(Trans/Queer) Symbolism in Project Moon:
A lesson on critical analysis and media literacy (Pride Month Project)
Ok ok I know. Really Carmen, you got a Pride project finished in June? What is this? The trick seems to be either having a manic episode or ☝️limiting the bounds of (this part of) the project.
This is part 1 of 2 but I have no clue when part 2 is going to be finished and never held delusion of finishing it this month. I have other Projects to work on and youtubers to make hit posts about (Send me suggestions on that front), but I hope you enjoy
Abnormalities as walking symbols, and how to dissect them.
Abnormalities are, for lack of a better term, the subconscious of humanity itself. Such is to say, abnormalities each represent an underlying concept or conception, in the Jungian terms, they are each the representation of an archetype, which in itself is how they are described through the Lobotomy Corporation artbook.
In this sense, each abnormality is essentially a walking symbolic representation of what they are. Abnormalities exist in a static form which is not informed by the world around them but rather by formed by the perception of the world beyond themselves.
This first part of the series is a quick guide to abnormalities as symbols and how to dissect them. In the month’s pride flavouring, we will be going over manners in which different abnormalities may be read in the themes of transitioning in the manner that they are such is to say “trans” abnormalities.
Something to cover alongside this however is the caveat to which I must clarify. Whilst we in the present and erstwhile the writers in the past may have in fact the same interpretations of abnormalities, there is every chance that such interpretations are not as the author originally saw to include. While an author may erst create a concept with their own conception and ties, it is the nature of human cognition to connect these themes to one another, to relate to these themes where we can and understand them in manners which make sense to ourselves.
Tis such to say that whilst I may speak anon in the manner to say that one such reading is present for an abnormality, there are many other readings one may take from and understand an abnormality as. Aught should you allow mine speaking of one to cloud your visions of two.
So, what (are) (Queer//Trans) symbol(s)(ism) in Project Moon(‘s stories), and why (are) th(ese) a very broad question?
Begging the answer, we’ll simply tell it lief.
First we must answer the more troubling question, what (is) Trans symbolism?
And thus we find ourself in the source of the lesson and wherefore I wished to discuss. The nature of symbolism itself is fluid and not truly determinable, where from they come is the lives and experiences of humanity and the people thereof.
Such is to say, life’s experiences are/can be abstracted whilst remaining recognisable twixt two people who share said experience, while being given a manifested form of being.
A key example is the idea of an egg, commonly found in Trans culture, a term which many people resonate with even though I highly doubt that there are literal people which have hatched from an egg during their transition.
Instinctively and culturally, one could understand the image of a hatching, someone coming into a new life, breaking free from a shell which has bound you or trapped you in a dark place.
This initial connection, twixt theme and symbol directly, is a backwards link, from which we may thus connect further themes and experiences
Egg//Hatching → Freedom//coming into a new life//being born again → Transing your gender, escaping an abusive environment, growing up//childhoods end, etc.
This is what I will call itemic/imagic symbolism.
The use of an item or image within a narrative to directly act as an analogue for said theme.
This form of imagic symbolism needs not to go further than skin deep as a single connection, though one may of course draw the lifeblood neath the skin, and thus draw though a connection between two ideas and concepts; This is the basis and basics of symbolism in literature.
Take for example, The Funeral of Dead Butterflies.
For the purposes of this first section, we divorce the abnormality of its context within Lobotomy Corporation and such the themes of said game. On its lonesome, what may it serve to represent as an archetype in the literal Jungian sense?
Let us seek its imagic symbolism, as first its design.
The Butterfly serves as a image (symbol) of transformation, typically one into something anew and/or better than before–The butterfly has overtaken the man's face, forming a layered and kaleidoscopic mass of wings.
A kaleidoscope itself is something always changing from perspectives, much like how archetypes themselves function, they are always and each changing as the perspective shifts in an orderly chaos.
A Kaleidoscope can act as a representation of change, but too of recursion, of entanglement and the beauty or life from which it is made.
