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There’s been plenty of talk about theCitizen Kaneof gaming, as “experts” attempt to validate and justify the medium of games by comparing it to a classic movie in increasingly tenuous and bizarre ways. Most of theseKanecomparisons are totally off-base and usually make the “experts” in question look silly.
When you try and compare one medium to another, you always run the risk of making yourself appear ludicrous in the process, but I feel that one link can be made between a certain game franchise and a certain movie franchise. It’s notCitizen Kane, but a series of films with its own iconic and undeniable impact on human culture.
If you really must hold up a videogame and say “this is like a movie,” then I believe I have found the perfect one. Instead of linkingMetroid PrimeandCitizen Kane, tryFinal FantasyandStar Wars. I think you’ll find that the similarities between the two are quite astounding.
In very much the same way asStar Wars,Final Fantasyhas established a huge legacy as one of the most significant and important properties of its medium. Whether you agree upon the quality of either series or not, the cultural impact they have made cannot be debated. I’m not a huge fan ofStar Warsmyself, but I can recognize its importance, and its pervasive influence on countless films that have appeared in its wake.
Just asStar Warsinfluenced dozens, perhaps hundreds of films over the years, the influence ofFinal Fantasycan be seen everywhere.Final Fantasypopularized the RPG genre for thousands of gamers, especially in the West, where such games had rarely been seen. Very much likeStar Wars,Final Fantasyintroduced many new concepts, helping to shape the future of RPGs in the same way thatStar Warsshaped the future of science fiction.
Final Fantasyintroduced gamers to side-perspective battles as opposed to the formerly traditional first-person RPG fights.Final Fantasy IIintroduced gamers to sequels set on entirely different worlds with entirely different characters.Final Fantasy VIIintroduced a whole new generation of console gamers with an epic PSOne experience that won millions of fresh fans. BeforeFinal Fantasy, most games were narratively shallow affairs, with mascots whose sole job was to jump around and look cool.Final Fantasyslowly introduced us to deeper and more complex stories in games. Yours truly can proudly countFinal Fantasy VIIas the game that acquainted him with the concept of videogames as potentially superior narrative devices.
Final Fantasy did with games whatStar Warsdid with movies.BeforeStar Wars, movies were generally one-shot titles that had to appeal to all ages.Star Warspopularized the idea of the “franchise” movie, where a story is told over more than one film.Star Warspushed forward the use of special effects, which up until the creation ofEpisode VIwere little more than bells and whistles to be played with rather than taken seriously.Star Warstook stereo sound into movie theaters, where once there was only monaural sound.
BothFinal FantasyandStar Warshelped to revolutionize and popularize their respective mediums, and turned the genres to which they belonged into popular and respected ones. They also both inspired countless knock-offs, as movies and games tried to follow in their wake. So many sci-fi films take their cues fromStar Wars, while there are now too many JRPGs on the market to name, all thanks toFinal Fantasy‘s immeasurable popularity.
This popularity-driven imitation can also be seen in the thousands of parodies that both franchises have inspired. Cultural references to bothFinal FantasyandStar Warsare found in TV shows, movies, videogames, and endless streams of Internet cartoons and comics. Both properties are so easy to parody because they became so recognizable. Light sabers and Darth Vader helmets are instantly known to the general public, making them easy to spoof, just as Buster Swords and Chocobos can be spotted a mile away.
Which brings me to the iconic nature of the two franchises. When you seeStar Wars, youknowit’sStar Wars. The design, the art direction, and the many well-known characters are unmistakable. Darth Vader is an entire cultural phenomenon in and of himself. The famous helmet design, the classic mechanical breathing, the brilliant vocal performance of James Earl Jones and the unforgettable scenes in which he appears have turned Darth Vader into a worldwide brand that very few people would be unable to recognize. Arguably,Final Fantasyhas its own Darth Vader in Sephiroth. Again, the famous look, the oversized sword, the endless memorable quotes and the sinister tolling of a bell to mark his presence have become ingrained into popular culture. Sure, Sephiroth is nowhere near as popular as Darth Vader in a mainstream sense, but he is definitely iconic, and has become popularized in very much the same manner as the Dark Lord of the Sith.
