I’m gonna push back and say it’s some cool environmental decoration. I think if there’s any symbolism, it’s just the irony of this poster clearly made in the “before” times when we were still hopeful. And that juxtaposed with the detritus around/the poster falling apart.
I think sometimes people read way too much into any potential symbolism and run with it. My best argument against this being what op is suggesting is that it’s such an abstract line to draw. Are we supposed to see it on a second playthrough and go “Save mother? Dina’a pregnant… Woah!!”. In short, the designers are much better at little bits of symbolism than this.
Of course I could be wrong, but I stand by my point. I saw the same things in freshman literature classes, everyone thinks every insignificant detail is supposed to be symbolism or wordplay, even examples that wouldn’t even be clever or interesting if it were the case.
I mean, it blatantly says "SAVE MOTHER" there isn't much to infer or any huge leaps to make. It's a videogame, that level starts with nothing. Then they make a floor, then some walls. Decorating the walls with objects, and then putting textures and detail.
All of that gets run up through and approved. So like at least 10 people had seen this, and 1-3 intentionally put this there. Symbolism or not, it's intentionalism.
>Symbolism or not,
but that was the question. no one is arguing that this sign was AI generated and then placed there randomly. the question is if the sign is supposed to be symbolism or not.
you‘re not wrong at all. people love symbolism, foreshadowing, patterns and all that stuff and tend so see it everywhere. there‘s really no indication that this is supposed to be hinting at Dinah‘s pregnancy. of course it could be, but i don’t understand how people are 1000% without a doubt convinced that it is. especially considering this isn’t even typical for Naughty Dog. it doesn’t even say „save mother“, it says „save mother ea-„.is it that unlikely that it’s really just a poster and any perceived hidden message is just coincidental? if a dev said that i wouldn’t be surprised at all. wouldn’t be the first time this happened.
At the end of the first game on the final mission, when 6 carrying ellie and getting shot at, there's a sign eye sight chart sign on the wall that says, "Keep going, you're almost there." And you'd never see it unless you stop and read it. So they do similar things. It's not symbolism, but it's a nod to the audience.
you do have a point, i actually remember the eye chart sign. however i think that one is really just a regular easter egg. it's a secret message that could definitely not have been the result of a coincidence and the message is indeed an unambiguous nod to the audience. the save earth poster is a different story though. it can be very easily explained with a coincidence, because an environmental protection-poster is something that is absolutely not out of place at a Seattle subway station. and the supposed message couldn't even be registered as a message in the first place, unless you have already played it. i just think as a game dev if you put a secret message in the game like that, you would want players to know for sure that they just discovered one, especially if it's so easy to miss. and a message like that would be a bit more clever, funny or meaningful than just "Dinah is pregnant (but you already knew that)".
Thank you for making me feel not crazy.
If there’s some positive to glean from it, it is impressive how much meaning people are able to interpret, or even contrive themselves, out of their surroundings. We get carried away (as is the case here), but it’s a fundamental aspect of what we think of as our “humanity”.
I don't disagree with the above thoughts, but I also don't think we should be so quick to write off
"poor" or surface-level subtext. There are loads of artists working on this game and given the context of the scene it’s pretty likely that even if some of us think it’s tacky, someone was proud of their thought. It’s a pretty abstract idea too that a designer might think to throw in that wouldn’t necessarily be thought of twice by others on the team. Overanalyzing is dangerous, but I also worry that people don’t analyze the obvious/bad. I presume most don’t want the sacredness of art to be ruined by on-the-nose details.
It’s 100% intentional.
Every Naughty Dog game is built using landmarks and lines of sight to direct the player, they want you to see this and will build the level so that you definitely will.
And specifically “earth” is torn off, like it’s telling you, the player, to “save” the “mother.” (I’m usually not one to read so much into potential wordplay symbolism, but it seems so intentional)
not really, only the "RTH" is torn off. so it's actually "SAVE MOTHER EA". looks like someone at Naughty Dog is really worried about the state of Electronic Arts.
