Exploring the Myth Behind Silent Hill 2 | Symbolism
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- čas přidán 20. 07. 2024
- #silenthill2 #survivalhorrorgaming #horrorgaming
Exploring the religious & mythic stories behind Silent Hill 2.
Music, in Order:
Anxious, Sextile
Belief, Silent Partner
Beyond the Lows, The Whole Other,
Night Snow, Asher Fulero
Sources:
An Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books, C Hassell Bullock
The Book of Job in Form: a literary translation with commentary, Jan P Fokkelman
Reading the Old Testament, Lawrence Boadt
Source: bible.knowing-jesus.com/topic...
biblehub.com/commentaries/job...
biblehub.com/commentaries/job...
0:00 Intro
1:58 Condensed Book of Job
7:15 Explanation of Job
15:53 Job in Silent Hill23:29 Maria as Lilith
27:47 Closing
TGM is a horror game analysis channel with a heavy focus on Silent Hill, & other Japanese horror games.
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He's back!! I hope you're doing better.
I am always blown away by just how in-depth these games are, and how thorough you are. Growing up, my Pagan mom had a collection of religious texts; she told us to read whatever and find our own path (my dad and other family, on the other hand, forced me to go to Church). When I first saw the bathroom graffiti, I thought "huh that sounds familiar" but I quickly forgot about it, getting swept up in everything else. So I am thrilled for this video. And glad that you're at least doing well enough to post again. Take care of yourself!
Exceptional work. You're absolutely brilliant.
Your videos are always a treat to watch. Thank you so much for what you do.
Just a note from someone who regularly translated classical languages including biblical languages:
It’s really strange that in your translation of Job you translate Ha Satani not as the name Satan but the original meaning of “prosecutor” but then you choose to treat Yahweh as if it were a name rather than translate its original meaning of “lord/master/judge”
I mean, it’s not to say that doing either is wrong per se but it’s weird you would do it for one but not the other. Generally you should keep your translation methods consistent, you shouldn’t apply one translation philosophy to X character and the opposite to Y. That’s bound to end up confusing or misleading to readers who aren’t familiar with the original language/text.
This is really good constructive criticism
This is not my translation, it is the text from a scholar on the subject, as is mentioned in the video. I simply read their translation.
As far as I remember the translation is accurate, as the book has different redaction cycles. The older parts-the story-telling parts that frame the speeches-where still using the Yahweh name. In later writing there is a switch to Elohim/El Shaddai, to circumvent using the name. To my knowledge the meaning of the name is still somewhat mysterious but has to do with “being.” The one I translation of Yahweh I liked most was something like “I am for you.” So the being needing to be understood in a relational way. Like kissing-something you can’t do on your own : )
Cool thing is, that this reconstruction also allows for different readings of the book. So you could read only the framing to get a story with a slightly different tone and message. Fanfiction in a sense is really old : ) You can trace back a lot of these edits through-out biblical literature, where people took these texts that spoke to them and edited them so to fit with the time the writers lived in. To a smaller degree this is still done today with bible translations.
Anyway, really good research that went into this video.
What a great video! Just found you recently and love your vids 😊
So excited for every single one of your videos
Love these videos Muse. Great work!
Always enjoy your videos! Keep up the good work and keep on sharing your thoughts. Frames the story in a new light that makes me appreciate it even more
Nice video. If you can, one of the Silent Hill 2 videos I’d like to saw before SH2R would be the different ending’s symbolism or something like that for the multiple endings.
thank you youtube algorithm for bringing me this lol. Fantastic video, very well presented and reserched. I haven't seen the quote on the wall discussed in such detail before
I just want to say, I always look forward to your videos, especially the SH ones. I'm indoors a lot from my chronic fatigue so these make my day 😅
Another amazing video!!!
I’m happy to see SHS return, feels like it’s been a little while!
I appreciated your analysis on Job, I've seen so many people butcher the text and you did a really good Job of presenting it accurately, one thing I would like to add on top of it, is Job's subtle pride as he attributes things of God to himself and self-righteousness, I believe this is a connection to SH2 because we see James being self-righteous and justifying himself for example in the apartment scene he yells at Angela "I'm not like you!"and she responds "are you scared?"
The story of job in the bible had made me question my faith , how can God be so weak ,and fool to listen to the persecuter ( lucifer)..it was like Yahwi was guided by the persecuter all the way ...he is A God for Godsake ...
