Liminality and Silent Hill

For the Halloween season, I just wanted to gush. Sorry, I'll get a mop...
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0:00 Intro
4:05 Silent Hill
12:25 Silent Hill 2
23:01 Silent Hill 3
33:08 The Room
44:00 Conclusion
A deep dive into the eerie world of Silent Hill as we explore the fascinating connection between the game series and the concept of liminality. Join me on a journey through the fog-covered streets and mysterious realms, where the boundaries between reality and the unknown blur into a hauntingly beautiful dance of liminal spaces. Unravel the secrets behind Silent Hill's masterful use of liminality, and discover how this psychological phenomenon adds a spine-chilling layer to the gaming experience. Whether you're a seasoned Silent Hill veteran or a newcomer to the series, this video promises to shed light on the shadows lurking within the liminal. Step cautiously into the unknown, as we navigate the enigmatic landscapes of Silent Hill and decode the secrets of liminality.

[@Debaucherry]

Silent Hill was too based for this world

[@graymads]

Agreed, hoping F is a fresh take on the series. So far it looks really interesting.

[@KiDKeYz1000]

No Lil B the BasedGod is

[@dockbrown8129]

That's passion, imagine what the Creator could do with today's tech

[@SOBEKCrocodileGod]

@@KiDKeYz1000 we’re all living in basedworld

[@bigblue344]

The classic line of "They look like monsters to you" I always interpreted as the disturbing creatures the cult see's is actually angels if we are going off Jacobs Ladder as an inspiration. Who knows if the angels still look ghoulish though.

[@gypsydanger1013]

I took it the way that "for me, it's always like this (burning)", like when a nightmare to someone else is a reality for others. A horrible monster might just be "dad" to someone else

[@codydagg2259]

As someone with some pretty serious mental health issues and a love for drugs, that line struck a chord with me because it played on my own interpreted feeling/fear. The thought that I might not be seeing the world around me accurately enough due to a distortion of said reality is pretty terrifying. Hell, I forget the name for it but there is a particular kind of sickness that can cause your brain to start having trouble recognizing faces. As in, your brain is being affected to such a degree that you are 'literally' unable to process what a human being's face is supposed to look like.

[@gypsydanger1013]

@codydagg2259 what you're referring to is called prosopagnosia. I'm a physician who actually has it (born with it) lol It's almost always caused by a brain injury or degenerative brain disorder, but can sometimes be congenital. It's pretty rare, but is vastly overrepresented in people with autism, which definitely warrants more research.

[@joshuareesor1756]

Masahiro Ito stated that the powers of Silent Hill have some influence on a monster's creation and not just an individual's perspective, citing the similarities between the Mandarin and Closer as an example, so there does seem to be a pure basis for the monsters that get filtered through a person. What that basis looks like though is another question entirely.

[@codydagg2259]

That's wild, I apologize if I misspoke at all about prosopagnosia as I only have second hand knowledge. @@gypsydanger1013

[@MaleTears]

I’m shouting “silent hill! Silent hill!” like the little girl in the first movie

[@graymads]

They didn't even get her name right lmao

[@SlurpyPie]

Maybe the real silent hill was the friends we made along the way

[@nihilistleviathan3003]

Silent Hill 3 for me remains the best one in the series because it taps in fears grounded in reality that feel really close to me and other girls as well (I imagine) like the concept of a stalker and unwanted pregnancy, the paranoia of walking in a mall or a street late at night and constantly stay alert knowing you're not alone

[@DraftyRum]

for me its 4 and shattered memories

[@StCerberusEngel]

Just a note: James didn't commit matricide. That's when someone kills their mother. Uxoricide is when someone kills their wife.

[@raydaug4633]

I find discussions of liminal horror to be extremely fascinating and revealing. Liminal horror seems to mostly be concentrated in younger (20s or younger) people, and I feel like this is directly linked to Gen Z's loss of "third places," at least in the US. Public spaces where people, especially kids, can exist largely unsupervised and without having to pay to be there. The mall in SH3 evokes fear and anxiety in me (someone over 30) because it taps into feelings of trespassing and abandonment. The overactive imagination of a kid wondering what would happen if your parents forgot you while shopping and you were locked in after closing. But for someone much younger, there's a good chance they've never even been to an indoor mall. It's an alien place. They yearn for what is symbolizes, but also fear its unfamiliarity.

