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| Who is Cloud's family? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 16 Jun 2014 - 00:33 (136 Views) | |
| Enigma | 16 Jun 2014 - 00:33 Post #1 |
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Elite Member
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So, are you confused on who Cloud's family is? Well hopefully this essay can shed some light on it. Cloti shippers and Clerith shippers can never seem to agree on who is in Cloud's family. Here are some claims often used to debunk Cloud's family in which he and Tifa are raising two children as a romantic couple. -Marlene put Cloud in the family -Barret is in the family too. -Barret is Marlene's father, while Tifa is her mother, therefore, Tifa and Barret are the mother and father of the family. -They are only a family of friends who share the same sins. -The "family" picture depicting AVALANCHE. -The flowers shown next to the picture thus proving Cloud thinks Aerith is in his family. Ok all of these points used contradict each other. If Barret in the family proves there is no romantic relationship between Cloud and Tifa, and AVALANCHE being the family proves even further they are a family of friends...how does this prove that Cloud and Aerith have a romantic relationship if she is being including in the FAMILY OF FRIENDS. I'll start with the first point of Marlene putting Cloud in the family: If they are ONLY a family of friends, Cloud would have ALREADY been in the family. Furthermore, if they are a family of friends who share the same sins, then by all logic...Marlene is NOT in the family. Marlene does not have any sins to share. So someone who wasn't in the family, can't possibly include someone who isn't in the family who should already be included. Now, TIFA feels it is a family of FRIENDS. It's clear though, that Tifa considers Marlene her family despite the two of them NOT being friends...but mother and daughter. Tifa mentions that she introduces Marlene as her daughter. So Tifa clearly feels that she is her daughter. Marlene also considered Tifa to already be her family as well. Marlene including Cloud in the family, in her and Tifa's family, is Marlene accepting him as a father while Tifa is her mother. Many people have jumped on me about calling Cloud her father and accuse me of pushing Barret out as Marlene's father in an attempt to "prove" Cloti. My first response is: HAHAHAHA ARE YOU A DUMBASS?!?! HAHAHAHA. My second, more serious response is: You can have father figures in your life even though you already have a father. Having a father figure IS NOT replacing the original father, it is only showing that there is a parental-child bond between these two people. I never said that Barret stopped being Marlene's father, I also never said that Cloud was replacing Barret as Marlene's father (Jeez, why are people so obsessed with "replacing people"?) But, it's clear that Tifa is Marlene's mother, yet Marlene never calls her mom.
Here Marlene is telling Tifa that she includes Cloud in their family, meaning, Marlene considers Cloud to be her family. Also, "family" talk only starts when Barret LEAVES.
Tifa together with Cloud, begin living as a FAMILY of three. Began, meaning, THEY JUST STARTED LIVING AS A FAMILY. Barret is not mentioned as being part of this family. The family is only Tifa, Cloud, and Marlene at this point. Tifa obviously thinks of Marlene as family, but Marlene does NOT share the same sins. This is from TIFA'S POINT OF VIEW showing that she was thinking of AVALANCHE as her family as well. Later, Denzel comes into the picture and he is
Denzel has never met AVALANCHE. Yet he is in the family, CLOUD'S family, which has been established as Tifa and Marlene. Cloud's family is Tifa, Marlene, AND Denzel.
Barret is not mentioned here as part of Cloud's family. Friends, and Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel are SEPARATED from this and we are told this is Cloud's family. Further proof that Cloud's family is Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel.
Note that Cloud, Tifa, and Marlene only started living as a family when Barret left. Denzel then joins the family. It is also argued that Denzel is actually Cloud and Aerith's child, not Cloud and Tifa's but Denzel feels differently.
Cloud and Tifa are Denzel's new mother and father. Also it is stated Tifa is the mother of Cloud's family. Cloud's family being Marlene, Denzel and Tifa.
