(no subject)
So, last night I watched _coherent finish a play-through of Silent Hill 2, and not only did I reaffirm some qualiaflecks (for appropriate use in crossovers, of course), but I re-realized something I'd previously only known subconsciously or innately: Silent Hill isn't evil. It's sinister, yes, but not evil: it doesn't have destroying you as a goal fiat writ. You can tell because the "Leave" ending is possible, because at the end James is given a chance to speak with Mary--not another shade of Maria--and Mary forgives him.
Silent Hill takes all the barriers between your conscious mind and subconscious guilt away, which is tremendously traumatic and horrifying. But at the same time, it lets you deal with that guilt or that darkness directly, in whole part, and that means that if you triumph over it, it's settled. So Silent Hill is more like a mental tool, really, than a condemnation; like a lot of tools, it's possible to inure or kill yourself with it, but it makes otherwise impossible tasks possible.
Or possibly I'm reading a hell of a lot more into it than I need to be. I do that.
It's also possible to see Pyramid Head's twin-suicide as a concession from Silent Hill: an acknowledgement that Yes, you've come this far, this demon is of no further use to you. You don't kill them, they sacrifice themselves,a nd in doing so they give you the tools--the two eggs--to progress, to go to the final confrontation.
Silent Hill takes all the barriers between your conscious mind and subconscious guilt away, which is tremendously traumatic and horrifying. But at the same time, it lets you deal with that guilt or that darkness directly, in whole part, and that means that if you triumph over it, it's settled. So Silent Hill is more like a mental tool, really, than a condemnation; like a lot of tools, it's possible to inure or kill yourself with it, but it makes otherwise impossible tasks possible.
Or possibly I'm reading a hell of a lot more into it than I need to be. I do that.
It's also possible to see Pyramid Head's twin-suicide as a concession from Silent Hill: an acknowledgement that Yes, you've come this far, this demon is of no further use to you. You don't kill them, they sacrifice themselves,a nd in doing so they give you the tools--the two eggs--to progress, to go to the final confrontation.