D.Va's self-destruct = Metaphor for her mental health

General Discussion
1

"Shooting Star" is the most brilliant Overwatch short movie so far!

And here is why:

D.va’s lore and character was an example of poor/lazy writing. While most heroes had personalities with depth, motivations and a backstory (some over two or more decades…), D.va’s story was: “Oh, she is a gamer girl that now is a mech pilot because of… …reasons! And she is sexy and cute and cool and funny and awesome and flawless because of… …she is just awesome!!!”
It always felt like a 13 year old came up with this concept. She was a “Mary Sue” (google it). It was not total garbage though. From a “ironical, thrashy B-Movie” kind of view, her personality was quite entertaining. But it surely didn’t feel like there wasn’t much effort or thought involved. when her story was written…

"Shooting Star" changed that. It is a movie about Hana Song, not about D.Va! And it is great!!!
Here is my interpretation of what happens in this short movie. And why this is brilliant. It is based on the following assumptions, that I will try to elaborate:

  1. South Korea needs D.Va

  2. D.Va is a media invention

  3. Hana Song is not D.Va (anymore)

  4. Hana Song tries to be D.Va…

  5. …and it is destroying her!

SOUTH KOREA NEEDS D.VA
The South Korean people are scared. Almost every day, the omnics can attack and kill thousand of people. Maybe even wipe out whole cities! Scared people
want to feel save. They want someone to say: “Everything is going to be okay!”

Like a small kid, that can’t sleep in the night because “Monsters will come and eat me!”. Then their mother will buy a plush toy and say: “This is Captain Awesome. He will fight the monsters! You are save now.”
D.va is this plush toy. And the goverment/media is the mother. The kid will feel save, be thankful and absolutly admire this plush toy.

D.VA IS A MEDIA INVENTION
I guess, I have to elaborate this one. Hana Song really was a gamer girl and streamer, invented the name D.va and won tournaments. The boasting, funky, “Is this ez mode”-crap talking personality was her personality as long, as she was a gamer. At least, it was her “online personality” when she streamed. She was a famous popstar, before she became a mech pilot. And then media took over that image and made it larger then live. It was the media, that said: “Here is D.va! She is a gamer girl that now is a mech pilot because of… …reasons! And she is sexy and cute and cool and funny and awesome and flawless because of… …she is just awesome!!!”

That is, what the people wanted to hear. D.va was their little, perfect plush toy. She has to be perfect. If she wasn’t perfect, maybe they are not as save as they thought?

This is why media is constantly lying about her:

  • 0:38 -> news guy: “She is eating the finest foods”; we see her eating a “Dorito”
  • 0:40 -> news guy: “…then hanging out with other superstars”; we see her mechanic/friend
  • 6:36 -> news girl: “…she emerged, without a scratch”; we see her heavily wounded
  • 6:40 -> news girl: “She is currently taking some time off”; we see her working…
  • 0:23 -> news guy: "The MEKA squad took a few hits; 1:33 Hana: “We barely won last time”
    (…)

HANA SONG IS NOT D.VA (ANYMORE)
“We barely won last time”. This is a sentence D.Va would never say. It is not in her vocabulary. Because D.va is not a human, but a one dimensional image of perfection.

There is more evidence, that we never see D.va in this short movie, but Hana Song:

  • The media always calls her “D.va”, her friend always calls her “Hana”
  • The “original” D.va has open hair and pink triangles in her face (= fancy popstar).
  • Hana Song has a bun and a dirt streak in her face (= hard working).
  • The only time we see the “original D.va” is in the news… …and always as a 2d drawing, not a 3d model (= she is lacking a dimension).
  • We also see “original D.Va” on the products and advertisements…
  • D.va is a gamer, Hana is never shown gaming or playing, but always working
  • D.va uses much “gamer lingo”, Hana not a single time… …not even saying “Nerf this” in the end.
  • D.va is a popstar and glamour girl, Hana seams to despise glamour
  • a “diva” is usually considered to be egocentric / egoistic; Hana is pretty altruistic
  • Hana’s two main topics are “work” and “responsibility”… …which is pretty much the opposite of a game.
  • They even make jokes about the difference of her public image (D.Va) and her actual self (Hana) -> 7:07 “How about getting me on the VIP list of the fancy restaurants you ALWAYS go to?” - “I think you have seen to much holovids” -> On media (holovids) D.va is going to fancy restaurants, Hana would never do that and would rather be alone, working and eating junk food… …Hana is pretty much the opposite of a diva.

