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Tifa A Sexist Character
Topic Started: Jul 7 2011, 08:26 PM (2,669 Views)
Rinchan
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Would you consider Tifa a sexist character?

I think I would.

She unfortunantly displays many of the same characteristics most passive female anime characters do.

One common theme in even western media, is the idea that a women's main purpose is to support their men.

One of the major things that really bothers me about her, is that her entire life revolves around Cloud. In the begining of the game, she wanted Barret to raise Cloud's pay even though he wanted to use the money to pay for Marlene's college. Worst thing is, Tifa hardly knew Cloud at that point, yet she was willing to convince someone she probably considered family to used his money that he was planning to use for his littel girl to keep her man, who was not even interested in her, around. Heck, he was hardly even concerned when she was captured by Don Cornero.

Later in the game, when Cloud was discovered in Mideel, Tifa wanted to stay by his side. Despite the fact that there was a huge meteor on its way to earth, which would wipe out all of humanity. Why would she not want to go try to stop it? Couldn't she have been by Cloud's side after meteor was stopped? Luckily for her, it worked out in her favor.

When the game ends, and you get the extra stuff, (AC, COT, all others) how often does she do something that does not involve Cloud? And how often is she not thinking about Cloud? Even though Cloud seems to show little to no interest in her? And even if they were an official canon couple, why would she stay with someone who acted like that?

Next her clothing. Ugh how many times have we seen in anime the sexy character or sweet character who vows to devote her entire life to her man? Another thing that the media does. Making women nothing but sex objects.

I also said this in another thread, switch Aerith and Tifa's clothes and skills, but keep their personalities, and I bet Aerith would be a hugely popular character and Tifa would be very hated.

Tifa is nothing but sex appeal meant to appeal to teenage boys fantasies yet masquerades as a strong female character. Unfortunantly, so many girls are fooled by her. It's even more disturbing how many find her devotion towards Cloud to be sweet.

You could apply this arguement almost word for word to Tifa
http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/04/z...of-sexist-crap/

I posted this in another thread, but some of it applies to Tifa.
http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/03/t...xie-dream-girl/

Also a review on Bayonetta
http://www.feministfrequency.com/2010/05/b...sment-training/

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Prince Roxas
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Just a Nobody
I don't think Tifa is a sexist even though I'm not completely educated on the term. She displays emotions and views of a troubled person who needs a little support and confidence and she does eventually start to become a stronger person.

I think this is just generally bashing of Tifa and it should only be in the bashing topic.
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Angelalex242
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Keeper of the Intimacy of Aerith's soul living in Cloud
Technically, this topic is trying to be a social commentary topic based on a character, which is not technically bashing, even if such commentary is negative.

The question, then, is "Does Tifa play into negative stereotypes of women in videogames?"

Well...on the one hand, she kicks ass, often literally.
On the other hand, she does seem to be a little obssessed with Cloud. It's a valid topic.
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myfinalfantasy
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Je t'aime
As much as I dislike saying this, I'll say it:

I don't think Tifa is a sexist character.

Despite her lack of clothing, poor mental and emotional strength, and clinginess, I think she was created to serve as a character who could relate to most women. Also, I think people just like her more because she was involved in Cloud's childhood and she can fight better with her fists. They think that because she's been around Cloud longer, she somehow deserves him. I mean, Aerith's not perfect, but she's just so... so angelic, you know? Not perfect and not horrible. (I'm not saying Tifa is horrible, it's just that she's just someone who can relate better to people...)

