Due to UA-cam's character limits I had to split the source list i usually put in the description in half and put the second half in a community post, even after slimming it down to only the ones with internet link. So for the rest of the source list, check out my channel's community tab!
There's so much that could be said about gender in KH and I'd love to hear more analysis vids, especially exploring heteronormativity. One thing I didn't see you bring up is Sora's physical traits. He's notably skinny (despite being toned) and short, and in KH1 even looks younger than his age. Multiple characters comment on it to rile him up: "pipsqueak", "halfpint", "kid", or Larxene's favorite "such a baby" (which is also to do with being overly emotional). Then you look at Riku, Cloud, Leon, Beast, and Hercules, male figures that Sora greatly looks up to, and they're all much more muscley with their physical strength being their key trait. While Sora never comments about it in game, I always got the impression that his body not meeting the masculine ideal bothered him. Sora also embraces his true self and "unmanly" passions in ways that a lot of male videogame protagonists would not. He loves singing and dancing with Ariel (even commenting on how fun it was in the novels). He dances with and lifts partners of all genders up in the air during the dance minigame in Corona. He does silly things to cheer others up. He likes spending time with the 100 Acre Woods cast, and frequently emotionally relates to the princesses and other female protags of the worlds he visits (in addition to being narratively paralleled with them). In Re:Coded and KH3 especially, there seemed to be an emphasis on characters telling Sora to just "be himself" and follow his heart (although it is often paired with telling him he must be a constant emotional support for others, which is an interesting contradiction). And then there's all the heteronorm stuff which includes Donald and Goofy telling him he "always acts that way around girls" about Namine, when he's never shown especially flustered or enamored with them before. And then there's the other islander kids teasing him about being openly obsessed with Riku.... And then there's also his comment in CoM that he used to "cry all the time" as a kid and him making silly faces to cheer Riku up in KH2, which both have interesting implications about where/when his emotional suppression started. So much to talk about.
There definitely SO MUCH to talk about in terms of Sora being insecure of his masculine "hero" image, and his suppression. I almost feel like- he was trying to hard in KH2 to be more "aggressive/manly." Like the line, "You gonna cry?" Then again, that could just be Roxas' anger coming through.
Hey Howler, Great video as always. I've been really enjoying this series thus far, and as a Genderfluid Omnisexual, you've been really helping me put words and structure to some of the thoughts, feelings and intuitions I've been cooking up while taking a deep dive into the series of Kingdom Hearts as a whole. One thing that myself and my Trans Femme partner have been really enjoying is doing our best to stream through the series with the express intention of "Defeating the commentary of the circle Jerk." I.e. de-constructing that the series is; a) not as hard to understand as people claim it is b) has a lot more Queer undertone and context that can be read from the story regardless of if that ends up being the writers intentions or not c) has a LOT of fascinating parallels to many experiences of growth, including the experiences of people with Adoptive Trauma (The Primal Wound is a very good book to read around the subject, and some of the characters shown throughout the series really fit the common traumas experienced by adoptees) and d) Is not Convoluted as a story, more simply, it's complex, in terms of there just being many micro narratives, arcs and pieces that make the whole. To this effect your whole series thus far has had us screaming "WE CALLED IT!!" or "OH MY GOSH THAT'S THE LINK WE'VE BEEN DIGGING FOR!!!!" and I can't tell you how much joy we've had digesting your thoughts and feelings, analysis and perspective on everything thus far. I'd really love to have a chat with you, and you're more than welcome to swing by to any of our streams, as we stream KH on Wednesdays 3PM GMT0 - 8PM GMT0. We're using our play-through as a chance to present to both old series fans, new comers, and people who are curious and perhaps have only experienced the series through playthroughs like Barry and Gamb's one on Twitch, and we're encouraging discussion, observation, and pointing out little details that perhaps go largely unnoticed, or get brushed over, while maintaining plot spoilers and mysteries relevant to the game we're on (at the time of writing this, that's Kingdom hearts 2 FM) so as not to ruin the surprise for some of our new comers to the series. If you're interested, I stream on Twitch at the_doopus. Now, with that little invitation out the way, I'd like to point out one of our observations regarding the narrative of Mulan's world and story, and how that is relevant to Sora and Riku's experiences. (Because just like how there's no such thing as a Kingdom Hearts side game, the Disney worlds matter!!!! Take that Circle jerk!) In particular