This is not thought out and probably has a lot of stuff wrong with it I just needed to get this jotted down so I can actually research it, ok? Dont hit me because I get something wrong.
I think its interesting how the lyrics for "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" change from the original ( 1st image ) to RE7s rendition ( 2nd image )
I have more thoughts but just for now id like to note some things ( that are pretty obvious but I forget easy ) Both cover themes of loss, the first on the death of her mother goose and how it impacts others around her. Aunt Rhody had been saving this goose to make a feather bed. I wanna consider the context especially of the original, not only in it's own narrative but the time it was written ( IIRC 1752 ) originating from a French opera by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Allow a brief summary of events and important lore to RE7. You play Ethan Winters, a widower who has travelled to Louisiana in search of his thought-to-be dead wife, Mia Winters. Upon arrival, it's evident something is wrong with the old plantation house, and I’m not just talking about the likely uncomfortable history. The Baker family, the residents of the aforementioned home, behave abnormally. They’re cartoonishly violent, and they don’t seem to be physically impacted by the disarray they live in nor the attacks Ethan launches on them in defense. Mia is affected too, switching from panicked and somber to aggressive and almost rabid. Later on, after saving Mia and escaping the house ( in which you’re tasked with killing the residents ), you are attacked in your boat and resume gameplay as Mia. Through here we learn about the bioweapon, E-001, or Eveline. The rest of the narrative quickly falls into place as you explore the area. Eveline was a bioweapon that they had take the form of a 10 year old girl, her caretaker/manager was Mia, whom she formed a particularly close bond with. Eveline has always shown an intense desire for family, but because of her status as a bioweapon, people around her quickly become infected with the “mold,” the fungus harnessed to create her. Paired with her lack of emotional regulation as a 10 year old, during a ship trip where she was being transported to another facility, Eveline has a breakdown. She kills everyone on the ship, leaving only her and Mia as they fall into the Ocean and wash up near some Louisiana shore. They’re taken in by the Baker family, who are shown to be caring and empathetic, a stark contrast to the people Ethan ends up meeting. However, given Eveline's condition so to speak, the Bakers quickly become infected and enter a crazed state of mind as she tries to piece together a perfect family.
Ethan is unaware of this. To him, his wife is just a babysitter and worked with high class clients. Eveline, taking advantage of his ignorance, forces/influences?? Mia to send him an email with her location and asks him to find her. This is her final plan, to complete her family and have the father and mother she so desperately wanted. This is flatly stated in the songs rewrite, “I called him and he will come/She’ll answer him like he is the one/his arms outstretched but when she is done/he’ll be torn apart!” Mia, after rescuing her from the basement, quickly switches in personality and cuts Ethans hand off with a Chainsaw. Ethan dies in the baker house, but is revived by the mold that now affects him, as it slowly tears him into piece ( RE8 ).
Rousseau is a personality who interests me greatly. In short, Rousseau held that humans were born whole, that our empathy, our goodness, and our capacity to love is something we start out with. He argued that evil was imposed upon us by hierarchies– our attempts at civilizing man was what created animals. He believed humans feel for one another before they learn how to calculate, compete, or dominate. That empathy is fragile and it can be trained out of us. Replaced with utility and obedience.
I feel as though this idea ties into a larger narrative of human connection told throughout Resident Evil, but especially focused on in RE7-RE8. The song specifically originates from a one-act opera titled, “Le devin du village,” or “The Village Soothsayer.” A brief synopsis provided by UCL European Institute describes the play as, “Colin (tenor) and Colette (soprano) are lovers, but suspect each other of being unfaithful. After seeking advice of a village soothsayer (baritone) they trust each other again and are happily married.”
Its important to understand where France was at the time, especially French opera. It was dominated by courtly excess: elaborate plots, virtuosic displays, aristocratic spectacle, so on so forth. Rousseau hated this. He believed sophistication had smothered sincerity. Le Devin du Village was his counterspell, and attempt to bring back the Amour de soi he desperately sought after in art.
But, lets be reasonable Waya, how does this tie back into “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” and how does it tie into RE7? Are you not just rambling at this point? Likely, but there is a reason I bring any of this up. Aside from context being important in these discussions its also relevant to the themes explored in both medias. “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” to me can be read a variety of ways. In one angle its about animals and that base form of grief at the loss of someone close to you. Mother Goose is dead, the father has lost his wife and the children's mother. However another, more cynical and arguably malicious reading begins to form when I read the line “The one she’s been saving/to make a feather bed.” It commodifies the old gray goose, she becomes a material object, an object historically associated with wealth and lavishness, for the sake of another. Its that form of love Rousseau detested, the one focused on vanity and self interest, Amour-propre.
Its evident Mia is, in a way, represents the old gray goose. She’s left Ethan without a wife, and by being unable to return the love Eveline gives, she’s orphaned her through negligence. But also, the old gray goose is Eveline, who as a bioweapon has been turned into an object, something with negotiable value.
Rousseau and his writing speaks much to the story of RE7 through contrasting Ethan desire to help his wife, Evelines suffering at the hands of civilization, and the animalistic ways both of them act as a result of the world around them. Despite her role as antagonist, Eveline is a sympathetic character, she suffered greatly at the hands of her creators, she was dehumanized because she, in a way, existed outside of societal norms and was therefore crushed by them. She is innocence forced into utility. A child created not to be loved, but to function. When she tries to recreate family, she does so using the only language she’s been taught: war.
When the lyrics mutate into “everybody is dead,” the communal frame collapses. There is no village left to mourn. There is only aftermath. And then the song switches perspective from observer to participant. “I was raised in a deep dark hole.” The subject is no longer reporting loss but rather the victim of it
This is nowhere near finished in thought and again probably has a LOT of inconsistencies just let me be a little stupid as I stumble my way through this and try and form coherent thought
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