Basically, I think you're really right, but I also think that things are improving, a lot. I'm interested in knowing whether you agree.
Wow, there's a LOT of interesting stuff there.
Your most powerful magic-using support character? Hope, a male!
Oh dear Lord, I think you're reading my mind. I LOVE this. It even goes beyond that, though; he is the only party member to fit the traditional heroine archetype. Vulnerable, needs the protection of the hero (Lightning - and, in fact, Vanille earlier on), serves as the gentle and emotional one who draws the hero out of their shell? He's totally the Aerith to Lightning's Cloud. And the storyline never emasculates him for needing Lightning's protection, or having such a close relationship with his mother, either.
And the other great thing about XIII is that - well, a lot of discussions like this (including your argument) end up implying that traditionally feminine things, from being a support class to being soft-spoken, are inherently weak, and the game trampled all over that. As you mentioned, Vanille is very much the quintessential girly-girl, and she's also one of the biggest movers and shakers in the game. Not just girl power, but girliness power, alongside the traditional (and also very important, don't get me wrong) girl-power archetypes of Fang and Lightning.
While I'm ranting about the three of them, you complained about all the female-fronted games being ensemble pieces. Although this is a very valid argument, the ensemble format of FFXIII basically just split the lead between three awesome ladies.
As to the other games, I'm really not too qualified to talk about them. I do know enough to say that you're right about them being primarily magic users, and your description of FFVIII fits my limited knowledge to a T and does sound amazingly creepy. As to FFVII, when you say Tifa suffers from being too supportive of Cloud - I'm not as familiar with canon as I should be, but you're exactly right: she suffers . It's almost a deconstruction of the silently supportive heroine role, isn't it? Because there really are people who try to do that, and I thought Advent Children , especially, showed how much pain that caused her. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me to be really showing how roles like that actually work, and in doing so made her a totally three-dimensional person. I could be wrong here, or twisting it because I adore her, but that's certainly how I see it.
I do agree that we need at least more nonconventionally attractive women, which might even be happening - have you noticed that in the promotional materials available for FFVersusXIII, Stella has been shown wearing a) a calf-length dress with very modest cleavage, and b)
<i> Your most powerful magic-using support character? Hope, a male! </i>
Oh dear Lord, I think you're reading my mind. I LOVE this. It even goes beyond that, though; he is the only party member to fit the traditional heroine archetype. Vulnerable, needs the protection of the hero (Lightning - and, in fact, Vanille earlier on), serves as the gentle and emotional one who draws the hero out of their shell? He's totally the Aerith to Lightning's Cloud. And the storyline never emasculates him for needing Lightning's protection, or having such a close relationship with his mother, either.
And the other great thing about XIII is that - well, a lot of discussions like this (including your argument) end up implying that traditionally feminine things, from being a support class to being soft-spoken, are inherently weak, and the game trampled all over that. As you mentioned, Vanille is very much the quintessential girly-girl, and she's also one of the biggest movers and shakers in the game. Not just girl power, but girliness power, alongside the traditional (and also very important, don't get me wrong) girl-power archetypes of Fang and Lightning.
While I'm ranting about the three of them, you complained about all the female-fronted games being ensemble pieces. Although this is a very valid argument, the ensemble format of FFXIII basically just split the lead between <i> three </i> awesome ladies.
As to the other games, I'm really not too qualified to talk about them. I do know enough to say that you're right about them being primarily magic users, and your description of FFVIII fits my limited knowledge to a T and does sound amazingly creepy. As to FFVII, when you say Tifa suffers from being too supportive of Cloud - I'm not as familiar with canon as I should be, but you're exactly right: she <i> suffers </i>. It's almost a deconstruction of the silently supportive heroine role, isn't it? Because there really are people who try to do that, and I thought <i> Advent Children </i>, especially, showed how much pain that caused her. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me to be really showing how roles like that actually work, and in doing so made her a totally three-dimensional person. I could be wrong here, or twisting it because I adore her, but that's certainly how I see it.
I do agree that we need at least more nonconventionally attractive women, which might even be happening - have you noticed that in the promotional materials available for FFVersusXIII, Stella has been shown wearing a) a calf-length dress with very modest cleavage, and b) <a href="http://www.finalfantasyxiii.net/images/characters/stella-nox-fleuret.jpg" an outfit that would turn no heads if worn on the street? </a> And that her face is less model-pretty than it is really expressive? And the B-cups?
Basically, I think you're really right, but I also think that things are improving, a lot. I'm interested in knowing whether you agree.