Majora's Mask Symbolism! Moon and Skull kid explained

[Overusedname]

Hi escapist! Merry Whateveryoudo. I feel odd explaining what this video is since I think about 100 people requested it at this point.

Majora?s Mask is the most symbolic and haunting of the Zelda?s. And yeah, that?s saying a lot. Ever since I?ve started talking about symbolism in games, this has been a VERY frequent request. So?enjoy my most elaborate video ever. Let?s analyze.



As always any feedback and support is appreciated. Feel free to discuss stuff you life, stuff you think I missed, advice, etc.

Might as put this here. If you like the show, I update the facebook page with more info daily:

http://www.facebook.com/EmceeProphIt

Thanks, and happy holidays yo. Thanks for all the support escapists, you guys have really helped make this show more well known and given great feedback.

Enjoy!

 

[Coolshark]

Holy crap.

Like..what happened since the last episode. Did you get a major budget or something? This looks so awesome. Are you still using iMovie? There's no way you can do all this with that.

This was...wow.

 

[Euryalus]

You sneaky bastard! I almost went to bed and missed this!

*Watching now will edit soon*

This was one of your funniest... I almost missed the point I was laughing too hard XD

The Orange Happy Mask Salesman jump scene killed me.

I always interpreted the atmosphere as one of Fear rather than specifically dealing with death (Though fear of death would necessarily be there). The Skull was afraid of losing his friends, Link was afraid of... whatever fancy psychological problems the deku scrub represented etc.

I think this played well off link's defining trait of courage. Shit's messed up in Termina, really messed up. Link could honestly leave at any time (I think? How does one get in or out of Termina exactly?). He could leave as a scrub. He could leave after the Happy mask salesman heals him. Any time during those three days really.

He would even be semi-justified in doing so (think Mutoh-Viscen argument on Viscen's side).

But he doesn't, and it's because of Courage. Courage in the aristotelian sense of doing the right thing in spite of Fear (or because of it).

It's not merely facing your fears like Mutoh the carpenter does.

The skull kid does the opposite of this. When he couldn't "have" his friends and was afraid of losing them he lashed out and started messing things up. He did the wrong thing because of Fear.

This sense of fear I think is how the song of healing ties into it. It doesn't heal you in the sense of making your problems go away, rather it brings peace and the courage to face them.

TL;DR

This video was awesome. I'm looking forward to the rest

 

[Overusedname]

You sneaky bastard! I almost went to bed and missed this!

*Watching now will edit soon*

This was one of your funniest... I almost missed the point I was laughing too hard XD

The Orange Happy Mask Salesman jump scene killed me.

I always interpreted the atmosphere as one of Fear rather than specifically dealing with death (Though fear of death would necessarily be there). The Skull was afraid of losing his friends, Link was afraid of... whatever fancy psychological problems the deku scrub represented etc.

I think this played well off link's defining trait of courage. Shit's messed up in Termina, really messed up. Link could honestly leave at any time (I think? How does one get in or out of Termina exactly?). He could leave as a scrub. He could leave after the Happy mask salesman heals him. Any time during those three days really.

He would even be semi-justified in doing so (think Mutoh-Viscen argument on Viscen's side).

But he doesn't, and it's because of Courage. Courage in the aristotelian sense of doing the right thing in spite of Fear (or because of it technically).

It's not merely facing your fears like Mutoh the carpenter does.

The skull kid does the opposite of this. When he couldn't "have" his friends and was afraid of losing them he lashed out and started messing things up. He did the wrong thing because of Fear.

This sense of fear I think is how the song of healing ties into it. It doesn't heal you in the sense of making your problems go away, rather it brings peace and the courage to face them.

TL;DR

This video was awesome. I'm looking forward to the rest

Fear is a very dominant emotion in termina indeed. And in part I address Link's previous encounters with death in Ocarina, which I think gave him some perspective on how much it effects peeps

But ya, glad you liked!

 

[Euryalus]

Fear is a very dominant emotion in termina indeed. And in part I address Link's previous encounters with death in Ocarina, which I think gave him some perspective on how much it effects peeps

But ya, glad you liked!

Aww that's all I get

I thought it was more thought provoking than a "Hmm yes, quite" XD

I kid, I kid.

Are you going to cover Anju and Kafei in depth? There's some cool stuff about maturity, courage, hope, blah blah in addition to fear anxiety and sadness in there

 

[Overusedname]

Fear is a very dominant emotion in termina indeed. And in part I address Link's previous encounters with death in Ocarina, which I think gave him some perspective on how much it effects peeps

But ya, glad you liked!

Aww that's all I get

I thought it was more thought provoking than a "Hmm yes, quite" XD

I kid, I kid.

Are you going to cover Anju and Kafei in depth? There's some cool stuff about maturity, courage, hope, blah blah in addition to fear anxiety and sadness in there

XD when I'm back home and not on a phone we'll have a nice big pretentious pow wow. I hate texting.

And yes, I'm at least mentioning them.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Damn...I have never thought about the shape of the mask. That was great! Although, I'm wondering if you'll talk about the five areas in Majora's Mask and how they represent the stages of death since you've mentioned...well...death. Clocktown=deniance, Swamp=anger, etc. If not, then have a freebie.

Looking forward to your next video!

 

[False Nobility]

YESSSS!!!1!

Oh wow, this did not dissapoint. Good job man! Can't wait for the rest.

 

[VincentX3]

Saw it a few hours ago, I cant wait for the next!

....

