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cw for mentions of r*pe, sexual harassment, suicide, and abuse
Some of the main themes of Mouthwashing is power, agency, and lack of responsibility.
We see Jimmy openly resent Curly for his power and prestige as captain of the Tulpar, repeatedly saying that it's "annoying." Even so, that's only what he outwardly expresses; we have little internal dialogue from Jimmy about his feelings. We also know through conversation between the characters that Jimmy has trouble keeping jobs on Earth, and it's implied that he only has a job with Pony Express because of Curly. This only causes more resentment.
We see Jimmy exert the only power he has over Anya when he r*pes and impregnates her. He takes away her agency, and he continually degrades her throughout the game, even before becoming captain. Anya only regains her agency when she takes her own life.
Jimmy also sexually harasses Anya during his psychological evaluation, in which he tells her that he's "sexually aroused by cartoon horses." When Anya tells Curly about this, he laughs it off. This demonstrates the pyramid of sexual violence, in which it starts small with things that are "socially acceptable" (like sexual harassment) and escalate, in Anya's case, into verbal abuse and rape.
When Jimmy finally becomes captain, he exerts his power over a very hesitant Daisuke. He persuades Daisuke into drugging Swansea and crawling into the dangerous vent (thus leading to his painful death).
However, it becomes increasingly clear that Jimmy cannot handle the power or the responsibility when it comes to being captain. He displays this in his continuous angry (and sometimes violent) outbursts, directed at both Anya and Curly, and in his conversations with Curly before giving him his painkillers.
It's clear Jimmy can't take responsibility for his actions when he finds out Anya is pregnant and tries to crash the Tulpar, with the intent of killing everyone on the ship and destroying the evidence of his crime. He is, of course, unsuccessful, thus leading to the events of the game. We can infer that Jimmy tells Anya to "take care of it" before he tries to crash the ship, given Anya's speech before her overdose. This further proves his inability to take responsibility.
We can also infer that Jimmy cannot take responsibility during his confrontations with Polle and Curly in the post-death sequences. We see Jimmy apologize, but never to Anya, the person he most directly hurt. He confesses to Polle and Curly that he "fucked up," but he never directly confronts Anya the way he does with Curly, Daisuke, and Swansea. Instead, he confronts Polle, the manifestation of the fetus, saying that he's sorry, but never for what and to who. Polle even makes a point of this, saying, "If all of that is true, why are you still so concerned with him?" Polle makes a point of Jimmy's lack of concern for Anya and her fate, which I will argue is his fault, alongside the fates of everyone else on the Tulpar.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to talk to me in the comments. I will not respond to ragebait.
Comments
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mal
mouthwashing is so good! love the look of it & how they were more subtle in certain parts of its story telling & its execution was excellent imo
HANAROZAi
Lack of responsibility is horrible.
Commander GreyFox
i love that there isn't censorship but holy fuck, why do you guys want to talk about shit like this?
me, personally? i find the plot interesting, and i find anya as a character comforting as someone who's experienced similar traumas. it's comforting to see a game development company write a narrative about survivorship in a way that is both delicate and well-written. i also think it's important to discuss these topics because they happen to real people in real life, and if we can discuss it happening fictionally, then we make discussions about real life less taboo and easier to talk about! i do really appreciate the concern in your comment, though. it's a valid question.
by catboybenvolio; ; Report
Nexnor
this was a very nice read! its short and comprehensive, u did a really good job :) i remember playing it when it first released (and replaying it for achievements) its up there on my list of personal favorite games atm
Jenna 🌺
mw is such a good game!! im glad that some people are able to form think critically and deeply about this game despite the reputation of its fandom, its genuinely one of the best examples of good SA representation in media
Dayuv
This was super well written! It was short and comprehensive !!
synn3stR
YESSS MW ISNT DEAD
this is soooo good TwT
@ 𝓳𝓸𝓵𝓵𝔂 apollo ?! ꣑ৎ (⸝⸝๑﹏๑⸝⸝) #1 reigen fan ♡
im so blessed to see mouthwashing content i love this game so much... this is a really fire analysis/take , this game is genuinely so good i should revisit it sometime soon..
_Kyaika
omg you could not have said this better :D I'm so happy that there are some people out there that are still talking about this game. I'm DYING for more mw contenttttt (┬┬﹏┬┬)
naomi :p
I was just thinking about this game today :o
☆Spacehey artist☆
I love this game sm despite me not playing it but watching other people play it. It shows the way how some men won't admit to their wrongdoings even if it gets someone killed in the end and when it haunts them they either try to play dumb about it or erase it from other people's history
Juice
this my favorite gameeeeeee, i love!!!!!
m$th@mphetam33nz
Omg I thought you were talking about mouthwash. Like oral hygiene i was like whaaat
pessi ૮꒰˶ - ˕ -꒱ა
i haven’t played the game myself (i dont have steam) but i’ve watched a youtube analysis on it awhile back and it’s very interesting
i personally think the reason anya acted so meek around jimmy was out of self-defense; she didn’t want to trigger negative reactions out of him after the way he had hurt her before
⭑✾⭒ ⊰ 𝚅 ⊱ ⭑✾⭒
This is a great take on the game. I watched some gameplay’s of mouthwash and felt the same way. This game is definitely a must play
neon.saturn
I love reading analyses of Mouthwashing! I remember watching Markiplier's playthrough and I felt so intrigued by all the different perceptions that the crewmembers had of each other. There have been a few theories about the dialogue between Anya and Jimmy in the game, that it could be Anya playing into the "weak woman" perception that Jimmy has of her, or Jimmy's perception of Anya taking over anything she says and making her words appear weak or timid. Of course, there's always taking it at face-value, but it's interesting nonetheless!
i'm actually thinking abt writing an analysis of anya's character because i entirely agree that anya is playing a part w/ jimmy. i also agree that our perception of anya is directly effected by the player playing jimmy and being forced to see her through his lens. thank you for reading my analysis!
by catboybenvolio; ; Report
Ooh! That would be such a good analysis topic (˶ˆᗜˆ˵) and there's so much to Anya, I'm sure there'd be a lot to analyze! I've never looked into it myself, but I wonder what kind of differences there are to Anya's personality depending on if we're looking through Curly's or Jimmy's perspective
by neon.saturn; ; Report
PixelGamerGurl
Omggg, I remember seeing some gameplay for this game. I noticed these themes too, especially with Jimmy not willing to take or handle responsibility.
i watched markiplier and jacksepticeye play it, and i watched wendigoon's video essay. i think responsibility is one of the most overt themes in the game, considering it's explicitly stated throughout the game. thanks for reading!
by catboybenvolio; ; Report
No problem, your blog and analysis on the game overall was pretty interesting to read about
by PixelGamerGurl; ; Report
thank you very much!!
by catboybenvolio; ; Report
No prob! :)
by PixelGamerGurl; ; Report
No prob! :)
by PixelGamerGurl; ; Report
SoundJon
Found this to be a very interesting read! I have heard if this game a few times, mainly from tiktoks discussing the relationship between Anya and Jimmy, as I think some people either said Jimmy didn't rape her or just ignored it and still romanticized him (classic internet but still sucks). But I thought this was very cool and interesting!
some MW fans have definitely been intentionally obtuse about jimmy's actions, though i'd argue that it's more harmful to condone his actions, as some have done. i'm glad you found my analysis interesting!
by catboybenvolio; ; Report