I love your videos, great narration voice. I discovered you a while back and I love the content
This is an incredible video I've seen here. You always have a way to show such great entertainment, when it comes to Japanese horror games. This really shows that how much the devs from Team Silent, took lots of research and inspiration for making SH2. Really shows such heavy dose of symbolism in both religion and the cults The Order worship.
Thanks for the info. I didn’t realize the Job reference so that was really interesting. I also like the mention of a possible other consciousness involved as a part of Maria. I always had the impression that James was surprised by Maria but not just because she looked like Mary his surprise with that was his dialogue saying you could be her twin. It was after that. I feel like some of James silent reactions weren’t just for us to insert ourselves but because he genuinely didn’t know how to feel or what to do. The face was the woman he married but Maria’s thoughts, actions and feelings were unrecognizable to him and the dichotomy was shocking. Thinking there is another woman in there with the elements he seemed to desire is compelling in my opinion. Thanks for the video.
This was a magnificent video
Thankyou for these
Thank you for working that much for doing what we're all passionate about.. genius
great work as always
NEW TGM VIDEO LETS GO!!!!!
Great video as always.
I really want to hear your thoughts and perhaps knowledge towards James' otherworld. It's so different and confusing. Where does it begin? Where does it end? Does it end at all? Why the siren plays only two times in SH2? I'm fascinated by it
This video is entertaining.
And there’s so much more in the remake as well. I saw in the remake gameplay preview, James goes to an open locker and there’s a literal caduceus poster inside of it. And I think there’s also hints of Carl Jung’s works on the collective unconscious world as well. Definitely it’s a story of individuation at the end of the day.
I like the fact that satan is intact in its meaning in the quotes - Prosecutor. PS. While tere are posters of Maria, there is also a poster stating Borderline. Quite nice reference to both mental state, as well as a real condition of Silent Hill. A borderline between reality and unconscious.
“All on the whim of a bet”
And that’s where 90% of people misread this piece of literature. You got close to a proper, historically contextual reading by noting that Satan is a title of “prosecutor” but you didn’t make the logical extension from there. “Yahweh” is not a name either, it’s a title meaning “Lord/Judge”. We have on one hand “the prosecutor” bringing arguments to “the judge” to convince him of his position. Job is the opposite figure to the prosecutor- in legal terms (and all of these are legal titles in ancient Hebrew) it makes him the defendant to satans prosecution and subject to gods judgement.
It’s not a “bet” it’s a trial, and the defendant is humanity as represented by Job the most good and faithful of mankind. Satan is attempting to prove to God that man is ultimately wicked and his love for God is conditional- if conditions are not met then he will forsake God. God allows him to test humanity to see if it’s true. If Job breaks then it will prove conclusively that man and God are separated and mankind will be damned. Keep in mind this story takes place after Genesis, therefor it is placed after the fall from Eden and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the great flood to cleanse the earth. It takes place post original sin but pre judgement/salvation.
The underlying point of the story is that we may suffer unthinkable sorrow for apparently no reason at all, but in reality just under the surface of what we can see there is always a greater reason for things both good and bad. Sometimes those reasons can be so complex and grand in scope and beyond our comprehension that to attempt to reconcile them is a fools errand. Job is never told of the cosmic significance of his trial, god rebukes him when he demands answers at the end. The message thus becomes that even in times of unthinkable and unreasonable suffering of the righteous, the righteous must hold on to certain truths that are ultimately unbreakable no matter how contradictory it may seem on the surface. Man’s connection to God, from the perspective of a Bronze Age Israelite, would be the tantamount example of one of these truths. In the end it is a work that seeks to answer “why do the good suffer?” And the answer it suggests is “why do you need to know why they suffer? There are things in the universe that are beyond your comprehension that you will never understand, all you can hold onto for certain is what you know to be good and hold steadfast to it”.
It’s a beautiful work of ancient poetry with an insanely complex structure. People treat it like it’s some aesopian fable with a simple 1 to 1 correlation and in doing so they strip it of its artistic and historic context. As far as poetry goes it stands next to greats like Homer and Vergil
What a great comment!
Nah, keep coping
Otherwise, gotta admit thegaminbmuse did the research and came to some pretty interesting conclusions. Intelligent perspectives make life worth living around other people more tolerable and should never be taken for granted or disparaged. You may be unintentionally coming off as harsher than intended, however helpful your constructive criticism might be.
