Where did this idea come from ... ?

[lemex]

I've been surfing around SHH and have noticed one or two people calling Silent Hill 1 a 'Lovecraftian game.'
Does this seem absurd to anyone else?

I'm a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft, but I would not, in any way, call Silent Hill Lovecraftian.

What exactly are it's Lovecraft credentials? Or is this just a new term with no real basis?

[nureintier]

I think some people use the term to mean anything with vague ties to supernatural sorts of horror, but I don't really get a Lovecraft sort of feeling from any SH either.

[xuchiel]

I heard once someone compared the town of Silent Hill with R'lyeh and the old gods of the town with the Old Ones (Cthulhu) from Lovecraftian stuff. The parallel makes sense really, but I don't think that alone would be enough to call the whole series "Lovecraftian."

[Pseudosapien]

I know that going to wikipedia is a bit of a cop-out sometimes, but here i reckon it is vaguely valid;

"Themes of Lovecraftian horror

Several themes found in Lovecraft's writings are considered to be a component of a "Lovecraftian" work:

* Anti-anthropocentrism, misanthropy in general. Lovecraft's works tend not to focus on characterization of humans, in line with his view of humanity's insignificant place in the universe, and the general Modernist trend of literature at the time of his writings.

* Preoccupation with viscerate texture. The horror features of Lovecraft's stories tend to involve semi-gelatinous substances, such as slime, as opposed to standard horror tropes such as blood, bones, or corpses.

* Antiquariam writing style. Even when dealing with up-to-date technology, Lovecraft tended to use anachronisms as well as old-fashioned words when dealing with such things. For example, he used the term "men of science" rather than the modern word, "scientist" and often spelled "show" as "shew".

* Detachment. Lovecraftian heroes (both in original writings and in more modern adaptations) tend to be isolated individuals, usually with an academic or scholarly bent.

* Helplessness and hopelessness. Although Lovecraftian heroes may occasionally deal a "setback" to malignant forces, their victories are temporary, and they usually pay a price for it. Otherwise, subjects often find themselves completely unable to simply run away, instead driven by some other force to their desperate end.

* Unanswered questions. Characters in Lovecraft's stories rarely if ever fully understand what is happening to them, and often go insane if they try.

* Sanity's fragility and vulnerability. Characters in many of Lovecraft's stories are unable to mentally cope with the extraordinary and almost unreasonable truths they witness or hear. The strain of trying to cope, as Lovecraft often illustrates, is too impossible to bear and insanity takes hold."


So yeah, with that criteria i suppose SH is indeed classifiable as Lovecraftian. Though i must say i have never considered it to be so myself.

[AlexY]

Maybe not directly Lovecraftian. There are hints, I guess. (But I'm no expert on it, I haven't actually read much of H.P.L.)

[kiwistar]

I think its become popular to throw around the term Lovecraftian these days, I've seen his style of writing linked to several things recently. Lovecraft is the new S. King, even though he's.... dead.

[patient]

I've been reading tons of Stephen King books, and I find things in each of them that remind me of Silent Hill. Even in It, which I'm not sure that they referenced, talks about the "Overworld." I think Silent Hill is a combination of ideas, both inspirational and original, especially inspired by Lovecraft and King.

[dreggnog]

Mar 21, 2009 16:43:00 GMT nureintier said:

I think some people use the term to mean anything with vague ties to supernatural sorts of horror, but I don't really get a Lovecraft sort of feeling from any SH either.

Heh, I'm so into Silent Hill by this point that I don't think of it as supernatural anymore. Everything that happens in the games seems quite normal to me now.

[mr. worncoat]

Apr 4, 2009 19:23:21 GMT kiwistar said:

I think its become popular to throw around the term Lovecraftian these days.

Agreed. Would it be wrong to compare or maybe even connect it to a type of hipster mindset?

[nureintier]

Nov 24, 2010 10:40:22 GMT mr. worncoat said:

Apr 4, 2009 19:23:21 GMT kiwistar said:

I think its become popular to throw around the term Lovecraftian these days.

Agreed. Would it be wrong to compare or maybe even connect it to a type of hipster mindset?

Maybe. I was sort of annoyed when Cthulhu was on south park. not because he was on south park, or that the episode kinda sucked, but because cthulhu is every goddamn place these days, or so it seems. on shirts, toys, etc. and i wonder if half these people have actually even read hpl. i don't know.

[mr. worncoat]

Nov 27, 2010 12:21:57 GMT nureintier said:

Nov 24, 2010 10:40:22 GMT mr. worncoat said:

Agreed. Would it be wrong to compare or maybe even connect it to a type of hipster mindset?

Maybe. I was sort of annoyed when Cthulhu was on south park. not because he was on south park, or that the episode kinda sucked, but because cthulhu is every goddamn place these days, or so it seems. on shirts, toys, etc. and i wonder if half these people have actually even read hpl. i don't know.

First off, South Park can end now. So may the Simpsons.

Secondly, despite how much it's annoying to have this way of thinking get into the literary and gaming communities, it's all about that marketing scheme. Anything said to be edgy retro gets the money where it's aimed to be. Diehards be damned.

Thirdly:

[blacky]

Nov 27, 2010 12:21:57 GMT nureintier said:

Nov 24, 2010 10:40:22 GMT mr. worncoat said:

Agreed. Would it be wrong to compare or maybe even connect it to a type of hipster mindset?

Maybe. I was sort of annoyed when Cthulhu was on south park. not because he was on south park, or that the episode kinda sucked, but because cthulhu is every goddamn place these days, or so it seems. on shirts, toys, etc. and i wonder if half these people have actually even read hpl. i don't know.

everything falls into the public domain eventually and apprantly this is what happened with Cthulhu.

And like everything in the public domain not everyone will or even need to fully understand it. Does everyone know that Snow White wasn't brought back to life by a kiss? Does everyone know that A ring aorund the Roses really wasn't about the plague?

Let it go, if something is public domain you can't get all elitist and complain if all uses and appearance of the prouperty isn't true to the orginal. That isn't the point of the public domain. Just be happy that more people know about lovecraft's works now. I mean he's dead, he is hardly being ripped off here

[nureintier]

Let it go, if something is public domain you can't get all elitist and complain if all uses and appearance of the prouperty isn't true to the orginal. That isn't the point of the public domain. Just be happy that more people know about lovecraft's works now. I mean he's dead, he is hardly being ripped off here

I really didn't think I was being elitist or overreacting at all, I just said I was vaguely annoyed and I wondered to myself if they knew who cthulhu was.

it's all about that marketing scheme.

so is every damned thing, though, everywhere. it's just that sometimes it's more annoying that other times.