The bad things revamp (new episode 11 review/analysis)
spoilers!
I have recently played the updated version of bad things. Almost finishing the rare badge and finishing the new episode 11. I forced myself to play it again out of love for the story and game. But it was painful .
It was perfectly portrayed. The fear, the days feeling like a monotone cycle and learning to adapt to the dangerous situation you are in. Andrew most likely grew up in an abusive household and imagining how terrifying it must be to be reliving the same old torture that he thought he escaped. Every scream, every slam, every knock on the door. It's not easy for him to leave, he is financially unstable snd homelessness is a terrifying and unfamiliar territory. He is stuck. the hiding in the bathroom, the lack of sleep, it adds depth to him and his perspective of this relationship. I don't know anything about the creators or their life, but they have perfectly showed a type of abuse. It was obviously presented in allegories and little signs. but it's what made me feel like someone knows exactly what abuse can be like. I love 'bad things' but it's hard for me to play it because I'm a survivor of abuse and violence. It was something that I witnessed for a very long time in life. That is why I felt heard and seen when Andrew's perspective was shown. In popular media abuse is usually portrayed inaccurate, it's romanticized, or seen as "hot". They portray the victim as weak and powerless and the abuser as a purely evil person with only bad or selfish intentions. A lot of the time it's not the case. Sometimes the loving can turn to hurting. Sometimes the wish for control wins over the wellbeing of that person and you lose the whole point of being with them in the first place. Then when the person who caused the hurt realizes that what they did was wrong, they usually they can't handle the guilt, so they double down. Like Macbeth or Balladyna, straying on a further path of evil because it seems that there is no way of going back. You have to now keep this person under your grasp. Which just leaves the victim feeling trapped, anything could be the trap, momental emotional stability, money, reputation (In Andrew's perspective most likely finances but there were definitely other things).
This was perfectly executed. Andrew and Ivan were portrayed as two adult men, behaving from a day to day bases like any other normal person in the real world. They weren't fetishized for their sexuality in game or portrayed as odd. Just like Ivan, anyone can become wrongdoer and at the end of the day the decision lies in the hands of the decision maker. You will always be held accountable for your actions and death might not always be the right escape.
Although it personally (!!!opinion alert!!) disappoints me, when I see people draw Ivan and Andrew like they are in a affectionate relationship, all cute and sweet, it feels like the whole point of their story was overlooked.
Andrew was very strong, he got away in the end, living with the scars of his past, being level-headed and not letting his past mistreatment define his entire life completely (the understanding I got from the streamed interview with ThatCactusMan).
Ivan suffered from his toxic masculinity, eternalized homophobia, insecurity, but most of all, he suffered from the consequences of his own actions. No matter how much he also could have went through in life, it can never be an excuse for choosing to hurt others.
/anyways yeah, its not that deep just a game made on Roblox and who tf takes that platform seriously, Roblox devs definitely are just worse and their entire work should immediately be taken as not serious cuz its just a "kids" game :D/JK