#ena analysis

And on the other hand, meanie ENA is more robotic looking, which feels like it should be the opposite. You’d expect the job-oriented people-pleasing side to be the more angular/digital/robotic side, and the emotional side to be more human, but it’s not. I’d also assume that the angry emotional side would be red like a warning sign, but instead she’s a pale silvery white. And she has fully articulated hands and fingers, which makes sense because they’re sort of like claws, but it’s odd that sales ENA doesn’t.

And there’s definitely some things that fit, like sales ENA is softer while meanie ENA is sharper, but in general I feel like I would typically expect them to be switched. I’d expect the more robotic looking side to be more goal oriented and less emotional, and the more human looking side to be more emotional and less goal oriented.

Idk if it means something, but I think there’s something to be said about dehumanization and how ENA is only seen as a worthy part of society when she’s useful. Sales ENA is more human, softer, more palatable, and more colorful. Sales ENA is the side that’s meant to be seen. Meanwhile, meanie ENA is sharper, less human, meant to be pushed to the side and forgotten. Your eye is probably going to be drawn to the red side first. And that makes sense! Sales ENA is usually talking more and leading the conversation. She’s human, she’s soft, she’s helpful! The other part of ENA is less human, less worthy, not helpful to anyone. (I know most characters aren’t “human” but I mean symbolically, y’know?)

And I think there’s also something to be said about the voices. Ena is one character, and she’s a woman, but sales ENA has a masculine voice and meanie ENA’s voice is feminine. I feel like there could be something there about how when women are emotional they’re seen as erratic or over the top and it’s “typical woman behavior”. ENA is a woman, but she’s only seen as useful when she’s taking on what is considered a more masculine role— a worker. But despite that, her useful side still needs to be soft. Strong and useful, but never threatening.

the stillborn theory: according to circe (correct me if i'm wrong at any parts)

in ENA: DREAM BBQ, ena meets the shaman who after a completed job (i think, i didnt watch that part lol), gives her the humanboard and says, "you've birthed it!", a child who constantly helps ena by being a bridge for her, and a noticeable detail is that she mostly (correct me if i'm wrong) uses her white hand to bring out, the hand that she uses when she points or does things she wants and not for business or jobs.

Additionally… Everything about this game is themed around eating. So when ENA says she’s looking for the BOSS and that the BOSS’s guts are her “work target” so many people seem to think she wants to kill the boss.

Does NOBODY think that with the title “Dream BBQ” that all ENA actually wants to do is have a BBQ with the boss?

I wanna talk about ENA Dream BBQ, but it’s really hard to do so since it’s so disjointed. It’s difficult to stitch together meaning but I feel like there is meaning there. Since it’s an abstract piece of work it’s not a literal 1:1 metaphor or message, there’s some teasing you need to do to get meaning out of it.

I think ENA Dream BBQ is at its heart about the seemingly pointlessness of life and how we find meaning and ways to go through it anyway. But to explain why I think the best way to analyze this media is to just make some observations and connect a few dots near the end.

ENA’s duality.

Let’s start with ENA herself. She has two conflicting personalities express through her white and red face. A salesperson side and a mean side. Her salesperson side is trying to constantly find opportunities and ways to coax information out of people. While her Meanie side is abrasive and impatient and wants information NOW.

The “BOSS”

ENA is searching for “the boss.” She wants to find the man in charge because she has business with him, and that could literally be a metaphor for someone trying to find meaning in their own life.

In ENA’s goal to find the boss many characters claim to be the boss, but none of them actually are. If we assume that the phrase “the boss” (aka: the man in charge) is a synonym for God, then it becomes interesting who claims to be the boss and who doesn’t.

Finding Fullfilment

Dratula, a coin cat, a hands demon, a wooden horse, and a vending machine all claim to be “the boss.” And each one could represent things that people use to find meaning in their lives. For example: Dratula could represent superstition. The hands demon talks about fame and stalking celebrities. The money cat is originally a piggy bank that breaks and talks about saving up to party irresponsiblely. The wooden horse talks about babies and pets. And the vending machine offers material goods.

But none of these things will offer TRUE fulfillment. They’re more akin to distractions or obligations. They’re optional goals to aspire towards but aren’t necessary for you to be happy. You don’t need money, material goods, children, pets, fame, or a belief in the supernatural to be happy. They can offer you happiness but they aren’t necessities.

Jobs

There’s a strong emphasis on the importance of having a job. Many characters bemoan the loss of a job, are discouraged they can’t fulfill their job, are avoiding their jobs, or are very proud of their job. For example: It’s “sad” that the Taxi driver can’t do his job without his heads. Coral Glasses just wants to do her job without “anxiety.” Taski Maiden is “upset” she’s unemployed. Frog gets “angry” when you skirt your job duties.

