Analysis 2: Structuralism and Heavy Rain

                The previous blog explained the basics of Saussure’s take on semiotics and how the majority of the way we understand each other and the world is through this process of completing symbols.  Our language is understood as a system of symbols as well as the way we apply meaning and labels to what we see from a day to day basis.  The following is a piece of a video game I’ve been playing recently called Heavy Rain. 

                The game is an interactive narrative in which we unravel the secrets of this murder mystery and the kidnapping of the Ethan Mars’ (the man in the clip) son by going through the narrative and making decisions for the characters.  The end of the story is decided completely by the player and whether they decide to keep characters alive, allows them to access clues, choosing whether or not to let them interact with other characters at points in the game, etc.  To paraphrase, the man’s son will eventually drown as the rain continues to increase and his quest is to complete challenges sent to his phone from this serial killer who’s killed 8 other young boys through this slow drowning process.  Thusly we have the name of the game, Heavy Rain.

                Saussure’s view of semiotics explains the nature of the game and its story through breaking down the title.  The sign is literally a heavy rain.  Heavy rain is found on the game’s cover, it’s present throughout the entire story, and it’s central to the story’s progression.  The signifier is solely the rain itself but there are various signified concepts.  At a most basic level the rain signifies our sensations such as the wetness we feel, the dark clouds we see, the sounds of the rain on our roofs and so on.  However at a more intangible level the signified concepts are more emotional.  The rain stands for emotions such as the despair in Ethan Mars’ heart for his kidnapped son and the terror he feels as he’s told to drive on the wrong side of the highway.  The presence of heavy rain within the context of this story represents the overall gloomy nature of the game, the deaths, the despair people feel, the sadness of the victims’ families, etc.  Another signified concept would be that the rain represents the progression of time.  The rain is the killing agent that will eventually drown Shawn Mars and the characters are in a race against time to find the killer and the boy before 6 feet of rain falls over the course of 3 or 4 days.  With each passing scene the amount of rainfall during the story appears in the bottom right corner during the first few seconds of new scenes.  And finally to our knowledge there is lots of rain only in specific times of the year so the fall season (winter if you’re in California) serves as a signifying concept of rain.  Rain as a complete sign within the context of our everyday lives and the game serves to trigger many sensory, emotional, and time-based associations in our own mind and the heavy rain in this game is a perfect example of a modern day function of Saussure’s semiotics.