My thoughts on scene 11 in it's entirety
First off, I really want to give my praise to the devs for this update, because I think it's absolutely amazing. The reworked scenes are well thought out, and even the music changes are something that adds a whole new level to the playthrough. I think every change made was a very, very positive one. Scene 11 just stuck out to me specifically. It underwent the biggest change imo, and I could almost say I'm starstruck by it. The gameplay-esque style to it by the use of objectives, the hands in their 8-bit style, the way it further pushes Ivans abuse, AH! I love it, it might be my new favorite scene.
Mostly, though, I really love how it expands on how Ivans abuse was far more serious than a lot of the playerbase imagined(based on one play-through alone without diving into the community and lore). I am absolutely going to pick this apart in the coming days, but these are my initial thoughts after a few runs of it.
To preface, everything in this post will be my very lengthy, and very ramble-y interpretation of scene 11. This is just my uncut, vaguely organized, initial thoughts about it. Some information will be wrong, and I might not make sense. This is just me laying out what I'm thinking whether it be symbolism, what I noticed, etc. But I hope you have fun reading:)
Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean. -Maya Angelou
Introductory quote to scene 11.
Starting from the intro. Unpacking.
Andrew is giving full freedom to place his things where he likes, and the hands are hospitable; uninvolved, mostly. Andrew beinf given a key to be let into Ivans is something I saw as intimate. Generally, I imagined this as Ivan welcoming Andrew into his apartment and providing hospitality. The removal of the axe, the healthy plant, I envisioned it as Ivan allowing Andrews presence without any threat.
Oh, and now, The Work.
These aren't all of them(sorry!) These are only the ones I managed to screenshot, and/or the only ones I want to touch base about. I'm going to try to analyze them through my interpretation.
Exactly as as kings. Feeling full for it. Exactitude as kings. So to beseech you as full as for it.
This is actually something I recognize, LOL. It's a quote from 'If I Told Him, A Completed Portrait of Picasso' so realistically, this could be an example of a quote added into the game by Ivan. In it's most basic meaning, I believe it to be relating the subject(in this case, either Ivan or Andrew) to a king, and being overwhelmed with the power they hold over the other. The line 'So to beseech you as full as for it' is something akin to desperation to be accepted(?) from what I grasped. It's been awhile since I read the poem itself, but either way, it could fit either scenario.
I truly adore how this is how we're introduced to the 'work' aspect of the scene. I love how it can be viewed through the eyes of Ivan, who holds Andrew on this faux pedestal, or Andrew, who is subordinate to Ivan because he's currently living in Ivan's home and has to grapple with not feeling like he's asking too much of his friend. I'm leaning towards it being a quote from Ivan, however, since we are just now beginning the scene, I don't believe that Andrew held any fear or resentment towards Ivan just yet.
I'm choosing not to include the ["He keeps adding quotes"] line, I think it's self explanatory enough. But I would like to mention the hand pointing to the computer, which I understand as Ivan forcing Andrew to work. In my opinion, the TV slowly turning more red might either be build-up for their fallout on Christmas Eve, Ivan's abuse and it's progression, or building resentment from Andrew as he grows more tired his work gets sloppier(Seen in later quotes; he stops capitalizing sentences & using proper grammar). This is just what I noticed, though. It might not mean anything, it might mean more.
covered in ticks and cysts. i try to wipe it clean but it's not mine anymore. not entirely. My games are a mirror unto myself.
I figured this was about Andrew's game, but through the last line, I feel as though it also is something discussing his loss of autonomy. His games "mirror unto himself"," meaning they reflect him. Ivan controlling his games, means Ivan is controlling him. When his games are manipulated and no longer his, he can also explain how his choices, his schedule, and even himself as a person, is not his own.
After this quote, Ivan breaks the couch, likely symbolizing that Ivan kicked Andrew off of it. This instills the fear in the next quote, but he then points to the computer; this is where I believe the physical abuse--via sleep deprivation, or worse--begins, or it at least reaches a height in which it becomes noticeable.
knocking, always knocking and shouting and slamming doors. I've been sleeping in the bathroom. I'm not safe here.
This is insanely important to me because this was something that I think only dedicated players knew about(hiding in the bathroom) until now, and I'm very happy that it's general information. If someone couldn't catch the atrocities Ivan put Andrew through, they'll catch it now.
