Anordin wrote:Its interesting to note how nakedness in one form or another takes on certain characteristics. While I agree with most of your comments about Lucia, and perhaps I'm stretching this a bit, but couldn't (shouldn't ?) we interpret her nakedness as a sign of 'evilness' as well? She is literally not exactly from this world and before she appears she's rumored to be the destroyer. Of course the game goes on and we learn that she's good and incredibly naive while there is an evil god out there. But when she absorbs Althena's powers and everyone's else, doesn't she become the most dangerous who, had not a bunch of heroes accompanied her, would have destroyed the Silver Star to defeat Zophar? Perhaps I'm reading alot into this, because I'm inclined to believe that Lucia's nakedness is still a *very* subtle sign that there is something distrustful about her. Not that all this doesn't make for a very complex character...which is probably why the FMV fight between Lucia and Zophar is very powerful event.
I don't think I can agree. In this context I think it has to be considered symbolic of innocence and unworldliness if it's symbolic of anything -- nothing to hide, you see. It's not like it's
Il Bacio. Besides which, she's totally sexless there, looking about twelve. Keep in mind that her "goodness" was established from the start...I don't know/recall if you've played EB, but her nightmare in the opening of that game is of clawed, evil hands tearing into Lunar and blood going everywhere, and (in both, I'm sure) she's alarmed and worried about Lunar after she realizes she's not supposed to be awake yet and therefore it was something else that disturbed her. It's fairly clear to the player whose side she's on. Which makes her stupidity in handing the keys to the world to Zophar all the more striking.
Nakedness => innocence when there's no sexuality in it. No provocative pose, no knowingness, etc.
Sex appeal (a totally separate thing) => evil when it's knowing, so to speak, but generally is more to reinforce the character's known evilness rather than to indicate it. Xenobia's and Jean's outfits cover similar areas, but Jean is almost sexless herself (I've generally thought the Blue Dragon/Shadow Dragon cult must've also involved sexual abuse), while Xenobia is smirking and clearly confident and aware of the impact she's making.
The analogy does perhaps break down with the end of the game and Lucia reset back to being in her crystal. Although...she doesn't scream in terror at Hiro finding her there, as she does when he sees her bathing; however, when they're outside after that she's swathed in his cape. Granted, it's probably still cold (though she only slightly shivered in the snowstorm), but she doesn't return to her casual outfit, which would have been reasonable enough in the context, or her uniform, which would have been warmer.
Actually, that raises a whole different question -- was Hiro's presence all it took to make the snowstorms stop? If she's wrapped in the cape it suggests that that's right after he gets there. I forget if we can see if it's still snowing madly before he gets there.
(By the way, it can be offensive to refer to someone else's religious belief as a "myth".)
Back to the clothing thing, it doesn't always hold up -- a lot of it's in the demeanor of the person, as I was suggesting with regards to Jean. A true story: at a party in college a girl who was rather drunk said something like this to me: "I'd never get away with dressing like you do. If I were wearing that it'd look really bad, because I'm a slut. But you're not a slut, so you can wear it." It was a bit weird, but I couldn't disagree with her analysis.