Éire Literature

Welcome to Éire Literature! I’m using this page to share my personal works while I’m in college and have the time to write freely. Hope you enjoy!

  • Man or Bear?

    The new horror film Obsession has been a wild success since its release this May. The story follows Barron, or Bear, as he’s called by his friends. A young man working at a music supply shop with his co-workers who are also his close friends. We begin to see his obvious crush on one of the girls, Nikki, and his mental deliberation over whether to confess his feelings. After discussing his feelings with one of his co-workers, Ian, he returns home to find his cat dead on the floor, having gotten into his pills that were near his food bowl. The scene is eerie, and the way he handles his grief is noticeably unsettling. 

    After cleaning up the body, he gets a call from Nikki asking him to come to their weekly trivia night. He feels conflicted, but she then informs him that she has something important to tell him. The scene hints like a confession, but instead she tells him she will be quitting her job at the store to become a writer, that the time they have to hang out is limited. Bear quickly decides to go out anyway, even after grieving his cat. The script hints at his tears being due to his unrequited love versus the supposed loss of his pet. 

    Nikki drops her crystal necklace down the bathroom sink towards the end of their call, he decides to find the closest crystal shop rushing to get her a new one. He can’t find one that fits her tastes, so he decides to buy her a kitschy gift instead. He spots a small box labeled “One Wish Willow.” The box says that it can grant one wish when you snap the willow branch in half. After a confusing conversation with the cashier about the purchase, he heads to the bar for trivia night. 

    He doesn’t immediately tell his friends about his cat, much to the discomfort of watchers. Bear, oddly, tells one of his friends, Sarah, who offers her condolences, though he continues to pretend everything is normal. After attempting to talk to Nikki all night, he offers to drop her home, and that he has a gift for her. Nikki has a peculiar reaction to his comment, leaving Bear more hesitant than before. They arrive at her house, and Bear attempts multiple times to confess, but the timing just doesn’t add up. As she walks away, he makes the mistake of teasing her, calling her “freaky Nikki,” a sensitive nickname from high school. Nikki becomes enraged and can feel the unnatural tone of the conversation, so she finally questions whether Bear likes her. To which Bear replies that they are “good friends,” completely dismissing his ambitions. 

    Nikki goes into her house, and Bear is left to wallow with his thoughts. 

    Out of hopelessness, he opens the One Wish Willow he bought for Nikki, snapping the branch and reciting his spontaneous wish, “I wish Nikki Freeman loved me more than anyone else in the world.” 

    The entire mood of the film shifts within a second, and Nikki reappears on her porch this time engulfed in darkness. She saunters back to the car window with a different tone of voice, asking Bear if he wants to come inside, because she just “lost her cat.” 

    Bear, confused by her comment and erratic behavior, says it was his cat, not hers. Nikki furrows her brows and slowly says, “Oh, right.” 

    Almost as if she couldn’t remember. She pushes multiple times to get him into her house before getting back into his car in tears. She tells Bear that her dad is sick and that she can’t handle being alone. He gives in and takes her back to his house. Her behavior and way of speaking were suddenly meek and less confident. She becomes overwhelmingly clingy and affectionate, which leads to them kissing in his bed, much to Bear’s surprise. She suddenly jolts back and scrambles off the bed, terrifying Bear with her reaction. Her face returns to a slight smile as she crawls back into the bed, saying she didn’t mean it. 

    The story quickly progresses as Nikki and Bear start dating, much to their co-workers’ shock. Bear explains her odd behavior to Ian, but quickly pretends it didn’t happen once they start dating. Nikki becomes less and less like herself and more aggressive in her attempts to keep Bear by her side. He’s so wrapped up in their “relationship” that he ignores and hides her disturbing behavior. From duck taping the front door, to feeding him cat meat in his packed lunch alongside a photo labeled “You & Not Me.” 

    These horrific actions are small blips of the real Nikki trying to communicate with Bear. She repeatedly brings his cat back into the plot as a way of reminding him of loss, the way Nikki lost herself. As well as the subtle symbolism of “curiosity killed the cat.” She had no other reference on how to love Bear besides the love he had for his cat, so she tried her best to mimic it. 

    She becomes more erratic, having outbursts at night and screaming before going back to “normal.” Their friends start to become concerned about the nature of their relationship. Bear attempts to go to a boy’s night at Ian’s without Nikki, but can’t manage to leave the house without her. The group starts to go around the room playing a drinking game. Once it lands on Nikki, she stands up with no explanation and recites a paragraph from her new writing piece, while looking into Bear’s eyes. The story sounds like Hanzel and Gretel, but quickly morphs into a sexually disturbing piece about sibling incest. 

