Well, for one thing, the points you raise about what makes Denzel a necessary OC only exist in the extended cut of the movie. Which is kind of like...fix it fic for a fic of the game? And it was good fix it fic. (I'm just considering it fic for the sake of the argument...I didn't want to use bad examples of actual fanfic becuase...1 possible hurt feelings, and 2 it would mean I'd have to actually go subject myself to bad Mary Sue fanfic) In the original version I'm not sure Cloud and Denzel even directly interact until the end.
I still think that Marlene would have been a better narrative choice. It would remove the Fridge logic problem of why one of the clones (can't remember) kidnaps her from the church and takes her to see the whole black water deal. Marlene didn't have Geostigma, so why go to the problem of taking her there? To make Cloud come after her? If so that would imply that Denzel is not enough.
And I'm not sure that I agree Denzel was necessary in order to provide Cloud someone that needed his protection and trust in a way that couldn't also apply to established characters. We know, like you said, that Denzel looks up to Cloud and wants to be like him, but there's not much that he does in return. Denzel may represent someone dependent on Cloud, but if you took him out of the picture altogether, it wouldn't impact the rest of Cloud's story at all. None of his decisions or actions would have been different. And honestly even if Denzel's place in the story had been taken by Marlene, Tifa, or any other character, that's still sloppy plot. But to bring in an OC for that purpose makes it worse.
You know, I didn't think I really had much of an opinion on FFVII:AC. LOL. I thought the original was OK, and I liked the extended version you showed me. But from a literary critique standpoint, I think it could have been much tighter. (And this is not as bad as my thoughts on Iron Man 2...which I also enjoyed. While I was waiting for my sandwich to arrive today at a coffee shop I wrote up copious notes on fixing plot problems with that too.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-05-23 03:55 am (UTC)I still think that Marlene would have been a better narrative choice. It would remove the Fridge logic problem of why one of the clones (can't remember) kidnaps her from the church and takes her to see the whole black water deal. Marlene didn't have Geostigma, so why go to the problem of taking her there? To make Cloud come after her? If so that would imply that Denzel is not enough.
And I'm not sure that I agree Denzel was necessary in order to provide Cloud someone that needed his protection and trust in a way that couldn't also apply to established characters. We know, like you said, that Denzel looks up to Cloud and wants to be like him, but there's not much that he does in return. Denzel may represent someone dependent on Cloud, but if you took him out of the picture altogether, it wouldn't impact the rest of Cloud's story at all. None of his decisions or actions would have been different. And honestly even if Denzel's place in the story had been taken by Marlene, Tifa, or any other character, that's still sloppy plot. But to bring in an OC for that purpose makes it worse.
You know, I didn't think I really had much of an opinion on FFVII:AC. LOL. I thought the original was OK, and I liked the extended version you showed me. But from a literary critique standpoint, I think it could have been much tighter. (And this is not as bad as my thoughts on Iron Man 2...which I also enjoyed. While I was waiting for my sandwich to arrive today at a coffee shop I wrote up copious notes on fixing plot problems with that too.)