[@nemesisa-type6721]

I love this comment.

[@duckman67498]

Good take dude

[@jarlwhiterun7478]

The ad that played before the vid said "here's to the moments between where you are and where you're going" 👀

[@graymads]

They know.

[@Kekktye]

I think most people use liminality's definition in a more literal way of 'transitional areas of life.' Not the shops at a mall, but the mall itself. Not the office, but the office hallway. Not the street, but the alleyway. Areas you wouldn't think of. I think your wider interpretation of liminality reveals that there's a lot more to liminality than just the space though. Transitional points between reality and the horror, between stages or stages of life, between eras, between the point of no return, ect.

[@bigblue344]

Glad somebody else is also sick and tired of the repetitive yellow rooms

[@graymads]

Its bee old for a long time now

[@waltuh11121]

For me it was always stupid, a cheap copy of an SCP that ruined liminal spaces

[@DarkuuArmati]

I don't think people understand what the word "liminal space" means anymore and just assume its a scary abandoned place.

[@F14Squall]

Imagine respecting the 4:3 aspect ratio, but what else can I expect a rare 16:9 tube TV head that says give me money to do, you know?

[@graymads]

4:3 is nostolgic and you know it

[@chrisppraefecti373]

Are we the Silent Hill? *Ultra deep take*

[@graymads]

Silent Hill was inside us the whole time

[@pretty_in_casts]

>Silent Hill. *This is a certified hood classic.* P.S. I do hope he'll make a video about Johnny The Homicidal Maniac.

[@graymads]

IF only you knew what I was currently working on ;)

[@spookymarirev]

I'm in your walls

[@fullofpoison]

I'M IN YOUR WALLS

[@waltuh11121]

Check your fridge

[@SOBEKCrocodileGod]

Lakeside Amusement Park is my favorite level in any horror game. I’m a sucker for theme park and carnival levels in games in general. Especially when you combine them with horror, and SH3 does it in such a unique and unsettling way. I have a Lakeside Amusement Park patch on my “battle jacket” and own a figure of Robbie the Rabbit. Such an iconic location.

[@destr0llet]

so glad u talked about the room and PT besides just the main titles, I tend to forget they exist lol but u perfectly captivated the liminal essence of both

[@ACT8113]

Sometimes, I wish Hideo Kojima could bring pt back, but as a new ip...

[@graymads]

you and me both

[@spookymarirev]

SILENT HILL KICK FUEL 🗣️

[@graymads]

Silent Chill

[@spookymarirev]

@@graymads me n who???

[@chasewiley3490]

Noticed you were a fan of SH since all your videos use SH sounds. Glad to see this video. I didnt know i was waiting for it, but glad you dropped it💜

[@graymads]

Hope you enjoy, had a lot of fun making this.

[@Dukefazon]

It's interesting that liminal space images turned into video with Silent Hill music started to pop up lately. I always had this feeling about the visuals and the audio (the noise like music but not the music) of the Silent Hill series. I grew fond of urban exploration images where you see places that were once used daily by thousands and thousands of people and now abandoned, rusted, full of broken furniture. But now with this liminal space phenomena I gained more understanding of the subject and now I can better articulate what I liked about these visuals. I remember vividly a feeling that was haunting me for weeks on end at college, I was imagining a corridor that was half in rubbles, indicentally I imagined it in yellow. This was back in 2006-ish. I don't know why but I wanted to be there, I wanted to make that place, I wanted to really feel that place, not just imagine it. Liminality is just that for me. And I'm so happy that Team Silent discovered something amazing by what it seems like sheer luck. They were waaay ahead of their time.

[@spoops_all_poops]

Watched and enjoyed and forgot to comment earlier but this video was so EPIC that I had to come back. It’s super cool that you were able to address a big concept using a medium that you are passionate about and it makes for a really fun watch/listen. 💜🤙

[@graymads]

Thank you so much!

[@fullofpoison]

got me thinking about silent hill nurse 😳😩 ah hell nah

[@graymads]

I see y ou

[@fridaydevils]

While thinking about how the spaces reflect the protagonists, it got me thinking that each game is the character accepting a horrible truth, a fate, like Jacob’s Ladder. The world suddenly seems like everyone is your enemy when you learn your adopted daughter had such a traumatic fate you couldn’t save her from.