*Cricket Cricket* O_o

Anyways, doesn't sexist mean that you prefer one gender over the other? I don't think Tifa is doing all of the points you mentioned on purpose; maybe she's just madly in love with Cloud. And also, I get what you mean. Like, what's the point for Tifa to be so concerned with Cloud even when he doesn't show any interest in her? :yawn:
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Vixie
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Sicker than the rest
Tifa's not the type of character I'm into. I'm not generally fond of shy types who don't speak up much, or pure love interest characters for that matter because romance in games is usually so poorly done. She pretty much faded into the background in a game that had a vibrant and interesting cast because neither her personality nor her story engaged me. However, I wouldn't consider her a sexist character anymore than I would Celes or Rosa who also relied on men for much of their development. She was designed to be a support character and that's what she was, and she has lots of female fans who relate to her and were most likely engaged by her personality and story, she is not only liked by fapping fanboys. Her image in FFVII is offputting IMO but I have my doubts that many people would call her a sexist character if she wore a long dress and was flat chested. No one seems to call Aerith a sexist character in Crisis Core despite her being portrayed as a simpering twit who's entire being was influenced by Zack because *gasp* she wears a white dress. No one calls Yuna in FFX a sexist character despite her being meek and downtrodden to the point of idiocy when she's the potential saviour of the world.
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Aquarius
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myfinalfantasy
Jul 7 2011, 11:30 PM
As much as I dislike saying this, I'll say it:

I don't think Tifa is a sexist character.

Despite her lack of clothing, poor mental and emotional strength, and clinginess, I think she was created to serve as a character who could relate to most women. Also, I think people just like her more because she was involved in Cloud's childhood and she can fight better with her fists. They think that because she's been around Cloud longer, she somehow deserves him. I mean, Aerith's not perfect, but she's just so... so angelic, you know? Not perfect and not horrible. (I'm not saying Tifa is horrible, it's just that she's just someone who can relate better to people...)

*Cricket Cricket* O_o

Anyways, doesn't sexist mean that you prefer one gender over the other? I don't think Tifa is doing all of the points you mentioned on purpose; maybe she's just madly in love with Cloud. And also, I get what you mean. Like, what's the point for Tifa to be so concerned with Cloud even when he doesn't show any interest in her? :yawn:

I'm inclined to agree with MFF here. I think that's about spot on.
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Rinchan
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myfinalfantasy
Jul 7 2011, 11:30 PM
As much as I dislike saying this, I'll say it:

I don't think Tifa is a sexist character.

Despite her lack of clothing, poor mental and emotional strength, and clinginess, I think she was created to serve as a character who could relate to most women. Also, I think people just like her more because she was involved in Cloud's childhood and she can fight better with her fists. They think that because she's been around Cloud longer, she somehow deserves him. I mean, Aerith's not perfect, but she's just so... so angelic, you know? Not perfect and not horrible. (I'm not saying Tifa is horrible, it's just that she's just someone who can relate better to people...)

*Cricket Cricket* O_o

Anyways, doesn't sexist mean that you prefer one gender over the other? I don't think Tifa is doing all of the points you mentioned on purpose; maybe she's just madly in love with Cloud. And also, I get what you mean. Like, what's the point for Tifa to be so concerned with Cloud even when he doesn't show any interest in her? :yawn:

Rosa and Celes would be considered sexist characters. And you'll find a lot of video game characters that are.

Most anime women and many from western media are.

Basically, she is sexist because her sole purpose is not to have a character of her own, but to be fap material for teenage boys and her entire story revolves around Cloud (a man). She throws out concern for others when something is wrong with Cloud, as if Cloud were the center of her world. It's worse when Cloud shows little to no interest in her.

Feminists would argue that female characters who sole story and purpose that revolve around the male character supports the notion that men are the center of the world and women are only here to support them. Maybe the word anti feminist would be more correct. Also the sexualization of female characters supports the idea that woman are only meant to be sex object for men.

And I disagree that she is supposed to be the character that girls relate to. Or she is a poor choice for that. Girls need a character to relate too that can be her own person without needing a man. How about a girl that has her own dreams and aspirations?

I don't know if anyone has heard of the Bechdel Test, but it was created to determine if a movie/tv show has a good female representation.

Basically there are three rules:

1. Story needs at least 2 female characters.

2. They must talk to each other.

3. They must talk to each other about something other than men.

You'll find that most movies do not pass this test. Though of note, just because a movie passes this test does not mean it is a feminist movie, and just because it fails, that does not mean the movie does not have a strong female character.

Not sure if FFVII passes this.

But along with all of that, Aerith could be a "Woman in the refridgerator" but this isn't the forum for that.
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Vanelo
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I'm really torn on this, as the following wall-o-text will no doubt illustrate.