we found a fascinating moment where Sora actually cries when Fa Mulan and Li Shang are given the opportunity to fight along side one another and be together as a result. This is perhaps one of the only times we've seen Sora respond to a Disney relationship being shown to him that paralells his own desires, which is extra important that this moment comes from Mulan and Shang specifically. Because throughout the course of Mulan, Sora repeatedly exhibits that he identifies Mulan not from a Femme perspective, but a Masc one. So to him, this is perhaps one of the closest examples of a queer relationship being fulfilled, and that causes him to literally shed tears of happiness when they get their wish. He literally doesn't recognize that Mulan is AFAB when he first meets, constantly becomes the biggest Trans ally in helping to not only constantly re-affirm to those around Ping that he is male, but also does not in any way ever treat Mulan OR Ping as Female, even after the reveal. So just like how we have Sora displaying that his perceptions of someone can differ from what is stated by others, for instance with Kairi being her KH1 self in the flashback with Jack, when people out Mulan as AFAB, it's likely that Sora, while being told this, does not change the perspective or views of Mulan as Male, due to forming his relationship with Ping, respecting his identity (even when others don't, with Mushu constantly using the wrong pronouns in front of them all), and seeing him as just another one of the guys. While he expresses that he does not understand Hetero-normative relationships, and often responds to the reunion of Masc and Femme characters being united via the rest of the series, he tends to respond to those simply with a heartfelt smile, and later admits that he still doesn't think he gets fully what he saw, but he was happy for them none the less. Both myself and my Fiance have been able to parallel our own experiences as both a Trans Femme, and someone who is Genderfluid onto the narrative of Mulan with a great amount of similarity, relatability and nuance that perhaps a Cis gendered person might miss. In that light, this, along with the other Queer subtexts of Sora and Riku's journies makes for this to be yet another moment that can so easily fit this being yet another hint that perhaps those subtexts might actually just simply be. "Text." Hope this has given you some food for thought, and I cannot wait for the next installment. Keep up the great work, and feel free to reach out if ever you fancy a natter, from a fellow string board enthusiast of this wonderful series! Doopus 💚
I'm glad you're enjoying my videos, and those are some really interesting observations re: Mulan in the series. Definitely gave me a lot to think about. While I would love to accept your stream invitation, unfortunately in my timezone the time window for your streams happens while I am at work 😅 But if I ever have a Wednesday off, I will not hesitate to let you know.
The Interesting thing to note is that the Ancient Darkness and Beings like Them specifically Weaponizes the Fairytale Romance and the Heteronormality to create False Lights to pull Riku and Sora around. The Despair They feed on.
Man, no one tells it like you do in this fandom! It's cool to see that even if Nomura isn't writing this series already knowing the Heroine's Journey or even found out later on to work with it, that gender norms & going against those gender norms will tend to naturally have a story follow that path anyway. That the written rules are based on the natural flow it already makes.
Always a real pleasure to find out you released a new video! One thing that I've noticed about a lot of male protagonists is, they often fit one of these 2 categories: the one who actively aims towards an ideal of masculity, or the one who doesn't ever really try. The first one is probably the most common out of the 2, think Hiccup at the begining of HTTYD1, for example. The character is outside of that perfect norm and feels othered due to it, therefore he'll try anything to get his place. The other one is actually more "insidious" (not sure that's the best term) because they'll basically make the character embody some ideal of masculinity without telling you he does, that's characters like Luffy, but since those traits are not openly stated as masculine, they do not ironically feel as masc as those from the fist category. In one the audience is supposed to feel like them, in the other they're supposed to want to become them. I've been thinking about it because sometimes there is a sort of funny overlap where the mc, although male, is made to be identifiable to a gender-neutral audience, which happens in media for pre-adolescent children mostly. Some characters around them may fit gender roles in a more typical way, but they fall in a sort of in-between, where they don't put themselves in opposition to the "girl stuff" and don't actively try to participate in "guy stuff" either. The narration treats them as boys without ever really playing into gender roles when it comes to them. It's while rewatching Wakfu that I noticed it was the case with the protagonist of the show, Yugo (at least during the first 2 seasons), who gleefully crossdresses in one of the first epsiodes, at age 12, when typically it would be expected