Munatik
Beacause I am a puppet
I already had a lot of respect for the intelligence and maturity of this community, but I'm amazed a topic like this hasn't descended into a huge shitfest and/or was locked after the 3rd page. Pretty awesome, imo. 
I'm going to echo a lot of what's already been said, but I do want to put in my $.02 on the issue.
I'll start off by sounding a little stupid and/or naive: I didn't really "notice" Barret was black on my first playthrough. Now I'm not blind and I could see the darker skin tone Square gave him, but it never crossed my mind to think about it as a racial thing (ditto General Leo). I didn't think stuff like "Oh, Barret is swearing because he's black," I thought "Oh, Barret is swearing because he's Barret." I didn't grow up in ignorance believing that skin pigment somehow magically affects the way people think and behave, fictional or not. And in a way, it seems kind of absurd to think of Barret as a stereotype given he is based in a fictional world and therefore unaffected by the real world's history and cultures. From a story-telling perspective, a race-specific background would also make zero sense to include unless it were somehow relevant to FFVII's plot. Try FFIX if you want a look at characters who have to deal with being members of specific and culturally distinct groups of people.
Also consider Dyne, who was brought out as a parallel to Barret (I do love them parallels). Subtracting the every other detail about his character, Dyne was an angry white guy with a gun on his arm. The outrage may now commence. Wait, what?
That all said, I probably would have thought a black Cloud was fine. I still do. He could have been blue as a Smurf and I still would have played and enjoyed FFVII. And you know what? I agree with Dacon. I think he still would have been insanely popular.
But then, I realize that not everyone shares the same kind of thinking. I also realize that I was probably 12 or 13-years-old at the time of my first playthrough (and even younger when I played FFVI), and I've certainly become much more aware of the sensitivity surrounding protrayals of minorities in the media since then. However, I have also learned that the one thing a character protrayal is able to speak to above all else is the creativity and experience of their writer(s). The only people who are affected by real world history and cultures are the ones who created him, and I like to think the talented people at Square have the creativity to resist those influences. And like Mako pointed out, they have done so with a fair amount of examples and, while not overwhelming, is probably more than we could expect.
As a side note, the only person's appearance I found to be somewhat troubling right off the bat was Tifa's, and for two rather obvious and well-rounded reasons. But again I never thought they affected her personality, and I took to her character very well regardless.
P.S. FWIW I don't think Barret looks like Mr. T either, but if Barret came out with his own brand of cereal too I would sooooo try some.
I'm going to echo a lot of what's already been said, but I do want to put in my $.02 on the issue.
I'll start off by sounding a little stupid and/or naive: I didn't really "notice" Barret was black on my first playthrough. Now I'm not blind and I could see the darker skin tone Square gave him, but it never crossed my mind to think about it as a racial thing (ditto General Leo). I didn't think stuff like "Oh, Barret is swearing because he's black," I thought "Oh, Barret is swearing because he's Barret." I didn't grow up in ignorance believing that skin pigment somehow magically affects the way people think and behave, fictional or not. And in a way, it seems kind of absurd to think of Barret as a stereotype given he is based in a fictional world and therefore unaffected by the real world's history and cultures. From a story-telling perspective, a race-specific background would also make zero sense to include unless it were somehow relevant to FFVII's plot. Try FFIX if you want a look at characters who have to deal with being members of specific and culturally distinct groups of people.
Also consider Dyne, who was brought out as a parallel to Barret (I do love them parallels). Subtracting the every other detail about his character, Dyne was an angry white guy with a gun on his arm. The outrage may now commence. Wait, what?
That all said, I probably would have thought a black Cloud was fine. I still do. He could have been blue as a Smurf and I still would have played and enjoyed FFVII. And you know what? I agree with Dacon. I think he still would have been insanely popular.
But then, I realize that not everyone shares the same kind of thinking. I also realize that I was probably 12 or 13-years-old at the time of my first playthrough (and even younger when I played FFVI), and I've certainly become much more aware of the sensitivity surrounding protrayals of minorities in the media since then. However, I have also learned that the one thing a character protrayal is able to speak to above all else is the creativity and experience of their writer(s). The only people who are affected by real world history and cultures are the ones who created him, and I like to think the talented people at Square have the creativity to resist those influences. And like Mako pointed out, they have done so with a fair amount of examples and, while not overwhelming, is probably more than we could expect.
As a side note, the only person's appearance I found to be somewhat troubling right off the bat was Tifa's, and for two rather obvious and well-rounded reasons. But again I never thought they affected her personality, and I took to her character very well regardless.
P.S. FWIW I don't think Barret looks like Mr. T either, but if Barret came out with his own brand of cereal too I would sooooo try some.