Next is the coffin, a very direct metaphor of death itself. The abnormality itself in its name makes allusions to this same concept of death, the name of being a “Funeral”, the name of its EGO “Solemn Lament” being akin to the grief one may feel at another's passing.
This is the first stage of symbolism, identification and regression to base themes. Considering the symbols as devices to represent the themes directly, we then continue the interaction between two themes on their own.
Literary analysis IS indeed just playing the world's worst game of connect the dots where you are blindfolded, moving by instinct and have to intuit the existence of certain dots informed by your prior experience and knowledge.
Butterflies are contained within the coffin itself. While butterflies represent coming into a new life, or changing into something better, the coffin, reflecting death, is the cocoon of this metamorphosis.
To change into something new is to kill what was once you, and very explicitly as far as the abnormality is concerned, this change, the passing from this life to a joyful death, is a good thing.
Consider for a moment the skill names of Solemn Lament Yi Sang.
“A Solemn Lament for the living”
“Celebrations for the departed”
Death, this irreversible transition from one state of life to another, is something to be celebrated.
Until then, they flutter their wings uselessly.
The wings that may have been many jumbled into one, or one split into many.
Butterflies are supposed to pollinate flowers, but not a single proper flower blooms in this place.
There is no choice but to wait.
After all, there must be an end to every world.
But there is no opportunity for these poor departed souls to live as they newly should.
The commitments that are the same chrysalis they find to be their coffin to be their tomb to be the same thing that prevents them from being able to live as a butterfly should.
Death is a state of transitioning between two boundaries, and if we string this back to Lobotomy Corporation, to the nature of death within the city itself, the vane* of a feather, the barbs that form the foundation of the plume’s vanity cannot detach themselves from a wing by their own accord, try as they might in vain; in the same vein, one may relate this back to the concept of being trapped by the hold of your old life.
One who deserves to be free flutters in futility, a butterfly which tears and rips itself against the spider's web, but those who know them, their responsibilities prevent them from moving on, from passing.
From being free as butterflies are supposed to.
*Postscript1: The flat part of a feather attached to the keratin stem is called the “Vane” of the feather. The individual hairs are called Barbs.
Such is to say, we can regress the intersection between the two images to achieve a new concept in of itself.
Which is to say, whilst abnormalities are descended from the collective unconscious (as being archetypes), they do not represent a single, concrete or discrete concept. Rather a complex, as in the noun, an archetype given a single informed and static strand of direction; one which may unfurl into as many tangled and woven conceits that one can see—that one can understand on an emotional OR intellectual level—and importantly, the string can be seen from different perspectives, it may resonate in different manners for different people in different forms in (people relating it to) different experiences.
Death is, in general, understood as something transformative rather than as a termination, or even still, I personally hold the view of death as an archetype of relief, terminus, the end of suffering, and therefore the start of something better (This is speaking in a metaphorical sense).
We can see this with the symbolism of the Death (XIII) Tarot card, representing a transformation, change, or metamorphosis in your life. Too may this concept be seen in the archetype of the Hero’s journey (which for the record DOES work BUT you need to boil it down to the base archetypes that make it up until there’s no point in it being its own discrete concept), wherein there is a pivotal dilemma or complication, out of which the ‘Hero’ comes changed in some irreversible form, represented in the original version of the hero’s journey as being a “Death” such that the hero may be reborn as a new (more mature, as the original Hero’s journey archetype is proposed to be the structure of coming of age stories) person.
We may see that selfsame conceit in how Death is used as a concept in Project Moon, namely Solemn Lament and Angela's being titled the “Pale Librarian of Death”; we may too see death in the form of a mercy, as I mentioned my personal preference earlier, within Project Moon’s games themselves.
Notably, In ‘String Theocracy’ and ‘Poems of a Machine’:
“When does it end for me? / think I am done with everything / now I’m ready to leave [///] When I no longer can live on knowledge alone”
“I stopped for death / guess there's no place for my silicone flesh”
,respectively,
From this we can see the same base theme or concept of “Death” portrayed in two different manners, transformation and termination. Understanding the polymorphism of any given theme is important such that you don’t fall into the trap of having a single linear understanding of said concept—without either willingness or potential to come to an understanding of another’s viewpoint.
