Latest / The Autistic Mile / The Ideal-ist: Episode 8 (Eliot)
Transcript
- Shane: Hello everyone. Welcome to the Autistic Mile. My name is Shane Gaffney, and today we'll be talking about the character of Eliot from the upcoming game Giggleland. Now, in the introductory episode of this series, I was talking about how there were some times where I was going to be talking about characters that delved into darker subject matter, and this would happen to be one of them. As Giggleland Land is actually a horror game, and I'm just going to lay my cards out on the table. It's a horror game that's about a cult, which Eliot happens to be the figurehead of. But please don't get the wrong idea in that Eliot did not start out that way. After all, he is just a kid. And one who has a good heart, and only really wants to be loved by his peers And to belong in the little small town that he's a part of. The issue is that sadly he really has no one in terms of giving him the support and sense of community that he's been looking for. People at school, well his fellow students mostly just ignore him or pick on him for being different and shy. The teachers just sort of ignore whatever's going on with him because it's not really their problem and they have other things they'd rather be doing. And the only other friend he really has is his best friend Ella. But even that is kinda sad in that it's implied through the content that currently exists that Ella isn't real, but rather an imaginary friend that he made up to sort of fill that void in his heart for having a friend who actually likes him. And beyond her, the only other genuine bond he has is with a person who is definitely the last person you should ever want to have that kind of bond with, in that it's his school counsellor Teri. And Teri just so happens to secretly be a cult leader. And he immediately sees the vulnerability and sense of lacking that Eliot has. As far as we know, he doesn't even have parents, so he is a prime target for indoctrination because when cults go after people, they usually go after people who are desperate and feeling ostracized or unwanted in some way. And with Eliot, he uses this intense loneliness and desire to belong, to sort of drive a wedge between him and his moral values, as we see in the promotional material. I've actually taking the liberty of linking one of them below. Though of course, as with anything, I should warn you that it is, of course, material for a horror game, so do take necessary caution with engaging with anything you feel might otherwise make you uncomfortable. But Teri influence becomes so aggressive in Eliot's life that even Ella becomes sorta corrupted by his ideals and rather than encouraging him or not. being a supportive friend, she more just pushes him and scolds him to become the sort of person that subconsciously he feels he has to be in order to actually earn the acceptance of anyone. As you can imagine, it's a process that is very visceral and very emotionally devastating for Eliot And yet he does it anyway because he feels he has no choice if he wants to really Have any future as a person. And the doctrine of Teri's whole cult is basically about getting rid of all negativity and only allowing for positive things and joy for all those involved. And if you're someone who is deemed as being part of the problem for causing unnecessary stress or turmoil for those around you, then you become sort of a problem who needs to be, to quote the episode, "Weeds need to be removed from the garden." And the more Eliot takes these colossal leaps to fulfill the vision that Teri expects of him, the more he sort of loses more of who he was to begin with, and becomes sort of this broken shell of a child who exists solely to seek approval from Teri and from those under Teri's command. And I should disclose that I more or less view Eliot as a cautionary tale, as I do sympathize with him, and obviously though he ended up becoming something of a dangerous and unstable individual by the end of this whole transformation, if you want to use that terminology, I do see it all as originating from someone who just genuinely didn't know how else to really cope with his situation. And beyond that, like Eliot, I have dealt with bullying in the past, mainly through primary school, and a lot of people think that bullying is something that sort of stops being relevant once you move to middle school or high school. And that can be the case for some, but Sometimes juvenile kids grow up into juvenile adults and bad apples, they just sort of exist everywhere, regardless of age or demographic or anything like that. And I will admit that the years that I have been under the thumb of bullies like that all throughout elementary, middle, and high school, It has of course inevitably shaped the sort of person that I am. And it did contribute to a lot of anger that I had to go through a long psychological process of unlearning in order to become more of a healthy adult. In the episode I link below, it does show Eliot taking grisly revenge on those who picked on him and those who otherwise tormented him all these years. And I will admit that a lot of times, in middle and high school, I did have fantasies like that where I daydreamed about being able to enact punishment on those who wronged me, and really make them feel the same sort of pain that they made me feel. Because when you have a lot of anger like that and you obviously know you're gonna get punished if you act on it, then the only thing you can do with all that without a healthy outlet is to sort of simulate what you would do if there were no boundaries holding you back. And the sad thing, of course, is that some people do go through with that when they feel they've been pushed too far. And that is never really okay, obviously. But still, it was for me, a manifestation of me wanting to believe that there was some sort of justice in the world that somehow, some way, even though adults look the other way, and those around me simply refused to see reason, that some sort of equilibrium would be restored to this situation. And well, that's something that all of us are raised to really believe is true. That if you do good things, good things will happen to you, and vice versa. But the sad truth is that that's not always the truth. Sometimes people do bad things and get away with it. And that can be very hard to deal with when you're the one who's in the immediate vicinity of all that. But one bit of advice I would give to anyone going through those sorts of situations is people like that may thrive now, they may feel like they're untouchable, but when it all comes down to it, their shenanigans are really gonna come back to bite them in the end because a lot of my bullies were slackers. A lot of them were so busy trying to entertain their peers and to really project this image of invincibility and confidence at all times that their school life suffers for it, and their grades took a nosedive. And so, though they may seem like some insurmountable obstacle right now, Once they get out of primary school? You can only imagine their aspirations for the future are gonna collapse all around them, because they devoted so much time and energy trying to stay relevant within this little tiny pocket of space. And they sorta just sacrifice their entire future just for that. As for how I really got over these vengeful desires of mine, I honestly can't really outline the specific steps. It's something that you sort of just have to teach yourself, and will yourself to do, which obviously is very, very difficult. Once you've been dug into that hole, it's very difficult to dig yourself back out of it. And in the end, I changed for the better because I had to, because if I continue down this path, it wasn't gonna lead to anything good for me. Fixating on some day of judgment that'll never come, it's not gonna be good for you in the long run because You're gonna spend forever just wanting that to happen. And if it never does, then it's only gonna cause you more distress the more you hang on to it. But generally speaking, the mindset that I developed that helped me through all that is to embrace apathy. To look at the situation before you, and to recognize in the end, none of this really matters in that it doesn't matter what they do to you, it doesn't matter what they say. Because somewhere, some way along the line, these bad decisions have consequences, and so though they may not see the writing on the wall now, these things can and do circle back to them eventually. And who knows, maybe at some point in the future you'll end up being the one working at a hiring desk, and they'll be the one desperately pleading for you to give them a chance. Most likely that won't happen, but it's just something to think about. Whatever really helps you find some sense of inner peace despite all the chaos that's going on around you, I recommend that you pursue that. Within healthy boundaries, of course. Back to Eliot though, he is just as much a victim as anyone else, but obviously being a victim doesn't mean that you're harmless yourself in this context. So I would not view him as a hero because obviously he isn't. He's more just a battered soul that ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and everything just turned out exactly the right shade of wrong for him. So if there's anything you take with you regarding Eliot, I would recommend it be that it's okay to feel compassion for him because none of this was something he asked for, but also recognize he's not the sort of person you want to become in terms of how he responded to the situation he was placed in. Like him as a character, but do not go reenacting any of the stuff he does. Just trust me on that one. You'll be glad you took my advice there. And that's about all I have to say about Eliot. As I said, the game is not officially out yet, so chances are when it does come out, some of the stuff I say might be invalidated or proven to be untrue, and that's okay. But this is just my perspective on him with the information we have. I hope you enjoyed the episode. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe, and I will see you again in the next episode. Thank you.