something i never noticed was that adora and catra crying at shadow weaver's death was not just their complicated attachment to her, but the loving, sentimental aspects of their character that she failed to corrupt. I've seen lots of analyses about how victims still feel for their abusers, that's just the nature of the manipulation, but i really love that you emphasized shadow weaver's failure to mold them. idk, it just makes so much sense that her last "im proud of you" to catra is just her acknowledging that she failed, a last appeal to the humanity she failed to crush
@@jonathanharrison4585 no no, you did but you didn't show suletta go into aerial and fly away screaming through the radio Correction: she panicked and tanuki screamed while running towards aerial, THEN flew off
heya i bout to watch izetta literally tomorrow and from the opening, you got me hooked on essay about two gay witches that ride guns so if you can, heart this video so i can come back later after finishing izetta
Absolutely agree with the 'head cannon' part of the video. The story is fiction, but we are real. How our experiences relate to everything is subjective and such a big part of being human.
lis and spop are two faves of mine and they just portray characters as such... flawed and hurting people, so it's so beautiful and so meaningful when you watch them heal. thank you for putting that into words
Rachel is a bad person, who plays with people for her amusement. She cheats, she lies, she seduces, she is a manipulative diva. She didn't deserve to die, but she absolutely sucked as a person.
Wayward Daughter....lovely music but it's not as if Mizu is straying from a correct and righteous path...rejected by Japanese society for her mixed heritage, her only path forward is revenge.
The concept behind the video is a comparison between Mizu and Akemi and the way their journeys mirror each other, with one having been rejected by society but finding absolute freedom in it, versus someone who wants to be free but also reaps the benefits of her position. And ultimately they’re both trapped by the paths they’ve set for themselves. They’re characters who have a lot in common but come from different places in life and make different choices. The character this song was originally written for, Yotsuyu Goe Brutus from Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, has a very similar arc of wanting to take revenge on a society that betrayed her, who ended up trapped by her own hatred and locked into a path that could only end in her death, so it was easy to transpose that onto this story.
"Okay, so now that Life is Strange is on everyone's mind again" literally me after a giant youtube rabbithole of LiS videos I'll admit I wasn't at first sold on a Max story seemingly disconnected from either Chloe or Rachel, but the newest gameplay preview kinda hooked. STILL.,.... i hope Rachel and Chloe are connected to double exposure, at least symbolically
There’s a theory that one of the unnamed characters in the demo is Rachel bc they look similar, but like… be serious (they wouldn’t put her in plain view if it was). The only Chloe stuff we get is brief references, but they’re not gonna give everything away this soon, and it would be a logistical nightmare to integrate her too much into the story if they’re not picking a canon ending to the first game because she would be dead in one of the playable scenarios. So I think they’ll just stick to brief nods.
If you've never seen "Twin Peaks," Rachel Amber is highly inspired by the character Laura Palmer: the popular and beautiful blonde Homecoming Queen, who got straight As, was dating the captain of the football team, headed a Meals on Wheels program, and tutored a mentally challenged teenager. She was loved by everyone, and then found dead, wrapped in plastic. Her murder investigation uncover her hidden, dark, and seedy double life - sleeping with multiple older men, working as a call girl, her photographs in a sexy magazine, rampant drug use and being a drug mule for the town's biggest drug dealer, and other things.
I think the canon choice is the one in which Chloe tells Rachel the truth, but doesn't convince Sera to stay, might explain why Rachel's spirit is so angry, if she really was one of the causes for the Tornado. You see, I think those visions Chloe experiences were caused by Sera. You see, there's this raven that's always around both Chloe and Sera whenever something supernatural happens to them. And Chloe seems aware of this to an extent. I think Sera has the power to induce dreams and visions into other people, being the most connected to her spirit animal out of all characters. That's why she became addicted to drugs. And it's what she meant when she told Chloe she couldn't truly understand her addiction. It's through drugs she exercizes her power the most. And I think Chloe, to an extent, suspected it. She let Sera go away, not trusting her to be a good mother, due to how manipulative she seemed to be, a trait she could see in Rachel too, and that both Sera and James seemed to amplify.