of a 12 year-old boy to be uncomfortable. He admires heroes, but doesn't seem to associate heroism with masculinity, which is made obvious in contrast with another character, Sadlygroove (Tristepin in the OV), when cheerleading is openly called a "being the girl", he still is part of the cheerleading team, basically he's only a boy when the narration needs him to be. Coming back to Kingdom Hearts, I think that due to masculine ideals between the US and JP culture being different but with some overlap, and not expliciting the expectations of masculinity put upon Sora as such made people feel like he fell into that sort of gender-neutral in-between, but if you changed a few lines of dialogue, such as "pull it toghether" with lines like "man up", it would make it more obvious that the language changes, but not the implications. So Sora falls into character type 1, with a narrative that embodies the gender-neutral language for type 2 in such a way that it feels like a type 3 situation when it is not (do I make sense? I hope it doesn't seem too contrived, omg I wrote so much, anyways) I say this neither in a bad nor in a good way, btw, I think it makes the whole Coming of Age narrative feel accessible to more people, but it's interesting to see people act like Sora crying is the peak of embracing a healthier form of masculinity when he ends up saying things like "Alone, I'm worthless." when doing it, y'know? Tl;dr: Sora is not actually "comfortable in his current masculinity", the vocabular used just makes it seem like it has nothing to do with masculinity. There are characters who either embrace their masculinity without trying or who are not written with gendered behaviour in mind, but that isn't Sora's situation.The language is neutral, but the behaviour is gendered. The walls your videos make me write, everytime I swear...
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and I really like your thoughts on this. Glad my videos make you wanna write so much. Makes me feel like they're serving their purpose of generating discussion and giving people ideas.
That's really intressting! I feel like we could go deeper into the subject in KH cus of the little interactions that we have in the game that build up to Sora's breakdown I'm also really interested about the female expectations counterpart there is in the game as I never really realized there were any Love your videos as always ♥️♥️♥️
The only one I could recall right now is Terra telling Aqua somewhere along the lines of: "Sometimes you are such a girl." And Larxene's numerous interactions with Namine and Sora.
I really like how your videos go into the nitty-gritty of storytelling, philosophies, and nuanced character traits. Sora Does have a lot of feminine/soft tendencies that get brushed over not only by the characters he interacts with but some KH players I've seen as well (labelled as him being weak or a baby), even if they don't outright say it. I'm really curious how they're going to handle Sora in KH4 4 after all that's happened.
I just want you to know how valuable what you do is. I have no words for it but being in tears. It's what we truly need to heal as humanity. If we really want to be truly human, we need to reconnect to every single part in ourselves, including our emotions no matter being man or woman. Why so many praise Kingdom Hearts for characters being ernest about what they feel: Because we deep down know the truth, even when we were taught the opposite for so long. It's something that we were lacking for a very long time. Your videos have the potential to remind us of the parts in us, we learned to push away to survive. And thus having the opportunity to integrate and heal. Your videos also show how much truth is in Kingdom Hearts. So much potential to remind us of who we truly are. Thank you. 🙏
Always love your analysis on this, since it varies toward cultural norms versus my own cinematic explorations. Through analysis of the script and Disney properties, I’ve found a very interesting truth that lines well up with what you explain here. Not only have I found the direct evidence that spells out that Elrena/Larxene is the MoM, but she is also Sora’s mom. By extension, I have also found the explicit proof that Lauriam/Marluxia is his father. Lauriam’s fatherhood is expressed by Pongo, Gepetto, and King Triton. While Will Turner is the character who makes us realize he is the father, the other 3 characters concern themselves with the inability to protect the ones they love. Pongo and Perdita have helplessly lost their puppies. Geppetto searches for Pinocchio in a storm and ends up in the belly of a whale because he was concerned about his safety. King Triton limits Ariel’s exploration out of concern for her safety. While it seems we have no seen these emotions expressed out of Marluxia, we have seen Lauriam explicitly fail to protect Strelitzia. He is even likened to Beat and Rhyme from TWEWY with his Reaper theming. The idea, might be why they leaned into Marluxia’s femininity in character design. Elrena is explicitly a masculine woman, in name, and complimenting Lauriam’s femininity. The world of Pranksters Paradise, in junction with the tutorial on the raft, spells very subtly what really happened the night Destiny islands fell to darkness with a twist of Kairi’s absence.
