One thing I particularly love about Zack is how he manages to be legitimately heroic and a decent person even whilst serving the evil imperialist war machine of Shinra. His heroism manages to survive and thrive in spite of how objectively terrible the Shinra Electric Power Company is.
Let's be fair to Shinra here. While Zack was around, they were at their least evil. The war with Wutai is, well, a war. There's never a real good side in a war. The side missions Zack gets given is mostly dealing with monsters, Genesis copies, remnants of Wutai and exploring missions. None of these are framed in a bad light. The real evil shit happens before the game (the JENOVA experiments, for one) and after Angeal's death (where Lazard leaves after embezzling funds and the Nibelheim incident). Mosy of the game is basically Shinra sending Zack to deal with Genesis.
I'd like to see an analysis video on Noctis from FF15. So many people call him bland and forgettable, but he always felt so human, so real as a person to me
Impressive references and analysis, thank you for bringing out the depth and interrelation of good videogames and social theory. I would never have made the link with Durkheim, but you are totally right! Cheers.
Thank you so much for your work! The story of FF7 has been a big part of my journey. I had CPTSD that lead to OCD. The way FF7 portrayed heroism mental illness and the human condition gave me encouragement and comfort in dark times. It also lent it self for me a partial allegory of my faith in Jesus. I so appreciate the way you are bringing psychoanalysis to story. Very refreshing
Personally, I took Director Lazard's comment as akin to saying, "At which point do you successful reach the horizon?" What exactly is a hero? Zack never defines it. Also, to me, Zack telling Cloud "You will be my living legacy" can only be described as selfish. Angeal didn't tell Zack to emulate him, he told Zack to find his own honor and stick to it, while Zack said, "Be like me," rather than "You'll be okay" or "Look at this sword, and know you have the strength to carry on." He didn't even show any relief that Cloud was alive! Also, you said Zack "could have left Cloud behind and ran," but it looked to me like he was surrounded on all sides, nevermind that not even he could outrun a military chopper, let alone a small fleet of them. Sure, he probably wouldn't have abandoned Cloud to his fate, but to me it seemed like he had no choice but to fight for his life. And also, at the beginning of Crisis Core, he gleefully engages in a mass killing of enemies because it would look good on his record, and as far as I can recall, he never expressed regret or inherent guilt for killing people he didn't know. To me, Zack was just an idiot. He had a good heart at times, but aside from when he was interacting with those he was close to, his actions seemed to only superficially altruistic and honorable while intrinsically being self-centered. It almost seemed like he declared himself a hero more because he died in battle than because he died protecting his friend.
You have some decent points but also I think you're being incredibly uncharitable to Zack. Shinra probably expends a ton of resources and effort creating propaganda in order to make sure people don't question the status quo they've created. So many people in real life have been heavily propagandized into unquestioningly accepting terrible things like capitalism, imperialism, colonialism and genocide, manufacturing consent is a real thing, and it's really not fair to blame people for not being totally perfectly aware of what's wrong with the world they live in when they've been conditioned to accept it. Instead, the onus should be on the people who DO understand what's wrong with the world to teach people who don't.
Zack was part of an army. It's common knowledge that killing people you don't know is part of the job. The Wutai soldiers wouldn't have cared about him either. Also, Zack not being happy Cloud was alive... There is nothing for him to be happy for, he knows Cloud was alive, if you check Cloud, he makes sounds. You're literally asking Zack, who is bleeding out, to be happy Cloud recovered from a sickness. "Be my living legacy" is selfish, sure, but what last wills aren't? Zack is almost never selfish throughout the game. Making a flower wagon for a girl you barely know, being a role model for a 3rd Class, helping people with monster problems, carry on fighting after his mentor is gone and carrying his catatonic best friend across the world and dying just so that said friend may live... Does any of these sound selfish?
