MovieChat Forums > Fainaru fantajî VIII (1999) Discussion > Bit of possibly unintentional brilliance

Bit of possibly unintentional brilliance

posted 12 years ago by celavie77
7 replies | jump to latest

I found this rather wonderful interpretation of Rinoa that I think might change a lot of people's opinions on her:

Tiny, tiny bit of probably unintentional brilliance from the ballroom scene: imagine that you're at the graduation ball of a military academy and you see an otherwise good-looking young man leaning against a wall by himself, looking some flavor of unhappy, with a fresh scar across his face. What conclusion do you draw? Rinoa's first line to Squall, "You're the best-looking guy here," is a gesture to reassure him that he's not disfigured, and her pestering him to dance with her is an effort to cheer him up from what looks like it must have been a pretty rough day.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/FinalFantasyVIII

[–] fireinthewronghole 12 years ago

Yeah, that is something to think about.

[–] celavie77 12 years ago

Well I think it's more than that! I think it's pretty paradigm-shifting...It nearly brought a tear to my eye!

[–] fireinthewronghole 12 years ago

I may have understated my reaction to it. I also think that it's a very interesting interpretation of that scene, and it's a little ironic because a lot of people see Rinoa as a shallow flirt, but that interpretation (which is valid) can't be any more opposite.

[–] NellieKaye 11 years ago

I loved this. I already liked Rinoa for her role in getting Squall to open up and I couldn't understand the hate towards her by some of the fandom. Yet this just made me respect her a lot more.

[–] celavie77 11 years ago

Yay! Glad to see someone else loved it too.

I agree that the hatedom seems unfair, especially considering most of it seems to be the result of a bad translation. Like the "meanie" episode I can understand turning people off, but it was just a really poor translation.

[–] takashi_kupo 10 years ago

That is a startling observation Good job.

Let's be friends!

[–] JessieWalsh 10 years ago

Other than looks Rinoa sucks. Even if she had good intentions she was always pestering Squall. Sometimes it's really freaking best to just leave the quiet loner alone. She always came off overly cheerful, just really naive and childish. Not trying to troll just saying IMO she's a doe eyed wannabe tough girl.