HANA SONG TRIES TO BE D.VA
Hana knows, that South Korea needs “their D.va”. She plays along. You see her smling and posing for the cameras at the press conference (0:29). She tries to become the incarnation of perfection, that “D.va” is.
You actually see “original D.va” for 3 seconds as a 3d-model in the game: 1:20 - 1:23. Pause at 1:23, when D.mon screams “I’m hit”. What you see is the face of a shocked, terrified gamer girl, that suddenly recognizes that this is not a game. That her teammate is about to die.
A few moments after this flashback she is basicly saying: “I have to be perfect. When I make a mistake, people will die!”
And she sincerly believes that. That can’t be good for your mental health, which brings me to…

…AND IT IS DESTROYING HER
Pause at 6:51. You may think “Dorito, Mountain Dew, Ramen”-D.va… …it’s a meme. Yeah, but think again. There are six ramen cups. She has been on that diet for days. She probably has not left her working place for more then a few minutes (to get hot water for the ramen) in the last few days.
Imagine you had a friend, that almost killed herself a few days ago. (You can see a defibrilator on 6:16). And after a few days, you see her with 2-3 broken limbs, not even able to hold a tool corectly, but working again, saying everything is fine (“What’s not to like?”).
When Hana’s friend asked “Why don’t you take a break”, she answers “I can’t”. Not “I don’t want to”. Not “I don’t need to”. She answers “I can’t”. And that is pretty much the definition of an addiction (for work / workaholic). She then is sincere and honest for 20 seconds. Telling what scares her.(“What will happen, when I fail? When I am not perfect?”) And how does she cope with this dark thoughts? “I have to finish the tests”… …she starts working again. She blocks any discussion. She almost immediatly is in a “Everything is fine, I don’t need help. Thanks. I got this. You don’t have to worry.”-mode.
I think anyome that has a friend or family member with mental health issues would agree, that this “mode” is very frustrating.

It is almost ironical, that the “solution” of the fight scene is:
Her friend: “Be carefull, you will blow up!”
Hana: “Blow up? Good idea! That will save others!”

At this moment, she can’t know, that she will survive this. (She almost didn’t.)
But she didn’t hesitate a second, not a frame. She didn’t even ask herself “Blow up? Wait a second… …that’s not good for me, right?”.
It is not an decision, it is an instinctive reaction. “My mission is important, I am not”. At no point in this short movie, she is thinking about herself or taking care of herself or her (mental) health.
And that is not altruistic, that is pretty self-destructive.

CONCLUSION
When you play Overwatch, you play D.va. Not Hana. There is basicly nothing in the game, that hinted this character depth. It wasn’t there. The only voice line, that was hinting that there is more to her than the faboulous “Mary Sue” popstar, was the “The destruction caused by the omincs here… …it reminds me of home” line she drops in Eichenwalde. It wasn’t there in the beginning of the game. I think D.va really was written poorly at the beginning and not thought through.

Some years later, a writer was given the task to write a script for a short movie for her and thought: D.va is not a real human. It is an image. Screw this, I write a story about Hana Song instead. And so he did. And it was brilliant!

