Religion in Earthbound (or the lack thereof)
I take a wonderful class called World Religions. There's hardly any homework, and when there is, it's all creative writing, which I excel at. My teacher (who doesn't believe in tests, another reason the class is so great) was asking everyone why we joined this class. The usual answers abounded: "My friend said it was good," "Golf filled up," and so on. Then we got to me. My answer was simple: "I want to learn some good ideas for plotting stories for video games." Really. That's why I took the class. Most video games (in the RPG genre, anyway) have some sort of underlying religion. Then my teacher said, "You've brought up something interesting, because I always wanted to do a unit on religion in video games." Woah! DEFINITELY the best class ever!
So I've decided to start working on religion in vidoe games, only it suddenly occurred to me that my tied-for-first favourite game of all time (Earthbound) doesn't really have much of a religion. Except for one area, it's mostly devoid of religion. Since the rest of the article is pretty much conjectures, I'll start with the one definite religion: Happy-Happyism. Hmmm, a bunch of blue people, with blue suits, pointy blue hats and ties, and a severely racist trend towards non-blue people. I wonder who that could refer to? I won't name them here, in case I offend someone, but anyone interested in this topic should find the movie "White Lies" or maybe check the beginning of "Forrest Gump," or just do some research. Or ask in #earthbound, although you won't get many (or any) straight answers.
As for the rest of the game, it's difficult to get a specific picture on religion. There are some obsessed people, such as the Tessie-Watching Club and the folks in Moonside (who aren't real, which would make this too easy) but no really religious folks. Mani-Manism could be a pseudo-religion, though. Think about it: we've got a statue deity (Mani Mani) who gives you a vision when you're near him (because it's an illusion device, but never mind that) and has followers: Pokey, Carpainter, Lier X. Agerate, Everdred, and Monotoli. Okay, it's not perfect.
Aha, but now look who brought forth Mani-Mani: the Universal Cosmic Destroyer himself, Giygas! And guess who follows Giygas: Master Belch/Barf, the Starmen (in all their many-splendoured forms,) a huge legion of zombies (indirectly through Master Belch,) all the Mani Mani followers (indirect, except for Pokey, who presumably knows about Giygas all along,) and anyone who's felt the influence of evil in their minds (Runaway Dogs, Unassuming Local Guys, etc.) So we have the god, the believers, and the prophet (Mani Mani, in case you aren't following.) For lack of a better name, let's say it's Giygism.
All religions have an explanation of evil. If you look at it from a Giygist point of view, evil must be Buzz Buzz, Ness and the gang, and the evil, evil, Sanctuary locations. If we take it for granted that the monsters guarding Your Sanctuary are being influenced by Giygas, then they are also followers. This leaves a small hole: If the monsters were sent to stop Ness, why wouldn't Shroom! at Rainy Circle kill Jeff when he had the chance? Answer: They were sent to stop Ness, not Jeff. Shroom! probably assumed that Jeff was just passing by.
So, you can sit around, playing Earthbound all day, whooping Giygas and being all bored, or you can pretend to be wreaking havoc on a huge religion based on pure evil and take out a god. If you're anything like me, you'll never look at Earthbound the same way again.
I take a wonderful class called World Religions. There's hardly any homework, and when there is, it's all creative writing, which I excel at. My teacher (who doesn't believe in tests, another reason the class is so great) was asking everyone why we joined this class. The usual answers abounded: "My friend said it was good," "Golf filled up," and so on. Then we got to me. My answer was simple: "I want to learn some good ideas for plotting stories for video games." Really. That's why I took the class. Most video games (in the RPG genre, anyway) have some sort of underlying religion. Then my teacher said, "You've brought up something interesting, because I always wanted to do a unit on religion in video games." Woah! DEFINITELY the best class ever!
So I've decided to start working on religion in vidoe games, only it suddenly occurred to me that my tied-for-first favourite game of all time (Earthbound) doesn't really have much of a religion. Except for one area, it's mostly devoid of religion. Since the rest of the article is pretty much conjectures, I'll start with the one definite religion: Happy-Happyism. Hmmm, a bunch of blue people, with blue suits, pointy blue hats and ties, and a severely racist trend towards non-blue people. I wonder who that could refer to? I won't name them here, in case I offend someone, but anyone interested in this topic should find the movie "White Lies" or maybe check the beginning of "Forrest Gump," or just do some research. Or ask in #earthbound, although you won't get many (or any) straight answers.
As for the rest of the game, it's difficult to get a specific picture on religion. There are some obsessed people, such as the Tessie-Watching Club and the folks in Moonside (who aren't real, which would make this too easy) but no really religious folks. Mani-Manism could be a pseudo-religion, though. Think about it: we've got a statue deity (Mani Mani) who gives you a vision when you're near him (because it's an illusion device, but never mind that) and has followers: Pokey, Carpainter, Lier X. Agerate, Everdred, and Monotoli. Okay, it's not perfect.
Aha, but now look who brought forth Mani-Mani: the Universal Cosmic Destroyer himself, Giygas! And guess who follows Giygas: Master Belch/Barf, the Starmen (in all their many-splendoured forms,) a huge legion of zombies (indirectly through Master Belch,) all the Mani Mani followers (indirect, except for Pokey, who presumably knows about Giygas all along,) and anyone who's felt the influence of evil in their minds (Runaway Dogs, Unassuming Local Guys, etc.) So we have the god, the believers, and the prophet (Mani Mani, in case you aren't following.) For lack of a better name, let's say it's Giygism.
All religions have an explanation of evil. If you look at it from a Giygist point of view, evil must be Buzz Buzz, Ness and the gang, and the evil, evil, Sanctuary locations. If we take it for granted that the monsters guarding Your Sanctuary are being influenced by Giygas, then they are also followers. This leaves a small hole: If the monsters were sent to stop Ness, why wouldn't Shroom! at Rainy Circle kill Jeff when he had the chance? Answer: They were sent to stop Ness, not Jeff. Shroom! probably assumed that Jeff was just passing by.
So, you can sit around, playing Earthbound all day, whooping Giygas and being all bored, or you can pretend to be wreaking havoc on a huge religion based on pure evil and take out a god. If you're anything like me, you'll never look at Earthbound the same way again.
