What I really want to post is a question that has been in mind, well, since I started looking at all the grumbling over what canon is and the retcons and the wank.
Is there a correlation between a fan's experiences with authoritarian parents/teachers/role models and how accepting they are of new canon? You know, "Because Ann Said So" vs. "The Complication is all just fan fiction!"
Yeah, this is what I do with a BA in psychology.
ETA, Sept. 12, 2007 9:17am:
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ff_press has picked up on this, (And they gave it a nice and erudite title, too! I'm very sorry for anyone that was tempted to click on the title, expecting a detailed analysis, and only getting a somewhat open-ended question.) and I actually have responses. I just wanted to air a question that's been in my head since, well, Advent Children's release. No, fair responders, I didn't expect ff_press either to pick this up or for any responses. I'll get to them, really.ETA, Sept. 12, 2007 5:34pm: On reflection, I know I have to clarify myself. This is what I meant: "Is there any relationship, postitive or negative, between a fan's direct experiences with authoritarian people and how receptive they are to new items of canon as specified by the creative team or members appointed by the creative team?" I did not mean anyone considered an authority. I meant, specifically, those defined as highly demanding and poorly responsive. ("Do this now because I said so.")
The reason I asked the question is due to personal experience: I came from an authoritarian household and Roman Catholic tradition. Infallibility and "because I said so" are deeply ingrained into me. So, authorities are right, and I'm wrong. How much of this has colored my acceptance of the Compilation? Or is it something else?
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chasethestars
chasethestars
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My favourite relationships can only really happen in fixit-AUs, dreams, or in the Lifestream after Cloud dies, so I've never had a problem finding ways around canon I disagree with even in the original game. Same with Compilation; though some of it's vaguely interesting (and I wholly admit I am excitedly anticipating Crisis Core because I'm a huge Zack fan, even if the way it looks like they'll end it will hurt like hell), the shiny pictures are pretty much the best part.
Important new characters, particularly in the pre-game setting, make me very leery, so I tend to ignore them unless I can use them in some way. Compilation retellings of canon events (see: Nibelheim) I never take as canon; we already know what happened, so why bother changing a few of the details in telling us again? Granted, it might've been interesting to know, say, how the Turks were involved at Nibelheim, but that's BC. It's harder to accept canon from Compilation stuff that's not really accessible precisely because it's not really accessible; only a very few people have had access to BC outside of scripts (which aren't really a good substitute for actually playing the game). As for the written stuff, though there're translations of online everywhere I ignore it completely, mostly because it's pretty much just Squeenix-endorsed fanfiction and I've seen much better ("The Maiden Who Travels the Planet" in particular makes the Zack/Aeris fan in me twitchy).
Basically, I see the Compilation as kinda like cafeteria Christianity. You can pick and choose what canon you accept. That's part of the beauty of it. You can write alternate universes/realities/timelines, you can write OGC-only fic, you can tell readers you're only using the original game, BC, and DoC, and all of it's perfectly fine. If something uses elements from a canon you don't like, you don't have to read it.
My one great fear is that if/when they stop dancing around the subject and announce a remake, they'll try to shove all this new Compilation canon in it to fit when really, it'll be difficult (if not impossible, in some cases) to do so seamlessly. All a remake needs is updated graphics, a bit of a tighter translation, and
Morikawa Toshiyuki as Sephirothdual-language voice actingso I don't have to listen to wimpy!English!Aeris....egads, I ramble.
That's a different one on me. XD
That, and my experience with other authoritarian figures has been kind of jaded. More than once I've gotten off lightly for things I should've been more severely reprimanded for. After a while, authoritarian figures start losing so much of their unshakeable authority and become merely human, to be afforded perhaps a little more respect than some people but still taken with a bit of "yeah, okay, if it's in my best interests to do what you want that's fine, but other than that, meh." The cop thing I mentioned, for example -- when my father recently finished a project for a local chief of police, he received as a bonus something that pretty much amounts to a "get out of ticket free" card if he ever gets pulled over in that town. That lack of impartiality doesn't exactly do much to inspire respect, you know?
And yeah, I think it does reflect a little on my own acceptance of Compilation canon. If it suits me, I'll take it; if not, screw it -- not like Squeenix and Nomura are gonna punish me for ignoring the vast majority of DoC, or whatever, since what do they care about some nobody American chick anyway, unless she's lining their pockets?