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The Core of Things

  • Sep. 11th, 2007 at 8:22 PM
chofi: (Default)
So, T-minus two days until Crisis Core hits Japan. The grumbling about what, exactly, is canon has been going on since Advent Children was announced, so I won't go over that again.

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: [livejournal.com profile] 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 [livejournal.com profile] 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?

Comments

[identity profile] kiraya.livejournal.com wrote:
Sep. 13th, 2007 12:45 pm (UTC)
On reading your edit, to clarify...
My family can be pretty strict, occasionally. There's a bit of that "because I said so" in there, but most of the time things aren't stated anywhere near as firmly -- more requested, with the implication that if you screw around too much in the fulfilling of the request you'll be in Big Trouble. So I pretty much learned that if I felt like it I could push the boundaries to a certain extent -- more in some situations, less in others. Particularly more when no one's watching like a hawk to catch you doing it.

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?