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Annabel's Musings: FF14 and racism.
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Yes, another one of my silly thoughts and musings about stuff. It's actually been a while since I have done one of these, but this subject popped into my head and I wanted to make some comments on it.
I am currently watching Carnival Row on Amazon. For those that don't know, it is a series about Fae in a pseudo Victorian era who are forced because of war in their homeland to live in human cities. There, they are treated terribly by the humans and there are strong themes of racism and unacceptence throughout the series.
Watching it got me thinking of FF14, the world of Hydaelyn, and it's various races. As one goes through the story and the world, one does not really see any evidence of the sort of racism one might expect to encounter with a world of so many different beings. In Eorzea there is no hatred of any specific race, no derogatory remarks, no segregation or subjugation. All races look to be treated fairly no matter where one goes.
Now saying that, there ARE expectations to this and you know what I mean. Yes, I am talking about Ishgard and their xenophobic nature at the beginning of Heavensward. But, this is not SPECIES racism, it is LOCATION racism. They don't hate Lala's for being Lala's or Roe's for bring Roe's. They dislike and mistrust anyone NOT of Ishgard itself.
This was actually an interesting theme and one I thought they did well for the storyline. It is implied at the end that their borders are open and people are now accepted into their lands even though nothing really changes landscape wise. It's still just Elezen wherever you look. ;p
Ul'Dah also has this sort of location racism theme in their city with the refugee situation. You see it somewhat in the main storyline but more in the sidequests and the ambiance of the city's areas. Just go into the back alleys of the city or the outskirts and you can see the huddled masses trying to eek out a living in the shadow of the city's wealth. Once again, it's not a SPECIES nonacceptance thing, but where the people are FROM. They are not Ul'Dains so they don't matter.
Even in Eulmore it is pretty much the same thing with the rich and the poor. It don't matter what species you are, just your social and monetary status. If you ain't got money and connections, you are scum.
Of course, it is obvious why they did this. People have the choice of picking whatever race they want when creating their character. It would be a BAD thing to have said person's choice start out persecuted and hated by others just because they were a short Lalafell or tall pointed eared Elezen.
You know, come to think of it, there IS an example of racism because of race in the game but it is NOT directly character related. It is with the Garleans and how they treat anyone NOT pure blooded Garlean. You see this quite evidently in the Stormblood storyline. But this does not affect the character you play currently. It will be interesting to see how the creators handle this if they ever send us into Garlemald itself. If the place is mainly filled with Hyurlike Garlemald purebloods, HOW would another race fit in and go unmolested through the lands?
With writing too, I don't think anyone explores the topic of racism in their stories. Everyone lives in racial harmony accepting everyone no matter what they look like. I know, I know, it's just easier and all that and it's an ugly subject to broach. But I think it might be an interesting place to go with someone skilled enough to tell it well. Surely not EVERYONE can be living in harmony everywhere in Eorzea.
As for a story reason why they are, one only has to look to the Umbral calamities this poor world constantly suffers through. Considering what the 7th one was like, these things are major world catastrophes and such a thing tends to being people together to deal with them no matter who they are or where they are from. People long ago probably learned to work out their differences and get along relatively well.
But this thing was 5 years ago, still sort of fresh in peoples minds, but long enough for complacency to start to sink in and the hint of intolerance to start to rear its ugly head. This is happening with location racism, but who knows, maybe in the dark corners of Hydaelyn, other things may be happening too.
Well there you go, fuel for thought, though I know many DON'T want to think about things like that. They want a happy, happy Hydaelyn, where everyone gets along, Light is victorious, and the Garlean's asses are thoroughly kicked!
But be honest, isn't that KIND of a.....well, boring world?
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Carnival Row was so good! 10/10.
It's just that racism has become a blanket term as people can't find a proper word for it. Ishardians do not like Immigration and by extension don't like Emigration either. AKA, you need to be born there to be accepted.
Yes Panda Delete, it IS!
Imogen reminds me a lot of Annabel, she's kind of what Annabel would be like back in Shedellia, except for the whole racism thing.
Imogen also has a REALLY nice figure under all those Victorian clothes as seen in the nude scene she does, which makes me wonder. This woman, who is a pretty blonde with a great body, CANNOT find anyone interested in marrying her? WTF? SERIOUSLY? ;p
Yeah Sahara, that kind of dulls it sort of.
Oh sure, there is NO racism in the game, see ALL racial characters are accepted everywhere, yay!
Oh wait, except for Ishgard where you are frowned upon because of your location, or for that matter Ul'Dah either. And lets not talk about Eulmore and it's wealth tiers of discrimination, oh by the way, Ul'Dah is like that too. ;p
But SEE people, it's NOT race! Yay?
