Sunday, August 21, 2005

   Silent Hill Strikes Back!
Hey everybody! How's it going?

I'd like to thank you all for your suggestions and input on my recent posts! I'm still open to anything you have to say!

By the way, if you still haven't seen MadamRyeka's gift for my Otaku-versary and B-day, please take a look by clicking here.
*blush* I always was a Sayoko fan. =^^= Anyway, Parks always appreciates comments, so please do so if you'd like to tell her your opinion.

My manga run didn't go quite as well as I had hoped (though it's still nice to get out of the house). This was mostly because they're completely out of the volumes I need. No Immortal Rain vol. 7 (I'm not even sure if that's out yet), no Hellsing vol. 2, and no Love Hina vol. 14. Plus, they don't have the 1st volumes of the mangas I'd like to start (I've heard good things about "Mahoromatic", but they have no vol. 1's). On top of that, I was sick on my stomach.
Sorry! I guess that was too much information. >///<
However, I found and interesting one-volume comic called "Silent Hill: Dying Inside". Though the thought of a video-game like Silent Hill being turned into a graphic novel makes me ecstatic, it was kind'a disappointing. The style was nice and dark, but it was WAY too sporadic. It was like it was drawn by a Schizophrenic. You could hardly tell what was going on, because it had no straight lines and NO proportioning.
Oh well, at least it was intense and psychological. Some of the monsters from Silent Hill 2 and 3 even made guest appearances in the story.

Speaking of Silent Hill, I'd like to talk a little about a part of Silent Hill 3 that I found particularly interesting. Remember how I was talking about the monsters in Silent Hill 2 symbolizing parts of the main character's mind (you know, Pyramid Head rapping the other monsters and trying to kill James)? Well, the same type of "personal demons becoming monsters" also occurs in SH3...

Silent Hill 3 centers on Heather Mason, a 17-year-old girl who is now trapped in a twisted nightmare-ish delusion, surrounded by mutilated monstrosities that want to eat her alive. One of the monsters I found particularly disturbing was something called a "Closer". Closers are 7-foot-tall lumbering killers. Here's a quick picture of one (thank-you to morbidobsessions.com):

Since this shows a Closer in an odd position, I made a quick pic showing a Closer in their normal pose. You can see the Closers on the left and Heather on the right.


Anyway, as you can tell, Closers are pretty scary. Their massive stub-like arms can be used to bash you into oblivion, as well as sprout a small knife at their tips to stab you to death. They walk on two long, thin legs that seem to barely support their weight. Their face has no distinguishable features aside from a partially-concealed mouth. Their tiny head twitches spasmodically on top of its thick, stalk-like neck. And the fact that they easily tower over you makes it even worse. *shiver* Man, these things give me the willies!

Now for the symbolism. Take a look at the Closer again. Have you noticed that from the waist-down they resemble a woman in a skirt or apron? What about the fact that their mouth (it's hard to see, but it's on the first picture) resembles a woman's lips when she has make-up on?
Maybe it would help to tell you that Heather feared and resented her neglectful mother, and these Closers symbolize that. Heather suffers from vivid night-mares, and it is thought that she often dreams that she's a young girl again. Seeing her mother's familiar legs (you're only as tall as your mother's waist at the age she dreams she is, thus why the Closers are 7 ft. tall), she runs over to them, symbolizing Heather's obvious wanting to be loved by her mother. But upon reaching those familiar legs in an attempt to receive a loving embrace, Heather looks up and sees that this isn't the comforting and supportive mother we all need, but instead a twisted beast that's ready to slice her open. At this point, Heather wakes up screaming, drenched in her own cold-sweat.
It's actually kind of sad, isn't it? <:(

I had a nice little clip of Heather fighting a closer, but VideoDesk is being a ^@#$%! right now, so it'll have to wait. >:P

Alright everyone, I'll see you tomorrow.
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