June contest entries de-anon!

[virago-queen.livejournal.com]

Username: virago_queen
Class: Black Mage
# of icons: 4

Bitter, Salty, Spicy, Sweet
| | |

Title: Yuna Protagonist Essay
Summary: Argument for why Yuna is the main character of X
Characters/Pairings: Yuna!
Word count: 500ish
Rating/warnings: Heavy spoilers for X~

“This is my story.”

Tidus tells us this countless times throughout FFX, but is it really? He is commonly viewed as the game's protagonist, but according to the definition of protagonist – the character around whom the events of a narrative revolve – he isn't. Tidus is the focal character, the one telling FFX's story, and it is Yuna who is the true protagonist.

The entire plot of FFX concentrates on Yuna's pilgrimage, on her journey to save Spira from destruction. The only moments in which it is Tidus's story are the very beginning, from Zanarkand to Besaid, and the ending scene. Throughout the bulk of the game, he is a passenger, an observer, going along with Yuna as she travels the world. He has relatively few motivations of his own for accompanying Yuna, aside from a vague hope that he can get home if he sees Sin again, and later his feelings for her. In truth, Tidus plays a secondary, love interest-like role in the storyline – Yuna is the one with the drive, the purpose, and the means to carry it to fruition.

Tidus's role in Yuna's story is a large one – as her love interest, he is in many ways more important than her other guardians. But he is similar to them in that, although he has his storylines on the side, everything always comes back to Yuna's quest. Tidus's attempts to get home and conflicts with his father are similar to Auron's desire to put an end to Jecht's suffering, or Lulu and Wakka dealing with Chappu's death in that they serve to enrich the story that is being told. They are important. But the plot of FFX would still exist if they were not there. Not so with Yuna.

So why is Yuna overlooked when people discuss the protagonist of FFX? A large part is due to the fact that Tidus is the narrator, the character that the story is focalized through – usually that type of character is the protagonist, so people just assume that Tidus is, as well. He is also the character that we are most encouraged to relate to, since he is the one telling the story. Another point in his favor is that FFX ends with him – we do not continue on with Yuna's tale after he is gone. But since the main plotline has also come to an end mere moments before, this can be largely negated.

Another factor that plays a huge part is Yuna herself. Sweet, demure, and softspoken, Yuna is everything that a classical Japanese lady is supposed to be – and not what a western audience would consider a hero-figure. Since her personality is more along the lines of Rosa and Garnet, the primary love interests of their games, Yuna gets shoved into that role, as well. Her unrelenting will and great stubbornness often gets overlooked, just as much as the fact that she is the driving force in the plot. More conventional heroes like Tidus and Auron steal the spotlight, and make it easy to forget that this is Yuna's pilgrimage, Yuna's mission, Yuna's life at stake – Yuna's story.

Comments

[chacusha]

For these, the icon set is obviously a fine de-anon, but I'm not sure MWS is the place to post non-fictional meta writing like structured essays? I was pretty vague on this topic due to this de-anoning thing being new but I would think generally, if someone were to write a meta essay, it would go in airship_lounge rather than moogle_workshop. I'd be willing to give it a de-anoning bonus still, but I want the things people see in MWS and AL to be what they'd expect, and I think essays would fall more under AL's domain?

[virago-queen.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I just figured that, since AL is generally a non-points-giving comm, it would make it really complicated to post de-anons over there, not to mention essays. I mean, would a non-contest entry essay get points if it was posted in AL?

Plus, I've always considered AL to be more for discussion... *shrugs* You're the boss, though. Want me to move it, or what?

[chacusha]

since AL is generally a non-points-giving comm, it would make it really complicated to post de-anons over there, not to mention essays.
Hm yeah, good point. I think there are some things that just can't be easily given de-anon points because they don't fall neatly under the fanworks umbrella, and AL isn't a point-giving comm. For example, last game, the Sequel from Hell entries... there's no real way to de-anon for that contest unless you state on the results post "I wrote Entry #3!" or whatever.

And now that I think about it, this comm (moogle_workshop) can be watched by non-members but airship_lounge is members-only, so posting a contest entry essay to AL would just be redundant, since members can already see it in UA.

I think basically I'm more in favor of either (a) giving people a way of de-anoning for non-fanworks contests (i.e. essay and meta contests) that wouldn't require crossposting anywhere, either MWS or AL, or (b) only give de-anon points for fanworks entries. I'll bring this up in judge_magisters.

