Gone Home Reactions:
As a fan of horror play throughs (although I am too scared to play on my own haha), Gone Home was an interesting experience. It was not a horror game in the sense that there was a monster chasing after you, but it did have a creepy vibe to it, due to the dark lighting, thunder outside, and the antiquated house. I think that this element adds to the overarching theme of queerness. Sam, the sister, was going through a confusing time of adolescence and her identity. This was emphasized by her “rebellious phase” of listening to rock and sneaking out with her first love. This, coupled with feeling unaccepted by her parents, might be why we see the house as this horrifying, creepy place. It just didn’t have the warmth and security of a home because it wasn’t the right place where Sam could be who she is. The theme of home applied to us in a literal sense (we came home and uncover the mysteries) but it also applied to the parents (leaving home to go to couple therapy) because the “home” was breaking apart for them. Lastly it of course applies to Sam most of all, she ran away from the house to be with her true home, Lottie. This game is a lot like the coming out simulator by Nicky Case. The player doesn’t really have an option, as by the end we find out all the events have already taken place and really we are just by-standing viewers. It touched on the similar subject of homophobia (parents stating its just a phase and lover is a bad influence) as well as acceptance through oneself, despite what others believe. To me this game also connects to the newer reading by Audre Lorde in the sense that being true to oneself, or speaking out and rebelling, is the only way to make change. This is why Lorde’s story, despite being silent and complacent for so long, as well as the story in Gone Home, is so important to tell.
“Tell them about how you’re never really a whole person if you remain silent, because there’s always that one little piece inside you that wants to be spoken out, and if you keep ignoring it, it gets madder and madder and hotter and hotter, and if you don’t speak it out oneday it will just up and punch you in the mouth from the inside.” Lorde pg. 42
This line emphasizes the rebellious spirit that the Riot Girls Movement was about. It is a defiant cry against societal norms, such as patriarchy or in the case of Lorde also heteronormativity. It went hand in hand with art, as it was an expressive movement (music, zine), which we see in the game through cassette players, posters, and writing of Sam.
Ideas for research paper:
Something that I would like to explore for my project is the feminist art movement of the 1900s, which I am using as a stepping stone for my art project in a different class. I think it might be fun to learn more about it. Another idea is exploring the concept of virginity and how it plays into gender. Possible culture artifacts for the feminist movement are art works by Miriam Shapiro, Judith Butler, Frida Kahlo, etc. while an artifact for virginity could be common tropes in popular media (virginity as a rite of passage, stigma if still virgin by certain age, etc)
