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BocoDragon

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Posts posted by BocoDragon

  1. My apologies to you and to myself for not showing enough tenacity to ask everything that I wanted to. However, despite that, I still feel the interview was enjoyable, because, I made Akira Yamaoka smile and draw attention to me simply by wearing my Silent Hill (film) T-shirt.

    At first glance, though I had been watching him the whole time as I was progressing down the line, he notices my T-shirt and begins pointing and smiling at it as though that were the first time he has seen a fan wear one. He begins speaking in Japanese and even nudges over to Yasunori Mitsuda to look, who does in interest. Needless to say, I was completely enamored.

    8O

  2. Once again, sure, you can speculate on anything about the silent Hill games, but there's very little in the games to support those speculations, since there are only 4 or so endings per game, and all of them pertain to the future, rather than the past. you only see what's GOING to happen, not what did happen. SO, there's really only ONE interpretation of what DID happen, and several possibilities of what COULD happen.

    And I agree. I believe in the main storyline of SH, but this is a series that has carefully implied alternate interpretations. That's what I've been defending. But no more of that for now. :)

    Interestingly, I'm watching Jacob's Ladder right now with some friends.... they requested it due to the SH fervor going around. (SPOILERS)

    The chemical stuff must have happened, otherwise who killed Jacob? Do we assume the Vietnamese enemy actually showed up, or is Jacob's dream closer to the truth than we know? If we are to take the death at face value, than the opening scene with the soldiers going crazy must have been real as well.

    The snake eats its tail.... either that or Jacob is psychically aware of the chemical testing situation.

  3. Basically, it's the ending to Jacob's Ladder. With that linear film, we had a "true" ending that said Jacob was killed in the army and it was all a coma-hallucination. Within the movie, they also hint that perhaps the army tested chemicals on him and he made it home.

    Ya know, on the DVD there is a second ending which actually follows the chemicals plotline. It's very strange, but isn't nearly as impressive as the real ending.

    Yes I remember that :) Ever more proof that it's not "it means Jacob's trapped in limbo and that's it!", but rather interpretive.

    The filmmakers obviously thought it was okay to go with a different ending, so the concept was never set in stone, but rather, it could have gone in multiple directions.

    It is very analagous to the multiple possibilities of SH.

  4. The ending was left open to continue the same basic narratives found in the second game. If you can't see that as a possible scenario, then you're blind.

    You've convinced me.

    And Eddie is no longer on the run for murdering cops, now he's wandering into SH looking for work!

    And Angela no longer killed her father for abusing her, now her father's actually in jail for tax evasion, and she's in town for some sightseeing!

    :roll:

    Again, change all you'd like to make a better film. I'm no SH fundamentalist. But with that scenario, you've changed the protagonists's dead wife from a tragic reminder of the his past sins into an evil carrot-on-a-stick used to lure him into the town.

    You're a shortsighted idiot. I'm not changing anything. I'm merely stating that another director could come along and create a film adaptation of the 2nd game's storyline.

    Irony: I'm shortsighted?

  5. But with that scenario, you've changed the protagonists's dead wife from a tragic reminder of the his past sins into an evil carrot-on-a-stick used to lure him into the town.

    ...So? You could go anywhere from there. It's not guaranteed to suck.

    (speaking of which, that carrot on a stick idea is exactly what DOES happen in Silent Hill 2)

    With a payoff. She didn't die randomly... she died due to the actions of the main character. SH2 was an average ghost story, until we learn that there's actually a reason his dead wife was calling out to him.

    It's as if I were to adapt Jurassic Park, but instead of humans cloning the dinosaurs, we'll just have aliens plant the dinosaurs on an island. I mean, it's all the same right? People trapped on an island with dinosaurs? It works right?

    Except it doesn't. You've removed the moral idea (and appeal) from the original concept. That man shouldn't play God, in that case. That James is being punished by the town for murder, in this case. It isn't the same thing.

    It's not guaranteed to suck, but if Rose really is just calling out to Chris as an excuse to get him into the town, then yes, it will suck. That sounds like a videogame movie.

  6. The ending was left open to continue the same basic narratives found in the second game. If you can't see that as a possible scenario, then you're blind.

    You've convinced me.

    And Eddie is no longer on the run for murdering cops, now he's wandering into SH looking for work!

    And Angela no longer killed her father for abusing her, now her father's actually in jail for tax evasion, and she's in town for some sightseeing!

    :roll:

    Again, change all you'd like to make a better film. I'm no SH fundamentalist. But with that scenario, you've changed the protagonists's dead wife from a tragic reminder of the his past sins into an evil carrot-on-a-stick used to lure him into the town.

  7. ...I have a feeling that we're going to end up in some ridiculous argument where you guys argue art for arts sake, and I start arguing the intention of the artist.

    No, I think we're done, since we agree on nothing.

