[Credit for this goes to Zeitgeist from EU.]
“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:
South Korea needs D.Va
D.Va is a media invention
Hana Song is not D.Va (anymore)
Hana Song tries to be D.Va…
…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!