(Content Warnings for discussions of blood, gore, and sexual assault)
With many cliches being repeated and butchered to death when it comes to the horror genre as a whole, the excitement that comes with a new and fresh story brings a lot to the realm of discussion. Horror as a genre is a perfect way to explore uncomfortable topics that are present in real life; it is efficacious in bringing awareness to its messages through the invocation of a subliminal emotional reaction from the viewer, whether it be fear, anxiety or even disgust.
Through a surrealist approach, horror stories can leave a lot to interpretation, disguising already disturbing ideas under a seemingly nonsensical external fear.
A great example of this type of storytelling done right can be seen in a trending indie horror game called Mouthwashing, developed by the up-and-coming game studio Wrong Organ. Having had experience with surrealist storytelling before with their previous title How Fish is Made, Mouthwashing is no doubt a modern speculative cosmic horror classic.
Reminiscent of the works from horror authors like Junji Ito and Jeff VanderMeer, Mouthwashing stands out in its commentary on capitalism and the workplace through an absurd and creepy lens. Its setting emphasizes the isolation and dangers associated with unsafe working conditions and the lack of care directed towards workers from corporations.
Taking place in outer space on a spacecraft known as the Tulpar, (one of many ships owned by the greedy Pony Express shipping company) the crew of the ship and our main cast of characters; Captain Curly, Daisuke, Anya, Swansea and lastly (and very much least) Jimmy, are on board to deliver a ridiculously large cargo of mouthwash across the vast sky.
Each of these characters plays an archetype: Curly, the optimistic and bright leader; Daisuke, the young and naive intern; Anya. the shy and timid nurse; Swansea, the bitter and mean older guy; and Jimmy, the arrogant egoist.
Unbeknownst to them however, because of Jimmy the ship will soon crash into a natural satellite, which results in the brutal mutilation and amputation of Curly, leaving him a bloody mess. The only thing that holds what remains of Curly together are the bandages desperately wrapped around his now skinless body (that was unpleasant to type out…). The game shifts between narrators and jumps around in time in a nonlinear fashion, following Curly before the events of the crash, and Jimmy thereafter. Through this frame of narrative, we can observe a lot about our two protagonists. Curly is an optimistic yet dismissive captain, who on the surface seems to care about his crew and wants the best for them but does not always fulfill that in practice. A key example is his interactions with the game’s only female character Anya, and her mentions of the sexual harassment that she experienced from Jimmy.
Despite being a trustworthy Captain and a good leader that she felt she could confide in, Curly ultimately did what most men in power would do despite how “good” they are, and let his friend Jimmy off the hook by brushing it under the rug. Neglecting situations like these further enforces the power of the instigator and the weakness of the victim, thus continuing the cycle of abuse in the workplace.
Often he dismisses Anya while making light of her concerns, albeit unintentionally. This can also be observed in a scene where Anya is admiring the stars whilst talking to Curly, where he fails to take the time to see the beauty in what she tries to describe to him. She then proceeds to ask Curly in this melancholic moment “Why do you think Pony Express put a lock on the medical room door but not in the sleeping quarters?” to which Curly replies in blissful ignorance “Safety.”
Safety here is only applicable to the property of the company, if the medicine were to be stolen it could potentially be abused. The loss of drugs would be a threat to the company as product would decrease and abuse of them would lead to less work being done. This striking revelation from Curly exposes that if the company truly put the locks up for the well-being of their employees, then the locks would not just be guarding company products.
The irony here is tragic yet common to a lot of female victims in the workplace who seek help from a male authority. The danger is not “real” until the male superior is affected. While Curly seemed to have his heart in the right place, he still neglected her.
Meanwhile, the alternate protagonist Jimmy, the one that the player plays as the most, is shown to be an antagonistic, egotistical careerist who desires to be at the top even at the expense of others.
His dialogue with Curly and Anya are enough to dissect the type of person that he is.
While Curly confides in his friend about his struggle in being a leader, Jimmy apathetically dismisses him and takes it as an insult to his own corporate position. When playing as Jimmy, Anya appears to have a much different reaction to the player, being timid and scared, and embodying the negative characteristics of passivity placed on her by Jimmy.
Around the climax of the narrative, an unfortunate circumstance befalls the crew. Curly has to deliver the brutal message that after this mission, his employees will have to be laid off as per company orders. Long story-short, this is ultimately what set in motion not only the demise of the ship, but the agonizing demise of Curly.
Putting aside the broad strokes of the narrative, I want to talk more specifically about the absurdist segments of the game and how they effectively explore the horrors of capitalism and sexual misconduct in the workplace through surrealist imagery.
The main thing about this game that makes it so scary is that you, the player, get to play as the monster. In this case it is Jimmy, ruthless in his willing participation in corporatism over genuine leadership. Curly, being visibly grotesque, shows how his negligence to his friend’s crime directly affected him in the most horrific way. He may look like a monster, and in some ways he can be considered one, but nonetheless he too is a victim to Jimmy’s masculinity and ego.
Now, Jimmy has complete control of Curly who cannot move or speak. By trusting in the goodness of his friend over the frightened concerns of Anya, Curly is now a victim of Jimmy's abuse. In a corporate world, the game argues, only truly evil people can make it to the top as they are not afraid to hurt others for their own gain. Not only that, but they can get away with prior abuses too, reinforcing their own sense of power. While that is not to say Curly deserved such a harsh fate, it is a consequence of his negligence of Jimmy in the first place. In Jimmy’s Hobbsean ideology, everyone wants to be at the top and will do anything to have that power. As such, he takes the forefront and makes sure that he is the one to attain that power by any means.