Another video, another comment (or was it story...? I forget :P ) Really looking forward to the deep-dive on the female characters. Players/fans and the developers alike should learn to give them more attention (under-utilized is the word). Still not sure if I'm on the same wavelength as you regarding hetero normativity and relationships between the same gender (referring to SoRiku specifically), but you have made sound arguments thus far. If these things come to be, I don't really mind - as long as it's presented in good taste and well-founded. By this I mean don't shoe-horn/force it down our throats. Now, I want to make myself clear to everyone: I do not write this as an offense, only as well intentioned advice. For example; there's a difference between being presented as gay *the same way one would present a hetero character*, and *being gay just to be gay and/or filling a quota*. I really hope my thoughts get across here... On another note... What do you think of the supposed Disney+ KH show? Will it be a movie? A series? Classical KH art style, CGI/Unreal Engine? Who will make the music? Voice actors, old and new? Personally, I'm hoping for a *series*. Or anime, if you will. Whatever it takes to really flesh out both the story and characters. Heck, I hope the manga script writer (I forget their name) is part of the project, as the manga REALLY helps bringing the characters to life. See you on the next one
Hey, this is very well deconstructed! I do love how you get into the nitty gritty of the Kingdom Hearts narrative like this - great job as always! It flows very nicely. 2:16 ** assigned at birth → identify/present as?
Personly i think Malefiicent will eventuly be stabed by a keyblade again and. Be possesed by trug darkness wich would be a callback to kh 1 . I belive what you Theorie will Happen and lead to that oder multiple games. KH 4 will see MoM as the Villain and 5 likely Luxu. KH 6 would be the perfect end if it goes full circeö withba Possesd Maledicent as the Villain and everyonre Wirkung together for this final battle. It startet with her it should end with her
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #30 ДВА В ОДНОМ [Один человек]• Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nrXy15orKhY/mqdefault.jpg)
Due to UA-cam's character limits I had to split the source list i usually put in the description in half and put the second half in a community post, even after slimming it down to only the ones with internet link. So for the rest of the source list, check out my channel's community tab!
There's so much that could be said about gender in KH and I'd love to hear more analysis vids, especially exploring heteronormativity. One thing I didn't see you bring up is Sora's physical traits. He's notably skinny (despite being toned) and short, and in KH1 even looks younger than his age. Multiple characters comment on it to rile him up: "pipsqueak", "halfpint", "kid", or Larxene's favorite "such a baby" (which is also to do with being overly emotional). Then you look at Riku, Cloud, Leon, Beast, and Hercules, male figures that Sora greatly looks up to, and they're all much more muscley with their physical strength being their key trait. While Sora never comments about it in game, I always got the impression that his body not meeting the masculine ideal bothered him.
Sora also embraces his true self and "unmanly" passions in ways that a lot of male videogame protagonists would not. He loves singing and dancing with Ariel (even commenting on how fun it was in the novels). He dances with and lifts partners of all genders up in the air during the dance minigame in Corona. He does silly things to cheer others up. He likes spending time with the 100 Acre Woods cast, and frequently emotionally relates to the princesses and other female protags of the worlds he visits (in addition to being narratively paralleled with them). In Re:Coded and KH3 especially, there seemed to be an emphasis on characters telling Sora to just "be himself" and follow his heart (although it is often paired with telling him he must be a constant emotional support for others, which is an interesting contradiction).
And then there's all the heteronorm stuff which includes Donald and Goofy telling him he "always acts that way around girls" about Namine, when he's never shown especially flustered or enamored with them before. And then there's the other islander kids teasing him about being openly obsessed with Riku....
And then there's also his comment in CoM that he used to "cry all the time" as a kid and him making silly faces to cheer Riku up in KH2, which both have interesting implications about where/when his emotional suppression started.
So much to talk about.
There definitely SO MUCH to talk about in terms of Sora being insecure of his masculine "hero" image, and his suppression. I almost feel like- he was trying to hard in KH2 to be more "aggressive/manly." Like the line, "You gonna cry?"
Then again, that could just be Roxas' anger coming through.
Hey Howler, Great video as always. I've been really enjoying this series thus far, and as a Genderfluid Omnisexual, you've been really helping me put words and structure to some of the thoughts, feelings and intuitions I've been cooking up while taking a deep dive into the series of Kingdom Hearts as a whole.
