(Couple of thoughts about layer 4, cont) The nature and meaning of fantasy per se in the story is that magic in the world of XVI, in a sense, nullifies the value of human personal efforts in their deeds because it is a direct manifestation of one's imagination (this is an apt description of magic from ATL). The manual labor shown by the children in the scene after the credits, as well as their ability to still fantasize creatively under the inspiration of the "Final Fantasy" book, is seen in the story as a better alternative because it does not diminish the value of an individual's own effort to realize fantasy. In other words, magic in XVI is a wish-fulfiller that gives birth to laziness (Joshua's fat bird metaphor), inability to be autonomous (always under the MOTHERcrystal's skirt) and really introspective of value of your and others' actions, while manual human labor is a more harmonious way of bringing fantasy to reality, since it engages human effort and allows for understanding on the value of that effort.

This contains, on the one hand, the position of the authors on the meaning of fantasy as such, and on the other hand, the position on the nature of the fantasy genre. Fantasy as a genre is not about fireballs. Fantasy as a genre is not about cool swords, Shiva's ASS, fiery summons. Fantasy in itself is not a place where it is worth staying forever, it is not an act to which you need to devote your entire life. Finally, fantasy should not be directly transformed into reality. Fantasy is what encourages real work and effort without a guidance, encourages transformation of reality, despite pain, suffering and possible displeasure. In this thought, all the above-mentioned layers of the XVI story are especially clearly visible.
(6/6)

>>533382298
Blogging about Final Fantasy.