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Men.
Thank you to fabuIa for inciting the random panning through wikimedia commons that helped me find Szatan, and the proceeding sitting-through-me-being-annoying-about-this-draft-on-call that came as a result.
Smaller thanks (though significant still) to Caospin for giving a second pair of eyes to the draft, helping me to see where wording needed smaller touches to clarify my intent.
When I saw Szatan I was immediately inspired. The piece is incredibly evocative, as you now likely also know, but exactly what it meant to me was still up in the air. At the time, I saw a cabbage man; a mound of flesh, being Satan, seen, or watched, or something, by Blue in the corner. This resonated with me quite stunningly as I had been feeling like a bit of a mound in the past few days and wanted to vent that.
Vent how? An SCP article of course. Brainworms.
So I initially set out to convey the feeling of mounds. People who had vegetated and ingrained themselves, despondent, and upon seeing Szatan would become robust, flourish, reinforced in their eternal damnation.
But uh… That's not what this is now is it.
To preface, "Spoilers" may be incorrect here, as I am simply highlighting areas that exemplify my intent with this piece. Good to note nonetheless, I think, if you wish to stay intellectually untainted by some petty Words Of God. (Would Szatan protest to that, even? Who's to say.) Also, this tone will remain throughout the "Spoilers".
Anyhow. The first thing to notice here is the "Thaumiel" class of the object. Of course, this means our main anomaly, the Painting, is containing something. But what? It does so literally, but also in allegory. The class is the thesis of my statement here, so try to keep the question of what exactly is being contained, and how it does so, in mind.
The conprocs then are comparatively less weighty. Introducing the reader to a painting, to be looked at, and its adoring fans. I also introduce the idea that these plants are something to be nurtured. I would suggest also keeping this in mind.
Now to the meat.
SCP-7935 is a forged copy of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz's piece Szatan, depicting a strange amalgamation notably similar to our mounds that will come up later. I will highlight that this piece is a forgery. A cunning copy of something else, and is being held in a warped frame. This could be seen as me being a bit too cute, as if you abstract a bit with what you gather later, it's a bit on the nose.
Notably, I do not mention where this picture came from or how the foundation know it does what it does. Keep that in mind if you want.
SCP-7935-1 instances are mounds of human flesh. They have phalluses also, if that rings any bells in your head. They struggle to grow in the wild, but in the presence of the painting, (which I will again note resembles their mature form) they will have no problem reaching maturity. And must I say what a wonderful maturity that is. Who could resist being a contorted mound of limbs?
I'm being facetious, but what's the alternative? Death? Shriveling up into nothing? There just isn't another framework for growth that I can see…
Another highlight. When found in the wild, these entities are most commonly found in and around college campuses, or places with similar demographic makeups. What is that demographic? Why is that important? Who knows.
Thus ends the description, which I feel after the thesis of the object class, is mostly an arrangement of observations put to allegory. In the addendum I might actually say something. How exciting!
So the addendum.
Elias says the following to a mound,
"Well isn't that a pretty protrusion you have there, fella."
It then scrunches up for a few says before "blooming", showing us that it has grown a heart.
I feel like this last bit is very on the nose.
I'll note that this sort of behavior is mentioned in the conprocs, "Unique growth patterns" I'd say. We should investigate further. Wouldn't want to risk a containment breach.
:)
I can't see the image.
Edit: Nevermind, I could see the image now.
That's worrying. There's a chance you got here so early that I didn't upload the image yet. Could you try refreshing?
It worked thanks!
After an extensive conversation with IndustryStandard, I finally understand the meaning of this article. I still don't feel like I can upvote it because of how long it took for me to understand what it was going for (and because I think part of that is the article's fault), but I'll be changing this to a novote.
There is definitely a deeper meaning that I've threaded through the article.
Shame if it doesn't seem to be coming through for you, but I'll be making an author post with some notes later if you think that might help your reading. :)
My advice would be to analyze the connection betwetween a phallic abomination growing a heart and college campuses.
I'm not sure I understand? Is this a reference to something?
Okay, a three way cross word maybe. Misogyny + College Campuses + A phallic abomination growing a heart
What could the phallus symbolize, literarily?
What would the growing of a heart organ symbolize? And what does that occurence mean in the context of a reaction to the comment made to it by the researcher?
This is probably your best article. Terrifyingly sharp.
It’s raining men. Hallelujah, it’s raining men.
Good work! +1
Is the "hidden message" in this article what I think it's about? 0.0
Big fan of this.
I can tell this is trying to say something, but even after several rereads with your author note in mind, I'm afraid I just don't get it. It's flying over my head, and to those in the comments saying "what could it symbolize", trust me I'm trying here. I'm missing something, and while I'm glad y'all got it I'm afraid I just didn't.
Novote, however, because you did make me stop and think on it.
Novoted for similar reasons. I can see that there's something beneath the surface, I just cannot parse it for the life of me. All the attempts to point me in the right direction are already things I've noticed, I'm just not connecting the dots whatsoever, and I wonder if this has to do with either a life experience or preconceived notion that I've just never experienced before.
Can't say this is written poorly, it's not, it's quite evocative, and as I mentioned, there's very clearly a deeper message here. I'm just not getting it at all.
Good stuff, but the worst kind of thing this article can try to do is poorly explain it in the author post. This isn’t meant as criticism per se because it’s not an aspect of the article; I quite enjoy the article, it’s weird, it’s got something to say but it’s pleasantly evasive about what, it’s experimental without being up-its-own-ass (a very easy mistake to fall into). Kudos on that front. Just a word of advice: this kind of thing benefits from being explained or from being not explained — a half-measure (like the readthrough in the AP) satisfies neither of your audience camps, because it risks either ruining the magic or being an unsatisfying explanation. Pick one approach, commit to it, and then reap your rewards.
That makes quite the amount of sense and I’ll heed your advice in the future. I think I’m quite evasive as an author and person, so not explaining might be the plan.
Maybe it's just me, but I do see what this one is going for (a commentary on college-age sexual abuse and relationships with professors that can expose your vulnerable heart to the world.) But for me, that's just it. It doesn't have anything more to say about the topic - rather, it just alludes towards its existence. It's not layered anywhere past that far as I can see - and having to explain the lack of commentary via an author post would really just drag this down even more.
Well-written, though, and the imagery is pretty cool, it just doesn't stick the landing for me.
Your interpretation is quite interesting here, though I would offer that you’re looking at the wrong side of the college experience.
(I’ve also quickly come to agree that the “reading notes” were a bad idea, but there’s no use removing them from the author post now.)
Huh. Genuinely intrigued by this - got no idea what you’re referring to, but the fact that I keep coming back to this piece is actually quite impressive. Glad you agree about the reading notes haha
Think I’m gonna switch to a novote.
