叛（女）·逆（孩）：为鸟我走投无路，为狐却不甘被缚，最后沦为怪物
// Silent Hill f: Analysis of the Default/Normal Ending
I've taken more or less a week to finish watching a non-commentary gameplay of Silent Hill f with its default ending, and since I have failed to stop essay-writing ass… I guess this is it, @orange-peel-candy. Note that this is my understanding/analysis based only on what is shown in this specific playthrough (I have not seen other playthroughs and endings!).
Spoilers alert for all who have not at least seen the default story + ending!
This story is fundamentally about Hinako's identity crisis vis-à-vis growing up.
It's a coming-of-age horror story.
While she isn't exactly uncomfortable in her skin as a girl (at least, I didn't get that), she doesn't want to become "a woman." For example, in one of Rinko's "rumor" notes, Hinako said that she "doesn't want to be a girl." She's more comfortable playing "with boys" and is interested in pursuits that are seen as boyish/masculine, like sports. She is also most comfortable with Shu, and Rinko (in a really Mean Girl way) called Hinako out for "speaking like a man" whenever she's talking to Shu.
The reason why she doesn't want to be a "girl" (more accurately, a woman) is that she rejects everything that gender stands for in a conservative 1960s Japanese society. She hates being told what to do, she hates being told to submit, and quite importantly, she hates the way her father treats the women in his household, including her own mother. She also hates how easily her mother accepts the abuse and even rationalizes the problems her father exhibits, seemingly for no other reason than because "I am his wife and you are his daughter (i.e., property)."
The enemies Hinako has to face are manifestations of these fears and anxieties. The most ubiquitous enemies are naked female dolls with demure hairstyles and very feminine figures. Why? Because they represent femininity—the one thing Hinako is reluctant to join, because to her, it is basically bondage. Another notable enemy is the gigantic Birthing Woman Monster with a bunch of pregnant bellies, which symbolizes one of the traditional functions of a wife/woman: "giving birth to an heir." This is, again, another thing Hinako is afraid of and wants to reject.
But there are key differences between enemies in Fog World and Fox World (for lack of a better name). In the Fox World, there is an enemy made from baby dolls and parts; this symbolizes Hinako's "innocence" as a young girl, and Fox World Hinako has to kill it over and over. In the Fog World, however, the same enemy is made from the faces of a man who vomits like a shit-faced drunk; this symbolizes Hinako's fear of men like her father. This hints at the difference between Fog World Hinako and Fox World Hinako even before the reveal of who "the Fog Monster" actually is.
But both Hinakos actually have the same base fear; the difference is how they choose to address it. My interpretation is that Hinako gradually stops rejecting the possibility of womanhood and wifehood when she re-establishes contact with Kotoyuki (the Fox-Masked Man) via letters, because he is at least gentle, kindly, and understanding enough that suddenly, marriage becomes a viable way to escape her terrible family. This is the traditional way for a girl like her to be liberated: she can only escape the abuse of her birth family by marrying into another family, and praying that this new family is at least marginally better.
The tragedy here is that in doing so, Hinako MUST lose who she is as a girl and assume the same kind of gender expectations of a Japanese woman she had hated. This is shown very clearly in how compliant she is to Kotoyuki and the painful rituals she has to go through:
cleansing her mouth with what she sees as lava (silencing herself in preparation to become submissive; you can actually see that after this ritual, Fox World Hinako starts to behave more and more submissively)
losing her right arm (symbolically losing her maiden name and obtaining a greater authority befitting the noble clan Kotoyuki is hailed from);
being branded with the clan insignia (joining the stifling structure of her new family)
Finally, losing her own eyes and replacing them with a fox mask (losing her own perspective as "Shimizu Hinako" and seeing things only as "(Tsuneki) Hinako.")
Hinako's old self (in the form of a baby doll) keeps warning against entering this marriage because this is what she has always been afraid of. "Don't trust the man in the fox mask" was a manifestation of an actual fear: don't trust men about marriage; they will only "treat women like animals" afterward. It was an accusation rooted purely in the kind of husband and father Hinako had seen (Shu and Kotoyuki both don't behave like her father at all), but it is a very powerful fear indeed.