    Nikki reads it aloud like a love story, ending it with, “A love only a willow branch could conjure.” Bear is now faced with the fact that Nikki isn’t really in love with him; it’s all forced because of his selfish wish. The real Nikki is still there, witnessing it all.  

    This intricate detail that slips through indicates that Nikki thought of Bear like a brother. That, without the One Wish Willow, she never would have loved him. 

    Even after her mental breakdowns, Bear continues to pretend like they have a great relationship. The disturbing sex scenes that happen towards the end of the film are clear symbols of sexual assault. He’s aware that Nikki isn’t herself and doesn’t truly want to be with him, but he continues to sleep with her anyway. All we can see during this moment is Nikki’s blank stare as her mouth tries to replicate human moans. It’s a belittling moment for our view of Bear. 

    Nikki once again has an outburst where her romantic persona fades, and she stabs herself in the forehead with a piece of glass. These breaks are the real side of Nikki, trying to alert Bear and the others around her that this submissive figure isn’t her. 

    As each scene gets more grotesque and skewed, Nikki becomes more intense and violent. The persona of “Nikki” begins to realize that no matter what she does or how erratic she becomes, Bear will still want to be with her, making it much easier for her to fulfill his wish. 

    Bear tries to take Nikki to the hospital, but she refuses, and he finally decides to call the number on the box. A man answers the phone and asks, “Do you want to cancel your wish?” This is a way of asking Bear if he’s learned his lesson. Instead of immediately canceling it, he questions if he can alter his wish. This is where we really start to see the selfish side of Bear: even after all the pain he has caused, he still wants to be with her. Even after acknowledging that Nikki doesn’t want to be with him. The man on the other end of the line asks if he wants to talk to Nikki. Bear questions what he means, and the man puts the real Nikki on the phone. All we can hear are blood-curdling screams of captivity. 

    The story starts to reach the end with Nikki killing their co-worker, Sarah, smashing her face with a brick when she finds Bear in the car with her late at night. Bear tries to find a way to get rid of his wish without killing himself or Nikki, so he turns to Ian. Panicked, he begged Ian to make a wish contradicting his, but can’t get him to believe the wish is real. Ian uses his wish on money, leaving Bear to deal with his own problems. He comes home to find Nikki covered in blood with Sarah’s corpse in the dining room. After closer examination, we can see that Nikki has Sarah’s tattoos drawn on her with a permanent marker and is wearing Sarah’s hair, thinking that it would make Bear love her more. Similar to her way of replicating the behavior of Bear’s cat, she changes her focus to Sarah in order to gain his affection. 

    He locks himself in the bathroom after all of his attempts prove futile. Once he’s sitting on the floor, he spots the meds that originally killed his cat in the cabinet and swallows them. Nikki, who’s still pounding on the door, is screaming at him to come out, before we hear her step away from the door. The familiar chime of the One Wish Willow plays, and with a snap, Bear is back on his feet, trying to find Nikki in a trance. 

    “Nikki” used the One Wish Willow to make Bear love her more than anyone in the world. The exact same, controlling and all consuming wish that placed her in that situation. The scene of the couple being blissfully in love lasts about nineteen seconds before Bear is convulsing and dead on the floor. In the last scene, we see Nikki screaming in absolute terror before falling back on the couch and snapping out of her trance. Her eyes widened in horror at the corpses and blood around her, unaware of how it all happened. We hear her screech at Bear, “What did you do!” 

    After watching the film, I started to question whether naming his character “Bear” was purposeful. Seeing his actions disguised as love, I thought of the famous question “Man or Bear.” Women on social media often debate whether they would rather be stuck in the woods with a man or a bear. Most women choose the bear, because with a bear, the only fear is death. If you were killed by a bear, no one would ask what you were wearing or try to defend the bear. The underlying meaning of Bear’s name, as well as his wish, reveals his true intentions and misogyny from the start. 

    Bear’s true nature is displayed from the very beginning when he uses the gift he got for Nikki, wishing for fabrication instead of truth. The One Wish Willow wasn’t the thing that was cursed; it was his wish. He wanted her as an accessory with no autonomy, not the real Nikki. The real obsession was his unnatural infatuation with Nikki, not the obsession that he forced upon her. 