This iconicism doesn’t just stop at the characters and aesthetics. Even the sounds have become so pounded into our collective subconscious that we instantly know what we’re hearing when we hear it. ForStar Wars, we have the buzzing of a lightsaber or the screeching of a TIE Fighter. ForFinal Fantasy, the chiming of a menu screen or the chirping of a Chocobo. You just have to hear these things and you know where they came from and what they mean. Same goes for the music as well. WhileStar Warshas its famous epic theme,Final Fantasyhas the beautiful Crystal theme. WhileStar Warshas the Imperial March,Final Fantasyhas One Winged Angel.
The comparisons can also be drawn with the respective fanbase of each franchise.Star Warsnerds andFinal Fantasygeeks are among the most rabid. You just have to do a quick Google search to find dozens of obsessives dressed up as Luke Skywalker or Cloud Strife. Scope out the endless fan sites and online communities, and for a really good idea of how loyal a fanbase these franchises have, you can check out the madness that heralds the launch of a newStar Warsmovie orFinal Fantasygame. In Japan especially, the recent launch ofFinal Fantasy XIIIhas been just as hyped and media blitzed as the last bigStar Warsfilm.
New installments to these franchises aren’t just sequels or spin-offs — they’re events. BothStar WarsandFinal Fantasyhave managed to transcend the idea of a popular game release and become something you mark on a calender.
However, for all the positives, there are negatives as well. For ifFinal Fantasyis gaming’sStar Wars, Square Enix is cinema’s George Lucas. The similarities between the two properties run so deep that we can even draw similarities between the way in which both of them have been whored out and had their legacy stretched to breaking point by those that gave them life in the first place. The biggest example of this isFinal Fantasy VII, and how it can be compared to the horribly ill-adviced prequels that George Lucas embarked upon.
Just as the originalStar Warstrilogy was a self-contained story that never needed further explanation, so too wasFinal Fantasy VIIa perfect, bubble-enveloped experience that asked for no expansion. Yet both were subject to unnessecary follow-ups that did little more than damage the vision of the original creation. The “Celebration ofFinal Fantasy VII” systematically destroyed the magic of the classic 1998 RPG, starting with a movie sequel that could be viewed atbestas a glorified anime, and ending with not one, but at leastthreeprequels across various mediums and platforms that did what George Lucas is so fond of doing — over-explaining everything to the point wherenothingis left to the audience’s imagination, and all the mystery of the original has been totally sucked out to satisfy the ego of the creator.
Both franchises have been thoroughly whored out, with a ludicrous amount of spin-off titles and merchandising that have helpedStar WarsandFinal Fantasybecome some of the biggest cash cows in entertainment history. George Lucas ham-fistedly dragged as much mileage as he could out of his one half-decent idea, and Square Enix has done exactly the same. EvenFinal Fantasy XIIIis planned to be not one, but three games, with a PS3 exclusive calledVersusand a PSP game calledAgitoin development as part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis movement.
In terms of spin-offs, we can connectStar Wars: The Clone WarswithFinal Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. BothStar WarsandFinal Fantasyhave their accompanying “extra” sagas, aimed at children, and lapped up by the truly hardcore. There are also the crap little cartoons and specials that were destined to fail, such as theEwokscartoon and its Square Enix counterpart,Final Fantasy Unlimited.
Unlike the loose connections made betweenCitizen Kaneand any other number of videogames, it seems thatStar WarsandFinal Fantasycan be contrasted surprisingly well. Commercially, creatively and culturally, this movie and this game are incredibly similar, and the parallels are evident, plain and numerous. We could likely delve even deeper than this and truly extrapolate on the idea, but that could easily take up 150,000 words and nobody reads a blog for such huge, long-winded analysis.
Does gaming have aCitizen Kane? Unlikely, at this stage. Itdoeshave aStar Wars, however, in more ways than one, and for both good and bad reasons. Next time someone needs to make a movie comparison to satisfy their need for videogame justification, at least here’s one example that actually works for a change.
