Nature of the "Hauntings"?

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Droo
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Nature of the "Hauntings"?

Post by Droo »

I am replaying SH4 for the first time in a couple years, and one thing that still strikes me about the game is how novel the nature of the hauntings are.

Yes, the ghosts themselves are your general "spirits of the dead", but the invasions of Henry's room that take place in the second half seem to me to be so much more. They seem....organic? It almost looks more like disease than anything else. Filthy, rotting, dirty, and viscerally disturbing.

There's just something so disgusting about the overall "decaying meat" feel that is present throughout the entire game. The constant references to how bad things smell, the "heads on stalks" monsters that grow out of the ground. It's very fungal.

Does anyone else get an undeniably organic or biological feeling about the hauntings and the symbolism of the game? I'm easily squeamish about biological uncleanliness so SH4 is always a very unsettling experience for me.
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Re: Nature of the "Hauntings"?

Post by Raider Man »

Droo wrote:I am replaying SH4 for the first time in a couple years, and one thing that still strikes me about the game is how novel the nature of the hauntings are.

Yes, the ghosts themselves are your general "spirits of the dead", but the invasions of Henry's room that take place in the second half seem to me to be so much more. They seem....organic? It almost looks more like disease than anything else. Filthy, rotting, dirty, and viscerally disturbing.

There's just something so disgusting about the overall "decaying meat" feel that is present throughout the entire game. The constant references to how bad things smell, the "heads on stalks" monsters that grow out of the ground. It's very fungal.

Does anyone else get an undeniably organic or biological feeling about the hauntings and the symbolism of the game? I'm easily squeamish about biological uncleanliness so SH4 is always a very unsettling experience for me.
Yeah I realized that actaully for the first time, that's how the ghosts looklike according to Walter's immagination.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Yea, I noticed that too. Personally, considering the ultimate objective of the ritual, I imagined the hauntings were each personified fragments of "God" being summoned one piece at a time, giving us a look at what the complete entity, and it's Paradise, may end up like. At the end, the last piece will come down, and they'll all unify.
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Post by 11x20 »

It's kind of interesting when you put it like that, Droo. It makes me think of the god and it's paradise as more of a disease or spreading "fungus". Like spreading decay or a spreading plague. All of the other SH's made the god seem like more of an entity, and the paradise wasn't really touched on. Something that is reflective of the person who conjured it (Dahlia, Alessa, Claudia).

I wonder if the plague-like nature in this game has something to do with Walter's desire to return to a state of nonexistence, or die, even?
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Post by Xev »

True, like the apartment world2 discussion regarding how it feels like youre running through a body with the fleshy walls... yes there are many biological / fungus feelings all through the game. I dont even think its all to do with the mother concept either it could be Walter - since he performed the ritual on himself, dying then porting his dead body to the room. Growth in decay and madness.

I would like to say that it is in severe contrast with the clinical St. Jeromes world. It seems so sterile even with Walter carving away at misc. bodies and the hanging things in the rooms. Building world seemed this way as well. Sterile, cold madness of Walter's mind.

Not to go on OT but the forest world gave such a different feeling of any SH game Ive ever played. Such a peaceful earthy feel - even with the dang ghosts and slurpies. I could almost hear the bugs in the trees when I play these parts of the game.
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Post by Droo »

Well, the Apartment World is clearly manifested in a way that reflects Walter's beyond fucked up view that the room itself is his mother. Thus the entire building becomes fleshy.

The whole biological/fungal feel of SH4's insanity seems almost STD-like to me. Corrupted and rotten to its very core.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Which is exactly how Walter sees the real world.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
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Post by Droo »

Is that why the world appears as it does? I always thought it had to do with the uterine preoccupation Walter has, not to do with any misanthropic views towards humanity.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

If you observe closely, a lot of the world we see seem to be based on Walter's memories. The Water Prison world, for example, is the biggest give-away.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
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Post by Droo »

Care to elaborate on that?
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Post by Raider Man »

AuraTwilight wrote:Yea, I noticed that too. Personally, considering the ultimate objective of the ritual, I imagined the hauntings were each personified fragments of "God" being summoned one piece at a time, giving us a look at what the complete entity, and it's Paradise, may end up like. At the end, the last piece will come down, and they'll all unify.
11x20 wrote:It's kind of interesting when you put it like that, Droo. It makes me think of the god and it's paradise as more of a disease or spreading "fungus". Like spreading decay or a spreading plague. All of the other SH's made the god seem like more of an entity, and the paradise wasn't really touched on. Something that is reflective of the person who conjured it (Dahlia, Alessa, Claudia).

I wonder if the plague-like nature in this game has something to do with Walter's desire to return to a state of nonexistence, or die, even?
So the ghosts are Gods?! This is the first time I see a story that a person when he had been killed he will transform into a God! LOL!!
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Post by stopped_clock »

Droo wrote: not to do with any misanthropic views towards humanity.
I'd say that the gumheads show a fair amount of misanthropy in their symbolism. Given that they represent Walter's feeling of adult society (I think?).
AuraTwilight wrote:If you observe closely, a lot of the world we see seem to be based on Walter's memories. The Water Prison world, for example, is the biggest give-away.