Alls I care about is it being allegory. And she explained to another commenter that she's just reading some other person's translation.
"Sometimes those reasons can be so complex and grand in scope and beyond our comprehension that to attempt to reconcile them is a fools errand."
And sometimes they can be as idiotic as a worthless bet between god and the devil 🤷♀
I AM excited about the remake, AND I have this to look forward to, too. Truly blessed are we Silent Hill fans.
Oh shiz, new Muse video just dropped. *gets comfy*
I love this video. I also love Book of Job jot only due to how differently it is understood by Christians and the Jews( to whom I belong as i am an Israeli-born Christian who studied both Old and New Testaments) but also sue to the fact that its a prequel to Satan's Sinfal. The Judge here is Lucifer hinself, being the Prosexutor/Adversary sent by the Angelic Accuser Corps to test out Job. Here he is not a villain yet but rather an antagonist.
Thanks muse!
Great video 👍
nice job! 😉😜
Good one!
@@TalkingAboutGames hehehem thanks ;3c
Always love your videos on the survival horror genre! Hope you make some Vampire Hunter D videos in the future too!
yay!
I love how you explain all the facts in Silent Hill from a folkloric perspective, there's always tons of interesting info which adds more depth to Silent Hill's lore that I would never have thought about...
I always feel like people seem to condemn James, we are taught to condemn all the needs, and frustrations of the healthy partner when there is a sick partner in a relationship.
I'm a chronically ill woman, my parent is healthy. There is frustration. Mary was dying, in chronic pain, it was apparent Mary wasn't able to find any relief. In the ending you see that shows the death of Mary, you will notice she doesn't fight back an you will see her hand on his. It's euthanasia, a kindness for someone tired of the sickness eating them.
once a week until the remake??? i might actually be more excited for these than sh2r and thats saying something 🎉🎉🎉
I love anytime someone talks about Lilith 😊
God I love your videos
Obviously 2 in particular has very Christian-adjacent themes and the same could be said for all Silent Hill games to some extent. Which is weird considering the site where Silent Hill would be constructed was sacred to the tribe that lived in the area, which implies an original religion that was warped and co-opted into Catholicism, much like Vodun in Africa.
The thematic implications are pretty obvious - "Sins of the Fathers" and all that. It's like James pretending is to be a timid mild-mannered guy to everyone (including himself) when in reality he's selfish enough to take the life of someone who loved him and needed him for support. James is what "Christianity" has become to that town - a bland, unassuming face barely hiding something twisted and sick that exists only for its own ends. The problem is that people rarely turn evil by themselves, they get traumatized to become like that and we don't know his backstory. Much like we don't know what happened exactly to the native religion. They're loose ends that will never be tied up and that's why it's uncomfortable to consider either one. I'd love to say I'm overthinking this but I wouldn't put it past 2000s era Team Silent to layer the subtext.
You assume James does it out of pure selfishness, I read more that it was both out of selfishness and pity for Mary that he kills her.
2:03 meta commentary?...
I saw a comment/commented back/forgot the main persons name.
I still believe that bet between God and Angel/Devil was totaly unfair, but interpreting this tekst as a poem makes things better.
Didnt see yet/
the guy that god let the devil hert/torture in the bible?...
Lilith simply means of the night in Hebrew and is a normal word 😊
In the hebrew version , the angel who speaks to god is called "Satan"
If I remember right, Satan translates to something very similar to Prosecutor. It was a title rather than a name.
Oh... almost forgot... I know this might sound a bit... "weird" in the best of cases, but... what if you make an analysis about...... Silent Hill Ascension? 😱😱😱😱😱 Yeah... despite of being the worst thing ever created, with the story allegedly written by ChatGPT, I'd like to know from your perspective why in the hell could this thing carry the name "Silent Hill"...
The crazy thing about SH2 is that all started before the game, when they went to Silent Hill for vacation, then she got ill, so James and Mary were on the trial from the past, wonder if that means this marriage was ready to fail, and just SH put more spice in the process.
What are you even talking about
@@chandlerburseMary got ill with something in the town on the vacation trip, that's the point.
0:22 funny version=
Silent hill shit
If it was unserius.
Genuinely, how does anybody *ever* read any version of the bible & think "yes, this is what I'm going to base my entire thinking on" - I cannot understand it. Wild shit.