Unfortunately, Fog World Hinako keeps trying to run away from the onset of her womanhood. She wastes so much time trying to run away that she has been allowing Fox World Hinako to make more and more progress in becoming a compliant wife. In the real world, this translates to Hinako running away from home after her father physically abused her one day, as seen in the "Missing Person Notice." I believe she ran away to Kotoyuki—an experience that becomes stylized as the experience seen in the Fox World.
Then, since Hinako keeps delaying the act of making her choice, Junko finds her and tells Hinako to enter marriage with Kotoyuki (this is the one moment when both Junko and Kotoyuki are in the same room). Junko tells Hinako to "kill it," i.e. to bury her old, rebellious younger self who rejects womanhood and wifehood to successfully enter a marriage and finally become happy.
This is what Fox World Hinako, who has now evolved into wearing a bridal gown, eventually did. In the real world, Hinako has to say goodbye and no longer become a part of her parents' household, having now claimed her in-law as her parents; this is symbolized by her "killing" her parents outside of their residence. She has to be parted from Shu, who understands her the best. Rinko celebrates her leaving the town after marriage because she now has Shu all to herself, while Sakuko is heartbroken and thinks Hinako is a traitor for it.
Then, finally, Bridal Gown Hinako suppresses Fog World Hinako ("Shimizu Hinako, the Hinako before marriage"), symbolically "killing her." But this proves to be a bad choice, because by doing so, both Hinakos are in discordant with one another. The drug she had been ingesting for her stress headache has a mind-altering effect that empowers the suppressed "Shimizu Hinako", and in this psychotic breakdown, she lashes out against the bondage of womanhood/marriage she is terrified of ("You took everything from me! Stay away from us!").
What this means is that, in the real world, Hinako has gone into a violent psychotic episode, bashing everyone around her. This includes her parents, her sister Junko, and her bridesgroom, Kotoyuki (you can inferred all of this when the enemies appeared to be "talking" to Hinako in the ending scene). Note that her friends' voices could also be heard, but they sounded more angry than concerned, so I think these are the last words her friends said to her when Hinako had suddenly decided to get married instead of living with them (Sakuko constantly cried "You TRAITOR!" at Hinako because she had the strongest attachment to her, while Shu, whose heart broke, had told her that he would "respect what my partner chose." Rinko is… well, she's an alpha bitch, at least she seems so in this particular version).
The place she is afraid of in the Fox World is most likely the Tsunerugi Shrine where the wedding is underway. The male victims she has claimed are likely her father and Kotoyuki (can't tell who might be the one with a heart attack). Police is later dispatched.
Then, we get to hear this amazing ending song (that I REALLY wanna learn to sing) about the tragedy of being a woman, cementing the theme of the story.
Now, I do think the supernatural is likely genuinely involved, even though the drug was the biggest contributor to Hinako's pscyhotic episode. The Tsuneki family is rumored to be cursed by the Fox Deity, and they do seem to do a lot to appease it in exchange of great wealth. There are other parts happening in background that haven't yet been explained; I suspect these might come to fore in New Game+ endings!
Regardless, I think this is a REALLY good psychological horror—as expected from Ryukishi07, the writer behind Higurashi: When They Cry. I don't care what haters think; maybe it's not the most Silenty-Hilly, but damn if the story isn't intriguing. I can't wait to watch NG+ playthroughs and endings!
Damn, I can't believe I ate so well this month! First, there's Cronos: the New Dawn, which I am absolutely in love with. I manage to contain the urge to write about that one, but I guess I spent all of my self-control on that and so couldn't resist writing this for Silent Hill f, huh?
Thanks for reading my ramble!
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Translation Note for my title:
「叛（女）·逆（孩）」
I'm drawing upon the similarities between the pronunciation of 女 (nǚ, "woman") and 逆 (nì , "rebel") to make a pun on two common phrases, therefore creating two alternative readings.
"叛女·逆孩" - "A traiterous woman, an unruly child."
"叛·逆 " + "（女）·（孩）" - "Defiant" + "Girl." A rebellious girl.
为鸟我走投无路，为狐却不甘被缚，最后沦为怪物
"As a bird I had no choice; as a fox I refused to be bound; in the end, I become a monster."