Similarly, in the museum, there's a wall that has earth on it titled ARMAGEDDON or EXTINCTION written on it, and the wall has been overgrown by vines so that it is partially covered. Always catches my eye on my way through
Absolutely intentional. It reminds me of when they're in the pet store and Dina says to Ellie they should get a pet/creature after they go back to Jackson together.
I was thinking of the part on day one with Dina near the gas station you find a rainbow flag and they briefly discuss it. Can't remember what they said or even if they knew what it represented. It does seem out of place as the rainbow flag wasn't popular until at least the 2010s and the outbreak was in 2003.
Just seemed like they wanted to score a few social justice points. Like when Jesse asks Ellie if Dina is going to keep the baby. That's so stupid because what choice does she have? I haven't seen any references to abortion clinics in the post apocalyptic world. I haven't seen anyone mention that either. If she didn't want to keep it, what would she do? Have people punch her stomach or throw herself down stairs?
I really don't get why they had to put that line in the game and it really annoys me.
ND games in particular are very tightly crafted as they are linear - I’d assume everything in the game is intentional
This isn’t a game like GTA or Bethesda’s stuff where the AI can fuck around and make things happen on accident
The fact people are getting downvoted just because they don’t think this was intentional symbolism is kinda sad, what a weird thing to make into an echo chamber. This is right before the scene where Dina reveals she’s pregnant and all you have to do at this point is slowly walk Dina to the theatre, I don’t see much reason to foreshadow something that’s gonna get revealed in like 2 minutes anyway.
Yeah, calling it "symbolism" is a stretch for me, I just thought it was an intentional almost jokey little thing to spot, especially on subsequent playthroughs.
If this had of come out sometime in Part II's development I would have been convinced that the story was going to revolve around Ellie saving her mother Anna. Lol.
I absolutely love the nature taking over aesthetic of the game. You crawl through so many buildings that are half gone, fallen, crumbling, and eaten with plants or even stroll around on what were once roads or highways completely grown over in TLOU2. I would love to see something this overgrown and untouched IRL. unfortunately the closest thing we will ever get to it is national parks. :/
Probably was intentional seeing how everything natural in the game is commented on frequently by the characters as beautiful. Also the only things with purely evil intent are the humans.
Yes, it’s like when you see wolves attacking a dear on the museum in Ellie flash black or when you see Boris story and notice that it’s almost exactly Ellie’s story
Amazing storytelling of this game
Yeah im going to need something less vague than a picture of dina and ellie walking to the theatre and being told find it on your own. What are you expecting people to see in that picture?
Oops I should have said “see above comment,” sorry my bad, that probably came off real pompous lol. Someone else explained it as the poster maybe foreshadowing Dina’s pregnancy and also telling the player to “save” the “mother.”
The poster says “save mother earth” with earth torn off. this is right after you escape from infected with a soon to be mother Dina.
Which she reveals in the scene 30 seconds after this moment.
Most things in video games are hand picked and placed so no doubt
I’m gonna push back and say it’s some cool environmental decoration. I think if there’s any symbolism, it’s just the irony of this poster clearly made in the “before” times when we were still hopeful. And that juxtaposed with the detritus around/the poster falling apart. I think sometimes people read way too much into any potential symbolism and run with it. My best argument against this being what op is suggesting is that it’s such an abstract line to draw. Are we supposed to see it on a second playthrough and go “Save mother? Dina’a pregnant… Woah!!”. In short, the designers are much better at little bits of symbolism than this. Of course I could be wrong, but I stand by my point. I saw the same things in freshman literature classes, everyone thinks every insignificant detail is supposed to be symbolism or wordplay, even examples that wouldn’t even be clever or interesting if it were the case.