  • Even Statues of Women Aren’t Safe

    The famous statue of Molly Malone resembles a woman in a long dress pushing a cart in central Dublin. It was unveiled in 1988 to celebrate the city’s millennium on Grafton Street before being moved to Suffolk Street around 2014. The figure is supposed to portray the woman in the city’s unofficial anthem of “Cockles and Muscles.” The simple folk song is about Molly Malone, a fish merchant like the rest of her family, but she dies young from fever. She’s been a symbol of Irish pride and a reminder of the hardships the country has overcome. This attention led her to become a popular tourist attraction for visitors, both Irish and foreigners. 

    Once images and videos of this statue started to appear online in 2022, it became a media sensation, but not for a good reason. Other tourist attractions, like the Blarney Stone, are meant to be touched for good luck, but Molly’s statue was rusted everywhere except for her breasts. People all across the globe started to vocalize how degrading and disgusting the normalized custom was. Instead of taking a photo with her, tourists were rubbing the statue of a young woman’s breasts for good luck. This sensation began to reach media outlets in Ireland as well as overseas. Thousands were outraged and began to stop people in public from participating in the long-running tradition. 

    Numerous women were instead posting videos on different online platforms holding Molly Malone’s hand instead of her breasts out of respect and protection for her. Blatantly demonstrating how even a statue of a woman isn’t able to get respect. Tourists and influencers tried to guide things in a positive direction, encouraging future tourists visiting Dublin to hold her hand instead. Women during the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade held Molly Malone’s hand and covered her bust with flowers or necklaces. The city had Gardaí (Police Force) on each side of the statue during the month of May 2025 to halt citizens from violating the statue in an attempt to educate visitors. Even a young woman at Trinity College Dublin, who often busks on Suffolk Street, started a campaign titled “Leave Molly mAlone.”

    After continuous attention, Dublin City Council decided to refurbish the statue in early October 2025. It was cleaned, and the bronze was restored to her chest, then unveiled on October 10-11 of 2025. The once humiliating and derogatory tradition was starting to be put to rest. Media outlets and Irish citizens were satisfied with the refurbishment as well as the acknowledgement from the city, and started to move on. The media posts have since ground to a halt, and news stations have stopped reporting it. 

    The one thing I’ve yet to see covered is the statue now, after the restoration. The media is often fast-moving, and viral pieces or stories start to be forgotten, but Molly Malone shouldn’t be. As of late 2026, the statue is already starting to fade on her breasts once again. As much as the online feminist movement tried to change the tradition to holding her hand, it hasn’t worked, and the practice is still occurring. We are in a so-called “time of equality and progression,” but these repeated small acts show how far we still need to come. The tradition of Molly Malone is just one example of misogyny embedded in our history and society. Attention needs to remain on stories like this so people are held accountable and continue to shed light on normalized sexism. 

    Her Campus – Chapman University

    Erin Sweeney – Staff Writer

    @hercampuschapman

    https://www.hercampus.com/school/chapman/even-statues-of-women-arent-safe/

  • Chewing Gum

    He lifted his tall frame onto his feet with his hands clutching his pant leg, as my aunt silently ushered him out of the pew. I sat with my legs dangling off the smooth wooden bench and my black dress over my knees. As he moved towards the altar, I glanced back at the giant frames of faded stained glass that covered the small church. The weather was sad and gloomy, making it hard to see with no sunshine coming through. I turned my attention back to the front of the room, where Gary had finally reached the microphone. It was so silent I could hear my heartbeat in my ears along with every breath through my nose. 

    The pews were lined with older adults, all dressed in black, now looking at Gary. I only saw a few slightly familiar faces in the front rows, holding back tears, but before I could figure out who they were, the microphone static started. 

    “Um…Thanks all ye for coming. It really means a lot to me and my family.” Gary mumbled into the mic; I could still hear the nasal sound in his voice from crying. 

    My aunt clutched my hand tightly as she closed her eyes and sucked in a painful breath. My mother glanced back at my sister and me from the front pew as she sat next to my father, who couldn’t muster any words or reassuring looks. His glasses were fogged with tears, and his eyes pink. Every few minutes, he would take his glasses off to wipe them on his suit, before placing his thumb and his pointer finger on the bridge of his nose, as if he almost believed it would stop the crying or the pain. He repeatedly sucked in a few short breaths, trying to stay silent. I felt like I was the only one who noticed. My father never cried; this might have been the first time I ever saw him, at least that I can remember. 

    “It’s okay, it’s okay.” He whispered with a forced, tiny smile on his face as my mother placed her hand over his. 