[@fridaydevils]

To me, I think Heather/Alyssa is the story of a CSA victim the town overlooked and punished, like religious places typically do. It makes me see SH1 and SH3 as unbearably sad as those two wrestle with the consequences and guilt they don’t deserve and constantly have to fight mentally turned physically, seeing monsters everywhere

[@Garbagefire33]

This is such an amazing and unique look at silent hill! Great job on such a great video!

[@graymads]

Thank you so much! I wanted to make something that wasn't a rehash of the many other videos about the series. And I found its aspects of liminality to be really fascinating.

[@gameovergandy]

Loved the video, just wanted to point out that matricide is killing your mother not your wife. Killing your wife is Uxoricide. Again, loved the video, i'm subscribing :)

[@KevinRAAMAAAGE]

I never got why James always was sticking his full arm into a hole, multiple times. In a town full of rusty sharp things. Just asking, begging even, for super HEP C James Sunderland and the Chosen Undead have one similar quality. They both are the toucher of things

[@jaxafrass7873]

I don’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble but I don’t think “liminality” or liminal spaces are that deep anymore. If you look at the most popular photos of liminal spaces, most of them come from the 70s into the early 2010s. This phenomenon is relatively new as well, so personally I think the nostalgia conditioning western society has undergone has somehow made us feel incredibly nostalgic for these spaces that our subconscious understands as “places where significant events and or development occurred”. Ask anyone who’s either a millennial or a zoomer about the 70s through the 2010s and they’ll most likely hold a profound level of nostalgia for it. Modern architecture has become increasingly simplistic and minimalistic, creating an even starker contrast in our minds when we see images that appear “liminal”. Liminal spaces are basically just the ultimate nostalgia engine. It’s pretty cool but also kind of sad. Abandoned malls remind you of your first time seeing one in the 2000s when your mom took you. Older looking home interiors remind you of your grandparents house. Old play sets, abandoned movie theaters, etc etc. All are spaces that we developed in. They’re not these metaphysical juju lands of an alternate dimension. They’re just our old homes. When you’re a kid, or young, literally everything can be magic. So you have those experiences, leave those spaces, and then come back to them to find nothing is there. Probably the same vibe a neanderthal would get coming back to his old camps only to find that time has eroded it away.

[@xxpainal69xx31]

From Katamari to Silent Hill, who would have thought? Good vid.

[@sailren179]

wtf were those clawed things at the end of harry's alley? i remember the grey children spawning there.

[@nickl9317]

Great stuff. SH has been done to death and this is probably the best way to talk about it, attaching to certain particular aspects and putting them in context. Thank you!

[@kylereno5383]

Its so exhausting hearing people continue to say SH4 didn't start off as a SH game. It's been stated time and time again that SH4 was made along side SH3 with team silent being split into two teams, and it was always meant to be a SH game.

[@bluestrawberry1225]

I subscribed just because of this animation at the intro, I love so much

[@modernmobster]

Take a shot every time this guy says "threshold."

[@marcomonteiro9792]

keep the great work you will go far

[@fifthchild]

Is that the OFF (2008) OST I'm hearing at ~18:00? Absolutely fantastic video.

[@fifthchild]

(Rainy Day & Meat specifically)

[@graymads]

good ear ;)

[@Zombiezay]

Wonderfully timed video ! Love spooky stuff in October Great work

[@RoleCraft]

A superb analysis, indeed. 👍 Now to just figure out how to translate liminality into TRPG worldcrafting and roleplaying...

[@vivvy_0]

nothing better then a silent hill video for this season 🍂💜🎃🦇

[@graymads]

tis the season

[@thehappynihilist1843]

Banger as always Mads❤️

[@graymads]

Bless you, it was a labor of love.

[@aneekes.]

19:07 now we say on the backseat, not trunk. Which Masahiro Ito has already confirmed.

[@Ghoul_HNTD]

one of the best videos you've dropped!

[@graymads]

Bless you Ghoul

[@InkAndPoet]

The music playing in the beginning. If that was in the game, it slaps.

[@graymads]

Dreaming Sarah OST

[@Demigod_3scrub]

3:52 It's so True , and i love it !

[@moistcvmpants]

awesome video, i'm shocked this doesn't have more views

[@graymads]

Thank you!

[@LiquidSevens]

finally...... someone who criticizes the backrooms on a video about liminality

[@kardashh]

banger vid i came while watching

[@graymads]

Silentgasm

[@silenthillfan9118]

Good vid.

