I'm always cautious about drawing comparisons between FF and Japan, because of my own ignorance. On the one hand, I'm trying to escape imposing western interpretations on something that isn't (see: taking Yevon and the pilgrimage as Christian allegory when Christianity almost doesn't exist in Japan and Buddhism and Shinto symbols are all over the place in the game). On the other, I don't know enough about Japan to break free of the blinkers, so I never know whether my guesses are right.
Hm. The socialist/cultural revolution analogy does seem more apt. Because that does happen fast. Real-world Japan couldn't do that unobstructed, as you say, with the American occupation shaping the forms their institutions could take. Maybe youth culture did more, because that was one area that was hard to control? I feel like there was a lot of blaming WWII on the older generation and trying to reject everything they stood for. That's Youth League; New Yevon tries not to lose their values.
It's an interesting basis for a fantasy world's factional clashes. I just wish FFX-2 hadn't dwelt so much on extremely superficial stuff like matchmaking minigames and had spent more time on THAT. Then again, part of the point of all the silly random games is that people had no idea what to do with themselves, and silly pointless activities were finally allowed, so they were making up for lost time.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2015-06-07 06:27 pm (UTC)Hm. The socialist/cultural revolution analogy does seem more apt. Because that does happen fast. Real-world Japan couldn't do that unobstructed, as you say, with the American occupation shaping the forms their institutions could take. Maybe youth culture did more, because that was one area that was hard to control? I feel like there was a lot of blaming WWII on the older generation and trying to reject everything they stood for. That's Youth League; New Yevon tries not to lose their values.
It's an interesting basis for a fantasy world's factional clashes. I just wish FFX-2 hadn't dwelt so much on extremely superficial stuff like matchmaking minigames and had spent more time on THAT. Then again, part of the point of all the silly random games is that people had no idea what to do with themselves, and silly pointless activities were finally allowed, so they were making up for lost time.