19 Likes
2

Or you’re just looking into it too much

6 Likes
3

Or you are not looking into it enough?
(Honestly, I think there is put pretty much thought into those videos…)

7 Likes
4

Or she simply grew up. Remember that when d.va was released and the cinematic [we are overwatch] she is 19 at that time. Its been 3 years lets say, shes 22 now. She gotten more serious and probably stopped thinking about games in general.
Wich explains her all serious behaivour without that lolita girl voice cracks

1 Like
5

I think its nice that someone took time to discuss the mental health of a fictional character. Lets not forget that in the world they are, its much better to hire gamers to do the army’s job.

Cinematics dont need to follow overawtch rules, since you can play Widow and Tracer on the same team and such something that will never happen in that world but i will agree that they at lest comment on that fact with automated in game voicelines, that sayed its not hard to imagen that they will add extra lines for DV.a or other heroes sine they have added a lot since the game started, but i think its normal for DV.a to not pay much attention to that since its clear that her personality is made to just move forward/focus on current events and be positive the rest is just pop culture references.

No one knows the time line of the current overwatch, the one the game is played on as well but they are a lot of videos speculating on it. For what we know some the current heroes might be death or just flat out to old to fight.
And they have changes huge ditails on heroes releases messing with the time line as well looking at doomfist and the missing gauntlet.

Btw they are clips of a Devs getting interviewed and ofc it holded a lot of questions about that sinimatic, one of the things they said was that the cinametics are mostly spontaneously tooth out and made and that they try to merge the release dates on them with new maps.

2 Likes
6

Her character is extremely predictably written, like most of the Overwatch cast. I don’t find any of it compelling or interesting. They have a very simple overall narrative which was stolen directly from the pages of the “Watchmen” comics. Dva’s concept is the same as Pacific Rim. Tracer is (or was) the POV character going on the heroes journey. The characters are as generic as possible and stick to the obvious formula to the letter.

I mean, it’s animated well and they’re all over-the-top with the expressions and they thrust out some generic ideas about “Not doing everything yourself” and the value of friendship and blablabla… but really? This is FAR from Shakespeare level writing.

The Overwatch cast are all cardboard cut outs with very little behind them. It’s like when an author wants to write a book aimed at pleasing toddlers. They have to keep things very nice, simple and obvious for the readers. “The cat sat on the mat”.

Now, I’m not saying that the average Overwatch consumer is as dumb as a toddler, but what I am saying is that the average Overwatch consumer is as dumb as a toddler. :relaxed:

I mean, “She has dirt on her face, so she’s hardworking!”. You’re correct of course, that’s what it represents and you are correct with all your other observations, but isn’t it all incredibly obvious to the point of cringy? You’re able to identify these obvious things and point them out like it’s some grand revelation but to me it’s just eye rolling.

2 Likes
7

Overwatch cinematics have the same level of acting that cringe animes or disney shows use. That’s what happens when you try to cater to everyone and you are showing charecters that are just to perfect and dont have anything negative about them, it ends up looking unreal for me.

Just a heads up im not calling all anime cringe, but some are.

8

I’m not much of an anime fan myself, being able to count the ones I like on one hand.

My favourite anime is “Welcome to the NHK” which is imo a brilliantly written story that actually deals with true mental health issues. If you want a real insight into mental health then NHK will serve you far better than watching Dva shoot robots. :sparkling_heart:

9

you may call me crazy, but i had a different look slice i played ow, remember the only reason i play ow is because of her, and from first day i call her “Hana” not “D.Va”, when i saw her friend calls her “Hana” i became so mad about it.

11

Seen it, ill have to say that for me it will be steins gate.

12

There is another interpretation of the short by T B Skyren:

He points out that blizzard actually turned a meme into a character flaw of Hana Song, which is that she is self destructive, believing that she has to do all by herself to protect her country, whose celebrity industry is pressuring her to be perfect.

If you have 18 minutes to spare, you could watch this video.