    We turned our attention to the casket covered in flowers and photographs in front of us. My grandad’s portrait was lovely. He smiled very brightly, and the green landscaping of rural Ireland in the background made it look almost heavenly. He wore very similar glasses to the ones my dad does now, thick black frames with clear lenses. His wispy white hair combed on either side of his head. Irish funerals were always unique compared to our American traditions. His casket stayed in the house with us for the past few days, making it much harder to say goodbye. Photos of my nana alongside him were everywhere with endless bouquets of flowers, but I couldn’t spot her in the crowd of tears. 

    Gary glanced down at his hands nervously, not being able to keep still. He wiped his face quickly with one knuckle before taking a deep breath and starting his speech.

    “Tony was a brilliant man…*click* He never had a bad thing to say about anyone…*click*”

    I cocked my head, confused and trying to listen closer. He talked of how extraordinarily kind our grandfather was, how he was never angry and never raised his voice. Between every few words, there was a click that distracted me from his sentiments. I glanced around me to see if I was the only one hearing this obvious disruption. The next time it happened, I caught my aunt’s eye. All she did was close her eyes with a smile, almost like she was holding back laughter. The first time I had seen her smile that day, which made me hold back a smile too. 

    “Colm, He forgot to take the gum out of his mouth.” She whispered with a giggle to my uncle on the other side of her. 

    “What?” He questioned with a thick Irish accent, thinking he had probably misheard her. 

    “He didn’t take the gum out of his mouth,” she repeated before sharing a slight smirk with my father in front of her. 

    “Oh Jesus Christ,” he muttered before slumping down in his seat to hear his son’s continuous chewing. 

    As much as it bothered them, it was like a sliver of hope for me. It was the first real conversation in far too long. Almost reassuring me that we would be okay and things could go back to normal. Gary finished speaking and jogged down the carpeted stairs back into his seat. The speakers started to play “In the Arms of the Angels” by Sarah McLachlan, and the rows behind me began crying. Though I was too focused on my aunt telling her son to take the chewing gum out of his mouth. For the first time that day, we were the only ones not crying. 

  • The Power of Women Writing

    The literary art of this period reveals that female agency was suppressed by social expectations, but writing became a powerful tool for resistance and identity. Emily Dickinson, Fanny Fern, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are prime examples of this era. In a society shaped by “The Cult of True Womanhood” as defined by Barbara Welter, women were only allowed to have piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Any other traits, like intelligence or ambition, were purely male traits that women couldn’t possess. They weren’t allowed any kind of authority, and even writing for pleasure was seen as too complicated for the “delicate” female mind. Dickinson, Fern, and Stanton each show these limitations placed on women in different ways, as well as incorporating their own experiences into their work. Many pieces also imagine a world without these restrictions, where women have absolute autonomy. Using innovative language, rhetoric, literary techniques, and persuasion, they transform writing into a tool of female empowerment. 

    Emily Dickinson’s literature demonstrated her hardships as a woman, even though much of her work wasn’t published during her lifetime. She wasn’t capable of living under the “4 virtues,” and her idea of real female traits shows through in her poetry. Women were seen simply as caretakers, mothers, and wives. Dickinson didn’t fit into any of these categories and devoted her life to her work, showing us how rare it was for this time period. Her poetry focuses on the trueness of the inner self and having authority over one’s own being. She wrote in a nontraditional poetry format, with compressed lines, unconventional punctuation, and intense metaphors. Dickinson’s formal rebellion in her art clearly shows her resistance to social expectations, and that she refuses to give in to them. In the poem “They Shut me up in Prose,” she compares confinement to imprisonment; she changed domestic confinement into artistic independence, and she didn’t feel chained like a housewife would to her home and family. She uses striking comparisons like, “They put me in the closet – Because they liked me ‘still.” It was a simple way to express her captivity as being a little kid in a closet. Society attempts to contain female imagination and art. The poem rejects that confinement through intellectual confidence, something that directly challenged “The Cult of True Womanhood.” 