[@samramirez2538]

Great video👍🏼

[@-_-sneezy]

thumbnail goes hard

[@graymads]

bless you

[@-_-sneezy]

@@graymads

[@halloweenwuzzyize]

aphex twin logo floating about

[@OneMadApple]

i hate to be an internet pedant, but for future videos, 'matricide' means offing your mother, rather than your wife, or women in general. (it's a very small point. i just did a little oedipal double-take when i heard it in the video. "....She's his what now?" 👀) great video, though. way more thought out than a lot of liminality breakdowns.

[@a13m34]

I need to play it again, not today but at some point ☝️

[@graymads]

its never a bad time to boot it up ;)

[@AGothicDuck]

liminal gooning

[@bloodontheblade7988]

Poo poo

[@graymads]

pee pee

[@lily_nikki]

YESSS !!

[@graymads]

😎

[@swordguy1243]

Pretty much every ps1 game . I was playing King's Field not too long ago and the entire experience felt liminal

[@graymads]

I need to give that game a try, the limitations of old consoles kinda necessitated liminality. I think that's why so many people now love the liminal space stuff, it plays into the nostalgia we have on a subconscious level.

[@small_peen]

What is the song at 0:45

[@fatyoshi9993]

Great video, but little critique, the thing about SH4 not originally being a silent hill game is not true, it always was one

[@GhostGirlBlues]

the room walked so pt could run

[@graymads]

Real

[@whoops2015]

💜

[@hushpodcast7732]

🎉🎉🎉

[@aether-friskets]

This is a really interesting look into the series! Ever since I was introduced to the idea of liminality I always thought the games had that feeling to them, but I couldn't really put it to proper words. It's also nice to see appreciation for Silent Hill 3's strengths in this department and others, as I feel it's often overlooked as "not as deep" as Silent Hill 2, when imo it's got a lot to offer and think about that's just as interesting and complex. Everything you had to say about all the games, though, was really interesting. Like I'd never really thought about how 2 has pyramid head as the only masculine enemy. Also definitely agree with sh4, that game is really interesting and creepy, but it's also pretty janky and frustrating at times loll. Anyway, overall really awesome watch!!

[@graymads]

Silent Hill 3 gets so much undeserved flack for simply not being 2. Its a great game and focuses on other elements than its story to protray its horror. Its got one of the best soundtracks out of any game, and its just over all extremely high quality.

[@krapincorporated]

Are you sure that's what "matricide" is?

[@pikminologueraisin2139]

I like your skibidi character

[@Jaboris.mp4]

Why is my room so foggy?

[@graymads]

stop vaping so much

[@EmiCubez]

Graymads common w

[@graymads]

😎

[@Adam_M13]

Bro. Your video was great . Like it was so disturbing that I almost started vomiting. And man I would love to play silent hill . The only problem I have is : 1. From where I am I can't find any original copies of the games . 2. The ones that o find are too fucking expensive . Like yeah the game is great . But not 240€ great. I don't think any videogame in the world ist supposed have a higher worth than 70€. One day .

[@GhostSoapO]

26:47

[@matthewmelange]

You should define liminality in the first 2 minutes. Before you spam the word 20 times without defining it.

[@countsuckula9649]

Can we get some o7's in the chat?

[@sanictheedgehog]

Honestly to this day I just don't like 3 all that much. It's got great atmosphere and design but it just doesn't have what 2 had. 2 just nailed everything and 3 feels like a big step back, going back to goofy cult shenanigans but not making it fun like silent hill 1. Inb4 people try to say I'm making unfair comparisons, 3 never needed to be 3deep5u and 2 slapping so hard in that department has led to the current woes of the series with western dives continually trying to do what it did but better. I just think 3s story was week and was an unneeded sequel to the first game and didn't have the decency to kill harry off on camera. It hides its flaws behind it's great design in monsters, atmosphere, and annoying 2000s teen protag. 1 and 2 are still the kings I think, 4 I'd put up there with 3, I'd like 4 more than 3 if it were not for the DMC4 levels of backtracking but it did a lot of cool and interesting things.

[@punishedgremlim6104]

🎉first🎉

[@RequiemForRavenholm]

'liminality' is the most reddit thing ever. gtfo

[@zombietrash416]

The definition for liminal space you showed was written so pretentiously.

[@G_unit.n3t]

YIPPEE!