On one hand, I think Rinchan has a valid point. Tifa looks good in skimpy clothes, kicks butt with her bare hands, alternately bosses around and/or praises the main character and gets him out of his vegetative state... and that's about it. Yet anyone who looks past the surface will notice that Tifa has little real depth as a character compared to any of the other playable characters in FFVII, including Aeris and Yuffie. She's clingy, emotionally weak, and... well... boring, at least in terms of just sheer story. She's all style and no substance. And that could very well be sexist.

OTOH, I don't think it's a good idea to cry wolf about this sort of thing either. It sometimes seems like people today are raised to yell out loud any time they sense the slightest hint of political incorrectness, even if there's really not any. I won't name names here, because I don't want to start any flame wars, but I feel like sometimes movies, games, and other media get unfairly criticized for crap like this when really there was nothing to criticize, or at the very least, the developers didn't intend to be sexist, or even politically incorrect. And much as I hate to say this, there are far worse offenders out there than Tifa (something I'll be touching on more in a bit).

You also have to look at context here. I mean sure, Tifa probably is a good candidate for sexism... but what about everyone else in FFVII? Aeris is kind, upbeat, has more depth to her character than most of the game's men do, has an indestructible will, and has a very strong romantic relationship with Cloud without being wholly dependent on him (he does save her from Shinra HQ, which is no small feat, but I'm talking about personality wise, there's a clear difference between Tifa and Aeris). Yuffie is a freaking ninja and a thief, is easily one of the most powerful and useful party members, and has zero emotional reliance on any man at any point in the plot... and she's only 16. Elena is a strong, professional member of the Turks with a better work ethic than either of her male cohorts. Scarlet is the only sexist female in the game besides Tifa, and both she and her sexist attributes (well, really all of her attributes) are depicted as basically pure evil (and because we never see Scarlet in an FMV or battle, her lego model is all we have to go on, so we don't even get to see the, for lack of a better term, "benefits" of her sexualized appearance).

On top of which, it's not like the game doesn't try to appeal to females either. Cloud, Sephiroth, Vincent, Rufus, Reno, and Zack (who even has a very fanservicy shirtless scene in Crisis Core) all have massive female fanbases for reasons that I can only guess have to do with their attractiveness and charisma... though to be fair, at least half of them have actual depth to them compared to Tifa, so there are reasons beyond sex appeal to like these characters. Heck, I'm a straight male and I think Cloud and Vincent are amazing characters.

Random aside: I agree with Rosa being at least somewhat sexist at least as far as being almost wholly dependent on her love for Cecil. I don't agree with Celes though... most of her story focuses on her role as an artificially created imperial general, how and why she betrays said empire, and her relationship to her "father" Cid, which is neither dependent nor romantic in nature, and both Celes and Cid are very morally upright characters. Sure, she does end up with Locke in the end, but it's mostly a minor sub-plot.

TL;DR: So yeah... Tifa may be sexist character, but I don't think there's any solid evidence that FFVII was seriously trying to be sexist.

****The rest of this post is a slightly random, off-topic aside because I'm bored****

One other thing I want to address, just so everyone kinda knows where I stand here is those feminist videos Rinchan linked to. I'll do this in the order that I watched them...

- The Bayonetta video I totally agree with. I know the game is very popular and has a lot of fans, including females on this very board. I've played the game, and the gameplay itself is actually quite good. But I do think the video is being bluntly honest and saying what everyone else is afraid to... the game IS extremely sexist, and anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. Simply being able to kick butt doesn't make for a strong or interesting character, regardless of gender (Kratos from God of War is a good male example of this and one of my most absolutely hated characters in the history of video games, and probably fictional storytelling in general). Bayonetta herself is so ridiculously sexualized that she makes Tifa look tame by comparison.

- I haven't seen Sucker Punch, and have no real desire to, so I have no idea as to the validity of the video. But assuming it is being reasonably accurate (and based on the Bayonetta video I have no reason to doubt that it is), I agree with its complaints for much the same reasons as the Bayonetta article.

