Final Fantasy VII (Henceforth known as FF7), was a role-playing video game (RPG), that was developed by SquareSoft in 1997 for the PlayStation gaming platform. The game’s narrative follows the protagonist Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist organisation known as AVALANCHE, to stop the world’s mega-corporation Shinra from draining the life of the planet to use as an energy source. Cloud and his allies later become involved in a world-threatening conflict surrounding the game’s primary antagonist Sephiroth.
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As with any RPG, the characters within FF7 traverse the world and visit various locales. For this essay, we will be analysing one of the key cities of the game, Midgar, which is also the capital city and power base of the Shinra Corporation. Midgar embodies countless themes that can easily be related in the real world such as crony capitalism and the authoritarian power that powerful organisations can wield.
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Midgar itself is the most advanced city within the world of FF7. The city is constructed in a circular manner, in which an upper city, or the city proper is held above ground by eight ‘Mako Reactors’ and a central support pillar which form a ‘plate’, (Mako being the in-game energy source harvested from the planet). The upper city is reserved for the wealthy and Shinra Corporation, while beneath the plate resides the ‘slums.’ This essay will semiotically analyse key signs that support the ideology of the socioeconomic divide between upper and lower class and how some of these signs can be related to real world situations.
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One of the key components that support the fact that there is a clear class divide is through use of the upper and lower sectors of Midgar. These areas are divided by a series of plates which support the upper city, which effectively form a pizza shape. Combined, these plates effectively shut off and segregate the lower-class citizens. This plate is a literal divide between both social classes. Below are images as an example of the divide.
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Carrillo (2015)
Makoeyes987 (2009)
With the image on the right, what we denotatively see is the upper city, which is well lit and lively above the plate, while everything below is dark, has washed out colours and hidden away. The connotations that this evokes can be largely thanks to the lighting and colour. The areas beneath the city are all browns and dark colours. By using colour theory in this sense, the darker tones of brown within this image induce negative feelings, as opposed to the brighter, upper city that feels more regal.
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The colour brown can “give the impression of cheapness and stinginess in certain circumstances,” (Scott-Kemmis 2016), as well as bring about the connotations of frugality, being materialistic, dull, predictable and having a lack of sophistication. These are all easily recognisable traits of the slums, which within FF7 is rife with criminal activity, being a generally dirty, run-down environment in which the citizens make do and hold dear everything they have.
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The above image on the left denotes a cross section of the city. We can see the slums below the dividing plate and the cityscape above. The connotation that this has is that of a literal divide between the upper and lower classes. This image alone, if one were to draw a line along the plate, would show a clear division between the areas. This clear divide only re-enforces the fact that the upper class are exactly that, ‘above the lower class.’
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At a key moment within the game, Cloud and his allies attempt to diffuse a bomb that is placed on one of the support beams of one of the Sectors. The team however fails and Shinra forces detonate the bomb which causes an entire segment of the plate to fall and destroy everything below it, including thousands of innocent lives. Below is the video clip of this scene.
Keaki (2006)
What is denoted within this video is the utter destruction of a section of the lower city which claims many lives, along with lots of explosions and screams, followed by a man, the President of the Shinra Corporation, watching on listening to an oratorio. An oratorio is a large-scale narrative musical work that often has a biblical or sacred theme. This song is ‘The Creation’ by Austrian composer Joseph Haydn. The segment of the oratorio that plays within the video is called “Representation of Chaos,” which uses varying harmonies which reflect the formlessness and disorder that preceded the Creation. (Schwarm 2016). Below is a snippet from the section in the oratorio just before the part that plays (For the sake of audio clarity).
Schwarm (2016)
The connotations that this scene evokes is anger, discord and disgust. The screams make the viewer uncomfortable knowing that the characters’ lives are about to be over. The scene largely takes place beneath the plate itself, panning across the destruction that is taking place. The camera then pans above the destruction in line with where the President watches on. This can be perceived as those in the upper city, and in particular, the President being above everyone else. The accompanying oratorio juxtaposes the event perfectly. The President has no sympathy for the lives lost in the slums, and through the chaos he will be able to re-build or create something new that will benefit him.
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Directly following the events of the plate falling and destroying an entire Sector of Midgar, Cloud and his allies are given an opportunity to climb out of the slums and into the upper region of the city. The scene in question is below, in which the first two minutes are the key points in question.
Bango Skank was here (2008)
There are a lot of things we see in this scene. The character Barret states that he sees the wire as a “…golden shiny wire of hope.” The connotations surrounding the colour gold is that of success, hope, achievement and triumph. (Scott-Kemmis 2016). Whilst Cloud and his allies climb the wire, we see various graffiti including green text that says “No Mercy.” This ironically can have a dual meaning depending on which perspective we take. The phrase itself means no remorse or compassion. This could reflect the way the Shinra Corporation views the citizens in the slums. Similarly, the same can be true for the terrorist group AVALANCHE, who also hold no mercy or remorse for the members of Shinra.
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Whilst the team climb the wire, a theme ‘Shinra’s Full-Scale Assault’ (Below), plays in the background. This theme sounds like traditional military marching music which traditionally, according to Moore, K. (2010) is “…helping to boost morale.” Connotatively speaking, this upbeat theme enables us to see hope in escaping the negative slum environment, especially combined with the visual representation of Cloud ‘climbing’ out of the oppressive slums.