    Suffice it to say that I do disagree with most of the stuff you just posted. I disagree with your "rules" for Jacob's Ladder, and I disagree on your "rules" for SH, movie and games alike. We have a differing opinion, and as someone who's played all the games and seen the movie, my opinion is informed, as yours might also be.

    edit: Boco, you are the king of the double-post. This is a bad thing.

    A different post is required to make a different point. I don't know if it's against the rules of OCR or if you just don't like it for some reason, but personally I would rather people post separate topics in separate entries. I won't do it again because obviously it offends you.

  8. FYI, here was one fan who was lookng for the "it was

    all a dream ending". I would have been pissed if it was just a scary town run by evil magic, and that was the only way to interpret it.

    It's NOT just a scary town run by evil magic.

    Despite what you may think, the only times that the games' PLOTS are open to interpretation is with multiple endings.

    The games are pretty clear about what's going on.

    Exactly... multiple endings. The evidence within the games points to each of the endings as being possible. You would be wrong to assume there are "true" and "false" endings. To be sure, there are "better" and "worse" endings, or perhaps endings confirmed as "true" by sequels, but within each game all endings are possible.

    SH2, especially, takes care to make each ending plausible given the events that come before. SH2 SPOILER: Is it more likely that James commited suicide? Went home with a sexier replica of his dead wife? Or ressurected her in a dark ceremony? All are possible. All are implied by the narrative. There is no true ending.

    Basically, it's the ending to Jacob's Ladder. With that linear film, we had a "true" ending that said Jacob was killed in the army and it was all a coma-hallucination. Within the movie, they also hint that perhaps the army tested chemicals on him and he made it home. This would be analagous to the Alessa plotline in the movie, after which they tell us "it was all the dream of some dead folks.... or was it? Maybe they're lost in a limbo dimension? Maybe they're still stuck in SH?" Yes, you are certainly intended to consider all plotlines as legitimate.

    SH is strongly based on Jacob's Ladder, but I'm positive you know that.

    EDIT: Also holy crap.... two JL mentions in two posts. See the post above mine :)

    Furthmore, with the advent of Silent Hill 3, the first game lost a lot of its ambiguity, as Silent Hill 3 Really hammered in the plot of silent hill 1.

    I agree, but such is the necessity of a direct sequel.

    Also, if SH5 stars a ressurected Mary, would you then be forced to consider the ressurection as the true ending?

    I'm reminded of Mortal Kombat 3, which stated that no one had one the MK2 tournament. Basically, all the MK2 endings were false. Just an analogy. I know MK sucks :lol:

    SO, once again, I have to cry when people take the allegory that the movie is using, and then apply it literally, as though the allegory is no longer an allegory, but rather the real plot. No, my friends, it's just an allegory, for pete's sake.

    I didn't say it was the real plot. I said it was one of many possible plots. I have always loved that fact that SH is open to multiple interpretations. They clearly intend that or they wouldn't be so ambiguous about it.

  9. Change the story if you want. Change the characters. Hell, change the personal SIN if you want...

    but Chris just wandering around looking for Rose, whose death he had nothing to do with, is just wrong. I don't care if they secretly had marital problems or whatever... it doesn't work.

    Good thing you're not the director.

    If you're referring to the first part: I don't think things should be changed. I'm just not against it.

    If you're referring to the second part: Why? Because it's such a good idea to shoehorn a tragedy-less character from the first movie into a tragic plot thread from SH2?

  10. I simply meant reusing the idea of a letter from beyond the grave inviting to silent hill, not the actual plot of the second game. Particularly since the plot of the movie is so divergent from that of the first game, the word Gans has created is very different from the SH world, unfortunately.

    Yeah. It would end up being only a setup for a story though... not a story in itself. I loved that SH2's opening only appeared to be a gimmick until you got far enough..... (ooh your wife is dead... scary! SPOILER: But it's because you euthenized her....... oh, that is kinda sad and disturbing.)

    But Gans loves SH2. It was his original plan to adapt that one. Do you think he will really give up the "sinners being drawn to SH" storyline? Even if it's completely different (which I don't expect), I believe it will still deal with that focus. If Rose does summon Chris, he better have killed their first child or something. :lol:

    And I don't think it's divergent at all, in concept. Yes, the backstory has been filled in, and the story doesn't lead too well into SH3... but he made all these changes with SH2 love, and likely intends to follow it up with a telling of that game as promised.

    Like I said, change all you want. Perhaps some completely different sinners are drawn to SH and it's SH2 in spirit only. Fine by me. But tying it into the first one just turns the "dead wife letter" into what it appeared at first glance: a gimmick.