The way that I saw it everything in Walter's kingdom is based upon his memories, the subway was where he met Cynthia and was rejected by her, the forest is the location of the orphanage he grew up in, judging by Andrew's fear and a few other things I assumed that Walter had been an unfortunate resident of the panopticon, etc.

Each of the areas we visit holds a formulative significance to Walter, each world is a revisiting of some stage of his "coming-of-age".

Raider Man wrote:
So the ghosts are Gods?! This is the first time I see a story that a person when he had been killed he will transform into a God! LOL!!
Not the victims, I think the suggestion there was that the hauntings in the apartment are manifestations of parts of god - and as such not actually ghosts at all. However, there are many stories in ancient mythologies of man being transformed into a god upon death. Even some Hindu beliefs suggest that upon death a persons soul can become one with god (Brahman).
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Post by carneeval »

Most of the places are based off his victims also. The bar,house with the victims birthday set up, the pet store.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Care to elaborate on that?
There's probably a thread around here that coulddoit way better than I could, but the Water Prison obviously doesn't exist like that in real life, considering it was a place the Hope House shoved naughty kids as punishment. And yet it's gargantuan, and the front door is like, mammoth sized. Everything is skewed to be how Walter must've remembered it as a child: Unrealistically large, imposing, and scary.
So the ghosts are Gods?! This is the first time I see a story that a person when he had been killed he will transform into a God! LOL!!
No, not the ghosts, the hauntings. The hauntings aren't ghosts. Jesus christ, learn how to read English before you go criticizing people.
I'd say that the gumheads show a fair amount of misanthropy in their symbolism. Given that they represent Walter's feeling of adult society (I think?).
I think I remember hearing that the monsters in SH4 don't really represent anything, and just sort've "evolved" out of the "leftover clay" of Walter's world-building.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
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Post by Droo »

Okay, stop fucking flaming Raider Man. He may be a tit but that doesn't give anyone the right to disregard the rules re: flaming. Do it again and I'll have to follow through on Vixx's last warning to you and just ban you.
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Post by 11x20 »

Raider Man wrote:So the ghosts are Gods?! This is the first time I see a story that a person when he had been killed he will transform into a God! LOL!!
The ghosts are not gods. But Walter made himself similar to a god. Yes, this probably is the first story you've come across where a person commits suicide and becomes similar to a god.
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Post by Zerosignal »

Hmm...to be honest, although it shocked me to find out that my "home base" was no longer a safe place, the hauntings themselves were corny and cliche' beyond belief. I loved the whole concept too much to dwell on it, but after the innitial shock of it came and went, the hauntings became a little silly.

*the shoes walk by themselves* and i'm thinking "you've got to be kidding me. Silent Hill could only come up with that? No wonder they stick to monsters.

Now the babies in the wall scred the living shit out of me, i'll admit, i couldn't get used to that. I'm not sure if the hauntings really apply to the overall story though, shoes/slippers moving on their own don't seem to be mentioned or hinted at, same with the floating head outside, it just seemed random to me personally.
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Post by AuraTwilight »


*the shoes walk by themselves* and i'm thinking "you've got to be kidding me. Silent Hill could only come up with that? No wonder they stick to monsters.
Silent Hill wasn't doing it, it was Walter. Place the blame where it belongs.

As for WHY the shoes were moving, it wasn't really to be symbolic or to hurt Henry, it was Walter basically going, "Hey. Hey Henry. I own this room. I can do whatever I want with it and everything in it. Watch your shoes, bitch, I'm makin' em walk."
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
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Post by stopped_clock »

Zerosignal wrote: the hauntings themselves were corny and cliche' beyond belief.

When I look at them I see the type of activity typically reported during supposed poltergeist manifestations. As such they didn't strike me as corny. Items moving of their own accord, electrical appliances going haywire, strange figures and shadowy beings glimpsed as well as odd noises and voices.

One of the theories regarding poltergeist activity is that the haunting is not caused by any actual entity but is instead psychically created by the person that they centre around, often a pubescent or disturbed person is the center of the activity. So in the case of The Room the hauntings could be seen as creations of Walters own inner turmoil manifested as poltergeist activity within the apartment.
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Post by Harrys_Girl »

AuraTwilight wrote:As for WHY the shoes were moving, it wasn't really to be symbolic or to hurt Henry, it was Walter basically going, "Hey. Hey Henry. I own this room. I can do whatever I want with it and everything in it. Watch your shoes, bitch, I'm makin' em walk."

Or if you look out the peephole "Hey. Hey Henry, I can make you sing and dance like the little puppet you are. Cause your my bitch." :P


BTW: That haunting always freaked me out, while the *thing* in the fridge made me want to toss my cookies.
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