CFUW finish essay
So I dunno. I've only ever done two essays, one for Kratos, and one for Apollo because I could essay about Apollo for hours on end about how he isn't the same as Phoenix. And then, that brings me to this point: I feel the same about America. There are dozens of things that I could essay on and about why I play him the way I do, since I've had to develop a multifaceted character out of a canon that is pretty much entirely crack.
Like, "Why did America do so well in CFUW, when this is the guy that draws stupid faces on the board and can't even get away with lying about that?" I've thought about it, I really have, and I had determined several things before I went the course that I did. I imagine other players of America can and will disagree with me that in a game based entirely on lying, America shouldn't have done well.
But then I look at other aspects of why that game played out the way it did. Being unable to tell a decent lie about whether or not you drew a picture at the risk of ridicule from fellow countries just doesn't even compare to being forced to lie at the risk of being killed by someone who seems impossibly powerful. Let's face it, if America had all the normal resources available to himself, such as guns, armies, planes, bombs, all the sort of tactical advantages that come from being America, I doubt he would have done so well.
Not to mention, I'm not even entirely sure it's possible for a country to be killed in that manner. All of America's canon states that when countries are defeated, they're really only taken as "prisoners of war." And really, the canon is unclear about what happens then, because these countries re-enact scenarios that really happened during the wars they were in, where you're not even sure they're the same characters anymore. (For examples, look at the Germany/France comic, where Germany is eating in a French restaurant. It's to tell a story, otherwise I doubt the punchline in that comic would have worked at all. Or the one where Russia jumps from a plane with no parachute.)
So, to be fair, I doubt it's possible for America to be killed. But I had to work within the ramifications of the game, and that was what I came up with.
Now, to explain why America acted the way he did, it comes down to a switch. In the Air Force, they stress having that switch, which is basically my military face vs. my normal face. I'm sure all the services stress it, and really, it's not unreasonable to suggest that America has that same switch. I may be reaching on this, but I'm comparing his attitude in the G8 comics to the comic where he was cleaning out his closet, and during the American Revolution. The attitude there was completely different from the normal for him, so I wanted to try and build off of that sense of desperation.
It was do or die, kill or be killed. And when you consider the choices, most sane people would say, "... Iiiii really don't want to be killed." And it's a pretty canon fact that America is very easily terrified, something that England instilled into him, so change the terror from a known safe zone to something radically unpredictable... Well, you get where I'm going with this. It becomes very easy to do what you have to when that switch is pressed. And we saw what happened when America reached that point where the game was no more fun, the risk was only temporary, and it'd help everyone if he was gone. Or, at least give everyone a fighting chance.
Bam! That was when he turned himself in.
But to say I based it entirely off of a comic is kind of a lie. I actually pulled some of my outside knowledge here and applied one of the theories of international relations to America, because I was kind of drawing a blank on what to do. I mean, Yeah! I had a serious, sad comic to go off of. But that's just it: I had a serious and sad comic. That only showed bits and pieces, and I personally saw more desperation from England than I did from America there.
Honestly, if CFUW carried over as though it were reality, America probably would have the same lingering sorrow that he does with England-- which I imagine is something entirely independent of the actual American stereotype. I can't speak for England, but most Americans don't really associate with the American Revolution anymore beyond the fact that it happened, it sucked, and Heath Ledger starred with Mel Gibson in a movie about it. Basically: America, while true to most facets of the American stereotype... has his own individual characteristics that make him more than just a walking stereotype.
Which was quite a tangent! Let me pull us back on track! At any rate, when looking at CFUW and 'what the hell do I do as a wolf dksfjs' I picked two things: Don't necessarily lie, just. Don't tell the truth. That was something I followed until the fourth day, which was where the breakdown happened. The other was to apply the realist thought to America which is: All states are rational actors. In an anarchic society, states will naturally make decisions that will benefit themselves. Survival is a rational act, and states do a lot of stupid things to ensure survival.
I kind of did a mix between everything, because America's ultimate decision wasn't a very rational one. But at the same time, because America has independent character traits aside from the fact that he is an American stereotype. This allows some freedom with him, because God, playing a stereotype would get boring after awhile, and America itself is so full of stereotypes anyway, and not all of them are good. In fact, a good portion aren't. So... I don't know. I thought, "What if no one can see the logic in wy America acted the way he did, and accused me of upping his suaveness to win a game?" I mean, yeah, that's cheating.
