Post by spookythings on Oct 21, 2006 4:30:17 GMT -5
this may be a little (a lot?) far-fetched, but heres a theory/character examination on diana i haven't seen yet. it came to me while i was trying to find good pictures of her dress to try to make a sim outfit. and before we go any further, i am not a pervert. at least not for children. that said...
i pose to you the question: just how childlike and innocent IS diana? i get that one of the main themes of the game is how tainted everything is through the eyes of an adult, but i don't think that diana left much room for us to misinterpret her actions.
exhibit a:
diana's curtesy in the trailer
in the trailer, the other girls lift their skirts up a bit to curtesy, and they smile. well, not eleanor, but meg's lips did curve up in a decidely unpleasant smirk, the kind of smile that lets you know you've just topped their sh__list with honours. however diana lifts her skirt higher and higher until the camera cuts away to her face, where she is smiling knowingly, fully aware of what shes doing.
exhibit b:
hoffman in the mermaid princess
as diana stands crying (proving that she is capable of manipulation) in front of the fishtank, hoffman paws at her, rubs her arms, her head, her hands, walks around her, just touching her constantly. its already been much discussed that hoffman was probably molesting clara, but lets focus on hoffman's relationship with diana.
- diana has mysterious bandages on her upper leg. i know as a kid i fell and scraped my knees, cut my shins, and stubbed my toes, but i cannot think of a single time i ever had an injury on either of my thighs. i can't even think of a way i could injure my thighs, then or now. unless... well, you know what i mean.
- at the end of the game, in the 'once upon a time' chapter, jennifer can examine a mermaid doll which reveals a bit about diana. i don't remember the exact quote, but it was something about mermaids being pure and (beautiful? grown up?) and its then mentioned that as diana grew older, she began to realise she would never reach her own ideals. the pure thing is interesting because if my other two guesses were correct, diana didn't have have much to worry about in the looks department, and unless she was psychic and realised that one day she would be killed by wendy's pet man, she didn't have to worry about growing up either. so the purity issue was the only real one holding her back. purity at that age should be a non-issue, and yet there it is.
if hoffman was abusing clara (maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but theres a lot of evidence pointing to 'was'), then he may have been having a go at diana as well, who looked enough like clara to be her sister. at least to me (i absolutely mistook clara's mermaid form for diana until i read on a forum who she was). the way he was touching her and her reaction after he left, brushing herself off and announcing to jennifer, meg and eleanor how disgusting she found it seem like very clear indications that he wasn't just teaching them math.
exhibit c:
diana's dress ( www.afinehello.org/dianadress.png )
consider the other clothing of the other girls for a moment: eleanor's dress came up to her throat in a cute little sailor style. meg wore a sweater vest over a dress shirt, also buttoned up to her throat. wendy wore a white ruffled apron-like dress over whatever you call that blue thing beneath it (i suck at fashion) - up to her throat. amanda wore a dress and a pink sweater, which came up to her throat. olivia wore what appeared to be a nightgown. susan wore clothing similiar to the others. jennifer wore a green dress with a white collar, buttoned at her throat, and her childhood dress was similiar to wendy's. now look back at diana's dress. somehow, inspite of her lack of breasts, shes showing cleavage. her dress is the only one there that low-cut. i'm not saying her dress is very *friendly* personty or that dressing sexy = very *friendly* personty, either, i'm just comparing her to the rest of the girls. (i'm also not saying she was dressed sexy, good god.)
exhibit d:
physical contact throughout the game.
throughout the game, you never see anyone touching, save for jennifer hugging brown or pummeling wendy, or when meg threw herself into diana's arms in 'the goat sisters.' or the hoffman scene, musn't forget that. diana, on the other hand, seems to be the only one there who touches the other girls. i know that sounds innocent enough, but shes not exactly offering pats on the back. or cootie shots. or whatever.