Great video. I agree with your characterization of Nadine. I was also intrigued by her character in Uncharted 4. I liked the way her mind worked; the calculating stare she gave Rafe after he blackmailed her, as well as her ability to see everyone's obsession with Avery's treasure and walk away from it before it consumed her too really captivated me. And I'm so glad we got to see more of her in The Lost Legacy. One thing I'm not sure about is the criticism of Laura Bailey voicing Nadine Ross. It seems like a slippery slope to say that white actors can only voice white characters. Can black actors then only voice black characters? What about Korean-American actors? Can they only voice Korean characters? But at the same time, I understand the argument that the acting community is over saturated with white actors. And if they also take roles for characters if color, then it makes it so much harder for actors of color to get the roles and recognition they deserve for their talent. Neil Druckmann said in an interview that he had auditioned black south Africans to voice Nadine. But at the end of the day, Laura Bailey captured the exact embodiment of Nadine, and she was hired. And she did such an awesome job as Nadine that I always accepted that it was fine for her to voice her, because I wouldn't want Nadine to sound any other way. And I say this as a black woman, if that matters. I wish we lived in a world where the best actor for the job could voice any character, regardless of race. But too often, "the best actor for the job" tends to mean "all the established white actors will voice all the white characters AND all the characters of color because they're clearly the best." So maybe I ended up contradicting myself here. But the point is, thank you for your video. It showed me new perspectives, and I love to see Nadine Ross get some love for a change. I hear so many arguments about how Nadine Ross is unrealistic and it makes me roll my eyes because Uncharted has never been realistic. No, Nathan cannot climb a dangling train in the snow right after being shot in the abdomen. So it's refreshing to see someone defend Nadine for a change 🙂
honestly she has always had better. yes she has had her moments, but she had everything. yes maybe a bad relationship with her family but literally almost everyone in that game has an upsetting relationship with their family. maybe her mental health was bad but everyone else was dealing with mental health issues too. she had a lot of friends, a family, love, good grades, and basically was loved and liked by everyone maybe except herself. which was opposite for most people in that game, like, max, Chloe, frank, David, and Kate etc. what could she have deserved? other than mr. jefferson not being a weirdo which again, a lot of people he killed went through the same thing rachel did. again like, max, kate, victoria, and everyone else in those folders. im sorry but a lot of people had it worse than rachel, whether that was their mental health or life in general. yes she deserved better but she had it better than most so its strange to say out of all people in that game that she deserved it better.
My dream sequel is Max saving Rachel. Before you play the game you are given a choice to input the choices you made in LIS. Episode 1. It starts off with Max and Chloe having this slice of life moment. You do a task, look for something for Chloe to fix up the RV and they share a loving moment. Then suddenly. the sky grows dark. The storm is back. On the run, several segments of trying to outrun the storm, but it ends with Chloe dying and Max's powers going out of control. And suddenly. Max is back to where it all started, October 7th 2013. Episode 2. Max is wondering "why am I back here? WHY???" She's trying desperately to get back to where she was with Chloe and to save her. So you as Max have to get through the five episodes of Life Is Strange to make the same choices. Sounds simple right? Wrong. Max completes the hellish week, gets back to Chloe and the Storm is still there and lands back where she was. Episode 3. Suddenly Max notices things she hasn't before. Missing variables that weren't there. Nathan learning about the storm. Sean Prescott's larger involvement and the Prescotts gentrifying the Native American land of Arcadia Bay. This time Max tries to finish the story as it was originally intended with the Prescotts and Jefferson exposed and Chloe landing in the hospital. Only problem the storm still arrives. The week begins again. Episode 4. Max is in a time loop and she is trying everything to save Chloe and even the town. This might be why she was brought back to the worst week of her life. She wants to try and save everyone. At one point she succeeds. Problem is it starts over again and she gets a nightmare to give her a clue. Rachel. She's in this nightmare because she has to save Rachel. Episode 5. Half the episode would be Max talking to Rachel and learning about the events leading Rachel to the Dark Room. Max learns that Rachel had powers just like her. She could manipulate the weather around her. One incident she unintentionally caused an unstoppable wildfire. With Chloe, she quelled almost all of Rachel's violent storms. Then she was desperate to escape Arcadia Bay. There was something wrong with this town. Everyone knows everyone's secrets. The Vortex Club is the worst collection of scumbags when it used to be cool. Her parents lied to her for her whole life. The Prescotts own everything and everything gets buried and they are destroying the land. And all she had was Chloe, and for a while that's all she needed, but she needed to get out. She had to get out because it's throwing her powers out of balance and if left unchecked, Rachel could kill everyone and she did not want that to happen. She tried everything to escape. Coming up with schemes with Chloe. Using Frank until they can escape and then Jefferson happened. She confirms she did not love either man. She was groomed by two predators. She was still a child and was taken advantage by men twice her age. Then she discovered the dark room. At first it started as a "real modeling opportunity" to be photographed by a professional. It's only after Rachel looked at her binder. There were no photos. Then Rachel looked at the other albums. 19 young woman drugged, posed and all shown dead by the end of their session. Rachel planned on telling the truth, but Jefferson had cameras everywhere. “Not like Rachel, who was always looking in the wrong places. Poor Rachel.” Jefferson drugged, raped and killed Rachel Amber and posed Nathan to frame him. In her violent and disgusting death, Rachel created the storm. In her last attempt to save Chloe, Rachel's spirit turned into the Doe to guide Max throughout her journey. Max mostly succeeded, but all this could not be undone without undoing Rachel's death. Max promises Rachel she is going to save her. Max uses the photo of the day she took of herself the moment she came to Seattle(she definitely has one, this girl is obsessed with photography) Max uses it to stay into contact with Chloe. Max warns Kate to stay away from the Vortex Club. Max begins to make everything right. Warning Kate to stay away from the Vortex Club. Warning Victoria to make better choices and telling Nathan that he doesn't have to be molded into what his father wants him to be and he doesn't need to help Jefferson commit the murders. Eventually, Max sends evidence to David about where Rachel is. David busts in and arrests Jefferson, while Chloe unties Rachel, hugs and kisses her. Mark Jefferson is brought to justice. The Prescott Foundation is shut down and Sean Prescott is imprisoned. Nathan gets therapy without Sean interfering with his mental health, Frank is busted for selling drugs to minors and the Vortex Club reforms into a better club. All is well in Arcadia Bay. And closes on Max, Chloe and Rachel driving off to the rainbow and heading towards LA, NY or the Open Road.
