Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Language and Pop Culture
Vol. 1:1 (2025) ► pp.73–108

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB

Digital creativity and ecolinguistics

An analysis of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

ORCiD logo with link | The University of Hong Kong


This article is available free of charge.

Published online: 29 October 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlpop.24012.law
Abstract
This study explores the intersection of digital creativity and ecolinguistics through an analysis of ecological framings in the acclaimed video game Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (FF7R_inter). Given the rise of ecocentric games during the COVID-19 pandemic, this research examines how FF7R_inter incorporates environmental themes and the potential impact of these themes on players’ ecological awareness. Utilizing an ecolinguistic discourse analysis approach, the study investigates the linguistic and multimodal resources used in the game to frame environmental issues such as fossil fuel dependency and eco-terrorism from a multiversal inter-reality perspective. The findings reveal that FF7R_inter employs specific rhetorical strategies, including differences in ecological framings and semantic choices, to convey ecological messages, thereby contributing to the broader discourse on environmental sustainability in pop culture. This research highlights the significant role that digital games can play in shaping public perceptions of environmental issues and underscores the importance of integrating ecolinguistic perspectives into the analysis of digital media.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research approach
    • 2.1Ecolinguistics research using frames/framings
    • 2.2Research in environmental games
    • 2.3Game summary
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Analytical approach
    • 3.2Multiversal inter-reality analysis (MIrA)
    • 3.3Philosophical framework
  • 4.Analysis and discussion
    • 4.1Framing of mako as the euphemism of fossil fuels or nuclear material?
    • 4.2Framing of mako versus lifestream
    • 4.3Framing of Shinra Electric Company
    • 4.4Framing of Avalanche
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (95)
References
Alexander, R., & Stibbe, A. (2014). From the analysis of ecological discourse to the ecological analysis of discourse. Language Sciences, 411, 104–110. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ampoloquio, R. (2023). Square Enix has sold more than 7 million copies of Final Fantasy 7 Remake since 2020. Xfire. [URL]
Anatone, R., Mc Glynn, J. D., & Powell, A. S. (2023). Introduction: Final Fantasy VII’s musical legacy. Journal of Sound and Music in Games, 4(4), 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anthony, L. (2023). AntConc (Version 4.2.2). Waseda University. Available from [URL]
Arblaster, A. (1977). Terrorism: Myths, meaning and morals. Political Studies, 25(3), 413–424. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Archer, D. (2011). Libelling Oscar Wilde: The case of Regina vs. John Sholto Douglas. Journal of Politeness Research, 7(1), 73–99. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bednarek, M. (2010). The language of fictional television: Drama and identity. Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blahuta, J. P., & Beaulieu, M. S. (Eds.). (2009). Final Fantasy and philosophy: The ultimate walkthrough. Wiley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games. MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bubel, C. (2006). The linguistic construction of character relations in TV drama: Doing friendship in Sex and the City (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universität des Saarlandes.
Bukač, Z., & Katić, M. (2023). “A legend from before you were born”: Final Fantasy VII, folklore, and popular culture. Games and Culture, 19(8), 1055–1070. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burrell-Kim, D. (2023). “Stuttering Matt”: Linguistic ableism and the mockery of speech impediments in video games. Game Studies, 23(2). [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carrillo Masso, I. (2011). The grips of fantasy: The construction of female characters in and beyond virtual game worlds. In A. Ensslin & E. Muse (Eds.), Creating second lives: Community, identity and spatiality as constructions of the virtual (pp. 113–142). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Book review: James Paul Gee, Unified discourse analysis: Language, reality, virtual worlds and video games. Discourse & Communication, 10(1), 101–110. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chamomile. (2019). Final Fantasy and philosophy: The lifestream, mako, and gaia. Chamomile Has A Blog. [URL]
Chang, A. Y. (2011). Games as environmental texts. Qui Parle, 19(2), 57–84. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Back to the virtual farm: Gleaning the agriculture-management game. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 19(2), 237–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, A. Y., & Parham, J. (2017). Green computer and video games: An introduction. Ecozon, 8(2). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chau, M., Zhu, C., Jacobs, G., Delante, N., Asmi, A., Ng, S., John, S., Guo, Q., & Shunmugam, K. (2022). Ecolinguistics for and beyond the sustainable development goals. Journal of World Languages, 8(2), 323–345. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cornillie, F., Thorne, S. L., & Desmet, P. (2012). Digital games for language learning: Challenges and opportunities. ReCALL, 24(3), 243–256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coulson, D. (2022). The 10 most influential video games of all time. TV Overmind. [URL]
