Oh, those YouTube videos
Hmm, what to write about? Today was another pretty routine day--work, video games, and Miraculous! Oh, and we also watched a video that was recommended to us, like, a year or so ago about The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. From what I remember of the recommendation, it was supposed to be about what makes Ocarina of Time the best Zelda game, but it was actually about what makes it the saddest Zelda game.
The gist of it is that the game spends a lot of time saying, "Isn't the world wonderful when you're a child? Well, we're taking Link's childhood away, too bad for him!" ...Okay, that might be an oversimplification. They gave a whole bunch of reasoning for it that made sense in the moment, but they drew a few conclusions that we feel are not set in stone. For example, the video claimed that the Master Sword is a symbol of Link's childhood, so that even in adult form, he's always carrying his childhood on his back. I would argue that, since Link has to go through a bunch of trials to get to the sword, and he becomes a grownup as soon as he takes it, the sword is more likely to be a symbol of adulthood.
Based on their interpretation of the Master Sword's symbolism, and the fact that the game won't let you defeat Ganon with any weapon other than the Master Sword, their conclusion is that he must use his childhood to defeat Ganon, who represents adulthood and all its horribleness. That could be true, except that they didn't really back up their theory about the sword representing Link's childhood. Obviously, you have to defeat Ganon with the Master Sword because the cutscene of his death has the Master Sword in it, and video games weren't advanced enough back then that they could change the cutscene based on what equipment you had, and it looks cooler to have him die with a sword in him then to have him just be all, "Uuugh, I'm dead."
I would also say that Link's quest to save Hyrule was the vehicle through which he matured into a real man, and using the Master Sword could be symbolic of him being fully grown and thus defeating Ganon.
And then they talk about how cruel and tragic the game is, because after making Link use the wonder of childhood to defeat Ganon, he has to give back the Master Sword and Navi flies away, thus making him a child again, but without any of his childhood. He can't go back to Kokiri Village without Navi, so he's been abandoned by his...childhood? I don't remember exactly. But I also disagree with this conclusion, because just because Link can't go back to Kokiri doesn't mean he has nowhere to go. He made a ton of friends outside of Kokiri Village, and I'm sure they'd all be happy to help him out.
Then there's the fact that Majora's Mask is a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time and probably sheds some more light on what happened to poor outcast Link. We haven't played it in about two decades, so I...don't remember what happens in it; only that he makes friends with Skull Kid...who may or may not be symbolic of Child Link going back to Kokiri Forest and becoming a Stalfos because he doesn't have a fairy.
I don't know. We've forgotten too much. On the other hand, the people who made the video had probably played the game pretty recently, and they had definitely read the Hyrule Encyclopedia thingie...although they did only refer to it once, so.... I don't know.
One thing I do feel pretty strongly about, though. One of the things they brought up is a quote by Shigeru Miyamoto about how everyone still has a kid inside them, they just act like adults because society tells us we have to. The video makers took this to be a sad commentary on how we must all abandon the inner children that still live inside us. But we've seen recent videos of Shigeru Miyamoto, and based on how happy and smiling he is, our interpretation of that quote is that, "We pretend to be adults because society tells us not to be too childish, but we don't have to listen." We can be true to our inner children; life's way more fun that way.
Today I'm thankful for new thought exercises, work going okay, surviving the heat, getting to watch Robostus and Dark Owl, and fond memories of The Ocarina of Time.
The gist of it is that the game spends a lot of time saying, "Isn't the world wonderful when you're a child? Well, we're taking Link's childhood away, too bad for him!" ...Okay, that might be an oversimplification. They gave a whole bunch of reasoning for it that made sense in the moment, but they drew a few conclusions that we feel are not set in stone. For example, the video claimed that the Master Sword is a symbol of Link's childhood, so that even in adult form, he's always carrying his childhood on his back. I would argue that, since Link has to go through a bunch of trials to get to the sword, and he becomes a grownup as soon as he takes it, the sword is more likely to be a symbol of adulthood.
Based on their interpretation of the Master Sword's symbolism, and the fact that the game won't let you defeat Ganon with any weapon other than the Master Sword, their conclusion is that he must use his childhood to defeat Ganon, who represents adulthood and all its horribleness. That could be true, except that they didn't really back up their theory about the sword representing Link's childhood. Obviously, you have to defeat Ganon with the Master Sword because the cutscene of his death has the Master Sword in it, and video games weren't advanced enough back then that they could change the cutscene based on what equipment you had, and it looks cooler to have him die with a sword in him then to have him just be all, "Uuugh, I'm dead."
I would also say that Link's quest to save Hyrule was the vehicle through which he matured into a real man, and using the Master Sword could be symbolic of him being fully grown and thus defeating Ganon.
And then they talk about how cruel and tragic the game is, because after making Link use the wonder of childhood to defeat Ganon, he has to give back the Master Sword and Navi flies away, thus making him a child again, but without any of his childhood. He can't go back to Kokiri Village without Navi, so he's been abandoned by his...childhood? I don't remember exactly. But I also disagree with this conclusion, because just because Link can't go back to Kokiri doesn't mean he has nowhere to go. He made a ton of friends outside of Kokiri Village, and I'm sure they'd all be happy to help him out.
Then there's the fact that Majora's Mask is a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time and probably sheds some more light on what happened to poor outcast Link. We haven't played it in about two decades, so I...don't remember what happens in it; only that he makes friends with Skull Kid...who may or may not be symbolic of Child Link going back to Kokiri Forest and becoming a Stalfos because he doesn't have a fairy.
I don't know. We've forgotten too much. On the other hand, the people who made the video had probably played the game pretty recently, and they had definitely read the Hyrule Encyclopedia thingie...although they did only refer to it once, so.... I don't know.
One thing I do feel pretty strongly about, though. One of the things they brought up is a quote by Shigeru Miyamoto about how everyone still has a kid inside them, they just act like adults because society tells us we have to. The video makers took this to be a sad commentary on how we must all abandon the inner children that still live inside us. But we've seen recent videos of Shigeru Miyamoto, and based on how happy and smiling he is, our interpretation of that quote is that, "We pretend to be adults because society tells us not to be too childish, but we don't have to listen." We can be true to our inner children; life's way more fun that way.
Today I'm thankful for new thought exercises, work going okay, surviving the heat, getting to watch Robostus and Dark Owl, and fond memories of The Ocarina of Time.