Also a direct quote from Cloud about his family
Cloud's family is Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel. Denzel views Tifa and Cloud as his parents, and Marlene views Tifa as a mother, and Cloud as a second father. Barret is her father, no shit! And, a quote from Case of Barret
In fact, let's take a look at the family picture. The family picture says it ALL. A picture is worth 1,000 words as they say. If you look, Cloud and Tifa are very close together compared to the rest of AVALANCHE. Denzel is in front of them, perfectly inbetween them. Tifa, Cloud, and Denzel are the focal point of this photo. Marlene is next to Cloud, but she is not perfectly centered like Tifa, Denzel and Cloud. She is off to the side, and forms a bridge between Cloud and Barret. She is a trail showing that she is both part of the Strife family as well as the Wallace family. It goes like this. The family of AVALANCHE are all friends who share the same sins. Inside of AVALANCHE there is the Strife family, consisting of Tifa, Cloud, Marlene and Denzel. This is Cloud's family. Also in the AVALANCHE family is the Wallace family, consisting of Barret and Marlene which is Barret's family and a portion of Marlene's family. Marlene's family consists of Barret, Cloud, Tifa, and Denzel. By the AVALANCHE picture, is a picture of Tifa, Marlene, Cloud, and Denzel thus showing, Cloud's family. The flowers in front of the picture represent both Zack and Aerith. They are yellow flowers which represent Aerith, yet they are the flowers that grew on Zack's grave. This shows that both Aerith AND Zack are included into the AVALANCHE family as well, but shows Aerith and Zack also have a family of their own separate from AVALANCHE just as Cloud has the Strife family and Barret has the Wallace family. I hope that cleared up what the AVALANCHE family is. And who Cloud's family is. |
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| Splash | 16 Jun 2014 - 04:03 Post #2 |
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Elite Member
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Yay, use of inductive and deductive logic here :P There is also no flitting around the quotes. There is clearly an inner circle here that attempts to imitate a nuclear family. Poor damn Barret. He needs a character dedication that has nothing to do with the LTD or his place in inner vs outer family thing! This major underlying issue of whether Barret's presence or absence has anything to do with Cloud and Tifa's romantic relationship or lack thereof is such a hot topic in the LTD debate. I personally think Barret has no bearing on either pairing. His presence in the home or as Marlene's first or second adult guardian does not invalidate Cloud and Tifa's shared feelings for each other or living arrangement - and like you said why should it? Contrariwise his absence from Seventh Heaven does not prove Cloud and Tifa's relationship or make their nuclear family more viable. I mean if we need to get Barret out of they way to strengthen Cloti ship then it says something about their relationship no? :P I cringe when some Clotis go all out to prove that Barret ditched Marlene after something like a week in COT. Reducing Barret's character to some sort of guinea pig to push forward or disprove a ship is lame! For me Cloti stands strong on its own and whatever Cloud and Tifa do with eachother is their business. Barret being there or not is irrelevant to their relationship and goal to start a new life together etc. Perhaps there comes a rebuttal that if he IS there then wouldn't that qualify Cloud as another platonic roommate of Tifa? We can look at their intrinsic/exclusive interactions and infer that there's clearly more intimacy than a typical roommate - e.g. You don't randomly hop into platonic roomate's bed and ask them questions like Do You Love Me. You don't tell roommates that you have them in ways beyond what was already there (friendship and camaraderie) for something 'different' - unless that was a reference to having a rent buddy idk. :) ....But I love the use of quotes. Just evaluating quotes at their face value without ommitting parts or interpreting it off tangent has the highest likelihood of making an objective observation. Aww the flowers. Yeah I can imagine Aerith and Zack being perceived by the kids as some godmother/father memory figures in their lives. We know that Cloud already relays the story of Zack as a hero to Denzel. I imagine Tifa would tell Marlene about the FlowerLady and what noble things she did for the Planet and for themselves too. Edited by Splash, 16 Jun 2014 - 06:03.
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| premiumlockhart | 30 Jun 2014 - 22:08 Post #3 |
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Member
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I feel like Barret just got the shaft from SE and they wrote him out to make the story of AC be about Cloud and Tifa's struggles as a family. Which is rather unfortunate, and a poor way of handling things maybe, bc I really like him. The situation is all complicated now. It'd be awesome if he came back to live with them or bought a place nearby so Marlene could visit a lot. I agree Barret being there wouldn't change Cloti because it's not like you can say Cloud and Barret have the same relation to Tifa. That's just willfully ignoring the facts. Cloud and Tifa have a history that's explored in the original game and CoT so you can't just all of a sudden negate that. I guess technically Barret is not part of Cloud's family. But he is an extension of the family through Marlene. And Marlene is the one who has everyone in the family whereas Strife family is Cloud, Tifa, Denzel, Marlene (going by the quotes and stuff). Don't know about Tifa. I'm sure she considers Barret like family too. I really hate the family of friends phrase. It's kind of insulting when ppl put emphasis on it. Cloud says they are a family even if they aren't related by blood. His friends are AVALANCHE. His family is Tifa, Marlene, Denzel. Barret is like an in-law. Idk I just really don't like that phrase -_- It's just a huge insult to ppl who are families who aren't related and also really wrong to do to Cloud's character imo. It's very clear there's a special place in his heart for his family members. Zack and Aerith are important no doubt but they aren't his family members. |
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| Enigma | 1 Jul 2014 - 00:18 Post #4 |
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Elite Member
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^yes I agree. In any case, it's Tifa who says family of friends. So I think who Tifa considers family is wider than who Cloud considers family. I'm sure Tifa viewed Aerith as a family member too, because Tifa is the only one on the airship who acknowledges Aerith's presence. I found that scene with her to be very powerful. Also, Tifa is probably the one who styles Marlene's hair like Aerith's too. |
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| Ryushikaze | 4 Aug 2014 - 22:03 Post #5 |
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New
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Family of Friends referred to the situation circa FF7, not the current arrangement with the Family of Four. I used to have a handy infographic made in paint for this topic. I probably deleted it a year ago, though. |
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| Dante | 5 Mar 2015 - 16:22 Post #6 |
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Dante's Lady
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I think Cloud family is all of the FF7 team members the family of friends. I would agree that Tifa is more open to the idea of family not being solely nuclear. My favorite scene between Tifa and Aerith is when Tifa senses Aerith's presence and thanks her. It is one of the most touching scenes in the movie for me at least. I also like how Marlene's hair is breaded like Aerith's. |
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| Tifa Strife | 14 Jul 2015 - 14:44 Post #7 |
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Member
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I think Cloud,Tifa,Denzel,Marlene all formed their own special family but it doesn't mean Barret isn't a part of it. He' just away right now he's still there. He tells Marlene to take care of the family. Of course they all four make their own special bonds while Barret is away but that doesn't mean Barret don't exist! |
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