One thing that myself and my Trans Femme partner have been really enjoying is doing our best to stream through the series with the express intention of "Defeating the commentary of the circle Jerk." I.e. de-constructing that the series is;
a) not as hard to understand as people claim it is
b) has a lot more Queer undertone and context that can be read from the story regardless of if that ends up being the writers intentions or not
c) has a LOT of fascinating parallels to many experiences of growth, including the experiences of people with Adoptive Trauma (The Primal Wound is a very good book to read around the subject, and some of the characters shown throughout the series really fit the common traumas experienced by adoptees)
and d) Is not Convoluted as a story, more simply, it's complex, in terms of there just being many micro narratives, arcs and pieces that make the whole.
To this effect your whole series thus far has had us screaming "WE CALLED IT!!" or "OH MY GOSH THAT'S THE LINK WE'VE BEEN DIGGING FOR!!!!" and I can't tell you how much joy we've had digesting your thoughts and feelings, analysis and perspective on everything thus far.
I'd really love to have a chat with you, and you're more than welcome to swing by to any of our streams, as we stream KH on Wednesdays 3PM GMT0 - 8PM GMT0. We're using our play-through as a chance to present to both old series fans, new comers, and people who are curious and perhaps have only experienced the series through playthroughs like Barry and Gamb's one on Twitch, and we're encouraging discussion, observation, and pointing out little details that perhaps go largely unnoticed, or get brushed over, while maintaining plot spoilers and mysteries relevant to the game we're on (at the time of writing this, that's Kingdom hearts 2 FM) so as not to ruin the surprise for some of our new comers to the series. If you're interested, I stream on Twitch at the_doopus.
Now, with that little invitation out the way, I'd like to point out one of our observations regarding the narrative of Mulan's world and story, and how that is relevant to Sora and Riku's experiences. (Because just like how there's no such thing as a Kingdom Hearts side game, the Disney worlds matter!!!! Take that Circle jerk!)
In particular we found a fascinating moment where Sora actually cries when Fa Mulan and Li Shang are given the opportunity to fight along side one another and be together as a result. This is perhaps one of the only times we've seen Sora respond to a Disney relationship being shown to him that paralells his own desires, which is extra important that this moment comes from Mulan and Shang specifically. Because throughout the course of Mulan, Sora repeatedly exhibits that he identifies Mulan not from a Femme perspective, but a Masc one. So to him, this is perhaps one of the closest examples of a queer relationship being fulfilled, and that causes him to literally shed tears of happiness when they get their wish. He literally doesn't recognize that Mulan is AFAB when he first meets, constantly becomes the biggest Trans ally in helping to not only constantly re-affirm to those around Ping that he is male, but also does not in any way ever treat Mulan OR Ping as Female, even after the reveal.
So just like how we have Sora displaying that his perceptions of someone can differ from what is stated by others, for instance with Kairi being her KH1 self in the flashback with Jack, when people out Mulan as AFAB, it's likely that Sora, while being told this, does not change the perspective or views of Mulan as Male, due to forming his relationship with Ping, respecting his identity (even when others don't, with Mushu constantly using the wrong pronouns in front of them all), and seeing him as just another one of the guys.
While he expresses that he does not understand Hetero-normative relationships, and often responds to the reunion of Masc and Femme characters being united via the rest of the series, he tends to respond to those simply with a heartfelt smile, and later admits that he still doesn't think he gets fully what he saw, but he was happy for them none the less.
Both myself and my Fiance have been able to parallel our own experiences as both a Trans Femme, and someone who is Genderfluid onto the narrative of Mulan with a great amount of similarity, relatability and nuance that perhaps a Cis gendered person might miss. In that light, this, along with the other Queer subtexts of Sora and Riku's journies makes for this to be yet another moment that can so easily fit this being yet another hint that perhaps those subtexts might actually just simply be. "Text."
Hope this has given you some food for thought, and I cannot wait for the next installment.
Keep up the great work, and feel free to reach out if ever you fancy a natter, from a fellow string board enthusiast of this wonderful series!
Doopus 💚
I'm glad you're enjoying my videos, and those are some really interesting observations re: Mulan in the series. Definitely gave me a lot to think about.