The surrealist dream portions of this game showcase these disturbing themes in a horrifying way. When playing as Curly in the part of the game where he gives Jimmy a psychological evaluation, Curly descends into a red sea when leaving the cockpit. This dream sequence appears to be a cautionary foreshadowing as broken ladders and signs labelled “emergency” emerge from the water wherever the player turns. This absurd sequence represents how this event, when Curly enabled Jimmy and then confided with him, would eventually change Curly’s life for the worse.
The distorted ladders showcase an inability to escape, or, an inability to use his limbs to get out of this set fate. When a leader is not able to lead without bias despite claiming to be there for his crew of people, he has failed at being a truly good captain. If Curly were to recognize the red flags and warning signs that were in front of him all along, as it is explicitly revealed to him in this sequence, then Jimmy's dictatorship over the crew would never have occurred, and Anya would get the justice that she deserved.
I find this moment to be of great significance as the colours and tones of the surreal scenery contrast with the actual interior of the ship. The inside of the ship has many cool tones, consisting of blue and green, with confined, liminal, spaces that induce a claustrophobic feeling. This sequence of Curly walking down the hallway and emerging into this rustic ocean is deliberately set in a wide open space.
No matter where the player turns, the ladders fabricate from the water and the emergency signs are thrown right in front of you. This open space represents a chance to escape—to stop the subsequent events—but matched with the dense flood of water, it is too late to make it any distance. Jimmy’s evil character should have been obvious to Curly, all of the red flags were there, but he still decided to be a friend to him.
That is what makes this scene so horrifying to me, as it is presumed to be a dream held by Curly in his current state as a motionless and horrifically tortured being forced to reflect on what he did wrong and how the current state of the ship is essentially his own fault.
Another moment of surrealism in the gameplay is seen in one of the most tense portions of the game, when Jimmy is lamenting how to help the young intern Daisuke, who is dying due to his disturbed captain’s orders. Jimmy heads down into the basement of the ship where the cargo is stored, this time entering through a misplaced tombstone that was not previously there.
The long, tall shelves of mouthwash stock appear to be an infinite labyrinth, only illuminated by a dark red glow. As the player descends, the words “Be Quiet” appear on the screen. A note can be picked up from a box at the end of the stairs that states “A blind beast, aimless and restless. You can’t run from it.” (Another metaphor for capitalism?!)
The player is then subjected to enter the maze quietly, as running or making any noise will cause a giant phantom version of the company's mascot to emerge out of the void and attack, resulting in the player having to start over.
Once the end of this dreadful maze is reached, a normal statue of the Pony mascot (which ironically, maybe intentionally, looks like a donkey rather than a horse) is holding a bottle of mouthwash, a seeming cure to Daisuke's fatal ailments.
Personally, while playing the game myself, I found this part to be the most outwardly horrifying and anxiety inducing. Putting the player under tremendous stress with a surprisingly scary external threat was a great addition to the overarching narrative allegory.
Pony Express is a greedy company. That is obvious in the outdated furniture on the ship—reminiscent of the 1970s, despite taking place in the future—and the fact that they are laying off their employees to cut costs. The words “be quiet” being referenced to the silent beast is an interesting statement. Jimmy is now put in a position of anxiety and danger, like that in which he put Anya. The pony mascot, or the company, is going to meet him with a cruel fate if he admits to his misdoings in the workplace. By reaching the end, Jimmy is thus encouraged to sweep it under the rug by “being quiet” and supporting the company by promoting mouthwash as a cure to his problem.
A side note that I want to add is that mouthwash seems to have significance beyond the surface. Curly and Jimmy seem to want to fix things simply. Mouthwash is a quick fix to cleaning your mouth, but it is not the same as brushing your teeth. The company therefore offers quick bandaids to fix and hide bigger issues, which ends up being the demise of these characters albeit in different ways.
So, back to surrealism in horror. As defined by the Tate art gallery of London , traditional surrealism “aims to revolutionize human experience. It balances rational vision of life with one that asserts the power of the unconscious and dreams.” This experimental artistic element mixed with horror is a great way to invoke rational fears through demonstrations of irrational events.
I think that the surrealistic segments of mouthwashing used in the medium of a virtual game, truly invoke fear both in the literal imagery and the implications behind it. It goes beyond the surface and attacks the player/viewer on a psychological level, while inserting one into these uncomfortably scary corporate situations. Mouthwashing makes for a great commentary and display of capitalistic greed and evil by providing daunting scenarios of absurdism to be experienced first-hand. The examples that I have listed above were two of many portions in this game where this technique was applied.
Although some of the others are more graphic in nature, if that does not disturb you, I highly recommend experiencing this game first-hand yourself. If you are a fan of this type of horror or are simply fascinated by the story, then that is the best way to experience this media. (besides, it's less than $20 on Steam, go support the creators!).
I think that games and media that are told like this are necessary. They are not preachy about any particular message, but require the viewer to make sense of the fears they are witnessing. In this process, it allows one to take a step back and observe things from various perspectives, being that of societal implications, psychological experience, and the relation of events to a person's own. That, is effective storytelling.
If I were a game reviewer, I would give this game a 10/10 rating based not only on the impact that it has left on me emotionally, but on the inspiration it has awed me as an aspiring literary artist.
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