But at the same time, America IS a military superpower, with one the best trained militaries in the world. To be a hero in that sense... You need to be able to know when to play your cards right, right?
Like, "Why did America do so well in CFUW, when this is the guy that draws stupid faces on the board and can't even get away with lying about that?" I've thought about it, I really have, and I had determined several things before I went the course that I did. I imagine other players of America can and will disagree with me that in a game based entirely on lying, America shouldn't have done well.
But then I look at other aspects of why that game played out the way it did. Being unable to tell a decent lie about whether or not you drew a picture at the risk of ridicule from fellow countries just doesn't even compare to being forced to lie at the risk of being killed by someone who seems impossibly powerful. Let's face it, if America had all the normal resources available to himself, such as guns, armies, planes, bombs, all the sort of tactical advantages that come from being America, I doubt he would have done so well.
Not to mention, I'm not even entirely sure it's possible for a country to be killed in that manner. All of America's canon states that when countries are defeated, they're really only taken as "prisoners of war." And really, the canon is unclear about what happens then, because these countries re-enact scenarios that really happened during the wars they were in, where you're not even sure they're the same characters anymore. (For examples, look at the Germany/France comic, where Germany is eating in a French restaurant. It's to tell a story, otherwise I doubt the punchline in that comic would have worked at all. Or the one where Russia jumps from a plane with no parachute.)
So, to be fair, I doubt it's possible for America to be killed. But I had to work within the ramifications of the game, and that was what I came up with.
Now, to explain why America acted the way he did, it comes down to a switch. In the Air Force, they stress having that switch, which is basically my military face vs. my normal face. I'm sure all the services stress it, and really, it's not unreasonable to suggest that America has that same switch. I may be reaching on this, but I'm comparing his attitude in the G8 comics to the comic where he was cleaning out his closet, and during the American Revolution. The attitude there was completely different from the normal for him, so I wanted to try and build off of that sense of desperation.
It was do or die, kill or be killed. And when you consider the choices, most sane people would say, "... Iiiii really don't want to be killed." And it's a pretty canon fact that America is very easily terrified, something that England instilled into him, so change the terror from a known safe zone to something radically unpredictable... Well, you get where I'm going with this. It becomes very easy to do what you have to when that switch is pressed. And we saw what happened when America reached that point where the game was no more fun, the risk was only temporary, and it'd help everyone if he was gone. Or, at least give everyone a fighting chance.
Bam! That was when he turned himself in.
But to say I based it entirely off of a comic is kind of a lie. I actually pulled some of my outside knowledge here and applied one of the theories of international relations to America, because I was kind of drawing a blank on what to do. I mean, Yeah! I had a serious, sad comic to go off of. But that's just it: I had a serious and sad comic. That only showed bits and pieces, and I personally saw more desperation from England than I did from America there.
Honestly, if CFUW carried over as though it were reality, America probably would have the same lingering sorrow that he does with England-- which I imagine is something entirely independent of the actual American stereotype. I can't speak for England, but most Americans don't really associate with the American Revolution anymore beyond the fact that it happened, it sucked, and Heath Ledger starred with Mel Gibson in a movie about it. Basically: America, while true to most facets of the American stereotype... has his own individual characteristics that make him more than just a walking stereotype.
Which was quite a tangent! Let me pull us back on track! At any rate, when looking at CFUW and 'what the hell do I do as a wolf dksfjs' I picked two things: Don't necessarily lie, just. Don't tell the truth. That was something I followed until the fourth day, which was where the breakdown happened. The other was to apply the realist thought to America which is: All states are rational actors. In an anarchic society, states will naturally make decisions that will benefit themselves. Survival is a rational act, and states do a lot of stupid things to ensure survival.
I kind of did a mix between everything, because America's ultimate decision wasn't a very rational one. But at the same time, because America has independent character traits aside from the fact that he is an American stereotype. This allows some freedom with him, because God, playing a stereotype would get boring after awhile, and America itself is so full of stereotypes anyway, and not all of them are good. In fact, a good portion aren't. So... I don't know. I thought, "What if no one can see the logic in wy America acted the way he did, and accused me of upping his suaveness to win a game?" I mean, yeah, that's cheating.
But at the same time, America IS a military superpower, with one the best trained militaries in the world. To be a hero in that sense... You need to be able to know when to play your cards right, right?