Like the various things to fill your life with, having a job can give you a purpose. But again, It’s fleeting. You can lose your job at any time. It’s not really fulfilling either.

I think this is the reason why when ENA finds her way to the bathroom she’s at her lowest point and with a massive hole in her chest. She’s unfulfilled and in a zombie-like sickly trance. She’s tried to do odd jobs to find happiness and achieve her goals, but it hasn’t worked. Or she’s tried to skirt her goals and have fun, but that hasn’t worked either. She needs something to believe in.

Enter: The Bathroom

The bathroom is interesting. It is a daily ritual that everyone engages with and this could be seen as a stand in for religion. Certainly many of the ways characters talk about “going to the bathroom” sounds an awful lot like going to church. It’s also the most difficult route to take in the game, making you complete multiple odd side quests or to attempt to play Frogger to cross the river.

It’s also interesting who does or doesn’t support the bathroom. The Witches are searching for the bathroom. The Shaman Wizard wants to help you too. But Frog dislikes the bathroom because it takes time away from your “job.” Likewise many of the side characters who are kinda just running around aimlessly seem to have mixed feelings on the bathroom, which changes depending on the route you take.

It’s also interesting that ENA does not find salvation in the bathroom. She’s actually shunned from it and the Genie refuses to offer kindness for her, or her friends. The only thing the bathroom does help with is in achieving the goal of turning off the smoke.

If you take the Purge Event route, not only do many of the wayward souls you’ve met along the way go too, but you’ll be berated by Frog for ignoring your duties. ENA herself refers to going to the purge event as “craving freedom.”

Meaning Unfulfilled

And that’s where this all ties back together into trying to find meaning in your life. Everything in the game is trying to give ENA meaning as she searches for “the boss.” But none of it really works. After destroying the smoke she is adrift. It’s curious that NOW is when ENA finds herself in a nostalgic world from all her previous ENA videos. She’s in “Auction Day” again but it’s not the same. It’s just nostalgia for a simpler time. And slowly she starts to falter. Her body overcome by blocky pixels that ultimately consumer her.

The end of the game has her body revert to that of a blank mannequin and she falls into the “holy code.”

ENA Theories

And yet it’s not quite the end… because she comes back. The final post credit cut scene shows ENA resurrected by taking control of a blank mannequin that was lying lifeless at the start of the game in the hub world. This does seem to indicate that all of these blank mannequins lying around were previous forms of ENA. They’re often located around places where you as a player can die easily, like missing a jump or falling from the sky.

I actually dislike the “ENA is actually a species” theory because it feels like it’s trying to objectively explain abstract ideas. Since we see ENA cycle through a host of different forms INCLUDING her original yellow and blue form, I don’t think she’s a literal unique species but just a lost soul trying to find purpose and meaning. As a result her physical appearance and shape changes as she does.

If ENA is a species I don’t think that there are multiple ENA. But rather that ENA can jump from blank body to blank body. That could explain why her search for happiness hasn’t been successful yet and why other characters distrust her.

I also don’t like the “she’s a war criminal” theory either. I know there’s images in the game that hints at this, but I think for an ABSTRACT game that is far too LITERAL of a reading of things. Rather I think they’re suing the imagery of war as a way to show ENA’s emotional turmoil in trying to reach her goal of being fulfilled.

The settings of the game help with that interpretation. For example: The game begins with her in a desolate empty war-torn looking city of endlessly repeating houses. And at the beginning of the game she has no purpose yet. She goes to a casino, that offers cheap thrills and purpose, but it’s short lived and she eventually ventures out into a bigger world to find a purpose. This world is split, like her, into having one where purpose is given, or where you can ignore your purpose. Literally one half of the world is laying on top of the other. The bathroom is sterile and empty and nauseating to get to, but offers no fulfillment either. And finally she ends the game in a nostalgic trip to previous videos right before she “dies.”

There’s probably a lot I’ve missed or glossed over. Nothing in this game is a 1:1 metaphor and there’s likely no real meaning behind a lot of it. Curious that a game about finding meaning in your life is told through the gameplay design of an abstract seemingly random and meaningless story, no?

Not What He Seems

There’s only a few final thoughts that I wasn’t able to fit anywhere else. The more I’ve played the game, the more I’ve come to distrust Frog. He’s one of the few characters who also acknowledges that others “aren’t the boss” and yet he acts like your boss through the entire game. He’s the only character that seems to care about the smoke from the genies, as none of the others mind it at all and some even like it. And the act of destroying the smoke machines feels… wrong. He’s also black and white which is a narrative and stylistic choice that gives me pause. Even Coral Glasses has some color in her Coral. But Frog? He’s black and white. He’s binary. He acts like the boss. He wants you to do something no one else minds or cares about to proceed forward. I do not trust him.