Then you haven't tried; not that you're obliged to base your worldview on it yourself, but to not understand others following any religious tradition is pretty wild
@@RustedOatmeal nah I used to be a Christian for a while in a really low, weakened point of my life, until I really actually read the bible, & was also very mistreated & intentionally shunned from the church just for asking questions (like, “why would a “loving god” do that). It just doesn’t make sense to me that anyone can read it & not be appalled by it. It’s fine to believe in something higher, as long as you don’t use it to manipulate, brainwash, take advantage of &/or harm others - but monotheistic religions tend to lean heavily on those terms, unfortunately. Like I said, not everyone - but an overwhelming amount of theists do fall under that category, & it’s just really gross to me. Harm none, do as you want. As above, so below, & all that.
@@DerFlanagan Than as en ex-Christian you know they mainly base their teachings off the New Testament. But you seem to lack the historical knowledge of how the Jewish religion came to be in the first place and why Yahweh is the way that he is in the Old Testament.
@@lainiwakura1776 definitely don’t “lack” that information; as an avid reader & someone very obsessed with knowledge, I’ve read every version of any religion’s bibles. What you’re referencing, specifically, are things that do not align with my morals & viewpoints on humanity, & the world as a whole. I never cheap-shotted your beliefs or insulted you for having them, & yet here you are, proving my previous point. So I’ll say it again; believing in some higher power is fine, some people need it in order to be able to find strength in hardship, etc., but the amount of monotheists that use religion as a means of weaponizing their beliefs, harming people in the process, &/or just being cruel towards others & acting like high & mighty people because of it is overwhelmingly massive. *That* is where I find the harm in it. There is so much written word “of god” that is too humanized (i.e. extreme jealousy, anger, petty rage, etc.) that I could never see some all-knowing, all-seeing creator acting in such blatantly human ways, especially in such spiteful acts (& against women in particular in many books). You can believe what you want to & that’s fine, it’s not what I take issue with. Trying to put someone else down or make anyone feel inferior for not sharing those same beliefs is where it starts getting pretty barfy.
Funny enough, a lot of people are not aware, but God isn't a hebrew concept, but a protogermanic concept, look it up.
I wouldn't have gotten along with "God", he sounds like an 4s5I-Iol3 🤨
Muse silent hill videos are crack
Too much time spent on Job in the beginning. It takes over 15 minutes until you get to how the story of Job applies to SH2. Instead of weaving together these come across as 2 completely different videos mashed together. 1 Video is the explanation of Job from a philosophical and literary analysis. At 15:45 is a video about the parallels of Job and SH2 that could stand on its own without the first 15 minutes especially since you basically go through the story word for word again in the latter half of the video. It makes you wonder why have the first part if you are just going to go over everything again.
I had to skip ahead because I thought I clicked on the wrong video, because much time was spent on Job without any mention of SIlent Hill outside of the first couple minutes, before not bringing it up for almost 15 more minutes.
That God guy's a real jerk
You know it!
If your going to draw inspiration for the dichotomy of good and evil. There are few better resources than ancient story books. Mythology old or now are filled with fairy tales one could use as inspiration for their stories.
Sorry, this is a hard watch and can't sit through it all. I like Silent Hill, but the other stuff not so much. But I didn't give you a dislike, so if there are any it didn't come from me lol.
I'm the opposite. I love the psychological & religious analysis.
Please repent of your lies and deception and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who, unlike even Job, lived a perfect and sinless life, and died on the cross for sinners, taking upon himself our sins and God's judgement so that sinners can be forgiven and reconciled to God. Job never blasphemed God, he had questions, but he never blasphemed. He wasn't perfect either, that's why he had to offer sacrifices, but ultimately, it wasn't his sacrifices or his own suffering that saved him or saves anyone else, it is Jesus's suffering and sacrifice that saves all people.
Only if Bloober makes the remake great
There are good videos looking at Silent Hill from a theological framework, this is not one of them. Your hermeneutics rudimentary and blatantly secularist.
You should analyze Eddie as well he definitely is understated
In Japan and China the number 4 is associated with death and is considered a unlucky number because saying that number in native languages spoken in both countries sounds similar to saying the word death it's self and james got tested 4 times eerie
Thank you for uploading. I love you and Cyborcat 🫶🏼
I LOOOVE your video essays... it makes me so happy when a new one is up!!! Thank you, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your work and effort!!! You truly make my day... 🥹🥹🥹