The Endless End of the World: Queering the Eco-Apocalyptic Narrative of Final Fantasy VI
First author: YoungbloodYear: 2018
Abstract
This paper focuses upon developing a queer ecological reading of 1994’s Final Fantasy VI (FFVI), particularly in how the title establishes a central trope of the long-running roleplaying series in positioning a singular queerly resonant villain at the heart of a conflict that poses a direct threat to the “natural” world. FFVI positions ecological crisis as the fault of a specific individual: Kefka, a sociopathic court jester who fits the model of what queer theorist Lee Edelman deems the “sinthomosexual” and seeks to destroy the vision of a life-giving, child-centric future represented by the player’s band of plucky adventurers. The game’s narrative and gameplay mechanics literally divide the gameworld into a “before” and “after” of environmental devastation wrought by Kefka specifically—and its ending suggests the “before” can be easily and instantly restored by the player’s engagement in a systemic loop of consumption and battle, along with a narrative adherence to family, friends, and the hope of the heteronormative. I counter this narrative by drawing upon writers like Timothy Morton and Jane Bennett, who suggest a vision of ecological thought not marked by a return to some impossibly pure “origin” of nature via whatever means necessary, but a more complex mesh of matter, pollution, and debris that we learn to dwell within. The language of purity and fecundity has often been used to demarcate the queer as well, much as it does in FFVI. In playing with a mind towards resisting easy solutions and salvific narratives about the natural in a variety of forms, we may see the possibilities of how both narrative structure and gameplay systems in Final Fantasy and games beyond the series could push past idyllic visions of ecology and confront messy, fluid, unexpectedly queer landscapes we may dwell in both physically and digitally.Details
Language: EnglishCountry of affiliation: United States
Published in: Trace: A Journal of Writing, Media, and Ecology
Publication type: Journal article
Source: http://tracejournal.net/trace-issues/issue2/03-Youngblood.html
Games
No Results
Franchises
No Results