This article allies the 1997 PlayStation video game Final Fantasy VII
with Slavoj Zˇizˇek’s writings on ecology to critique the area of legal philosophy
known as ‘earth jurisprudence’. Earth jurisprudents argue that law bears a large part
of the responsibility for humanity’s exploitation of the environment, as law helps to
bar nature from subjectivity. However, as Zˇizˇek warns—and as FFVII illustrates—
the desire for meaning incites people to manufacture a harmonious vision of nature
that obscures the chaotic forces at work in the environment and ultimately absolves
humanity of responsibility towards the world. Therefore, earth jurisprudence’s
program of using legal rights to limit human intervention should be rejected in
favour of an approach that enables people to take an active role in addressing the
ecological crisis.

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• ‘Those Chosen by the Planet’: Final Fantasy VII and Earth Jurisprudence