    Dickinson uses agency through inward expression, while Fanny Fern used public satire in a clever way to confront the social as well as economic dependence forced upon women. Fern became famous through newspaper columns and essays that challenged gender equality in direct but humorous language. Women were only allowed to write books about homemaking, childcare, creative stories that always ended with marriage, or, on the rare occasion, humor. Serious works by female authors weren’t taken seriously, so Fern took it into her own hands to reach the public. Fern also strayed from “The Cult of True Womanhood.” Her voice is sharp, direct, and critical. Not a hint of submissiveness throughout any of her pieces. She frequently wrote about marriage and how it often leaves women financially and socially vulnerable. She openly mocks the assumption that women are only useful for serving their husbands and families. She reveals the hypocrisy through humor of the “sentimental” ideals of 1800’s feminism. Fern uses satire to cover every true statement and judgment of sexist norms throughout her seemingly lighthearted writing. Her famous piece “Aunt Hetty on Matrimony” contributed to her success in the writing world. She states that marriage is the “hardest way on earth of getting a living.” Fern’s career as a successful and paid writer continues to demonstrate her agency and ambition to achieve. She didn’t just write about independence; she achieved it through being a writer as well as expressing her beliefs, showing other women that it is possible. Women can claim power not only through thought and writing but by participating in society and letting their opinions be known. 

    Elizabeth Cady Stanton made perhaps the most direct challenge to women’s lack of agency by turning her writing into straight political activism. She rejected the belief that women should be excluded from civil life and should focus purely on homemaking. In her “Declaration of Sentiments,” she uses very similar language to The Declaration of Independence and directs the powerful speech straight to women’s rights. Each reader can feel the importance of the issues she raised by using such an important American document as a reference. This rhetorical strategy uses the nation’s founding ideals against the system that suppresses women, contradicting the freedom that The Declaration of Independence describes. She states, “all men and women are created equal,” changing the famous line to further push her notions. Stanton exposes the inconsistencies between democratic principles and the legal oppression of women. Her prose recounts injustices of women; lack of voting rights, restricted property rights, and exclusion from education, as well as most career paths. Stanton doesn’t portray the women of America as helpless victims but rather as rational political citizens deserving of equal citizenship. She maintains that women should have authority in the home, workplace, and government.

    These powerful writers utilize different strategies for resisting the same oppression. Dickinson finds power in the autonomy of the mind and in freedom of expression. Fern deploys satire and journalism to challenge domestic ideology and economic dependence geared toward the general public. Staton applies political rhetoric to her writing in order to demand structural change and legal equality for women. All three respond differently to “The Cult of True Womanhood” and their interpretation of the “4 virtues.” Yet they all reject the idea that a woman’s highest virtues are silence and submission. They show and represent women as thinkers, critics, creators, and citizens. 

    Literature in the 1800’s makes it clear that women didn’t have agency and were often constrained, but never successfully erased. Emily Dickinson, Fanny Fern, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton demonstrate that writing itself is a form of power in a society trying to limit female voices. Through poetry, satire, and political declaration, these authors changed language into strong resistance. Their pieces not only critique the limitations of their era but also show the possibilities for women in the future. 

    Works Cited

    Brandenburg, Vicki. “Aunt Hetty on Matrimony.” Maricopa.edu, Pressbooks, 2024, open.maricopa.edu/americanliteraturebefore1860/chapter/aunt-hetty-on-matrimony/.

    Dickinson, Emily. “They Shut Me up in Prose – (445) by Emily Dickinson.” Poetry Foundation, 23 Feb. 2020, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52196/they-shut-me-up-in-prose-445.

    Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. Declaration of Sentiments. 1848.

    “The Norton Anthology of English Literature.” Wwnorton.com, 2024, wwnorton.com/books/9781324062981.

    Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” American Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2, 1966, pp. 151–174, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2711179, https://doi.org/10.2307/2711179.

  • Irish Actors Dominating the Field

    Oscar nominees have always been a topic of interest, no matter the era. It’s especially exciting when newer actors come into the spotlight for their performances. American and British actors have been dominating the field for decades; foreign films and talent have only recently been highlighted in the past few years. This year’s Oscar nominees and winners have been swept almost entirely by Irish actors, as well as the countless wins and nominations for Sweden’s Sentimental Value. Hamnet, starring Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal, two relatively new Irish actors, have been receiving role after role in recent years before finally reaching the Oscars with Hamnet. Jesse Buckley, originally from Kerry, took home Best Actress of the year after her heart wrenching performance as a grieving mother, impressing all of us, including the Academy of Motion Pictures. 