What a fantastic video! I can’t believe I haven’t discovered this before now. I’ve been a fan of the life is strange franchise for a long time and have never came across a video as beautiful and as well put together as this one. Especially the part where you said that they compliment each other and make up for each others shortcomings. Rachel helping Chloe discover new things and Chloe helping Rachel explore her emotions. I haven’t been able to describe their dynamic to someone in such a way, where it feels correctly justified, but you just said it. Chloe and Rachel have and will always mean so much to me and this reaffirmed why. Thank you ❤️
Thank you for making this. Easiest video essay I've watched in a while, partly because I'm really feeling this right now. I didn't realise fully until now, but this is the main reason I relate to Catra.
It feels odd to come to a game *about* someone's life being cut short, about knowing before you even pick up the controller that this can only end one way, and saying things being a foregone conclusion makes it impossible to appreciate it. The meta structure being played with here is that of a prequel, that you know Rachel will die before she gets to truly live, so it asks you in a sense: will you bother playing, knowing how it ends? Do you believe that Rachel being dead means her light is a lie, or can we still take something from the light she gave while she was still alive? Her life mattered to her at the time, and it mattered to those she touched, and it matters to the player, because those memories will carry on long after her short life. I imagine it's a matter of personal taste/standards/whatever if you believe we are given enough glimpses of Rachel as a person. I think we do, I think we see a flawed girl who has strong emotions and honestly cares about people alongside her manipulations. In LiS, she was only other people's perceptions of her, and overall just the concept of a tragic loss of life, an angel who was desecrated. Jefferson's ideal, that concept of the loss of innocence, which was discarded as soon as that moment was captured. But in BtS, she is seen, being kind and manipulative and angry and messy - a person. It refutes the idea of Rachel as just a loss of innocence, as just a missing girl. She had a life, that had meaning, but it doesn't diminish the tragedy of her death. It's sad *because* we see there could have been more, it's sad *because* she isn't allowed closure. It matters all you do in the prequel because Rachel wasn't a plot device, she was a person. Everyone's going to die some day, we still ought to try treating them well and caring about them! I refuse to accept that her fated early death makes the life she did have meaningless, especially when seeing it as a work of art.
The way Rachel’s story has no conclusion is sad, the writers made her embody a mystery when she should’ve been allowed to embody herself, but the writers never gave her the chance to fully shine and let her do that, they put her into a role and she played it, just like how she did for most of her life, art imitates life and the way her character was treated is a tragedy, because she was a person, she was a young woman trying to find herself, she was full of life and had a bright future ahead of her, but then it was cut short by forces outside of her control, another star that died out, she never got a chance to be in control of her own narrative. I like to think that if the story had been different, we could’ve finally seen her find peace, dead or alive, it would’ve been nice for her to be seen for who she truly is.
I thought I was the only one who thought Rachel's story was just glossed over. I wanted to know everything! I was THAT invested. I thought Before The Storm would deliver on this, but I was sad to see it didn't. We love Chloe and all but Rachel though....
Hordak's not just a stand-in for our cultural contempt for genetic diseases and disorders, he's also a MASSIVE stand-in for the concept of generational abuse, and how easy it is to push the trauma your parents inflicted on you onto those you have authority over, especially when the people around you permit or even encourage it, either out of a mistaken belief that's how the world is supposed to work, or that it grants them some form of advantage or benefit.