- in the trailer, after cupping meg's hands around the rose and deliberately, maliciously hurting her, she smiles and takes meg's hand and slips her damaged finger into her mouth. both of these actions were intentional, but did diana hurt meg so she would have a reason to suck her finger? is diana a vampire?!?! maybe. more than likely she, fully aware of meg's affections, was simply manipulating meg through sexual behaviour. this could also support the hoffman theory in a way, because if he's abusing diana, diana will have a more complete grip on sexuality, which she can use to control meg.
- diana touches jennifer twice that i can think of. first, after the butterfly offering, when she kneels down in front of jennifer and takes her face in her hands (a somewhat intimate gesture, although she did shake jennifer and then throw her to the floor), then after joshua the bear is returned, when she climbs onto a chair and begins stroking and patting jennifer, who is crying. does this remind anyone of anything? the scene between hoffman and diana, perhaps?
exhibit e:
diana's behaviour vs wendy and jennifer's.
prior to wendy having brown executed, she and jennifer enjoyed a phsysical relationship (holding hands and kissing). the nuzzling and pledges of undying love were unmistakably innocent - two little girls playing a game. and if those grodie, grodie sword fighting boys were all the orphanage had to offer, well, who can blame them for making jennifer the prince? compare these instances of physical affection:
- jennifer and wendy: sitting outside in broad daylight, surrounded by red roses, happy as clams.
- diana and meg: a dimly lit bathroom stall, surrounded by toilet paper, and a deliberately sensual effort on diana's part.
- diana and jennifer: a dimly lit attic, surrounded by sullen children, jennifer's crying and diana's channeling her inner hoffman.
wendy and jennifer were two little girls playing make believe. diana was a calculating and cold, perhaps because the only people who touched her had romantic feelings for her, perhaps because she just didn't like being touched (which i can understand because i'm the same way). either way, there was a definite contrast between jennifer and wendy's sunny frollic (light, happy) and diana's conduct (dark, cruel).
conclusion:
i'm not sure what i was hoping to prove with that. just trying to get a better feel for the characters. any thoughts? feel free to prove me wrong.
i pose to you the question: just how childlike and innocent IS diana? i get that one of the main themes of the game is how tainted everything is through the eyes of an adult, but i don't think that diana left much room for us to misinterpret her actions.
exhibit a:
diana's curtesy in the trailer
in the trailer, the other girls lift their skirts up a bit to curtesy, and they smile. well, not eleanor, but meg's lips did curve up in a decidely unpleasant smirk, the kind of smile that lets you know you've just topped their sh__list with honours. however diana lifts her skirt higher and higher until the camera cuts away to her face, where she is smiling knowingly, fully aware of what shes doing.
exhibit b:
hoffman in the mermaid princess
as diana stands crying (proving that she is capable of manipulation) in front of the fishtank, hoffman paws at her, rubs her arms, her head, her hands, walks around her, just touching her constantly. its already been much discussed that hoffman was probably molesting clara, but lets focus on hoffman's relationship with diana.
- diana has mysterious bandages on her upper leg. i know as a kid i fell and scraped my knees, cut my shins, and stubbed my toes, but i cannot think of a single time i ever had an injury on either of my thighs. i can't even think of a way i could injure my thighs, then or now. unless... well, you know what i mean.
- at the end of the game, in the 'once upon a time' chapter, jennifer can examine a mermaid doll which reveals a bit about diana. i don't remember the exact quote, but it was something about mermaids being pure and (beautiful? grown up?) and its then mentioned that as diana grew older, she began to realise she would never reach her own ideals. the pure thing is interesting because if my other two guesses were correct, diana didn't have have much to worry about in the looks department, and unless she was psychic and realised that one day she would be killed by wendy's pet man, she didn't have to worry about growing up either. so the purity issue was the only real one holding her back. purity at that age should be a non-issue, and yet there it is.