    Irish news outlets like “RTE” and “The Irish Times” have brought it to Ireland as well as the US’s attention to the vastness of their achievement. During the Irish Film & Television Academy Awards (IFTA), the host proudly stated, “Our actors have won more Oscars per capita than any other country,” as well as that, “we are in the midst of an Irish cultural renaissance.” Ireland, being the tiny country that it is, has produced immense amounts of talent making it to Hollywood. Irish talent and Irish-produced films have earned a whopping ten Oscar nominations this year. Talent like Cillian Murphy and the band Kneecap have been very vocal in recent years regarding their Irish pride as well as what’s still happening politically in their part of the world. These strong voices show through in their works with Irish storytelling themes like family, grief, and identity. Jesse Buckley has been our star of the show this year with Hamnet as well as her new film, The Bride. Her immense talent has made its way to Hollywood, and it’s not stopping anytime soon. Buckley also basked in her country’s pride during her speech by speaking Irish for the small percentage that still understands it. The Irish language has been a massive topic of discussion because of artists like Kneecap, who have gone viral on social media. Actors like Mescal and Murphy have publicly shared their support of the movement. Buckley bringing it to the attention of the Oscars has done so much for the movement. 

    Paul Mescal, from Kildare, began his acting career alongside British actress Daisy Edgar-Jones in Normal People, a romantic drama based on the novel by Sally Rooney. Not only did this skyrocket Mescal’s acting career, but it also brought attention to the very melancholy Irish story. This was just one of the moments that got the ball rolling for Irish talent. The biggest being the blockbuster Oppenheimer. The film starring Cillian Murphy won seven Oscars out of thirteen nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. This made Murphy the first Irish-born actor to win this award; in his speech, he dedicated it to “peacemakers everywhere.” He ends his acceptance speech with, “I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight.” After the success of the film and his historic win, Murphy has continued to work on his award-winning show Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.

    The new and highly anticipated Beatles biopic, directed by Sam Mendes, has also made headlines as an exciting film to expect in 2028. Both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have been cast by Irish actors Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan. For such a huge budget Hollywood film, it is monumental that two Irish actors have been cast for such important roles. Before this year, this would have been unimaginable. Barry Keoghan, from Dublin, got his first big film opportunity in 2023’s Saltburn. He was nominated for two Golden Globes and five bafta’s (British Academy Film Awards) for his performance. His role in the 2022 Irish film The Banshees of Inisherin won him his first bafta for best actor, putting him more on the American radar. His newest project happens to be Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Keoghan was cast specifically by Murphy, showing his continuous support for Ireland in his works. 

    Hollywood has always been an exclusive club that’s very hard to break into, but after the diversity in this year’s nominations, we can finally see it branching out. Films like Parasite in 2019 have paved the way for other foreign films like Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent. Hopefully, we as an audience will continue to see new foreign films and actors get the recognition they deserve, as more Irish actors dominate the industry. 

    Her Campus – Chapman University

    Erin Sweeney – Staff Writer

    @hercampuschapman

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.hercampus.com/school/chapman/&ved=2ahUKEwi_nOmK-JCUAxUIJkQIHX7rE4gQFnoECBkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2o76bmVux5pltO2nbpVbYB

  • Silent Hill F

    I recently completed Silent Hill F, a new addition to the very popular game franchise. I wasn’t expecting such an intense and heartwrenching story alongside the incredible fight scenes and confusing dynamics. The story follows Hinako, a young school girl in a small town in fifties Japan. Her family consists of her parents and her older sister, Junko, who recently got married and moved out. Junko is a mysterious figure throughout the game. We never see her face or learn what truly happened to her, but it’s all jumbled in her mind. Everything is depicted through Hinako’s eyes, whether we choose to believe it’s truly happening or not. Hinako is accompanied through parts of the game by her two friends, one of them being Shu. A childhood friend, who very obviously has romantic feelings for her. Though it’s so clear to see, Hinako blatantly ignores it and acts as friendly as she can muster. As the story progresses, we see more context behind Hinako’s behavior. After witnessing her older sister’s betrothal, she’s utterly terrified of marriage and the possibility of turning into her mother. Her mother obeys her father without question and has to submit herself to him entirely. Both her mother’s and her sister’s experiences in marriage made Hinako ultimately make up her mind to avoid marriage at all cost. 

    We witness her battle multiple distorted figures throughout the story, each one pertaining to her phobia of marriage. They resemble grotesque brides channeling her fears into physical entities. Like lots of stories about women, it ends once they are married. She fights so hard in order to prevent the end of her story over and over again, as each event gets more violent. Shu continues to stay by her side, as she fights her inner self who wants to submit and let herself belong to him. We play as two different versions of her, the “real” Hinako and the one within her head. The Hinako that is in her head fights enemies and goes through countless marriage rituals as she gets closer and closer to the altar. The “real” Hinako fights continuously  to escape the pressure of parents, friends, and her older sister, to give in and let it happen. As her mind gets more twisted and her actions become less real, she gradually starts to lose her sanity completely. 

