Symbols and Themes in Mother 3: Intro

(NOTE: All of these post are filled with spoilers. Do not look if you don't want anything spoiled)

I'll be blunt, despite what people beleive, there are few videogames that have a respectable story. When I say respectable, I mean ones that could compare to the timeless novels such as "Moby-Dick" and "Of Mice and Men". Of the top of my head, I could only say two really stand out.

The first is the Metal Gear Solid franchise, or at least the first. The story, as opposed to the other one, is more straight forward. I place it here becuase it does what all great novels do; it tries to bring question of something real. The game focused on the modern threat of nuclear war, new modern weapons that could destroy everything in the blink of an eye, and DNA, something few books have spoken of since it's still relatively new. The themes and symbols do stick out and may not be to the level or the great authors you have in your literature class. No, this is becuase Kojima has a message, but he is not an author. He is not one who has a way with words and can play with his story. He can't take his world and make it speak to you, but there is someone who can.

The man is Itoi Shigesato. Interestingly enough, not only is he a Japanese philosopher and author, he is also the man behind the Mother series (Earthbound over here). His mind set is that of a philosopher rather then an author, but this is also what drives his mindset both as writing a story and expressing it. I, myself, have an analytical mind; I have to drill into everything. So, knowing he writes, I dawned on me that the story of these games is more then just a quirky little story, but rather one with a rather deep message.

Out of the three Mother games (Earthbound here) I will be looking at Mother 3. Why you ask? This one, as opposed to the other two, has an interestingly open, yet hidden, message. The idea is laid out in front of you, clearly on a table in clear view, but the symbols lie beyond what is seen. This is the nature of stories. Look at "The Great Gastby". The story leads you to an idea of mad consumerism, but the symbols are never as clear. The character, Gastby, is the embodiment of this idea, being one with fancy clothes, and driving fancy cars, but he lacks grace. He is consumerism. Now, we could take it one step farther and find a small item that helps push the meaning, but we'll stop there. The point is that these symbols are all pushing some deeper message. Sometimes that message is quite clear, but you may not know what the hidden meanings in the objects and characters. Much like these novels, Mother 3 has a greater meaning pushed by those little symbols, many that may have been missed.

There are two major themes in Mother 3. The first is that seen in the other games and that is friendship. I will stray away from this one becuase there is little on it and it's been done before (not just in other Mother games but also all other JRPGs). The one I wish to focus on is the idea of "Man vs Nature". It's not like "Moby-Dick," with a man (man) trying to fight a whale (nature). This on is the idea of industrialization verses the natural world. The game tries to drive home that nature is taken for granted (especially in the US) as we continue to run our industrialized machine. The industrialization of the world is shown as harmful to the entire existence of it, and that there needs to be a balance struck with man and the natural world. It is this new threat that moves in with their technology to make it a pretty bleak place when the people of the world were already happy.

Now, remember that this is all MY interpretation of the symbols in the game. Like all literary analysis, I have no way to tell what the author meant with anything. While Itoi Shigesato is still alive (opposed to many works where the writer is physically dead), he lives in a far away country and I can't speak it's language. So, it's like he is dead to me. With that in mind, remember that what I say is what I think. You are free to disagree or interpret things differently, and I hope you use the comment box to do so.

I hope everyone enjoys my look at what is a deep analysis of a seemingly simple game. As they say, let's see how far this rabbit hole goes.