The key takeaway from this is that it is important to realise that all characters, ideas, themes and, in totality, stories, hold their own symbols and themes in and by nature of their being. To assume concavity wherein a story makes explicit intention as simulacra alluding to nothing beheld is frankly, juvenile.
There is no course of sweet nothings and fancy words that I have spared for this, it is frankly foolish to assume that *an* answer, let alone the *correct* answer (let alone the folly to assume there is such a thing as the “correct” answer) to the thematic relevance of any given concept to be “nothing”.
In the words of Lobotomy E.G.O::Hornet [Alteration] Meursault:
“Instead of deferring the definition to its rifle form, peer into the core essence of “Hornet”.
Epoché”
And I am fully aware I have beaten the gift horse all the way to water, but it still is important that you heed and drink of your own accord, wherein you try to keep as open a mind as possible to ideas that contradict your own because there can and always will be more to something than you yourself have discerned.
I didn’t become good at analysis (end of sentence /hj)
on my own, I listened to other peoples ideas and my own, and actively tried. Tis a skill to be honed more than it is something born with, babies are notoriously only good at identifying two themes, “mama” and “dada”, but you, as a grown person, can recognise an array more than that.
If not, how did a baby get on Tumblr? Whose child is this?
What I mean to say is that while I find it foolish to assume the fact of nothing when discussions of implication arise, I am at the end of the day a humble guide, and I cannot blame one for their circumstances, unless they are wallowing in it (COUGH COUGH RIEN).
The largest hotbed for what some may generously call “Discussions” of that nature is centred around the mirrored themes present throughout and within Canto 8 and 9 alike; The Birds and the (Bastard) Oracle's Proxy
In truth, this same key theme is present throughout Project Moon as a whole, as we discussed before, reduce these two ideas into what they are at base.
A loss of bodily autonomy, a loss of freedom, and, in the words of Project Moon themselves, “Enforced Ideology and/or actions”. (second from the bottom right hand side)
Freedom of mind and body. Or conversely, the loss of control over your own self and body.
While there is a further level of connection between these two, and such is the reason behind their hotly… “Debated”, if you can call it that, nature, being the implicit sexual nature of the two, I will not be discussing such in further detail as of this post, however in following time I may, (likely some time away given how slow I am at writing) regardless they are not important in this section aside from the lip service to their existence.
Now, as we have the key, cornerstone idea which these concepts and events portray, we may work backwards and create an argument or thesis.
Such are the first number of steps in the process of analysis at least in this nature.
Observation; identify themes or ideas which occur in isolated incident or recur throughout the story.
1: Research; dissect how, where, and what/why the theme is present in these moments. In my personal recommendation, if you have multiple instances of this selfsame motif, (and it is not the foremost symbol of the story) first you do as before and identify their intent and implications on their lonesome, and connect the reduced forms from hence.
This works most effectively in lengthier stories, most notably those that tackle a large number of themes such as Project Moon’s trilogy.
In works that are more narrowed in scope, such as the source books themselves, it is more effective to simply track how the idea follows along in the overall arc of the novel, and the most notable points of occurrence.
E.g, You don’t need to justify every single detail or choice of wording, so long as you can gather the general effect of the words in tandem, and the manner in which the chosen concept is represented and/or challenged at a certain point.
Such is to say that while yes the curtains may just be blue (gods I hate that phrase), if it's the tenth time the book calls attention to said colour, perhaps pay a tad more attention.
Interrogation: this step is somewhat unintuitive and takes some getting used to, much like certain other things, knowing how to do it well on your own is certainly good, but it's nowhere near the same as having another person to do it with you.
This is to say that this step encompasses peer review, devil’s advocacy, and counterarguments.
