Milkly

Kazui forced himself to conform to a restrictive and conservative society despite not fitting the mold of what society and his family wanted him to be in the first place. He was raised and expected to be a strong man, just like his family of police officers. Kazui desiring to be more effemenate, to be the more submissive, would cause him to be ostracized.

But even then so many people on the audience expected him to be the strong man and protect everyone just like his conservative family and society around him. And when he couldn't fulfill that role, all the blame for the dead trio's deaths fell onto him. "Why didnt kazui protect them?" "It’s his responsibility as the strong adult man." When in reality, this was never his fault or responsibility in the first place.

Of course it's not just him, our criticisms of and expectations on Yuno resembles her life when everyone viewed her as just a "poor girl" that didn't understand.

Our backlash at Fuuta, mimicking when he was ostrosized and cancelled after his crime. Even the rejection of him as a person, not even just in a crime related sense.

Amane's abuse and punishment being mimicked through our guilty vote.

Even Mikoto's dehumanization due to having DID. The way that societal dehumanization leaks into Mikoto and John’s own view of themselves. And how their interpretations were shown to us through MeMe by referencing and mimicing famous western horror movies (and ones that are specifically known to demonize DID), ultimately affecting how the audience viewed them as well.

The first image is a comparison of a famous shower scene from the movie “Psycho” and the shower scene in “MeMe” “Psycho” is infamous for its harmful portrayal of DID.

Meme and Double seem to both take inspiration from slasher films, a horror sub genre that typically includes a killer stalking and murderering a group of people. The “murder of a group of people” is present in double, whether or not it’s an accurate representation of what really happened with Mikoto/John or not. The MVs are a reference to horror movies, not saying they’re the reality of what happened (Especially considering Mikoto+John’s deeply ingrained internalized prejudice). Additionally, many others have pointed out that there are many implications of stalking and the idea of being watched throughout MeMe. (This great post again by purgemarchlockdown talks about the protagonist being stalked through a peephole). This of course could be symbolism for Mikoto’s constant performance and masking but may also be referencing slasher films in that way.

For example, the placement of the cameras and filter in the third image implies a security camera being pointed inside Mikoto’s apartment for some reason.

The sexuality present in MeMe is also crucial because of how revolutionary Psycho was regarding showing outward sexuality and violence. Many scenes were censored back then due to the showing sexuality or violence on screen being seen as so taboo. MeMe being the more gruesome MV by far at the time in t1 probably added to that idea. Mikoto’s undressing scene in MeMe may also mirror a scene where the female protagonist in Psycho undresses as the killer watches her through a peephole, as mentioned with the stalking topic earlier.

Another part of Psycho’s and slasher films in general’s popularity was the idea that the killer looked and acted like a regular, nice guy. The “fear” that these movies prayed on was the idea that “the killer could walk among us.” Mikoto was always depicted as just a “regular guy,” which is what made the shock when MeMe came out even greater.

The killer in Psycho also has a very domineering mother, which was partially a cause of his development of DID. We know Mikoto’s mother is very important to him but we know little about her or Mikoto’s past at this point in time. So I don’t know if this point will go anywhere in the future.