Hate cliffhangers D:

 

[SomethingWorse]

Excellent work again dude. I can tell you spent quite some time on this one.

I'd really like to know more about your process for both this and Modestly ProphItic. Do a FAQ at some point, yo.

 

[War Penguin]

And you don't have your own show on The Escapist because... ?

Seriously, when/if The Escapist does their film festival thing, you should seriously consider entering. You'd be a great addition to the site!

 

[Hydro14]

Hello again, great to see that you're still doing these. It's clear that you're still planning to cover a load of material so I'll just raise a few thoughts on a topic that it seemed you weren't planning to expand on any further: the design of the mask.

Firstly, the eyes are clearly forward facing, that marks the mask as having the facial features of a predator which makes it appear threatening on an instinctive level - this is why those eyes seem so sinister. They are also immediately surrounded by a thick dark outline, making them appear sunken as if the whole face is emaciated; as you said, it is like looking at death. (to expand upon your comparison with the moon: sunken eyes set against black sockets, triangular nose which may not just be due to poly-count limitations on the 64, bared teeth with no gums - they made it look as much like a skull as possible) The spikes and horns are a bit contradictory, these aren't traits of a predator, serving in nature only as defensive weapons. On the other hand they are weapons, so the image still functions to some degree.

Also of note is the colour scheme: the mask's most used colours are red and purple. The red is sanguine; it represents anger but also vitality and, by inverse, mortality. The purple can be seen as regal, hinting at the power Majora possesses, but it can also represent something else. Consider that when Link is jinxed by contact with a blue bubble he flashes purple, and that the poison swamp in the south takes on a sickly magenta hue before Woodfall Temple is cleared: purple in this setting means poison. Poison and vitality/mortality intertwined with each-other in an object worn on the face: the most expressive part of the body.

Anyways, I've got some stuff on the guardian masks and on the time-travel mechanic itself in terms of what they represent but I'll hang on to those until the floor's open for discussion on those topics or this post will turn into a wall of text like all the others.

PS. Just saw this: the spikes are Triforce yellow, they point upwards, down left and down right. A simple polygon bounding box of Majora's mask forms an inverted triangle: the mask fits into the negative space in the Triforce. Make of that what you will.

 

[Overusedname]

And you don't have your own show on The Escapist because... ?

Seriously, when/if The Escapist does their film festival thing, you should seriously consider entering. You'd be a great addition to the site!

Well, I'd certainly love to join at some point, and a lot of people (even admins) have said it's good idea.

The crew is easy to contact and I guess I don't even have to wait for the festival. They made it clear anyone can submit content via email. Scheduling is a little hard since my stuff is longer and takes longer to make than the weekly shows. Not sure if I can get around that, but...I'll contact them soon, I guess. No point in waiting much longer. XD I've heard so many people demand I ask I kind of have to soon.

 

[Something Amyss]

No offense, but I don't find this video particularly good or even interesting. I was curious about the title, but the delivery and details itself bsically drove me off. Not to mention the intro.

It appears you are doing well for yourself in terms of a following who appreciates these videos, so hopefully this doesn't mean all that much.

 

[Overusedname]

No offense, but I don't find this video particularly good or even interesting. I was curious about the title, but the delivery and details itself bsically drove me off. Not to mention the intro.

It appears you are doing well for yourself in terms of a following who appreciates these videos, so hopefully this doesn't mean all that much.

No offense taken. There's no way to please everyone. You weren't an asshole about expressing your opinion and didn't say "STOP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND DIE" which is a lot more than most people do on the internet. I actually genuinely appreciate the politeness.

Also, My captcha just said 'Happy Full Moon'. It's like it knows. And now I think we're all gonna die.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

That was fantastic, keep up the good work! Very entertaining and informative, it was a pleasure to watch and I'm looking forward to Part 2!

 

[Spectral Dragon]

Hmm, I've never seen this guy before. *decides to watch the first 3 minutes to see how good it is*

... 20 minutes later, and I now really want to play Majora's Mask. I was sadly too young, and had no idea it even existed when I still owned an N64. That was an awesome vid, keep up the good work!

 

[Overusedname]

Holy crap.

Like..what happened since the last episode. Did you get a major budget or something? This looks so awesome. Are you still using iMovie? There's no way you can do all this with that.

This was...wow.

Sorry it took so long to answer this, it got buried in comments.

To answer: I'm using an HD capture card and After Effects CS5, and this is the first PAHNalysis recorded using those things. The Catherine play through was also done like that, but it was simpler. I'm also finally able to upload 720p videos, so that helps. I still use iMovie for the initial organization of footage. Hope that answers stuff.

And thanks, glad ya like.

 

[KINGBeerZ]

Great video, it actually made me go back and watch all of your videos about Ocarina of Time, can't wait for the next part.

 

[Overusedname]

Damn...I have never thought about the shape of the mask. That was great! Although, I'm wondering if you'll talk about the five areas in Majora's Mask and how they represent the stages of death since you've mentioned...well...death. Clocktown=deniance, Swamp=anger, etc. If not, then have a freebie.

Looking forward to your next video!

Thanks for the comment!

I actually have written out how each of the cultures deal with death/fear of loss differently, and now I've noticed that what your saying is almost perfectly conisistant with the order you visit the areas as well. With one problem: The Gorons don't seem to be bargaining, where as everyone else seem to fit a stage in order of when you go there. That step is missing.

That being said, it might just be a cryptic execution of it. We're replaying that part to get footage today, so I'll keep my eyes open. Thanks for pointing that out, I might notice something.