BrawlBRSTMs3 X (2013)
Music is an integral part of persuading the end user into feeling or thinking a certain way. It affects us differently compared visuals. We can easily close our eyes to avoid looking at something unpleasant whereas aurally it is much more difficult to block out. Joel Resnicow, a co-founder of the Rexly audio app, states his reasoning behind why audio is more powerful.
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​“…Musical emotion is a form of communication, and communication is more commonly (and fundamentally) aural than visual. Spoken language came before written language, and contains more emotional dimensions by virtue of the fact that it needs to be expressed…” (Resnicow. 2011).
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The final point that we are analysing are the slum buildings themselves. Below are two images that compare the in-game slums against slums in India.
BlueHighwind (2008)
Red Phoenix, The. (2012)
As we can see in the image on the left, all the buildings are made from run down and scavenged materials such as corrugated metal sheets and old signage. This design enables the player to compare these shanty towns to real world, poverty stricken environments, like the image of an Indian town above on the right. Again, by analysing the image on the left, we can see again that the general colour scheme is that of washed out colours with lots of browns and greys, which as mentioned earlier, can evoke negative feelings of distrust, dullness etc.
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By combining the examples put forth in this essay, it goes without doubt that there is a clear class divide within the city of Midgar. If a player were to completely disregard reading the plot line and the events that occur, everything from the visual. As discussed, the connotations surrounding the dark and dull washed out colours along with poor filtered lighting truly tells a story in its own. The under city has been swept away under the rug and quite literally sealed off from the upper world. There is a clear divide, both within the game and in the real world, when it comes to society’s class structure, and this is most powerfully represented by the upper city being built on the plate that literally divides the two classes up. Cloud climbing the wire is a symbol of climbing out of turmoil to hope and overcoming all odds. The accompanying audio truly reinforces this.
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Final Fantasy 7 is a game that is truly filled with many ideologies that hit home with real world scenarios. When developing the game, SquareSoft clearly looked at real world examples of differences in society’s class system and sympathises with and respectfully represents the way of life in these types of environments.
Bibliography
Multiple Users. (2016). Midgar. [Online] (Available). Retrieved on 7/11/2016 from http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Midgar
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Multiple Users. (2016). Final Fantasy VII. [Online] (Available). Retrieved on 7/11/2016 from http://finalfantasy.wikia.com
/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII#Themes
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SquareSoft (1997). Final Fantasy VII. [Play Station Video Game].
References
Bango Skank was here (2008). Final Fantasy VII Playthrough (32) Shiny Golden Wire of Hope. [Online Video] (Available). Retrieved on 9/11/2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umP5ZpwK2EQ&t=21s
BlueHighwind. (2008). Sector5.jpg. [Online Image] (Available). Retrieved on 9/11/2016 from http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Sector5.jpg
BrawlBRSTMs3 X. (2013). Shinra’s Full-Scale Assault – Final Fantasy VII Music Extend. [Online Audio] (Available). Retrieved on 9/11/2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mqK1l2EwjU
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Carrillo, A. (2015). Final Fantasy VII PS4 Remake Finally Announced: Let’s Analyze the Trailer. [Online Image] (Available). Retrieved on 7/11/2016 from http://overmental.com/content/final-fantasy-vii-ps4-trailer-analysis-27839
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Elston, B. & Reed, A. (2016). The meanings you missed in Final Fantasy logos. [Online Image] (Available). Retrieved on 10/11/2016 from http://www.gamesradar.com/what-final-fantasy-logos-mean/
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Keaki (2006). Final Fantasy VII – Sector 7 Plate Collapses. [Online Video] (Available). Retrieved on 7/11/2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISLereSDJbo
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Makoeyes987 (2009). Early Material Files Worldview & Terminology – p. 523-525 of the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega. [Online Image] (Available). Retrieved on 7/11/2016 from http://thelifestream.net/lifestream-projects/translations/4469/early-material-files-worldview-terminology-p-523-525-of-the-final-fantasy-vii-ultimania-omega/
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Moore, K. (2010). Music, Culture, and Society (Or Why You Shouldn’t Cut Military Bands). [Online] (Available). Retrieved on 9/11/2016 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-musical-self/201010/music-culture-and-society-or-why-you-shouldnt-cut-military-bands
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Red Phoenix, The. (2012). The World is a Ghetto: Global Slums – Out of Sight and out of Mind: Deterioration of the Human Condition. [Online Image] (Available). Retrieved on 9/11/2016 from https://theredphoenixapl.org/2012/03/16/the-world-is-a-ghetto-global-slums-out-of-sight-and-out-of-mind-deterioration-of-the-human-condition/
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Resnicow, J. (2011). Why does music seem to affect emotions more than visual stimulation does? [Online] (Available). Retrieved on 9/11/2016 from https://www.quora.com/Why-does-music-seem-to-affect-emotions-more-than-visual-stimulation-does
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Schwarm, B. (2016). The Creation. [Online] (Available). Retrieved on 7/11/2016 from https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Creation-by-Haydn
Scott-Kemmis, J. (2016). The Colour Brown. [Online] (Available). Retrieved on 7/11/2016 from http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-brown.html
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Scott-Kemmis, J. (2016). The Colour Gold. [Online] (Available). Retrieved on 7/11/2016 from http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-gold.html