I
had seen this man before. An attractive, tired looking sort of fellow
with his scruffy excuse for a beard. He had tussled hair and the rings
around his eyes indicated he had not been sleeping very well. Perhaps
he’s been having nightmares. His expression is one of utter concern.
It’s as though he’s gotten news he’s none too keen on. Drinking every
night at a mostly empty nightclub, he talked about problems of the
heart. Ah yes, this guy. How could I forget him? He reminded me of
myself.
There’s a
reason why some of us choose to drown our sorrows in a good, revenge,
somber song about love gone wrong. There’s always a quiet reflection
there - in lyrics that speak volumes for all those emotions you could
not quite convey other than through tears - and if you’re the one with
the broken heart, you can take comfort in those words.
But what if you’re the one doing the breaking?
Atlus’ 2011 game Catherine
introduced an interesting “villain” in Vincent; and one of the best,
dare I say, Last-Gen “Villains” I’ve encountered. For myself, it was
somewhere on the third or fourth floor on the sixth night of a
particularly hellish nightmare, that I did not have the solution to save
Vincent on his climb for redemption. Thus, I never finished the game.
But what Atlus did with Catherine was paint a picture that could force us to think on the often unsavoury aspects of human nature and to perhaps even admit our shortcomings.
It tried to, anyway. And on some level, it succeeded.
During my
playtime with Vincent, I saw a frantic struggle of a little bare-chested
man in his underwear covered with light pink polka dots, with his sheep
horns comically flailing up a pyramid of danger. What danger, you ask?
Every fear that Vincent had from commitment, to fatherhood, and to
adultery, became embodied in Vincent's nightmares as murderous things
that would see him fall to his death unless he kept climbing out of
their reach. Confessionals awaited him should he escape and it was there
his true motives and emotions were questioned.
I saw the
adult choices some of us have to make in whatever relationships we may
have. Past the point of a freshness of a new love, past the sickening
stage where everything just feels airy and has you light-headed; you
have your Katherine…and there she was: Planning Vincent’s future - her
idealistic future - which was one he had a hard time committing to. She
was business like in her appearance, and her mannerisms. To me,
Katherine had a cold characterization. She was unlikeable. I almost did
not want to make my decisions of loyalty be pledged to this woman who
was painted in the black: a stoically, manipulative woman with
ultimatums.
The alternative would have been to choose Catherine and there was not much to like there either.
Catherine
was painted in the white - bright, airy, and conceptualized as the
epitome of everything desirable in a purely physical, lust filled
plateau. She annoyed me. Maybe it was her vocalization that did it or
maybe it’s that there was no depth to her personality (which yes, that
was the point). She was a one trick pony on the opposite end of the
spectrum of the other one note bird, Katherine.
The
situation was black and white. Visually, it was a dichotomy since
Katherine was portrayed in darker clothing while Catherine was in
lighter but it was emotionally obviously the other way around. Katherine
was a choice to prove you had some sort of a moral code to stay true in
this relationship Vincent had. But if you wanted to be that "jerk" and
ruin a good thing? Then go with Catherine for throwing "life" away and
having fun. It was an extreme presentation and as we know, life is not
always that cut and dry because human emotions can be complex.
Realistically
speaking though, it’s the irrational decisions that can lead to
negative, weighty consequences. For Vincent, his fears and guilt chased
him as grotesque creatures spawned from the darkest of nightmares. That
trapped feeling of wanting to escape your problems in the real world
that follow you into dreams manifest whatever heavy emotions are at play
in your mind. The consequence Vincent would have suffered for his
misgivings was death... something a bit harsh for a man I was actually
rooting for despite his supposedly reprehensible actions. That’s not to
say I think Katherine deserved to endure the emotional and supposed
physical affair that Vincent was engaged in and put her through. But
that was part of the decisions the game interestingly left you to
resolve... putting Vincent in your hands to decide his way based on
black and white situations that questioned your integrity while being a
slate on which you could project any personal experiences you may have
had.
The reality
was that I wanted Vincent to be alone without the stresses of either of
those two horribly characterized females. I know there’s an ending
somewhere in there that could allow me to choose neither. But my moral,
good girl upbringing shifted my choices to Katherine because it was the
“right” thing to do by all real world social conventions.
This got me
thinking about all times I may get to choose playing the villain. I
love a villain, so why not? And yet, I’ll always choose to be good. My
brain switches into hero mode even though you’ll faster find me rooting
for the Sephiroths of the World than the Clouds.
And while
he may not be the traditional video game evil that burns down towns or
plots world domination… Vincent’s the type of person anyone can relate
to and it's what made him so terrifying. He is the sort of real life
“villain” you may have had the displeasure of meeting in that he’s a
regular person with power over you to bring you to tears.
Or alternately, Vincent is the “villain” that you could be… the one with the power to bring someone else to tears.
The latter
is not a representation of your character you may ever want to display
or acknowledge but it happens, and can happen. Whether it be in a poor
decision made that ended a friendship, relationship or if you had a
heated, gut-wrenching discussion with a family member... I’ve been both
that villain and on the receiving end of hurtful behaviour in some of
those instances cited. I believe one or all of those experiences are the
types we’ve all encountered because what’s important here as to the
shared feeling we may have had, is the one of betrayal.
When you’re
the one who has wronged another, it can make you feel regret and if
you’re lucky, you’ll get forgiveness and can find solace in the fact
that the one you’ve hurt does not think you so terrible after all. Other
times, you’ll justify what you’ve done with excuses of everything you
found negative in that other person or situation to make yourself feel
better. I’ve done it. I still do it.
At its core, I believe in Catherine
Atlus attempted to initiate hard discussions, and forced some internal
reflections of our moral fiber. They surrounded us by block puzzles
representative of sorting out your life’s problems. To solve each puzzle
was to live through another of Vincent’s personal nightmares and to
confront them head on. Whether his problems affected you personally or
not, chances are it has affected someone you may know. And as such, the
emotions evoked are ones that you may be able to relate to no matter the
side of the coin you find yourself on - and could be applied to all
facets of your interpersonal relationships.
One day,
I’ll go back and rescue Vincent. I'll pull him from the serious
situation of his own creation while a hauntingly modern take on Bach's
"Little" Fugue in G Minor fuels and sets the tone for Vincent's
rhythmic, yet frantic and logical drive for freedom. I have a fair
outline of the ending(s) having mistakenly happened upon them. Perhaps
I’m sort of hesitant to admit that Vincent is a flat out villain, as to
do so is to admit that we all may have done some villainous things. And
it’s sort of scary to think that I have at least on a few occasions -
intentionally or not - been pretty damned good at being one. But
truthfully, I don’t actually think Vincent the villain at all; and I do
not believe it would be wholly accurate to classify him a villain. We
can call him every negative thing in the book - and he certainly is not
without some culpability - but in reality, Vincent inhabits a virtual
existence that some of us can find ourselves in or may have found
ourselves in in real life.
No comments:
Post a Comment