What I really love about scene 11 is how in-your-face it is about Ivan's abuse, and how his unreliable narrative is so twisted from what the truth is through his actual victim's eyes.
Andrew's first expression of fear, or acknowledgment that he cannot stay, is during this I believe; [I'm not safe here]. And it does everything for the story. It reinforces the fact that Andrew is in constant danger when he isn't working, and that Ivan is more relentless in his abuse. This is likely because he was forced into hiding the night prior. Psychological abuse has taken a nastier turn into something physical, something for Andrew to be afraid of.
Somewhere in my notes I fucked up the timeline, but Ivan eventually blocks off Andrews exit and Andrew hides out of fear. Ivan either, A) physically attacked him, as the hand shows, B) it symbolizes that Ivan took away the safety the bathroom gave Andrew. This could mean breaking the lock, breaking the door, etc, or C) berated and psychologically tormented Andrew until he felt that the bathroom was no longer safe for him to hide in. I'm leaning towards a mixture of A and B, but that's my interpretation.
Scrape free the bloody mess. These quotes are nothing to me. Nothing to me and everything to you.
Ivan's entitlement to Andrew's game and Andrew as a person. He adds things to Andrew's game because he believes he has the right to, he forces Andrew to work because he believes he has the right to. Andrew tries to fight it for awhile, hence the scraping. But generally, it's something so insistent--one might say malignant--that it's a futile attempt.
I would also like to say it zeroes in on Ivan's obsession. The quotes in Andrew's game really is everything to Ivan. It's insignificant to Andrew, but its a bother. The quotes mean nothing but Ivan believes they add everything. Andrew--or Ivan's idea of Andrew--is Ivan's entire world.
Likewise, scraping his game free of Ivan's contamination(in this case, the quotes)--then paralleled by freeing himself of Ivan's contamination(in that case, his abuse & manipulation)--shows me Andrew's desire to leave. He acknowledges that something is wrong, and yet he's stuck.
I saw the removal of the cysts via the game to be Andrew removing Ivans quotes & any contamination he left on the game, simple enough.
The physical removal of cysts with the hammer is a little more interpretive. I, personally, saw it in a way in which Andrew is finding ways to heal himself or potentially even fight back against Ivan's manipulation and abuse.
When Ivan takes the hammer, he's taking Andrew's weapon; whether this be his voice, his ability to choose things, freedom, his computer, etc etc, he no longer has it. Whatever Ivan stole, it had to be retrieved from an area of high danger, which, I assume to either be his room, or bargaining with Ivan himself. Regardless, when Andrew retrieved it, it could be interpreted a symbol of freedom.(The hammer was placed at the door of the inverted apartment.) Since this scene overlaps multiple others, I think this might translate to scene 9 during the portion where Andrew is looking at the sky(?) He's not surrendering yet, or leaving, but he's finding peace. I would say the ["Don't get caught"] portion would translate to the Fire in scene 9.
Speaking of, I think the ["Don't get caught."] portion of scene 11 is the most self explanatory; it's Andrews almost literal interpretation of the end of scene 9, and the entirety of scene 10. They fight and he thinks he is in genuine danger, in which he is. The white door upon completion of the ending, where he can leave, is likely when Ivan left, himself. Axes and knives are still falling and I'm assuming they can be interpreted as the volume of Ivan's actions finally falling down upon him until he takes it upon himself to leave.
Generally, there is more to scene 11 than what I talked about here. My thoughts are messy, I'm afraid. But everything past this point is general things I noticed.
The open ceiling. The ceiling allows for Ivan to be watching Andrew the entire time. Constant surveillance. The only room that has a roof above it is the bathroom, which we know as Andrew's safe space, up until it isn't. We know 2 things for certain; an open roof or blood means danger. In the case of the bathroom, I don't believe the ceiling ever disappears, but it is so ruined beyond comprehension that it is no longer viable once Ivan contaminates it.
Similarly, the ring of hands surrounding the mouth in the sky has, in a sense, captivated me? I've been trying to figure out if the symbols they're making mean anything, but I haven't gotten to that yet. Regardless, I think it's a good idea of how Andrew viewed Ivan throughout the abuse. His Mouth and Hands were the two parts of himself that had the possibility to injure Andrew, it was what he hsd to be afraid of. We never interact with 'The Mouth,' but we're constantly aware that it's lingering above us. The hands, on the other hand(haha.) Are the main perpetrators. They guide Andrew early on, and hurt him, later.