    Depending on who is playing, Hinako can give in to her imaginary groom and the idea of a suffocating marriage, or she can leave the altar with Shu, ultimately to be married off to him instead. One of the last options is seeing the aftermath in the real world, where she loses all grip on reality and kills people at her arranged wedding, running away to be on her own. Other options are just as confusing as everything else in the game; some have both Hinakos, some only have one, and mostly depict a pretend world. I received the murder ending. Although I wouldn’t say it’s the happiest, I’m relieved I got that outcome versus the ending with one of her two “love interests.” After all she endured, I think it’s a disservice to allow her to end with an outcome she so desperately wished to escape. It could be chopped up to accept the inevitable, that it’s not as scary as she imagined, but I think it diminishes the meaning behind the story. For a girl stuck in such a trapping situation, she fights diligently to give herself the freedom that she and all women deserve. 

  • Poetry?

    You who is so quiet 

    dodging in and out 

    all you do is confuse me 

    I want to thrash and cry 

    After you who is so quiet 

    are no longer present 

    I miss your pitiful silence

    I hope you miss mine 

  • Wuthering Heights

    I decided to spend my Valentine’s Day in the cinema with my roommate to watch the new Wuthering Heights film. I was obviously intrigued by the beauty of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, but every scene was breathtaking. As someone who analyzes every frame, I was distracted by all of the striking colors and symbols throughout the film. There were countless intricate details that added more depth than I was expecting, but the one that struck me the most was the detail of human skin, in particular, their backs. We see both Cathy and Heathcliff grow up together, and the beatings he got from her father as they both matured. The transition between childhood and adulthood is seamless using the scars on his back as the progression of age. 

    After his first beating, we see Cathy carefully eyeing the lined blood stains through the back of his white, sheer shirt as it slowly fades into scars on the back of adult Heathcliff. The very intense zoomed-in shot shows every sweat bead and raised piece of skin. The film tends to focus on his back through different points of the story, and we finally see parallels on Cathy’s wedding day. Nelly is helping her into her wedding corset, and she proposes that they postpone the wedding. At this point, Heathcliff has been gone a year already, and Nelly tells her they cannot. She continues to tighten the corset and eventually goes to tie it when Cathy stops her, “Tighter.” Nelly tells her she won’t be able to breathe, and Cathy then repeats again, “Tighter.” The frame gets close enough to see the lines on her back from the already tight corset and the blood that is starting to stain the white fabric. This scene exactly parallels Heathcliff’s scars and the stomach-turning intricacy of human skin. It almost represents the grotesque closeness that both characters have with each other to the point of pain. Both characters look so bedazzling, but once the camera zooms in, we see every imperfection of sweat and blood. 

    Heathcliff got his scars from deciding to protect Cathy, while Cathy inflicted them upon herself. I think this detail can be very telling for both of their characters. Heathcliff is selfless throughout most of the plot, doing anything he can to benefit Cathy. Cathy is shown to be egotistical, selfish, and impulsive in most of her decisions. Her pain is inflicted upon her because of her own decisions, while Heathcliff’s pain is because of Cathy’s decisions. Though neither of them is completely innocent regarding their constant miscommunication, these parallels of self-inflicted pain and forced pain are amazing insights throughout the film. 

  • He’s Just Not That Into You

    As a woman, I think about this movie more often than I should. It was brought to my attention in one of my literary theory classes by my classmates, who were doing a presentation. Every woman in the room said that they show this movie to their friends and peers when they start to overthink their decisions regarding love. The opening scene of the movie depicts the close friendship that women have with one another, but also the disillusionment that we seem to pass on from generation to generation. 

    We see a little girl being bullied by a boy on the playground, and when she runs up to tell her mom, the only thing she says is “He’s doing that because he likes you.” This sentence brought me back to when I was young, and all the older women in my life told me the exact same thing. As much as it bothered me at first, I started to believe it. My friends were told similar fairytales, and they just seemed to evolve as we got older. 

    “He’s not calling because he thinks you’re too good for him.”

    “You’re just too mature for him right now.”

    “He’s intimidated by your beauty.”

    “He probably lost your number.”

