So I've been on a recent Silent Hill craze this month and I've been very interested in the themes that ran along the games and formed the narratives. It's incredibly interesting to me to explore the core of a narrative, be it a videogame or a music album. If you have any themes that particularly interest you then please talk about them!
(warning long winded talk about SH2's themes and plot, there are spoilers)
The example I want to talk about for this thread is Silent Hill 2's theme of abuse. It's a game about how abuse changes people and how they cope with abuse. Silent Hill 2 is a game of threes, for each of the 3 main characters follow and correspond with aspects of abuse. Eddie being a twisted human that was forged into violence due to being bullied his entire life for being slightly large. Angela being the by far the most tragic character in the game, a victim of sexual abuse and rape who believes she's guilty for her suffering. James is the protagonist and is in a way a reflection of Eddie and Angela, mostly depending on player choice, he could be a victim of guilt or a prisoner unable to accept the truth of his reality.
At its core Silent Hill 2 is a game about different forms of abuse, be it physical, mental, domestic, or sexual, can severely damage people's lives. Silent Hill calls these 3 to it as a means of redemption and peace, It is through this you see many symbolic scenes that indicate a fake person, a key scene would be in the hotel level at the start of the game you meet Angela holding a knife and looking into a mirror. In this scene Angela speaks the truth of her past and how she was abused but James continues to hide from his guilt. You never see James' face directly in this scene, you only see him through the mirror, much like how the very first glimpse you get of James is his reflection, not him. Showing that while Angela is speaking the truth even explicitly guessing what James has committed due to her negative experiences with men, James is still repressing the truth and is unwilling to accept what he has done.
(warning long winded talk about SH2's themes and plot, there are spoilers)
The example I want to talk about for this thread is Silent Hill 2's theme of abuse. It's a game about how abuse changes people and how they cope with abuse. Silent Hill 2 is a game of threes, for each of the 3 main characters follow and correspond with aspects of abuse. Eddie being a twisted human that was forged into violence due to being bullied his entire life for being slightly large. Angela being the by far the most tragic character in the game, a victim of sexual abuse and rape who believes she's guilty for her suffering. James is the protagonist and is in a way a reflection of Eddie and Angela, mostly depending on player choice, he could be a victim of guilt or a prisoner unable to accept the truth of his reality.
Unlike Angela or Eddie, James isn't a victim of abuse exactly as the others are. The story of Silent Hill 2 starts off with James' reflection in the mirror because it's not James that we see at the start of the game, it's the James that has repressed his memories and lives in lies, that is he hides from the guilt that he felt for killing his wife that was hospitalized due to a terminal illness. Throughout the game you see symbolism of this truth, Pyramid Head's existence is the physical representation of his guilt and almost every monster relates to James' sexual frustration and desire to be with Mary prior to her illness.
The game is a trek through James' mind to uncover the truth through Silent Hill manifesting aspects of James, the character Maria is a desirable reflection of Mary meant to tempt James to test him and if he deserves redemption. Laura is another character who could possibly show this as she's an innocent child blind to the monsters of Silent Hill, specifically it's possible that she could represent the good in James that genuinely loved and wanted to be with Mary, or she could truly be unrelated and simply a friend of Mary's as she claims to be.
Ultimately James is the only character that has a chance at redemption, possibly due to his acceptance of his crime and guilt for it. Eddie is a psychotic killer brought to the point by a life long bully abusing him due to his inability to fit into a classic masculinity spectrum. In other words, Eddie's abuse turned him into the monster that he hated because it's the only way he knew how to cope with it as, for once in his life, he was the one with power. Though as he turned to killing others, he was now essentially a monster that you as a player had to put a stop to though the guilt of having to kill another human shoots James farther to the path of accepting the truth Silent Hill wants him to find. Angela is very much the opposite, she doesn't truly accept the crime she has committed, killing her father and brother who raped and abused her, rather she accepts that she is guilty for the abuse happening and she deserved it. This is a common victim complex where they believe that they deserve their abuse even though nobody deserves getting assaulted. When you last see her, she ascends a burning staircase likely symbolizing that she ascends away from the hell she lived and towards heaven.
The game is a trek through James' mind to uncover the truth through Silent Hill manifesting aspects of James, the character Maria is a desirable reflection of Mary meant to tempt James to test him and if he deserves redemption. Laura is another character who could possibly show this as she's an innocent child blind to the monsters of Silent Hill, specifically it's possible that she could represent the good in James that genuinely loved and wanted to be with Mary, or she could truly be unrelated and simply a friend of Mary's as she claims to be.
Ultimately James is the only character that has a chance at redemption, possibly due to his acceptance of his crime and guilt for it. Eddie is a psychotic killer brought to the point by a life long bully abusing him due to his inability to fit into a classic masculinity spectrum. In other words, Eddie's abuse turned him into the monster that he hated because it's the only way he knew how to cope with it as, for once in his life, he was the one with power. Though as he turned to killing others, he was now essentially a monster that you as a player had to put a stop to though the guilt of having to kill another human shoots James farther to the path of accepting the truth Silent Hill wants him to find. Angela is very much the opposite, she doesn't truly accept the crime she has committed, killing her father and brother who raped and abused her, rather she accepts that she is guilty for the abuse happening and she deserved it. This is a common victim complex where they believe that they deserve their abuse even though nobody deserves getting assaulted. When you last see her, she ascends a burning staircase likely symbolizing that she ascends away from the hell she lived and towards heaven.
At its core Silent Hill 2 is a game about different forms of abuse, be it physical, mental, domestic, or sexual, can severely damage people's lives. Silent Hill calls these 3 to it as a means of redemption and peace, It is through this you see many symbolic scenes that indicate a fake person, a key scene would be in the hotel level at the start of the game you meet Angela holding a knife and looking into a mirror. In this scene Angela speaks the truth of her past and how she was abused but James continues to hide from his guilt. You never see James' face directly in this scene, you only see him through the mirror, much like how the very first glimpse you get of James is his reflection, not him. Showing that while Angela is speaking the truth even explicitly guessing what James has committed due to her negative experiences with men, James is still repressing the truth and is unwilling to accept what he has done.
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