if hoffman was abusing clara (maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but theres a lot of evidence pointing to 'was'), then he may have been having a go at diana as well, who looked enough like clara to be her sister. at least to me (i absolutely mistook clara's mermaid form for diana until i read on a forum who she was). the way he was touching her and her reaction after he left, brushing herself off and announcing to jennifer, meg and eleanor how disgusting she found it seem like very clear indications that he wasn't just teaching them math.
exhibit c:
diana's dress ( www.afinehello.org/dianadress.png )
consider the other clothing of the other girls for a moment: eleanor's dress came up to her throat in a cute little sailor style. meg wore a sweater vest over a dress shirt, also buttoned up to her throat. wendy wore a white ruffled apron-like dress over whatever you call that blue thing beneath it (i suck at fashion) - up to her throat. amanda wore a dress and a pink sweater, which came up to her throat. olivia wore what appeared to be a nightgown. susan wore clothing similiar to the others. jennifer wore a green dress with a white collar, buttoned at her throat, and her childhood dress was similiar to wendy's. now look back at diana's dress. somehow, inspite of her lack of breasts, shes showing cleavage. her dress is the only one there that low-cut. i'm not saying her dress is very *friendly* personty or that dressing sexy = very *friendly* personty, either, i'm just comparing her to the rest of the girls. (i'm also not saying she was dressed sexy, good god.)
exhibit d:
physical contact throughout the game.
throughout the game, you never see anyone touching, save for jennifer hugging brown or pummeling wendy, or when meg threw herself into diana's arms in 'the goat sisters.' or the hoffman scene, musn't forget that. diana, on the other hand, seems to be the only one there who touches the other girls. i know that sounds innocent enough, but shes not exactly offering pats on the back. or cootie shots. or whatever.
- in the trailer, after cupping meg's hands around the rose and deliberately, maliciously hurting her, she smiles and takes meg's hand and slips her damaged finger into her mouth. both of these actions were intentional, but did diana hurt meg so she would have a reason to suck her finger? is diana a vampire?!?! maybe. more than likely she, fully aware of meg's affections, was simply manipulating meg through sexual behaviour. this could also support the hoffman theory in a way, because if he's abusing diana, diana will have a more complete grip on sexuality, which she can use to control meg.
- diana touches jennifer twice that i can think of. first, after the butterfly offering, when she kneels down in front of jennifer and takes her face in her hands (a somewhat intimate gesture, although she did shake jennifer and then throw her to the floor), then after joshua the bear is returned, when she climbs onto a chair and begins stroking and patting jennifer, who is crying. does this remind anyone of anything? the scene between hoffman and diana, perhaps?
exhibit e:
diana's behaviour vs wendy and jennifer's.
prior to wendy having brown executed, she and jennifer enjoyed a phsysical relationship (holding hands and kissing). the nuzzling and pledges of undying love were unmistakably innocent - two little girls playing a game. and if those grodie, grodie sword fighting boys were all the orphanage had to offer, well, who can blame them for making jennifer the prince? compare these instances of physical affection:
- jennifer and wendy: sitting outside in broad daylight, surrounded by red roses, happy as clams.
- diana and meg: a dimly lit bathroom stall, surrounded by toilet paper, and a deliberately sensual effort on diana's part.
- diana and jennifer: a dimly lit attic, surrounded by sullen children, jennifer's crying and diana's channeling her inner hoffman.
wendy and jennifer were two little girls playing make believe. diana was a calculating and cold, perhaps because the only people who touched her had romantic feelings for her, perhaps because she just didn't like being touched (which i can understand because i'm the same way). either way, there was a definite contrast between jennifer and wendy's sunny frollic (light, happy) and diana's conduct (dark, cruel).
conclusion:
i'm not sure what i was hoping to prove with that. just trying to get a better feel for the characters. any thoughts? feel free to prove me wrong.
Me and my friend made jokes afterwards about Diana throwing her skirt above her head like children do . . . But obviously, Diana wasn't aiming to do that. XD;;
