put me back together (2/2)
part one
happy Father’s Day!
This piece and its partner piece INSTANTLY made me go into analysis mode because yes they’re both beautiful and stunning and heartbreaking but also there is so much subtle symbolism for the character’s stories and I couldn’t just NOT analyze it . So. go forth my wall of text
First, part one out of the two works: Frenzy’s piece! Out of the two twins, Rumble was always the head, the brains, the motivation to keep going, the one who had dreams (symbolized by Frenzy cradling Rumble’s decapitated head). Now that he’s gone, Frenzy feels lost without that guidance. But that wasn’t what Frenzy relied on the most from Rumble; Frenzy is cradling Rumble’s head over his heart, showing how his love for Rumble was what truly connected the two twins. That love is what’s tearing him apart now. Frenzy is also curled up as small as possible, and there is lots of negative space around him in the image. He feels small and scared and helpless without his twin, whose head is comparatively quite large with Frenzy making himself so small. The loss of his presence is staggering, represented by the size of Rumble’s head in the image (the large impact of his loss) and that impact’s effects (making Frenzy small and scared). The primary colour in the image is red— red for Frenzy, but also red for his love for his twin, and red for the rage he turns to to protect himself from his grief. But in this moment the red is not that strong; it is really only seen in the shine of the lighting. The surrounding colours are murky and dark. In this moment, Frenzy’s emotions are unclear, swirling, hard to define, and so crippling. The darkness across the top is a vignette of pain that surrounds his life in Rumble’s absence.
As for Soundwave’s piece, where he is cradling his son’s limp body. His hand is over where Rumble’s (lifeless, still) heart is. Soundwave had a hand in Rumble’s life that changed it for the better, and Rumble yearned for Soundwave’s love from the moment Soundwave had found the twins . Soundwave had Rumble’s heart, because Rumble loved Soundwave with all of it right until he died. Additionally, the way Rumble’s body is pressed to Soundwave’s chest makes it appear that Soundwave’s head is taking the place of Rumble’s own in the absence of it. While Rumble’s hope and inspiration was a tethering point for Frenzy, Soundwave was that point of hope for Rumble. Rumble looked up to Soundwave hugely, wanted to be like Soundwave: Soundwave’s head taking the place of Rumble’s own is a manifestation of that desire, and the absence of his head at all a symbol of how that fell through in his death. Also, there is very little negative space around Soundwave and Rumble. Soundwave is standing upright and taking up space and trying to stand tall in the face of his grief for Frenzy’s sake, but it still weighs heavy on him as his shoulders curl. Rumble’s presence was large in Soundwave’s life: even here, he covers about half of Soundwave’s body. Soundwave fills the frame, but Rumble’s body takes up much of the space within Soundwave’s figure. It represents the amount of love and space that Soundwave held for Rumble; now that he’s gone, that space is absent and lifeless, and so, so painful. The primary colour in Soundwave’s image is blue, the blue of his grief and his sadness. He does not lash out in a rage like Frenzy does; he sits with his grief and his guilt and he stews in it. It is all encompassing.
Out of all three people in the two images, the only visible face belongs to Rumble. Frenzy and Soundwave’s grief has turned their faces from the world— they are secluded, isolated, and feel so alone without Rumble.