inspirations for my opening!

     I am going to love making this post about inspirations, but I know that it's going to make me sound like an absolute geek. But, I don't really care. I mean, the only people seeing these posts are my teacher and Cambridge, so... here we go.

    (deep inhale) (deep exhale)

    its two video games that gave me inspiration.

    I know what you're going to say... who is this kid and why does he think video games are an actual piece of media that can be used for inspiration for other, different, forms of media (this is sarcasm). I wouldn't blame you for thinking that, but let me explain (in detail) about these two video games that actually cover the topic of "shut-ins", which is the topic I wish to explore in my own piece of media that I am creating.

Let's go!

Persona 5 Royal

Promotional Art for Persona 5 Royal

    Persona 5 Royal is a video game released in 2019 and is an updated version of Persona 5, released in 2016. Persona 5 Royal was created by Atlus and is a Turn-Based Action JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game). The narrative of the game surrounds The Phantom Thieves, an organization who hopes to reform society by changing the personalities of various evil figures, like corrupt politicans and kingpins of human traffickers. In the game, You play as the leader of The Phantom Thieves, where you must use the metaverse, a dimension where people's desires are manifested, to steal people's distorted desires, which revert them to their normal selves. Distorted desires are the source of evil that these figures embody. But, to enter the palace of these people, the group must know the persons' name, location on  where they perform their desires, and what they see this place as in the metaverse. This information is important to consider for the portion of the game I will be discussing.

    The game is broken up narratively into palaces, where you have a certain amount of time to steal their desires, or, as The Phantom Thieves call it, "Steal Hearts". Typically, The Phantom Thieves must do research on evil criminals to enter their palace.

    But, the 4th palace in the game features a girl named Futaba, who actually reaches out to The Phantom Thieves to change her own heart. At first, it was extremely strange to reach out to change your own personality. I mean, who in their right mind would do that? Well, she wasn't in her right mind. She is a shut-in and is one because she thought she was responsible for her own mother's suicide. This was
because she thought she was being bothersome to her mom because she was a child bringing her down because her mom had to continuously care for her. 

A Scene Depicting Futaba After The Phantom Thieves Steal her Heart

Futabas' Palace Consisting of a Pyramind in a desert

    She did not want anybody to know who she was and felt bad reaching out at all. She originally went by the nickname "Alibaba" to remain anonymous and eventually gave them all of the information they needed to enter her palace. Upon entering the palace, the group traversed through a pyramid in the metaverse to reach a tomb. A tomb is the cognition that Futaba believes she resides in because she believes that she will die being a shut-in as she will be one for the rest of her life. That is why she reaches out to The Phantom Thieves, to change her distorted desires of remaining in her room for her entire life. 

    Futaba's palace was really impactful as it showcased just how helpless Shut-ins actually are. The fact that Futuba had to reach out under an anonymous name and even had to reach out at all is extremely distressing. It just showcases how helpless these Shut-Ins can actually be and also showcases how they do not wish to live this way, but, have to in response to a traumatic event or a fear that they cannot overcome.

    Also, for anybody reading this, Persona 5 Royal and the whole series is actually really good. Even though the games can be extremely long, the writing is great and really makes you grow with the characters in ways that I've never seen in a video game. So, it's really great. 

(also as of writing this, I actually haven't finished the game... but, have gotten past Futaba's palace, which is why I'm writing this...but there could be things that are wrong, straight up. Sooooooo sorry not sorry. this is still one of my inspirations.)

Omori

Promotional Art for Omori

    I swear I cannot talk about this game without being genuinely distrought (I will talk about it later, but you should be prepared). I think it may be one of the darkest pieces of media I have ever interacted with. But, at the same time, it does such a good job with its psychological horror and its interpreations of mental illness.

   

    Omori is a game released in 2020 and was released and published by OMOCAT, an independent game studio. The independent game style really makes its prescense known in this game due to its unique artstyle, which blends pixel art with hand-drawn rough sketch, which looks incredibly good and also highlights the feeling of childhood nostalgia which is key to the integral themes and messages the game presents. The game is, once-again, a Turn-Based RPG, where you play as Sunny, a 16-year old teenager. As a typical teenager he... wait... no. He is a shut-in. He spends his days couped up in his room. In fact, he has spent 4 years in his room, where he doesn't go to school and occasionally steps out of his room to eat and use the bathroom. That's it.

Omori and His Friends look at a Mirror

    Sooooo, that's it? NO. In his room, he actually sleeps and goes into his dreams to have adventures with his friends, where he transforms into his alter-ego, Omori. Omori is the personification of coping habits that have been damaging his life for years. Their adventures take them through different worlds where they fights Space-boyfriends, whales, princesses, and everything in between. On the surface, it seemed as though these dreams are perfect, where one can live out their greatest fantasies. But, in reality, life continues on outside of his dream, in the true reality. Before he was a shut-in, Sunny used to have many friends, but after an incident where Sunny's sister, Mari (one of the many friends in the group) commited suicide, the group split apart. The group split apart because everyone grieves in different ways and they all needed space to handle the loss.

    Sunny took the news especially hard (by sheltering himself in this room) because he was her brother. But, he also took the news hard because Sunny was actually the one who killed Mari. In the final hours of the game, it is revealed that Mari did not commit suicide. Sunny killed her. In an argument over their musical duet (Mari and Sunny played instruments together), Sunny accidentaly pushed her sister down the stairs, killing her. Once that occured, one of Sunny's friends suggested that they set up her death as a suicide, so Sunny would not be responsible for her death.

Sunny's Room

   That's the true reason why Sunny shelters himself from the outside world, as punishment and guilt for killing his own blood in such a shameful way.

    When I played the game for the first time, I was haunted by its deep story and messaging about death and mental illness and really opened my eyes to the ways people grieve when faced with serious adversity, which leads into why I chose these narrative video games as my inspirations.

    I don't reccommend playing this game. I know I talked about it to a great extent. But, I pretty much just spoiled the game and the gameplay is not that great. The story is what kept me captivated throughout its runtime. But, if you are still interested, I do recommend picking up the game as there is some great writing and symbolism within the dream world that hint to Sunny's past and reality in the real world. 

WHY?

    The recent exposure to media focusing on the grieving process of shutting yourself in has has motivated me to create my own piece of media surrounding the issue. Many films and media nowadays does focus on mental illness, but, very few pieces of media actively discuss the signs of mental illness and the ways people cope with illness. In my opening, I hope to overtly discuss mental illness without directly telling the audience of the conditions the characters have. I feel as though it would be much more impactful if we showed the viewers the effects of mental illness through the portrayal of "shut ins".

    So, yeah, my film is about shut-ins, which I find to be a really unique topic which I hope to explore in my opening...

    That's it for this post! I know that it was a lot to process, but I love discussing video games, and these video games really intruge me, despite their dark tones. So, I'll be seing you all later for future posts, where I post my script and more! Bye!

Sources:

OMOCAT. (2020). Omori [Video game]. OMOCAT.

P-Studio. (2020). Persona 5 Royal [Video game]. Sega.