    And so on and so forth. No matter what age I am, I hear these types of comments meant to make us feel better, but instead, they’re leading us to think that this is how women are meant to be treated. We allow ourselves to be continuously strung along and treated like shit, because that’s how all the women around us were treated. He doesn’t call when he says he will, or he’s not listening to you on your date because he’s had a rough day. But maybe the truth of the matter is that he’s just not that into you. 

    I have found myself repeating these very phrases to my friends, and It wasn’t until watching this film that I realized the mediocrity of it all. We’ve accepted that maybe women are much more complex and compassionate creatures, but in doing so, we’ve given men countless excuses for treating us subhuman. Many women have found solace in confiding in their friends, but we might be doing more harm than good in the long run. Many of these women end up settling for someone who isn’t enough, but they accept it because of the countless excuses given by their friends. This continuous cycle of delusion has only gotten worse with the age of social media, and now we have new terms and new phrases to feed to each other. 

    “His phone probably died.”

    “He didn’t mean to leave you on opened.”

    “He liked your Instagram story, that means he likes you.” 

    As I get older, it gets harder and harder to bear hearing these phrases, even though I know my friends and family are only trying to make me feel better. I still have to correct myself, but I’ve learned to say;

    “He just isn’t the one; you’ll find someone better.”

    “I would just block him; he isn’t worth your time.” 

    We feel a type of anxious excitement that comes with waiting by the phone, and we always assume that it’s that “spark” that makes us so excited to hear back from them, but it’s really the fear that they won’t call back instead of the joy we feel while actually talking to them. This term the “spark” has also given men more outs for being horrible partners as well as people. If we had friends who didn’t give us the time of day and never called back when they said they would, we would consider them bad friends. Why should relationships be any different? 

    My most valued expression as of late is “An extraordinary man is just an average woman.” This perfectly sums up the experience that the women in my life have experienced. We meet women who would give the world to you if they could, while a man who’s supposed to be your partner for life can’t even call you back or look into your eyes when you’re speaking.

    A very wise family member of mine always asks the same question when I tell her of my recent endeavors: “Is he fun or am I fun and he’s just there?” We see overly romanticized movies daily and assume that everything will just fall into place if you find a guy who checks all your boxes. But the truth is, when all is said and done, do you really enjoy being with him that much? Is it as fun as you imagined it to be?

    Though I would love to continue being a hopeless romantic, I’ve learned that real life doesn’t work that way. You aren’t the exception, but neither is he. 

  • Is Love an Option?

    I was recently asked the question “Is Love an Option” by one of my close friends. Although I wouldn’t say I’ve experienced the cliche version of love that we all know it to be. I’ve experienced many different types of love: familial, platonic, and a type of romantic affection. Love comes in all shapes and sizes, but do we really know how it starts? Having a crush or being attracted to a person can come naturally or be all consuming, but love doesn’t follow that same criteria. Love is slow and almost goes unnoticed until you find that it’s already there. I’ve watched everyone around me fall in and out of love over the years, and it honestly never looks appealing. I’ve watched my friends fight over trivial things with their boyfriends but refuse to see their flaws at the same time. Once I decide to question them, I always get the same line: “You’ll understand when you’re in love.” 

    This remark used to irritate me; I felt like a child being scolded by an adult for something I couldn’t comprehend. Since I was young, I’ve loved the idea of romance, whether it be in books or films, I couldn’t get enough of it, but the way love is interpreted in these forms is very different to the real world. Love is scary and unsettling; you never really know the outcome. Yet we still continue to love as much as we can, over and over again. Maybe it’s humans that have this affliction; we are made to naturally crave love. Some have a worse affliction than others and take whatever they are given. Even the phrase “I love you” is confusing. It’s commonly said between friends and family, but when it comes to romantic relationships, no one has the answers. Everyone I know has said the phrase at different points in their relationships, and every single one of them still doesn’t think they got it right. Too early or too late, or the wrong timing altogether. Why is it that these types of relationships are so hard to navigate? Even the sayings regarding love make it sound unnerving: “Love makes you crazy” or “Love conquers all.” 

    For those like me, who haven’t experienced this form of love, it sounds frightening and controlling. Romantic love from an onlooker’s perspective doesn’t look pretty or desireable; it seems like something no human on earth has fully figured out. Every piece of literature I’ve read has been influenced by some sort of love, and it always ends with tragedy or change. All of these factors seem to indicate that love is necessary to human life and progression; everything we do involves love. Whether it be protecting our families, hugging our friends, or being with the ones we love. Even if I decided that love was an option, it seems as though humans can’t help but pick love again and again.  

Erin –––––––––

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