Today we look at The Sandman, the second part of the Strange Men series. But what is it about? That's what we're discussiing today!
The Sandman tells the story of Sophie Grundler, high school senior at an all-girls (implied to be) Catholic school. She has the usual problems: bullies, horrible teachers, cowardly 'friends' who won't stick by her when the going gets rough, a workaholic father, and a dead mother. Rather than mope over her situation, Sophie bottles it all in. This causes Sophie bouts of insomnia.
As her luck would have it, one night, as her body refuses to sleep, she notices her clock stopping. The world feels eerily quiet; she goes out and finds that everything has stopped. The world is asleep and nobody is waking up. Terrified, Sophie searches for answers, but soon finds much more than she bargained for. A night of insomnia leads this young girl to an unforgettable adventure...
The Sandman, in my opinion, is inferior to The Crooked Man in terms of scares. Halfway through the game, the atmosphere becomes significantly less frightening, less tense, and it's more of an Alice in Wonderland vibe. This is not a good thing, as The Crooked Man was always tense, and in fact the rest of the quartology REMAINS tense and frightening to various levels.
However, in terms of emotionally rewarding stories, The Sandman is just as good as The Crooked Man, for different reasons. The Crooked Man was a story that spoke about depression, as did The Sandman. But HOW these stories treat depression, and more importantly Mental Health and Self Care, is where we need to make distinctions.
The main message behind The Crooked Man was "forgive your own short comings; your failures don't define you." But the Sandman says something different, and THAT message is just as important for the audience to not just listen to, but to apply to their lives.
Sophie's main problem is that she bottles her emotions. Everything that upsets her, every sadness, every pang of anger, gets bottled up and thrown away. She refuses to share her feelings with others, including her own father, in hopes of not being a burden. However, bottling up negative emotions wears away at our minds, our souls, and so we harm ourselves by keeping our negative emotions in check.
Wait, let me use another term, because emotions shouldn't be called "negative." Emotions, ALL emotions, are valid. Anger, Fear, Disgust, Sadness, these are all equally valid emotions. We shouldn't reject them, we should embrace them, accept them, and if they are not convenient, we need to find out WHY we are feeling them. What is it that makes me feel Sad? What can I do to fix this?
But Sophie doesn't deal with her emotions in a positive, constructive way. She lets her emotions bubble up inside her, refusing to deal with them effectively. And it all began with the death of her mother.
Not long after Sophie's mother passed, her father began to overwork himself. One fateful day, he falls ill and nearly dies himself. Sophie's aunt, in a misguided attempt to console her niece, tells Sophie "if you're a good girl, daddy will get better." But Sophie misunderstands what she meant, and so she began bottling up her emotions, all in a long-forgotten attempt to be a "good girl" so her father wouldn't fall ill. But what did this get her?
Nothing but insomnia. Sophie's refusal to express her emotions has done nothing for her. She doesn't express her disappointment in her former friend, who now bullies and torment sher daily. She doesn't express her anger over how her "friend" Anne doesn't stand up for her IN SPITE of the fact that Sophie gets bullied RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. She doesn't express how hurt she is that her crush, David Hoover, is involved with someone else. But most of all? She refuses to express just how deeply hurt she is by her father overworking himself. She doesn't want to tell him that the one thing she fears most is losing her dad the way she lost her mom.
The other message in The Sandman is a warning about overworking yourself. This is seen in most incidental characters; from Sophie's father, to the various fairies Sophie meets, to the eponymous Sandman himself. This theme of overworking the self is clear cut and unmistakeable; in fact, it's pretty much spelled out to the player. DON'T OVERWORK YOURSELF! TAKE BREAKS NOW AND THEN! OVERWORKING YOURSELF IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH! And honestly? The game is all the better for it.
When you put these two messages together, you get one clear cut, simple message: take care of yourself. It's as simple as that; four words, but together they send a powerful message. What does it mean to take care of oneself? What is self care?
Self care is doing things that are important for your health. It's not just following healthy dieting and regular exercises, it's doing things like taking breaks, resting, and of course, doing what's best for us. This includes, of course, expressing our emotions in a constructive manner.
It's OK to be sad. It's OK to cry when you're feeling overwhelmed. It's OK to feel disappointed, angry, hurt, scared. These emotions matter. In fact, to paraphrase something I've learned from Tumblr, emotions are like the car lights that flash whenever something's wrong. And like any car afficionado can tell you, ignoring these warning signs is detrimental to your car; you must address the issues ASAP if you want to keep your car in tip top shape. In the same way, you shouldn't ignore your emotions, you should accept and address them. If you're angry, find out WHY and then do something about it. What is it that is making you sad?
Ultimately, The Sandman is a modern fable about the need for self care. That alone makes it one of the most important games anyone could ever play. In this day and age of hyper-consumption, of unpaid internships and student loan debt being considered not only acceptable, but NORMAL, it is important for people to understand that they need to care for themselves, to not work themselves to death. Deal with your emotions in a healthy, constructive way. Don't destroy yourself.