Crenshaw, M. (2000). The psychology of terrorism: An agenda for the 21st century. Political Psychology, 21(2), 405–420. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doulton, H., & Brown, K. (2009). Ten years to prevent catastrophe? Discourses of climate change and international development in the UK press. Global Environmental Change, 19(2), 191–202. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eagan, S. P. (1996). From spikes to bombs: The rise of eco-terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 19(1), 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eisenack, K., & Reckien, D. (2013). Climate change and simulation/gaming. Simulation & Gaming, 44(2–3), 245–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ensslin, A. (2012). The language of gaming. Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ensslin, A., & Bell, A. (2021). Digital fiction and the unnatural: Transmedial narrative theory, method, and analysis. Ohio State University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Entertainment Software Association. (2022). 2021 essential facts about the video game industry. Entertainment Software Association. [URL]
Entman, R. M. (2007). Framing bias: Media in the distribution of power. Journal of Communication, 57(1), 163–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fairclough, N. (2012). Critical discourse analysis. In J. P. Gee & M. Handford (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 9–20). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fandom.com. (n.d.). Final Fantasy VII Remake script. Fandom. [URL]
Fill, A. (2001). Ecolinguistics: State of the art 1998. In A. Fill & P. Mühlhäusler (Eds.), The ecolinguistics reader: Language, ecology, and environment (pp. 43–53). Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Introduction. In A. Fill & H. Penz (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of ecolinguistics (pp. 1–7). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foster, J. (2009). The lifestream, mako, and gaia. In J. P. Blahuta & M. S. Beaulieu (Eds.), Final Fantasy and philosophy: The ultimate walkthrough (pp. 47–60). Wiley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
GameSpot. (2008). The greatest games of all time: Final Fantasy VII. GameSpot. [URL]
Gee, J. P. (2015). Unified discourse analysis: Language, reality, virtual worlds, and video games. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Godhania, S. (2022). Final Fantasy VII Remake revisited chapter 7: A trap Is sprung. Square Enix Blog. [URL]
Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1990). New ways of analysing meaning: A challenge to applied linguistics. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 61, 7–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. (1999). Construing experience through meaning: A language-based approach to cognition. Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawking, S. W., & Hertog, T. (2018). A smooth exit from eternal inflation? Journal of High Energy Physics, 1471. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heritage, F. (2020). Applying corpus linguistics to videogame data: Exploring the representation of gender in videogames at a lexical level. Game Studies, 20(3). [URL]
(2022). Magical women: Representations of female characters in the Witcher video game series. Discourse, Context & Media, 491, 100627. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hirst, S. K. (2021). How Final Fantasy VII radicalized a generation of climate warriors. Ars Technica. [URL]
Hutchinson, R. (2018). Nuclear discourse in Final Fantasy VII: Embodied experience and social critique. In A. Freedman & T. Slade (Eds.), Introducing Japanese popular culture (pp. 71–80). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keane, P. (2020). How the oil industry made us doubt climate change. BBC News. [URL]
Kuipers, H. (1983). The role of a game-simulation in a project of change: A case for deep-sea fishing. Simulation & Gaming, 14(3), 275–296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kurz, T., Donaghue, N., Rapley, M., & Walker, I. (2005). The ways that people talk about natural resources: Discursive strategies as barriers to environmentally sustainable practices. British Journal of Social Psychology, 44(4), 603–620. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (2010). Why it matters how we frame the environment. Environmental Communication, 4(1), 70–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Larson, B. (2011). Metaphors for environmental sustainability: Redefining our relationship with nature. Yale University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Law, L. (2021). Creativity and power: A systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis of the co-constructed multimodal creativity-power relation in House M.D. Series: International Journal of TV Serial Narratives, 7(1), 45–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2023). Creativity and digital game-based learning: A game selection framework for non-digital gaming teachers (feat. Animal Crossing: New Horizons). Journal of Communication and Education, 6(1), 5–26. [URL]
Law, L., & Matthiessen, C. (2023). Revisiting Halliday’s (1990) “New ways of meaning: The challenge to applied linguistics”: What has changed and what still needs to be done? Linguistics and Human Sciences, 15(3), 337–368. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, M., Trencher, G., & Asuka, J. (2022). The clean energy claims of BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell: A mismatch between discourse, actions and investments. PLOS ONE, 17(2), e0263596. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lovelock, J. E. (1972). Gaia as seen through the atmosphere. Atmospheric Environment, 6(8), 579–580. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martin, J. R. (2008). Tenderness: Realisation and instantiation in a Botswanan town. In N. Nørgaard (Ed.), Systemic functional linguistics in use (pp. 30–62). Odense Universitet.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mattias, M. (2023). Schrödinger’s cat. Britannica. [URL]
