Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[Taco Bell Tower]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-verge-final-fantasy-xvi-has-a-medieval-approach-to-diversity.692200/page-13#post-107482443

I'm gonna make a post, and I'm going to ask for whoever reads it and responds to please give me the benefit of the doubt, and if I say something stupid, or dumb, or wrong it's not meant from a place of malice, it's meant from a place of ignorance, and I'm totally fine being corrected on that ignorance. I just want whoever reads it responds to understand that this post is based in good faith questioning.

Anyway.

I watched a black YouTuber talk about this article when it first came out, and he mentioned that he really didn't like the fuss involved with it. The argument he made was that the actual inspiration and design for the world comes from white stories/white history/white culture. Even though it's being made by japanese people, it's very clear that this world is being inspired by white culture and white stories. So to him, of course predominantly white. He would not expect a significant amount of black people to take front stage in a story inspired from white culture. In the same way he believes white people should take a back seat in black stories/mythologies/history. You wouldn't expect to see a ton of white people in the movie Coco. You wouldn't see Asian people play a large role in a movie like Moana. Soul, a movie about jazz, wouldn't quite hit the same way it should with a large white cast. He argues that the medievil Europe setting is clearly inspired by white tales, white history, and white culture. So in the same way that soul wouldn't quite hit the same with a white cast, so too is final fantasy xvi a white culture inspired game. He also doesn't think it really matters that japanese people are making a white culture game, in the same way that a large staff of white people made ghost of tsushima. Despite not being of the race that story comes from, they showed respect to the stories and culture they drew from. For example... There aren't a load of white people hanging out in ghost of tsushima.


Initially I was going to argue that point, but then he proactively answered my argument.

He said something to the effect of that the counterargument would be that whiteness is the default, and too many stories are white led that have no reason to be, and he conceded that point, but he still held is ground that medieval europe inspired tales are white culture in the same way that the movie soul tapped into an aspect of black culture. It's true that there is really nothing stopping square from adding in more black/poc characters in the game. Just like Soul could've had more diversity as well. But at the end of the day, soul is a movie directly inspired by black culture and stories, just like ghost of tsushima was for japanese people, just like final fantasy xvi was for white people.


And.. Honestly the argument makes sense to me.


If I'm missing important context, please let me know.