Don't destroy yourself.
That's actually the main moral of the entire Strange Men series, when I think about it. But...I;m thinking of expanding on that idea next week, when we tackle The Boogie Man.
As her luck would have it, one night, as her body refuses to sleep, she notices her clock stopping. The world feels eerily quiet; she goes out and finds that everything has stopped. The world is asleep and nobody is waking up. Terrified, Sophie searches for answers, but soon finds much more than she bargained for. A night of insomnia leads this young girl to an unforgettable adventure...
The Sandman, in my opinion, is inferior to The Crooked Man in terms of scares. Halfway through the game, the atmosphere becomes significantly less frightening, less tense, and it's more of an Alice in Wonderland vibe. This is not a good thing, as The Crooked Man was always tense, and in fact the rest of the quartology REMAINS tense and frightening to various levels.
However, in terms of emotionally rewarding stories, The Sandman is just as good as The Crooked Man, for different reasons. The Crooked Man was a story that spoke about depression, as did The Sandman. But HOW these stories treat depression, and more importantly Mental Health and Self Care, is where we need to make distinctions.
The main message behind The Crooked Man was "forgive your own short comings; your failures don't define you." But the Sandman says something different, and THAT message is just as important for the audience to not just listen to, but to apply to their lives.
Sophie's main problem is that she bottles her emotions. Everything that upsets her, every sadness, every pang of anger, gets bottled up and thrown away. She refuses to share her feelings with others, including her own father, in hopes of not being a burden. However, bottling up negative emotions wears away at our minds, our souls, and so we harm ourselves by keeping our negative emotions in check.
Wait, let me use another term, because emotions shouldn't be called "negative." Emotions, ALL emotions, are valid. Anger, Fear, Disgust, Sadness, these are all equally valid emotions. We shouldn't reject them, we should embrace them, accept them, and if they are not convenient, we need to find out WHY we are feeling them. What is it that makes me feel Sad? What can I do to fix this?
But Sophie doesn't deal with her emotions in a positive, constructive way. She lets her emotions bubble up inside her, refusing to deal with them effectively. And it all began with the death of her mother.
Not long after Sophie's mother passed, her father began to overwork himself. One fateful day, he falls ill and nearly dies himself. Sophie's aunt, in a misguided attempt to console her niece, tells Sophie "if you're a good girl, daddy will get better." But Sophie misunderstands what she meant, and so she began bottling up her emotions, all in a long-forgotten attempt to be a "good girl" so her father wouldn't fall ill. But what did this get her?
Nothing but insomnia. Sophie's refusal to express her emotions has done nothing for her. She doesn't express her disappointment in her former friend, who now bullies and torment sher daily. She doesn't express her anger over how her "friend" Anne doesn't stand up for her IN SPITE of the fact that Sophie gets bullied RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. She doesn't express how hurt she is that her crush, David Hoover, is involved with someone else. But most of all? She refuses to express just how deeply hurt she is by her father overworking himself. She doesn't want to tell him that the one thing she fears most is losing her dad the way she lost her mom.
The other message in The Sandman is a warning about overworking yourself. This is seen in most incidental characters; from Sophie's father, to the various fairies Sophie meets, to the eponymous Sandman himself. This theme of overworking the self is clear cut and unmistakeable; in fact, it's pretty much spelled out to the player. DON'T OVERWORK YOURSELF! TAKE BREAKS NOW AND THEN! OVERWORKING YOURSELF IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH! And honestly? The game is all the better for it.
When you put these two messages together, you get one clear cut, simple message: take care of yourself. It's as simple as that; four words, but together they send a powerful message. What does it mean to take care of oneself? What is self care?
Self care is doing things that are important for your health. It's not just following healthy dieting and regular exercises, it's doing things like taking breaks, resting, and of course, doing what's best for us. This includes, of course, expressing our emotions in a constructive manner.
It's OK to be sad. It's OK to cry when you're feeling overwhelmed. It's OK to feel disappointed, angry, hurt, scared. These emotions matter. In fact, to paraphrase something I've learned from Tumblr, emotions are like the car lights that flash whenever something's wrong. And like any car afficionado can tell you, ignoring these warning signs is detrimental to your car; you must address the issues ASAP if you want to keep your car in tip top shape. In the same way, you shouldn't ignore your emotions, you should accept and address them. If you're angry, find out WHY and then do something about it. What is it that is making you sad?
Ultimately, The Sandman is a modern fable about the need for self care. That alone makes it one of the most important games anyone could ever play. In this day and age of hyper-consumption, of unpaid internships and student loan debt being considered not only acceptable, but NORMAL, it is important for people to understand that they need to care for themselves, to not work themselves to death. Deal with your emotions in a healthy, constructive way. Don't destroy yourself.
Don't destroy yourself.
That's actually the main moral of the entire Strange Men series, when I think about it. But...I;m thinking of expanding on that idea next week, when we tackle The Boogie Man.
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