May, L. (2021). Confronting ecological monstrosity: Contemporary video game monsters and the climate crisis. M/C Journal, 24(5). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
May, L., & Hall, B. (2024). Thinking ecologically with Battlefield 2042. Game Studies, 24(1). [URL]
McAllister, K. S. (2004). Game work: Language, power, and computer game culture. University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Megura, M., & Gunderson, R. (2022). Better poison is the cure? Critically examining fossil fuel companies, climate change framing, and corporate sustainability reports. Energy Research & Social Science, 851, 102388. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newgarden, K., Zheng, D., & Liu, M. (2015). An eco-dialogical study of second language learners’ World of Warcraft (WoW) gameplay. Language Sciences, 481, 22–41. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newon, L. (2011). Multimodal creativity and identities of expertise in the digital ecology of a World of Warcraft guild. In C. Thurlow & K. Mroczek (Eds.), Digital discourse: Language in the new media (pp. 131–153). Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ng, Y.-L. (2024). Uses and gratifications of biophilic simulation games. Games and Culture. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nguyen, J. (2017). Digital games about the materiality of digital games. Ecozon, 8(2), 18–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Omrow, D. A. (2018). It is not easy being green: A critical discourse and frame analysis of environmental advocacy on American television. Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 10(3), 14–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poole, R., & Spangler, S. (2020). “Eco this and recycle that”: An ecolinguistic analysis of a popular digital simulation game. Critical Discourse Studies, 17(3), 344–357. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ramos, K. (2020). Introspection in Video Games. Video games have evolved to be more than just entertainment. Medium. [URL]
Reinders, H. (2012). Digital games in language learning and teaching. Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, J., & Ausubel, J. H. (1983). A game framework for scenario generation for the CO2 issue. Simulation & Gaming, 14(3), 317–344. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roscoe, J. (2022). FBI terrorism docs show agency investigated: Greenpeace, other environmental organizations. Vice. [URL]
Russa, C. (2006). Frame analysis. In K. Brown (Ed.), Encyclopedia of language and linguistics (pp. 607–610). Elsevier. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Satterfield, S., & Fielder, L. (2002). 15 most influential games of all time. GameSpot. [URL][URL]
Schanzer, D., & Eyerman, J. (2019). Engaging with communities to prevent violent extremism: A review of the Obama administration’s CVE initiative, final report. U.S. Department of Justice. [URL]
Schrödinger, E. (1935). The present status of quantum mechanics. Die Naturwissenschaften, 23(48). [URL]
Sicart, M. (2009). The ethics of computer games. MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stedman, A. (2020). The Game Awards 2020: Complete winners list. Variety. [URL]
Steffensen, S. V., & Fill, A. (2014). Ecolinguistics: The state of the art and future horizons. Language Sciences, 411, 6–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stein, S. D. (2023). Space rednecks, robot butlers, and feline foreigners: Language attitudes toward varieties of English in videogames. Games and Culture, 18(8), 1043–1070. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stibbe, A. (2014). An ecolinguistic approach to critical discourse studies. Critical Discourse Studies, 11(1), 117–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Ecolinguistics: Language, ecology and the stories we live by. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sumner, D. T., & Weidman, L. M. (2013). Eco-terrorism or eco-tage: An argument for the proper frame. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 20(4), 855–876. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Supran, G., & Oreskes, N. (2021). Rhetoric and frame analysis of ExxonMobil’s climate change communications. One Earth, 4(5), 696–719. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sykes, R. (2017). “Those chosen by the planet”: Final Fantasy VII and earth jurisprudence. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 301, 455–476. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
The International Ecolinguistics Association. (n.d.). The International Ecolinguistics Association. [URL]
Toh, W., & Lim, F. V. (2021). Using video games for learning: Developing a metalanguage for digital play. Games and Culture, 16(5), 583–610. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Townshend, C. (1995). The culture of paramilitarism in Ireland. In M. Crenshaw (Ed.), Terrorism in context (pp. 311–351). The Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1981). The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. Science, 211(4481), 453–458. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2022). Nuclear power and the environment. U.S. Energy Information Administration. [URL]
Ulmanu, M., Evans, A., & Brown, G. (2018). The defenders: Recording the deaths of environmental defenders around the world. The Guardian. [URL]
van Dijk, T. A. (2024). Social movement discourse. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Ommen, M. (2018). Emergent affect in Final Fantasy VII and Japanese role-playing games. Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, 10(1), 21–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ward, J. E. (1982). Game review: Save the Whales. Simulation & Gaming, 13(1), 122–124. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watts, J. (2018). Almost four environmental defenders a week killed in 2017. The Guardian. [URL]
Werner, V. (2022). Pop cultural linguistics. In M. Aronoff (Ed.), The Oxford research encyclopedia of linguistics. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue