The Need for Progress VS an Unchanging World

For an entire generation in the 2000s, Final Fantasy X (FFX) was an addictive introduction to JRPGs on the PlayStation 2 (PS2). With big monsters and big swords, elemental magic and sacred dragons, a kid could ask for little more. But, as we grew out of the PS2 and into adult life, Final Fantasy X became more than just casting Haste on Auron (enough for a video essay analysis, at least!). Tidus’ journey across Spira discusses tradition, religion, control and desire through his romance with summoner Yuna, friendship with blitzball player Wakka or Al Bhed Riku. Yevon, the prevailing religion in Spira and the means by which summoners like Yuna gain their Aeons, is all about temperance and limitation. They explain that the people in Zanarkand long ago became too lazy and reliant on machina, and so Sin was born to punish them. 1000 years later, the people still must repent for their excess. With Yuna and Wakka are devout followers, Tidus’ outside analysis begins to show contradictions in Yevon, revealing an organization which seeks to prevent change, keeping the world in eternal stasis out of fear for human desire; the chaotic urge within us to advance and make our lives better, our tools which both create a place like Zanarkand, and then destroy it just the same. As Auron knows, they devalue human life and inhibit human nature in service of stability and safety, but in taking pain as inherent to existence, they only make a case for voluntary death. Final Fantasy X (FFX) presents a beautiful tale of what it means to be human, our most fundamental trait; chaotic desire, and this character analysis video essay will explain those themes.

0:00 Intro
2:15 1 | Eternal & Unchanging
18:46 2 | Us, The Spectators
33:21 3 | You Got Proof?
43:19 4 | Final Liberation
55:25 5 | I Want Everything
1:15:17 Outro

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