While I would love to accept your stream invitation, unfortunately in my timezone the time window for your streams happens while I am at work 😅 But if I ever have a Wednesday off, I will not hesitate to let you know.
The Interesting thing to note is that the Ancient Darkness and Beings like Them specifically Weaponizes the Fairytale Romance and the Heteronormality to create False Lights to pull Riku and Sora around. The Despair They feed on.
Every time another of these videos drops I wish it was lasting for hours. Just every single fact and analysis drop hits my soul good.
Man, no one tells it like you do in this fandom! It's cool to see that even if Nomura isn't writing this series already knowing the Heroine's Journey or even found out later on to work with it, that gender norms & going against those gender norms will tend to naturally have a story follow that path anyway. That the written rules are based on the natural flow it already makes.
Always a real pleasure to find out you released a new video!
One thing that I've noticed about a lot of male protagonists is, they often fit one of these 2 categories: the one who actively aims towards an ideal of masculity, or the one who doesn't ever really try. The first one is probably the most common out of the 2, think Hiccup at the begining of HTTYD1, for example. The character is outside of that perfect norm and feels othered due to it, therefore he'll try anything to get his place. The other one is actually more "insidious" (not sure that's the best term) because they'll basically make the character embody some ideal of masculinity without telling you he does, that's characters like Luffy, but since those traits are not openly stated as masculine, they do not ironically feel as masc as those from the fist category. In one the audience is supposed to feel like them, in the other they're supposed to want to become them.
I've been thinking about it because sometimes there is a sort of funny overlap where the mc, although male, is made to be identifiable to a gender-neutral audience, which happens in media for pre-adolescent children mostly. Some characters around them may fit gender roles in a more typical way, but they fall in a sort of in-between, where they don't put themselves in opposition to the "girl stuff" and don't actively try to participate in "guy stuff" either. The narration treats them as boys without ever really playing into gender roles when it comes to them. It's while rewatching Wakfu that I noticed it was the case with the protagonist of the show, Yugo (at least during the first 2 seasons), who gleefully crossdresses in one of the first epsiodes, at age 12, when typically it would be expected of a 12 year-old boy to be uncomfortable. He admires heroes, but doesn't seem to associate heroism with masculinity, which is made obvious in contrast with another character, Sadlygroove (Tristepin in the OV), when cheerleading is openly called a "being the girl", he still is part of the cheerleading team, basically he's only a boy when the narration needs him to be.
Coming back to Kingdom Hearts, I think that due to masculine ideals between the US and JP culture being different but with some overlap, and not expliciting the expectations of masculinity put upon Sora as such made people feel like he fell into that sort of gender-neutral in-between, but if you changed a few lines of dialogue, such as "pull it toghether" with lines like "man up", it would make it more obvious that the language changes, but not the implications. So Sora falls into character type 1, with a narrative that embodies the gender-neutral language for type 2 in such a way that it feels like a type 3 situation when it is not (do I make sense? I hope it doesn't seem too contrived, omg I wrote so much, anyways)
I say this neither in a bad nor in a good way, btw, I think it makes the whole Coming of Age narrative feel accessible to more people, but it's interesting to see people act like Sora crying is the peak of embracing a healthier form of masculinity when he ends up saying things like "Alone, I'm worthless." when doing it, y'know?
Tl;dr: Sora is not actually "comfortable in his current masculinity", the vocabular used just makes it seem like it has nothing to do with masculinity. There are characters who either embrace their masculinity without trying or who are not written with gendered behaviour in mind, but that isn't Sora's situation.The language is neutral, but the behaviour is gendered.
The walls your videos make me write, everytime I swear...
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and I really like your thoughts on this. Glad my videos make you wanna write so much. Makes me feel like they're serving their purpose of generating discussion and giving people ideas.
That's really intressting! I feel like we could go deeper into the subject in KH cus of the little interactions that we have in the game that build up to Sora's breakdown
I'm also really interested about the female expectations counterpart there is in the game as I never really realized there were any
Love your videos as always ♥️♥️♥️
The only one I could recall right now is Terra telling Aqua somewhere along the lines of: "Sometimes you are such a girl." And Larxene's numerous interactions with Namine and Sora.
Every time you post a video it brightens my day, wonderful work as always Howler!
I really like how your videos go into the nitty-gritty of storytelling, philosophies, and nuanced character traits.