To be honest though, there has to be social conflict SOMEWHERE in the nations.
honestly I hated that show.
I watched it all the way through and not even Orlando bloom butt could get me to enjoy it.
My problem was they focused so much on this racism and hatred toward each other and I know it's based off a book but at the same time, I wonder how much of it was just added to fit the narrative of today where everyone is trying to push there views.
I won't say racism does not exist. It does. I see it. but you know the funny part is I do not often see it in my age group.
I do wish we had less love for each other in the game story tbh. It could have started out in a feud between city states and kind of forcing them to come together once more because of the threat to eorzea.
might be cute to watch miqo'te and Viera be in feuds over who has the better bangs.
Plus we had the lalafell-dwarves fighting each other over beards. That was hilarious
They leave that to the players.
It's probably because this game doesn't have much of a PvP element. Usually games with a PvP element will visit some form of racism. Just look at WoW's Horde vs Alliance, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, Dark Age of Camelot, and soon to be released Camelot Unchained. While the focus was more faction warfare, the idea of racism was touched on.
But as we're supposed to work together in FFXIV here, it's barely touched on except as the reason why there's misery in this world.
Ok I don't know where this discussion is supposed to go. I can deal with locational disdain, and I am glad there is no REAL racism in the game.
Ishgard is xenophobic, not racist.
... well, except for the time where they slaughtered an entire Xaela tribe except for one dude simply because they looked vaguely draconic.
And I can't believe you missed how Gridanian Wildwood elezen discriminate against the Duskwight elezen, stereotyping them as brigands and layabouts and all kinds of other mean words, simply for being "grays."
Esper, I am surprised you bother to watch the whole thing then. ;p If I disliked it as much as you I would have bailed after the 1st episode cause it only gets worse.
As Tifka said, PVP helps push the hatred of other people in various ways. Since FF14's reason for PVP is a bit silly, the push just is not there in this game. It's happy, happy, we all get mostly along except the whole "Get out of our city" type thing.
Sahara, there IS racism with the Garleans, they pretty much shit upon and blatantly use other races they have subjugated for crap tasks. We saw a part of this in Stormblood and I bet we will see more of it if the game moves into Ilsabard and Garlemald.
Lenona, all that was wayyyy early in the game and who the hell remembers early stuff? LOL
Honestly, I don't think I actually DID any of those quests and if I did I don't remember any of it.
@anna,
how does one turn off Orlando bloom butt though? difficulties yus yus
Esper, Esper, Esper, your lustful nature will do you in! ;p
Yes, he was naked in a few scenes wasn't he? ;-)
I was bothered by some other things as well. I did enjoy the lovecraftian touch a bit but disliked how often guns were used and how in a land of magical creatures there seemed to be an astounding lack of magic
Well, there is a little bit of racism, though it does not feature heavily in the MSQ: the "Beast Tribes" are considered lesser races by the Spoken (human-like) races, despite possessing the same intelligence and capacities of speech. Even friendly beast tribe members are forced to live apart and not accepted in Eorzean society. This is all due to the policy of Ul'dah, whose rulers came into conflict with the amal'jaa and invented the term "Beast tribe" to denounce them.
But this is actually quite far out of the way, and only explored in the lorebooks and some of the beast tribe quests. I hear the Sahagin one touches on it, although I haven't done it too frequently.
The Garleans are an interesting case because by the standards of Eorzea, you could argue they are the "inferior" race, lacking the ability to use aether and being oppressed for this for a long time. It's interesting to think about this, isn't it?
Damn it Helltank, of COURSE you would bring up something I TOTALLY forgot! GRRRRR!
Yes, the beast tribes are actually a good example of minor racism in the game. As you said, it is not really spoken of except in a few instances and the BT quests themselves.
The Sahagin and the Limsa people are a GREAT example of this and I mentioned it in my Leviathan Day letter. As I have said before, they are so whofully underused I REALLY need to go do those quests to see the whole story there.
Xenophobia was the word I was looking for. Yeah that gets confused with racism.
I was curious to see what the real world had to say about Xenophobia and racism being the same thing, and OH BOY, was THAT a 'rabbit hole.'
Short answer: some think it is meaning the same thing, just expressed in different ways. Others give detailed explanations on why they are different, too long to post here, but they make a good argument.
Lol! My destiny is to annoy you!
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Racism is everywhere.. No matter where you go.. Unconsciously or Subconsciously.. lul
Hm. I don't think the world of FFXIV is as nice as you make it out to me. I cannot remember them all but throughout the MSQ and side quests there are many instances of loss, grief, injustice, cruelty, prejudice, stereotype and more. It may not always be overt racial violence but by no means are the three continents are happy place. In fact, there are some very dark themes but are often skimmed over for the more heroic, positive actions of the Warrior of Light, which brings people together.