[glacialphoenix]

Tako: I think we might as well count it under the fanworks umbrella? Because for me it's still a fanwork - albeit one that is an essay (so it's a fan essay) instead of fic or art or icons. And it would make it much easier for tallying as well.

[chacusha]

That's fine, but with two conditions:

1) Counting essays as fanworks opens up a door, and so we'd need to define what counts as an essay (for example, let's say I wrote a paragraph in AL on why Sabin is one of my favorite characters and thought it was a nice analysis; would that be able to be posted to MWS as an essay? or what if I reviewed a game, or wrote up commentary on a scene -- would those count?) and we'd need a system for giving them points (unless they'd be not-for-points fanworks).

2) I think we'd still have the same problem for other meta contests in ultima_arena (for example, a contest like Sequel from Hell or the caption contest), so we'd need to pick a policy for those as well -- would people be able to de-anon, or is this bonus only intended for fanworks?

[glacialphoenix]

Throw that on JM? I'll go type up a nice response to you. XD

[chacusha]

All right, posted. :) Sorry to V for cluttering up this entry. I can screen the comments, if you like?

[virago-queen.livejournal.com]

Is no big deal, I don't care. ^^

[rayiroth.livejournal.com]

I am very interested on the outcome of this! The protagonist essay did also made me want to discuss lots of things, which can't be done in an anon setting. :)

[breyzyyin.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved your icons *and* your Yuna essay! ♥ It was one of my favorites. XD

[virago-queen.livejournal.com]

Thanks. ^^; I felt like both were rather uninspired, so I'm glad someone enjoyed them.

POINTS

[breyzyyin.livejournal.com]

10 Points to Team Black Make!

I loved your icons AND your Yuna essay. All of them were incredibly well-done--the icons were gorgeous, and the essay was really well-written and thought provoking. :D

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I came here from ff_press and I have to say I agree with your points. I had thought before of the idea that Yuna is the true protagonist but I couldn't have articulated them so well.

I think part of the point of focusing on Tidus is that he is new to an unknown place just as the player is... but really it is Yuna's story to me also.

[crimsontriforce.livejournal.com]

"Wait. You say it's your story, but it's my story, too, you know?" <3

I've been saying this since the game came out. :') I think that there's been a nice progression from FFX's "wait we can focus on someone else than the energetic male lead, let's use him as the pov instead" to XII's "huh guys we really have to put one in or marketing'll bite us, don't we?" to XIII's "Ah, screw it". It seems to me that FF as a series has been tackling one of the JRPG tropes I find most grating and I'm ever so thankful for it *fingers crossed for Noel*

Nowadays, when I think about Tidus' role in FFX's plot I am mostly fascinated by parallels, parallels everywhere, most of all with Yuna, because he learns the beauty of sacrifice (as Jecht did) just as she learns to think outside of Yevon (as Braska had, but he had no means to defy Yunalesca's truths) and at the end he willingly goes through it now that she doesn't have to anymore. That's when everything he's seen, everything he's learned come together and I find it beautiful and moving and true. I really like Tidus, his growth, his role as a pov - so brilliant in its simplicity, the narration trick, all in all I find him a great example of his trope used in an exceptional way by a plot that always knows what it's doing, bless it. But Yuna's the main character, no doubt about it. She leads the story, she's the focus of the party (oh, FFX's party dynamics, I love you so), she's the one the NPCs care for, heck she's even the focus of the idiotic subplots! Generally speaking, her trope is far from unusual in JRPGs (Tales of Symphonia's Colette and Grandia 3's Alfina, for example... well it's THE dominating trope for female leads afaik), but within that trope, her agency is unparalleled (...afaik). Others tag along their love interests, she leads.

[oddacious.livejournal.com]

Final Fantasy has always been pretty good about giving agency to that trope, however. The female lead really is a lead in most of these games. Terra headlines her own game, Aeris puts things together herself and runs off to get shit done leaving Cloud to sort it out later, Rinoa is... well, she certainly starts out as the leader of a rebel movement, at least... Garnet drives the story as she looks for the conspiracy behind her mother's hawkish behaviour, Ashe leads the rebels to reclaim Dalmasca and take vengeance on Archades.

TL;DR the female lead in FF games is almost always the mover, the male lead the navigator. I think with Yuna it became a little more obvious, but it has been present in the series for a while now.

[crimsontriforce.livejournal.com]

Agreed! FF female leads are definitely rounded characters with agency (I'm not familiar with Lenna and I can't remember what Rosa had to say about all those kidnappings, though. Whatever. She's still awesome). I just think that, barring FF6, it's become way more evident since the PS2 episodes.