5 Likes
13

@Vsonypower:
I think, all OW heroes are “frozen in time”. Like Bart Simpson never gets old. If not, they need to make new character models in a few years… :wink:

@Endoftheline:
I will agree, that most (I would even say all) Overwatch heroes are written extremly predictable. They are all walking cliche / tropes. I mean, you have a german knight, a japanese ninja and an us-american cowboy…
But I don’t think, this is bad or lazy writing. It is a decision.
E. g. Holden Caufield from “the catcher in the rye” maybe is a figure with more character depth and more interesting than any of the OW heroes. But is he a better video game character? I doubt it…
At least not for a comic shooter like OW.

But I don’t think a story has to be “deep” or hard to understand to be brilliant. See it this way: You have to make a 7:20 minute video about one of the most shallow heroes in over watch. 4 minutes of it propably have to be an action sequence with explosions and stuff (because OW is still an action game), so you basicly have 3:20.

In this 3:20 “Shooting star” is basicly:

  • commenting on media perception
  • commenting on mental health issues
  • adding a layer of depth to a shallow character
  • basicly saying “D.va is a fake, Hana is basicly the opposite”, while keeping D.va fanboys and -girls happy with it (which was a pretty daring move, in my opinion)
  • doing all of the above in a cartoony, entertaining way and keeping it simple and understandable

This surely is “far from Shakepeare level writing”. But Shakespeare wrote dramas / novels, not 7 minute videos about shooting game characters. And given the circumstances, this is excellently written and almost as good as it gets.

2 Likes
14

Ya I agree, it’s definitely done intentionally.

It depends what you mean by “deep”, but for the most part I’d say that a brilliant story does typically have to be deep. You go on to give them a pass on this because it’s just a cinematic? But, choosing to develop their story in a short cinematic that they can only pump out once a year is a choice that they made, so that’s not really a valid excuse.

As for “hard to understand”, generally you want your story to be ahead of your audience rather than your audience to be ahead of your story. A story that is utterly predictable is going to be boring.

It’s hard for me to respond further without feeling like I’m insulting your intelligence. I am glad that you enjoy it and I’ll leave it at that. :sparkling_heart:

15

At this stage, 2 years after the release bliz can alter the up-and-coming animation shorts, so how we viewed heroes originaly is totally different now.

D.va self obsessed and seems like someone who would get the “I’m wrestling with some insecurity issues in my life but thank you all for playing with me.” messages at the end of the game but in reality she eat comsumes junk food, doesn’t look after her self, which could be a sign of depression, she is struggling with the pressures of her life, she’s somewhat normal to a lot of people out there.

I don’t know, I think I would have perfered it if she was just the little brat she was to begin with. :smiley:

16

Awww, what a polite way to say I’m dumb. :heart_eyes:
I would respond to this, but that would mean I had to accuse you of having a pretty weak personality, so I won’t… :wink:

17

love this analysis, the short was sooo good and I love posts like these they’re so fun :smiley:

2 Likes
18

As someone with PTSD this short and the bastion short are really meaningful to me. I agree with everything you said in the original post completely and it was what I felt their intent was with the cinematic to begin with when I watched it air live.

I think a lot of the people who aren’t happy with the cinematic wanted d.va to be d.va, and not hana song. Idunno though, I can only speak for myself.

1 Like
19

If you stare at a blue sky for long enough you can convince yourself that you can see a rainbow

20

@Juanalupe:
Thanks a lot!

@Dandy:
I don’t think so. I think, there are three main reasons this cinematic gets more bad reviews than others.

  1. People don’t like D.va. She is pretty polarizing, some love her, some hate her. I haven’t read any “I love D.va, but this cinematic is weak!” comments. Nor did I see any “I hate D.va, but this is great” reviews. I think, the perception of a cinematic is strongly influenced by if you like a hero or not.
  2. Some people didn’t get the meaning behind it. (Which is why I pointed it out…)
  3. The “lack of lore” argument: D.va is pretty much a stand alone hero. She still has no real connection to the Overwatch organisation or any other hero. If you are not interested in D.va and her backstory, this cinematic basicly does nothing for you.
21

yea thank you, i was going crazy i thought this guy is her romance friend, now i released there is nothing to scare about and now im sad for herself

2 Likes