- The Manic Pixie video OTOH... the only movie I've seen out of that whole list is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I sure as crap don't remember Kate Winslet being such a simplistic character in that movie (and I should add that Eternal Sunshine is a near unanimously acclaimed movie with a complex, intelligent plot, not a chick flick as the rest of the examples appeared to be). I also felt the host wasn't smart to just blurt out how every male in these movies was caucasian and straight like these are inherently evil traits. Now perhaps that's not what she was getting at, but seeing as how it served zero purpose in her argument (which is supposed to be about feminism, not liberalism, and yes there's a difference) and is never brought up again, I only have the seething hatred in her voice to go on. Now... all that said, she probably has a point overall, but she did such a bad job of presenting said point that I have to call her motives into question.

Ok wow, this post is getting long so I'm gonna stop there :sweat:
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FeraNelia
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I agree with Vanelo, I'm also kinda torn on this.

Tifa's biggest problem is that her looks are contradicting with her personality. She looks as if she can kick everyone's asses while the truth is that she really can't - she's almost the opposite of her appearance. This clearly tells us that she was designed to attract male players and be eye-candy. (And I'm now talking about original VII, so I'm leaving the male characters from the other games alone.) It's hard to see her as a serious female character when you can almost see her panties. So, if she didn't wear such revealing clothes, I wouldn't really see her as a slightly sexist character - she would just be an emotionally weak person. Since Aeris is a stronger female character, I wouldn't be bothered by Tifa because not everyone is - nor do they need to be - the same.

But when we add her appearance to her personality, the result isn't pleasant. Tifa's whole life seems to center around Cloud, a man. She wants to be protected by him, she's clingy; she clearly puts him above everyone else. Marlene's school money? Pfft, screw it, Tifa wants her man! Her character doesn't seem to have any other meaning but to support Cloud. And when we add revealing clothes to this, it makes her look like a men's ideal picture of women; sexy but submissive beauties who exist to support their men. Now THIS is why she can be viewed as a sexist character. And I'm not saying women can't look sexy, but there's a difference between a sexy character and a sex object.

BUT even after all this, she's not the worst. Even though I don't like Tifa, that is not because of her appearance and slightly sexist form, but her personality. Of course I'm a bit annoyed by her looks, but that has never been the biggest problem. (I guess I'm already so used to see women wearing revealing clothes in video games that it doesn't make me mad anymore) There are way more horribly sexualized female characters, so Tifa doesn't really strike badly as a sexist character. Really, she could be worse. We also have to remember that Tifa was added after Aeris was decided to be killed; I don't know how early this decision was made, but it surely affected Tifa's character - perhaps her character simply didn't get as much development time as the others. She has become a bit stronger/better character after VII, after all.

So I agree with Vanelo; I don't believe VII is seriously trying to be sexist, Tifa's character just is the exception there. And I think that's more because the creators didn't put so much thought into her, thus creating the contradiction. They just hastily created a character who was an opposite of lively Aeris, and then had her wear revealing clothes to draw in male players. It's possible; I do not believe they wanted to create a sexist character, but just made hasty decisions without bigger thinking instead. (Of course my theory might be wrong, but...) So I don't think we need to climb onto the barricades because of that, she isn't the only female character in the story after all~

Instead of Tifa being a sexist character, I'm more worried about how twisted views fanboys/girls have of her; she's definitely not a perfect ass-kicking goddess...
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Anastar
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To touch the light I see in your eyes...
Interesting topic, Rinchan! ^_^ Rukia actually brought up a similar idea in her thread on the French Wikipedia entries for Aerith and Tifa:

http://z8.invisionfree.com/Cloud_x_Aerith/...post&p=12586921

To quote from her post:

I dont know how it is elsewhere, but here anything that is remotely racist, anti-semetic or sexist is looked down upon, and Tifa's image and character are not empowering to women at all. Tifa could be seen as a boyish view of a subservient woman because she is willing to do anything for Cloud without thinking of her own happiness, and her image is laughable in the face of all that women have worked so hard at changing - you know that we are just sex symbols. I mean come on! rolleyes.gif They gave her enormous breasts, a miniskirt and a shy personality! ~Rukia, Jul 6 2011, 08:10 AM

I can totally see what Rukia means by that, and I think Rinchan was saying something similar. Yes, Tifa tends to be subservient to Cloud. I never really saw Tifa as thinking for herself. She often seems to sacrifice her own happiness for Cloud. Now - I think some people would call that a demonstration of her love for Cloud, but I think feminists tend to see it as being subservient.

