Reflection of Time

This semester has been awesome.  The discussions throughout the semester have consistently covered various issues throughout the world that were extremely interesting.  The semester actually feels like a Legend of Zelda game.  Yes, bear with me here.
You see, we all started the semester as Young Links.  Young, inexperienced, yet full of potential and destined to be heroes of time (more or less).  We all came from different places, or in the context of LoZ, different timelines, and have unique stories and backgrounds.  What bound us together was a common desire to learn more about the world and how it operates.  Our quest to analyze why the world operates the way it does allowed us to examine micro and macro level issues that ranged from self-determination to unipolarity.  What brought us all together in this world politics class could have been destiny, curiosity, or even the Triforce.  While we all started the semester with a unifying issue of world politics, as the semester progressed, diversity within the class emerged.  Some of us became Dekus, Gorons, and Zoras, but these were loose roles and anyone in the class could easily take off one mask and put on another one. 

 

To elaborate, I'll start with Dekus.  Throughout the series, these humanoid creatures never played a substantive role.  They were clearly sentient and had an organized society but generally kept to their selves.  They generally within their villages in the forest but are sometimes seen in more populated areas doing small business.  Their role in the series drastically changes with Majora's Mask.  In this game, you spend the beginning of the game as a Deku version of Link.  As the game progresses, you begin to actually see the lifestyle and community behind the Dekus.  They're extremely environmentally conscious creatures due to their homes being part of the environment.  Additionally, Deku villages have a very tight sense of family and micro-level issues as they are generally disassociated from the rest of Hyrule (primary setting of the series).  While there is a hierarchy of Dekus and there are internal politics, the close-knit nature of the Dekus.  Like Dekus, there were those in class who may have not said much throughout the semester, but when they did speak, they provided unique insights and perspectives on critical issues.  Certain topics appealed to certain people.  While I'm not strictly categorizing people, as it's possible to be both a Deku and a Zora due to Link's mask abilities in Majora's Mask, it was interesting to see how some people excelled on issues such as self-determination while others thrived on the benefits of a unipolar system.

Gorons are notorious for being big, strong, and always getting the job done.  They may not be the most rational creatures, but they find the best way to obtain their goals.  They use the resources and capabilities that are given to them in order to complete tasks.  Their is a common misconception that Gorons are unintelligent, but this becomes clearly false in Twilight Princess in which the Gorons have industrialized before any of the other races.  The correlation between Gorons and World Politics isn't muscle size, but rather their straight-forward approach to the world.  The class consisted of some discussions regarding unipolarity and America's power in the world.  I feel that Gorons were able to uniquely contribute to these discussions due to personal beliefs or even just knowledge on the subject area.  The importance of increased military presence and military funding could be correlated with the Goron's raging muscles.  Finding solutions that benefit the U.S. quickly and efficiently is identical to the nature of the Goron.  Thankfully, classes weren't entirely Goron-based and Dekus and Zoras were able to provide alternate perspectives to these issues.

Finally, Zoras.  This sleek and slender species is known for being the water species within the LoZ series.  While they originally started as annoying enemies that shot fireballs at you in the earlier games, they eventually became peaceful sea creatures.  They are extremely rational and look for logical solutions to problems.  This is evident within their monarchical government and a council of Zoras that exists. Aesthetics and beauty are generally important for the Zoras as evident by their general demeanor and their habitats.  Additionally, Zoras are calm and peaceful and it is rare that they are truly angry.  Zoras exist within our world politics class through the purely rational thinkers.  Those who question the implications of action and logical results of actions/theories.  They enjoy the structure and logical actions.  I could see Zoras really liking simulations.  

Like I articulated above, the great thing about World Politics and LoZ is that us being Young Links meant that we weren't tied down to a single race/role in class.  There were times when we could put on our Deku mask, Goron Mask, or Zora mask.  The range of topics allowed us to think from different perspectives while discussing and debating with our peers who may have donned different masks.

While I wanted to elaborate more on connections I found, I'm pretty tired and have other finals to study for.  I wanted to go on and explain how the TAs are like Navi & Tatl, fairies that consistently help you throughout the game/year.  Or how the knowledge we started and ended with are similar to Link's transition from a wooden sword and shield to the Master sword & Hylian shield.  Regardless, the semester has been great and I can't wait to see how our second semester projects turn out.

Thanks for a great first semester!