A different way of seeing this is in the sense that he has no eye so he cannot see what he's doing with his hands. He has no ears so he doesn't have to hear what he says. It's a different way fo him to abstain from the guilt. 'If I didn't hear/see it then it didn't happen, you're making it up.' Gaslighting & manipulation 101.
^Trying to figure out what's behind them in the sky? Plus what's hanging from them? I feel like I'm missing something, but I can't tell what it is.
Well, on the same note, Ivan's room is consistently 'bloodied.' It is the first room to be completely surrounded by the sludge that we can recognize as danger. I believe Cactus mentioned it in an ask once, or in the discord, but Ivan's room was completely off-limits to Andrew because it housed Ivan himself. Because the hands also give off this sludge--such as when the hands pounded on the floor and left a mark--it gives me reason to believe that areas Ivan frequents, or areas Ivan has steered Andrew away from, are marked with the substance.
What I have yet to discern the meaning of is the inverted apartment when Andrew has to retrieve the hammer. It's somewhere close to Ivan, and it's highly dangerous. But at the same time, completely closed off. This is why I say the hammer is metaphorical for something like Andrews voice, because the act of speaking up against Ivan is dangerous, but it also allows for freedom.
EDIT: After discussion with other fans, I've picked up on the interpretation as the inverted apartment being Ivan's apartment should Andrew have stayed. It's effectively what's left in the aftermath of their fallout, and Andrew has to confront this, and Ivan's abuse, to recognize that he has to leave. The removal of the cysts is coping rather than healing. Andrew has to eventually face what Ivan is doing, and what will come of it, to continue, but in the face of it, he realizes that he has to leave.
There isn't a clean summary to this, if I'm being honest. But I like how us, as players, get to see Ivan's abuse through Andrews lense in a way that doesn't appear to be such a heavy metaphor. If anything, I think this might be one of the more straight-forward scenes. Being given insight towards Andrew's psyche during the abuse rather than before or after is something I've been looking towards since I played Bad Things for the first time, and I'm just really glad we got to see it. Having dashes of clarity throughout a story with an unreliable narrator is something that I don't think can be pulled off very cleanly, but Bad Things did it well :).
I think scene 11 is a wonderful interpretation of Andrew's trauma. Ivan dirtying areas of the apartment and the fear he instilled in Andrews is so visceral and painfully accurate that I had to take a few minutes to unpack it before even thinking about writing anything. The physical manifestation of Ivan contaminating the things he touches is deeply important, and very reminiscent of how trauma can manifest in an environment that one can't leave. Andrew compartmentalized these areas as danger-zones that couldn't be touched, anywhere from Ivan's room, to the bathroom, to the area on the floor where he punched, and eventually the entire apartment.
Andrew fled when the entire apartment was a 'danger zone,' even when every crucial area before that was already 'bloodied.' He was stuck in an environment where he had no escape from his tormentor, and he continually tortured himself with his fear of leaving. Though that wasn't a fault of his own; he was punished for trying to leave.
Another edit from more discussion, the symbolism of the Axe and Hammer. An axe can be a tool used for good; firefighters, for example. Ivan already has a heavy connection to this aspect. At the end of the day, however, they will never be used for building. Axes can only tear things down. Hammers, on the other hand, are renowned for building or mending. And in theory, they should work well together. Expelling the bad and rebuilding what they need to.
But they don't, because the Axe thinks it has a predisposition to be awful. The Hammer can try to cover this up and rebuild what the axe tore down, but it can't, not forever, at least. We've known Ivan as The Axe since the very beginning; it's crucial to him. But Andrew as a Hammer is new. The double-meaning imagery throughout the entire game is something I want to look into more, but the Axe and Hammer is something new to the game, so I thought I'd start(and end) there for now.
My conclusion was supposed to be 5 paragraphs ago.
All in all, these are my thoughts on scene 11. Some of this will be very wrong and maybe overthought, but it's fun to think about. I missed Bad Things more than I'd like to admit, so it was nice to be able to think about it so in depth again after picking apart all I could of the original scenes. This is all in good fun for me. If you got this far, thanks for listening to me ramble.
If cactus is reading this sorry for probably totally butchering the meaning
