A Defense of Barret

by Charles Clark 

The other day I read some of the letters in the mail section of NEXT-generation magazine. It was from some angry games complaining about the racist portrayal of Barret in FF7. Also, a few recent editorials had brought up the issue, so I thought someone should step in and say something.

Personally I didn't really find anything wrong with Barret. In fact, he's one of my favorite characters. Some say that his slang speech (ebonics, if you will) and sometimes violent tendencies take away from the game and give a racist view of Blacks (Not African Americans, FF7 isn't in America). To these people I say, look again. How many times has Square used the Final Fantasy Series to denouce a race of people, let alone a single person? None to my knowledge.

Look at it this way, How does Square show the differences in the characters in their games? By the qualities and characteristics of a character and his or her personality. Cid is a very good example of this. He constantly cusses and calls people names without any particular reason. If he didn't, he just wouldn't be Cid; that's what makes him, him. This is just the same way that Barret is who he is. If Barret didn't act and talk the way he does, what would make him different from any other character?

All in all I think that just because one character is portrayed a certain way, we shouldn't jump to conclusions and think that they are telling us that all people are that way. I think that because Square keeps shelling out such great games, we aren't content with perfection and have to find a flaw somewhere.