Why I'm a Creative Writing Major

So, for my Principles of Literature Studies class our final project involves us writing an essay. The topic: "a movie, a television show, or a coherent collection of song lyrics. The movie, show, or lyrics you choose must have made a significant impression on your interpretive imagination, so that you can compose an inspired essay in Creative writing". I chose a videogame, with the permission of my professor.  In fact, he seemed quite interested in my choice of media--probably because he already knew my obsession with them.

Creative Reading, as my professor puts it, bridges the gap between creative writing and literary analysis. In our contemporary literary world, as we are learning in the class, the distinction between creative writers and literary analysts has been effectively deconstructed through the work of a number of good writers/readers. This is an attempt to fuse together both English Literature and English/Creative Writing majors, and create one unified English major--the ultimate English major, if you will. Of course, we have yet to see such major make a presence at any university, but it's a nice idea. My professor likes to title this major, UNIFLEX, and is based off of the idea of creative reading, which he defines with the three principles:

1.) The meanings of any literary text emerge from a reciprocal process of co-creation carried out by the writer who produces it and the readers who interpret it.

2.) Although traditional literary scholarship often represses its creative, personal elements, every vigorous act of interpretation is necessarily personal and creative.

3.) Although traditional creative writing often represses its interpretive, analytical elements, the making of any fictional or poetic text necessarily (if unconsciously) involves interpretive engagement with other texts.

The videogame I chose is Final Fantasy X. Now, many of my friends know that this game holds a special spot in my heart. Some of it has to do with its high quality graphics and the voice acting. But most of all, it's the story. As I've said in previous posts, I see videogames as another form of narrative (given that they're not racing, shooter'em all, or fighting--although some fighting games have a bigger story to them...like Dissidia Final Fantasy). Anyway, one of the things I'll be talking about in my essay is the character of Sin. For those who don't know, Sin is this giant whale-like beast that plagues Spira (the fantasy world of Final Fantasy X). It is a mindless beast that lives only to destroy, and immediately specifically targets areas with high population. But while I was searching for things about the game, I came across something interesting. The game alludes to a Japanese myth involving Susanoo and Yamato-no-Orochi:

"Susanoo (Tidus) is banished from his home in the Heavens (Dream Zanarkand) and trying to win back favor to return home. He comes to the mortal world (Spira) and comes across two earthly deities who are weeping because they have to sacrifice their daughters (summoners) to the evil Yamato-no-Orochi (Sin) to keep it from destroying their home. They wish to save their eighth daughter (Yuna) from being devoured, so Susanoo comes up with a plan that involves getting the dragon-snake drunk with wine ("Hymn of the Fayth") and killing it in its drunken state." -- ("Sin" Final Fantasy X wikia page)

This may just be me, but I find that amazing. To be able to produce a great story from this myth--and not only that, this story is original. It's a work of its own...it can stand alone. And in relation to the title of this post, this is why I'm a creative writing major! I want to be able to pull upon other works and create stories like this.

Anyway, I had to write a post on this because I was so excited at my finding.

Here are links to the pages on the game.
"Sin" - http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Sin
"Final Fantasy X" - http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_X