Angelalex242 brought up a very good point when he suggested that maybe the question is whether Tifa is reinforcing negative stereotypes for women in video games?

I totally agree that Tifa is all about sex appeal with the big breasts and miniskirt. Of course, we have to remember that SE really toned that down for AC/ACC. On the other hand, SE made Aerith more busty for AC/ACC - but it wasn't to the extreme of FFVII Tifa, either. :lol:

Yeah, Tifa can fight with her fists, but I don't think that makes her a strong character. It makes her a good fighting partner, but in general, I think her character tends to be worried, weak, and subservient to Cloud. To me, that doesn't make her a strong character. On the other hand, Tifa is steadfast and reliable. You can count on her to carry things out. For example, she toughed it out managing the Seventh Heaven and taking care of the kids on her own after Cloud left at the end of CoT. BUT I think the only reason she stuck it out was her hope that Cloud would return.

In comparison, Aerith took off on her own for the Forgotten City with no help because she knew it was the last resort for the Planet. She had no fear of what might happen to her. She did it even though she wanted to remain with Cloud - which we know from the "Sleeping Forest Dream Sequence". She didn't stop when she learned that Sephiroth was after her. To me, that shows much greater strength of personality, resolve, and determination than Tifa.

So who's the better role model for feminism? I would say it's Aerith. ^_^
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Rukia
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Rinchan
Jul 7 2011, 08:26 PM
Would you consider Tifa a sexist character?

I think I would.

She unfortunantly displays many of the same characteristics most passive female anime characters do.

One of the major things that really bothers me about her, is that her entire life revolves around Cloud. In the begining of the game, she wanted Barret to raise Cloud's pay even though he wanted to use the money to pay for Marlene's college. Worst thing is, Tifa hardly knew Cloud at that point, yet she was willing to convince someone she probably considered family to used his money that he was planning to use for his littel girl to keep her man, who was not even interested in her, around. Heck, he was hardly even concerned when she was captured by Don Cornero.

Later in the game, when Cloud was discovered in Mideel, Tifa wanted to stay by his side. Despite the fact that there was a huge meteor on its way to earth, which would wipe out all of humanity. Why would she not want to go try to stop it? Couldn't she have been by Cloud's side after meteor was stopped? Luckily for her, it worked out in her favor.

When the game ends, and you get the extra stuff, (AC, COT, all others) how often does she do something that does not involve Cloud? And how often is she not thinking about Cloud? Even though Cloud seems to show little to no interest in her? And even if they were an official canon couple, why would she stay with someone who acted like that?

Next her clothing. Ugh how many times have we seen in anime the sexy character or sweet character who vows to devote her entire life to her man? Another thing that the media does. Making women nothing but sex objects.

I also said this in another thread, switch Aerith and Tifa's clothes and skills, but keep their personalities, and I bet Aerith would be a hugely popular character and Tifa would be very hated.

Tifa is nothing but sex appeal meant to appeal to teenage boys fantasies yet masquerades as a strong female character. Unfortunantly, so many girls are fooled by her. It's even more disturbing how many find her devotion towards Cloud to be sweet.

You could apply this arguement almost word for word to Tifa
http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/04/z...of-sexist-crap/

I posted this in another thread, but some of it applies to Tifa.
http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/03/t...xie-dream-girl/

Also a review on Bayonetta
http://www.feministfrequency.com/2010/05/b...sment-training/

I like this girl in the video :D

And I almost agree with her 100%

And yeah you could almost make it word for word Tifa. Making her a "fighter" doesn't make her an example of a strong woman because once you factor in her dependency on Cloud and choice of "battle clothing" it takes away all of her other empowering features. That's why I cant stand Hollywood sometimes.

Oh and I am female :D And I have no interest whatsoever in playing Bayonetta. So it just goes to show who they were targetting in those ads.
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Rinchan
Jul 8 2011, 05:54 AM

Rosa and Celes would be considered sexist characters. And you'll find a lot of video game characters that are.



Whooooa. How is Celes a sexist character ? She is a female general and one of the most strongest characters within the game, and she's mentally tough as well. The only time she has a weak moment, is when her grandfather is dead, and she believes that everybody else in the world is dead, and she's stuck on a isolated island, thinking that all of her friends are dead. Not to mention, people who had woken on the same island while Celes was in coma, went crazy and killed themselves. It's only hinted in the Japanese version of FF6, but still. Calling Celes a weak minded character is a extremely harsh.

" One died quickly, another went mad and killed himself, another died of sorrow, one drowned himself, and one jumped off the cliff ".

^ What happened to the people who were stuck on the Island, Celes was on.

About Tifa. Truth is , she was created by males, and with male brains in mind. They would create something that they see is acceptable and attractive, and not many females played RPG games back when Final Fantasy VII was created. Rpg's were basically centered around 'nerds' men who played Dungeons and Dragons, instead of heading to parties on a local Saturday night. So they created females, that men who didn't usually have girlfriends could fantasize about having. Because chances are, most of them would of been never been kissed. xD

Though Tifa is physically strong and tough, and she does seem rather cheerful. She asks Barret to give Cloud a money raise, because she assumed at the time that her and Cloud were extremely close childhood friends. Also she stays with Cloud in the doctors room, because he was mentally brain-dead, and she loved him. You would stay with by your friends in hospital if they were really sick right ?

Most of the time in FF7, Tifa is focused on Cloud, because she's worried about the past, and worried about that she could be wrong about the past, and she's confused on why Cloud is having mental fits. Cloud is not her focus per say, but her past with Cloud, is more of her attention. She wants to work what what the hell is going on, before Sephiroth mind rapes Cloud, and provokes him to go insane.

Advent Children in mind, she's more trying to help Cloud get off his butt and stop being depressed. In Advent Children, okay she's a little more of this manic girl trope, but she's also looking after Marlene and Denzel. While she's focused on Cloud, she also has the children on her mind as well.

And okay, Rosa is quite sexist, and it did piss me off quite a bit. Espically the part in Final Fantasy IV where the men did all the fighting, and Rydia and Rosa stayed behind and did the healing, like they were nurses. Though SE made up for it by creating Fairs and Lenna <3

Also your icon is Rikku. Who wears a bra and shorter mini- skirt than Tifa, and she pulls off her jumpsuit in front of Tidus in a rather sexual fashion. 0_o You don't find that sexist at all ??
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Prince Roxas
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I love Celes but I can say she is a fragile person. She has her confidence issues when her loyalties are put into question even after she had proved many times that she was loyal to the Returners and especially to Locke. When Locke couldn't say he believed her it hit her quite hard and she was heart broken to find that he may of thought she was a spy. When they meet again she refuses to talk to him and also runs away when they are alone together. Then there is the how her mind completly breaks down if you fail to save grandpa and she attemps to commits suicide. Celes isn't the super strong general that people paint her to be.
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Lady Lifestream
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About Tifas Character:
I do not agree here. Tifa has - as said before - the personality of a perfect woman, at least if one looks at it from a males angle of view. But this is okay.
It makes the game believable. With all those rather unnormal characteristics (I doubt you have seen someone like Yuffie running around at your workplace/school), Tifa is by far the most normal. If one really loves one and is not noticed by him at all, one can really act this way. And, yes, I am talking about own experience. This person becomes the center of your life. If you know that he loves you, that he thinks you are precious to him, then you are satisfied and can be without him; but when he never shows any affection to you, then you want him to notice you stronger and stronger. You want to do everything, because the hope that he will change his mind never dies (unless your love fades at sometime ;P). Many girls in love with a man without showing interest to them would react this way. It is probably not the best example, but look at Bella from Twilight (no bashing, I knew that Twilight has gone crap!) - when he leaves her, she can barely be without him, and just because she is so madly in love with him that it turns bad to her. Bella is also not a very strong character, she has no mind on her own. Some people are like this, some not.
If people like to see her as something she is not, then so be it, itīs their own fault. If someone wants to compare Tifa to Lara Croft (for those who do not know: a butt-kicking strong-willed archaeologist with two guns who regularly saves the world from some apocalypse and with a stubborn mind on her own), then let them compare her to her. One can still laugh about that ;P
And now that I think about it: a person with the personality of Lara Croft is not believable at all... ;P