  11. I'm going to have to back Kiyosuki on this one, because his understanding of both the film and the series is beyond accurate. However, you have to consider that the script and the resulting story was written by Roger Avary, a casual gamer introduced to Silent Hill by Gans. It may be that they did understand the series somewhat, but when they strayed outside the familiar, the story fell apart, because the original story of Silent Hill is so intricately interconnected. I do differ with Kiyosuki on some things about the ending, but for the most part I agree, which I guess would mean that Gans' grasp on the story was not conveyed on the screen, if he truly did grasp it.

    I understand that Gans has played the game, and that Avary has too, but my quarrel is with the idea that What happens in silent hill in the movie is just a cop out 'it was all a dream' ending, rather than reality. It seems to me like maybe they got the bad ending one too many times, and thought it was the real one.

    I can accept them all being dead if and only if they'd intended a sequel based on Silent Hill 2, using Sean Bean's Character as James. However, until that sequel appears, I reject the literal-metaphorical heaven/hell/purgatory interpretation entirely.

    Man.... before I saw the movie I was seriously saddened that they had literallized the concept of Silent Hill so much, with the whole coal mining/abandoment backstory, ruling out any possible ambiguous endings.

    I was delighted when it ended with that possibility anyway.

    FYI, here was one fan who was lookng for the "it was all a dream ending". I would have been pissed if it was just a scary town run by evil magic, and that was the only way to interpret it.

    Fans interpret the games differently. The film rightly allows for all possible interpretations (well, not the "Silent Hill is a normal contemporary town and the main character's just nuts" possibility.....)

    And this is not directed only at you, but the idea I've heard all over the net since friday (so no offense, mate. And I think you were just bringing up the possibility anyway): The possibility of Chris as the new James is dumb. It doesn't work. It's not just about a man with a dead wife. SH2 SPOILER:

    "It's about a man who has murdered his wife"

    Change the story if you want. Change the characters. Hell, change the personal SIN if you want... but Chris just wandering around looking for Rose, whose death he had nothing to do with, is just wrong. I don't care if they secretly had marital problems or whatever... it doesn't work.

    And on top of that, I don't think it's what Gans was getting at. It was just showing that life went on for Chris, while his wife never showed up. That's all.

  12. It wasn't screened for US critics, but it was for international critics.

    The reason for this (from what I gather) is that Gans felt that the US critics wouldn't be able to handle the ambiguity, and the content.

    From what I can tell, they can't. Very literal people, these critics.....

  13. Jenga: You can't defer to the critics on this one. You just can't.

    The studio didn't screen it for critics. It's a new studio policy this year to not screen genre films. In the past, not screening for critics meant it was absolute shit..... keep in mind, they did screen the RE movies..... Not screening used to mean far worse than even that.

    So you're a critic, say Ebert, and you know that this is a videogame horror movie that was not screened for critics. You already "know" it's crappy, because the studio has told you so in so many words.

    And on top of that, it's Silent fucking Hill, strange and ambigious as always. If you don't get it, and the studio has told you it's shit, then what are you likely to say? That it was interesting but a little confusing? No, THEY ALREADY TOLD YOU IT WAS SHIT BY NOT SCREENING IT. If you're a critic, would you dare give the benefit of the doubt..... no... it is a videogame horror movie... why appear foolish? It's probably just shallow and there's nothing to get, right?

    Not screening it was a critical kiss of death, even though it was likely pulled from critic screenings because it was a little wierd, in a year when they're pulling any movie they feel like.

    So the critics liked RE the movie more than SH. Does this make sense??

  14. This thread approaches 100 pages...

    The movie approaches release...

    It is appropriate to give a huge 'thank you' to Silent Hill fandom. You are one of the most intelligent fanbases for any medium, game or otherwise. This unique work has attracted a dedicated bunch!

    It occured to me last night that I've been here from the beginning. In Spring 1999 I rented Silent Hill 1, expecting it to be a second rate RE knockoff. I remember beating it, and distinctly thinking "wow, that was different". I promptly beat it 4 other times, getting all the endings, before returning it.

    I didn't know just how different and loved it was until the sequels. Now Silent Hill is synonymous with so many things.... experimental white noise soundtracks, mysterious bass guitar, horror references, maturity, Melissa Williamson, Jacob's Ladder, Akira Yamaoka, fog, abandoned urban areas, Gans, Hip Hop beats, kooky townspeople, cults, radio static, lead pipes, Heather, Harry, James, Henry, Walter Sullivan.... and This Thread, which is the true epicenter of Silent Hill fandom on the net!

    I'm glad to have SH 1-4 sitting on my shelf more than anything else in my game collection. It's a real pop culture icon at this point!

    It's been great to be a part of this with you all!

    /gush

  15. Good points RazorOutlaw. There is a lot of substance to the SH backstory. I guess I'm reacting to the gamers who say "Uh oh.... Silent Hill can't do this... Look what it says in the book." when this is a series about walls that bleed and doors that lead nowhere :P

    Emotional themes and characters are very, very strong in this series... logical details... not so much. "What year is it?", for example. :)

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