Peer review is fairly simple and something that most should be passingly familiar with, converse with someone who you know about the thesis you’ve drawn and see what their comments on the matter are, how do they see these connections/theme(s) and do they come to the same conclusions as you?
Devil’s advocacy is the ability to purposefully take on the role, which is to say that to do this properly you must understand the rationale behind another's conclusions or arguments, where you purposefully go through the thought processes of what would a person who disagrees with your thesis say.
This is a mental exercise that like above may be done in groups or by your lonesome, unlike the previous however this one takes more experience to achieve property to the same extent without making a strawman of another’s viewpoint, which then inadvertently results in your argument being blindsided to criticism of that sort, however the good news is that simply coming to understand different viewpoints on its own reinforces your understanding, even in lieu of disagreeing with your sel(ves).
Counterarguments is something that is derived from the previous two, which is to say, make like a schoolyard brat playing superheroes and counter any and all potential counters; This step is also known as prolepsis, and with the prior two aspects in tandem you should be readily able to predict, and then defend from arguments that you may receive in return.
For an example of this kind of thing, look up Prolepsis on my tumblr blog and you should see one I made for an unfinished Rien based project.
Part of what I mean to say in this is that at all points you should be able to reason and question with yourself:
“What is another possible explanation?”
“Is there any reason (that I may see) why I could reject this thesis?”
“Does it cohere?”
Only when you fail to discredit yourself do you then proceed to further points such as an expansion of said thesis or argument
Miniature Depiction Below:
Thesis: The Funeral of Dead Butterflies is a trans allegory.
2. Support:
Transformative imagery of death,
butterflies are trapped within their own chrysalis which is their coffin, there will come a day where the butterflies may live as they should mirroring the concept of transitioning.
3. Alternative hypotheses:
Funeral of Dead Butterflies uses death and the entrapment within the cocoon as imagery and critique of capitalism:
“Does this reading contradict the proposed thesis?”: no
(Can they coexist, yes)
The Funeral of Dead Butterflies is a/the incarnation of literal death
This reading may coexist and does not contradict the proposed idea. Death inherently is a transformative agent.
4. Prolypsis (predicted counterarguments, and counter-counter arguments):
A: The Funeral’s story doesn’t focus on the nature of death as inherently good to happen, there are several lines about mourning the dead and the mourner too was lost to the same cause which is a negative outcome:
The dialogue lines do however directly connect transformation with death and rebirth as butterflies
The death of the butterflies is a peaceful one
Limbus Company skill name shows that the death is indeed to be celebrated “Solemn Lament for the living” “Celebrations to the departed”, as well as in Ruina when in abnormality battle using the page “Lament” it spake:
“Grief for the dead, and early lament for the living."
,the grief is implicated to be had by the dead FOR the living, with the death granting peace, as well as the line (same circumstance):
"An eternal rest… May you rest in peace.”
The theme of “entrapment” is in at least Angela’s perception, or “resonance” not due to the nature of the butterflies (which reflect death and transformation) but their place without death in the facility of Lobotomy corporation, and her lack of death within it:
"The fragile wings will keep fluttering, waiting for an end that must exist somewhere."
"What did they do wrong? What did I do wrong?" ( – Angela, using Solemn Lament)
A: Transformation is not inherently a trans theme:
Does not contradict the concept that *this* form of transformation is a transgender theme.
Butterflies in other places of Project Moon media have been used to depict liminality and entrapment. The combination of two transformative themes, and three themes of entrapment/freedom in tandem make a strong argument such that it carries these themes.
The transformation of butterflies is to represent a transition into a peaceful state, one that as Yi Sang states is to be celebrated:
“Celebrations for the Departed” ( – Lobotomy Headquarters E.G.O::Solemn Lament Yi Sang Skill 2 name)
This is the end of part 1 and as homework for those of you who make it this far, send me an abnormality (or other character, I’m not picky) from Project Moon alongside at least a justification for what they represent/are allegorical for and why.
Or don’t I’m not your mom nor your teacher. (unless you're an abnormality? I mean my name is Carmen so I guess I am the mother in that case?)