About Tifas Clothes:
I think Tifa is just so flawed about her clothes because she has the most beautiful body of all female heroines (according to everyday-life-beauty). I think a curved body is far more beautiful - this was actually the Victorian ideal beauty.
But honestly, there are other women wearing even worse clothes...

Maria actually fights in a catsuit and a metallic bra.
The Cloud of Darkness (who takes the form of a woman) wears pants and some bodypaint to cover her breasts.
Rosa fights in panties and shows much cleavage.
Rydia rights in a swimsuit.
Celes wears trousers that are open at the side, showing the area where her panties would normally be.
Terra wears a super-short top without even shorts! In some outfits, she fights in her pants, including massive cleavage!
In FFVII, Aerith shows the most cleavage of all.
In Crisis Core, Tifa shows even more cleavage than her ;P
Rinoa goes even further and shows more cleavage than both of them, together with wearing a dress that covers barely her butt.
Garnet shows massive cleavage together with wearing a tight catsuit. When I showed a picture of Garnet to my friend, she could barely believe that she was a princess and damned SE for making her wear something like that!
Lulu shows extremely cleavage.
Yuna barely covers her breasts and belly, together with wearing hotpants that look like pants.
Rikku is by far the worst: she only wears super-low pants and a bra.
Penelo wears in later games only wide trousers and a super-short top.
Serah wears a skirt barely covering her butt; in FFXIII-2, she wears an even shorter dress.
Lightning does the same; in FFXIII-2, they gave her an armor to cover her panties just because they couldnīt give her a jeans or something like that!
Stella shows - both in her regular clothes and her Amano dress - massive cleavage, along with a mini-skirt in her regular outfit.
Kairi wears a super-short dress in KHII; if one re-angles the camera, one can even see her pants!
And Aya Brea is even worse than Rikku... if one just fights enough, the enemies will basically rip her out of her clothes. Yes, thatīs right: this will go on until Aya has got only shreds of her clothing covering her breasts and parts of her lower body.

So I think there are even worse characters than Tifa... unless she will have a new outfit fighting in panties xD
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aerithbunny
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My reasons for believing Tifa is a sexist character:

1. Slutty Clothing; ok Lulu had it too a little, as did Quistis. Luckily Lulu was a strong female who didn't take crap from anyone. Quistis was not a good example of a strong female, she was very lenient upon other characters for support. Now everyone needs support every once and a while but Quistis bordered on completely reliant upon others approval. Tifa was no different in her personality, but the slutty clothing and the big breasts did kinda just turn her into fanboy fodder.

2. Centered Character Around Cloud; not only is her character centered around Cloud it's like he's her universe. Like she can't breath when he's not around her. After FF7 she still constantly thinks about him, and in KH she stalks him. Now women are supposed to have their own lives and interests, but honestly her only interest seems to be Cloud.

3. Her fighting style; she's supposed to be kick ass but really the main flaw with this is in ACC she gets her ass handed to her by a man! She doesn't do enough in that whole thing to be really considered kick ass in that movie.

4. Mother; now yeah Lulu became a mother. And yes mothers can be strong women too. But This is the only other side to Tifa's personality is that she's a mother to Marlene and Denzel. So her universe is based around Cloud, and being a mother, as well as having her fighting to protect her kids. Really? What about career? Working out of a bar that is also your home isn't really a career, Quistis was at least a teacher for god's sakes! Not only this but Quistis was younger then Tifa, so she didn't have the kids or anything.

Tifa is a sexist character because she's slutty in clothing, motherly without a career, and her world revolves around Cloud. And a lot of people will disagree with me, but this is my opinion.
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