Sora Does have a lot of feminine/soft tendencies that get brushed over not only by the characters he interacts with but some KH players I've seen as well (labelled as him being weak or a baby), even if they don't outright say it.
I'm really curious how they're going to handle Sora in KH4 4 after all that's happened.
Yes lets gooo! KINGDOM HEARTS! The Violet Howler is the Master of Masters.
I just want you to know how valuable what you do is. I have no words for it but being in tears. It's what we truly need to heal as humanity. If we really want to be truly human, we need to reconnect to every single part in ourselves, including our emotions no matter being man or woman.
Why so many praise Kingdom Hearts for characters being ernest about what they feel: Because we deep down know the truth, even when we were taught the opposite for so long. It's something that we were lacking for a very long time.
Your videos have the potential to remind us of the parts in us, we learned to push away to survive. And thus having the opportunity to integrate and heal.
Your videos also show how much truth is in Kingdom Hearts. So much potential to remind us of who we truly are.
Thank you. 🙏
Yay new episode! excited to watch :)
I think you have become my favourite kh video maker
Always love your analysis on this, since it varies toward cultural norms versus my own cinematic explorations.
Through analysis of the script and Disney properties, I’ve found a very interesting truth that lines well up with what you explain here.
Not only have I found the direct evidence that spells out that Elrena/Larxene is the MoM, but she is also Sora’s mom. By extension, I have also found the explicit proof that Lauriam/Marluxia is his father.
Lauriam’s fatherhood is expressed by Pongo, Gepetto, and King Triton. While Will Turner is the character who makes us realize he is the father, the other 3 characters concern themselves with the inability to protect the ones they love.
Pongo and Perdita have helplessly lost their puppies.
Geppetto searches for Pinocchio in a storm and ends up in the belly of a whale because he was concerned about his safety.
King Triton limits Ariel’s exploration out of concern for her safety.
While it seems we have no seen these emotions expressed out of Marluxia, we have seen Lauriam explicitly fail to protect Strelitzia. He is even likened to Beat and Rhyme from TWEWY with his Reaper theming.
The idea, might be why they leaned into Marluxia’s femininity in character design. Elrena is explicitly a masculine woman, in name, and complimenting Lauriam’s femininity.
The world of Pranksters Paradise, in junction with the tutorial on the raft, spells very subtly what really happened the night Destiny islands fell to darkness with a twist of Kairi’s absence.
Another great video!!!!
Wooowooo another incredibile bangerrrr, so goood howleeerrrr!!!!
Another video, another comment (or was it story...? I forget :P )
Really looking forward to the deep-dive on the female characters. Players/fans and the developers alike should learn to give them more attention (under-utilized is the word).
Still not sure if I'm on the same wavelength as you regarding hetero normativity and relationships between the same gender (referring to SoRiku specifically), but you have made sound arguments thus far. If these things come to be, I don't really mind - as long as it's presented in good taste and well-founded. By this I mean don't shoe-horn/force it down our throats.
Now, I want to make myself clear to everyone: I do not write this as an offense, only as well intentioned advice.
For example; there's a difference between being presented as gay *the same way one would present a hetero character*, and *being gay just to be gay and/or filling a quota*. I really hope my thoughts get across here...
On another note... What do you think of the supposed Disney+ KH show? Will it be a movie? A series? Classical KH art style, CGI/Unreal Engine? Who will make the music? Voice actors, old and new?
Personally, I'm hoping for a *series*. Or anime, if you will. Whatever it takes to really flesh out both the story and characters. Heck, I hope the manga script writer (I forget their name) is part of the project, as the manga REALLY helps bringing the characters to life.
See you on the next one
Hey, this is very well deconstructed! I do love how you get into the nitty gritty of the Kingdom Hearts narrative like this - great job as always! It flows very nicely.
2:16 ** assigned at birth → identify/present as?
Personly i think Malefiicent will eventuly be stabed by a keyblade again and. Be possesed by trug darkness wich would be a callback to kh 1 . I belive what you Theorie will Happen and lead to that oder multiple games. KH 4 will see MoM as the Villain and 5 likely Luxu. KH 6 would be the perfect end if it goes full circeö withba Possesd Maledicent as the Villain and everyonre Wirkung together for this final battle. It startet with her it should end with her