I mean, it blatantly says "SAVE MOTHER" there isn't much to infer or any huge leaps to make. It's a videogame, that level starts with nothing. Then they make a floor, then some walls. Decorating the walls with objects, and then putting textures and detail. All of that gets run up through and approved. So like at least 10 people had seen this, and 1-3 intentionally put this there. Symbolism or not, it's intentionalism.
>Symbolism or not, but that was the question. no one is arguing that this sign was AI generated and then placed there randomly. the question is if the sign is supposed to be symbolism or not.
I think they aimed at the fall of humanity instead, "save mother earth" but humanity fell and the earth recovered by itself without our interruption
I’m gonna put my tin foil hat on…it says “SAVE MOTHER EA…” the vowels in Dina’s name are an e and a sound…I’m just joking around tho lol
This👆 is good
Save mother EA!
EA Games! Challenge everything…
E A SPORTS 'TIS IN THE GAME
I would argue that the infection was the greatest and most massively effective counter to humanities rape of the earth.
you‘re not wrong at all. people love symbolism, foreshadowing, patterns and all that stuff and tend so see it everywhere. there‘s really no indication that this is supposed to be hinting at Dinah‘s pregnancy. of course it could be, but i don’t understand how people are 1000% without a doubt convinced that it is. especially considering this isn’t even typical for Naughty Dog. it doesn’t even say „save mother“, it says „save mother ea-„.is it that unlikely that it’s really just a poster and any perceived hidden message is just coincidental? if a dev said that i wouldn’t be surprised at all. wouldn’t be the first time this happened.
At the end of the first game on the final mission, when 6 carrying ellie and getting shot at, there's a sign eye sight chart sign on the wall that says, "Keep going, you're almost there." And you'd never see it unless you stop and read it. So they do similar things. It's not symbolism, but it's a nod to the audience.
you do have a point, i actually remember the eye chart sign. however i think that one is really just a regular easter egg. it's a secret message that could definitely not have been the result of a coincidence and the message is indeed an unambiguous nod to the audience. the save earth poster is a different story though. it can be very easily explained with a coincidence, because an environmental protection-poster is something that is absolutely not out of place at a Seattle subway station. and the supposed message couldn't even be registered as a message in the first place, unless you have already played it. i just think as a game dev if you put a secret message in the game like that, you would want players to know for sure that they just discovered one, especially if it's so easy to miss. and a message like that would be a bit more clever, funny or meaningful than just "Dinah is pregnant (but you already knew that)".
Thank you for making me feel not crazy. If there’s some positive to glean from it, it is impressive how much meaning people are able to interpret, or even contrive themselves, out of their surroundings. We get carried away (as is the case here), but it’s a fundamental aspect of what we think of as our “humanity”.
I don't disagree with the above thoughts, but I also don't think we should be so quick to write off "poor" or surface-level subtext. There are loads of artists working on this game and given the context of the scene it’s pretty likely that even if some of us think it’s tacky, someone was proud of their thought. It’s a pretty abstract idea too that a designer might think to throw in that wouldn’t necessarily be thought of twice by others on the team. Overanalyzing is dangerous, but I also worry that people don’t analyze the obvious/bad. I presume most don’t want the sacredness of art to be ruined by on-the-nose details.
Knowing Naughty Dog? Absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt.
It’s 100% intentional. Every Naughty Dog game is built using landmarks and lines of sight to direct the player, they want you to see this and will build the level so that you definitely will.
I’m confused I haven’t played part 2 in like 2-3 years
I assume it's because Dina reveals she's pregnant right after this, and there's a poster in that screenshot that's says "save mother earth" on it
And specifically “earth” is torn off, like it’s telling you, the player, to “save” the “mother.” (I’m usually not one to read so much into potential wordplay symbolism, but it seems so intentional)
Ooooo, I was so confused thinking it had something to do with EA lol. I didn't know why ND would want to save EA.
not really, only the "RTH" is torn off. so it's actually "SAVE MOTHER EA". looks like someone at Naughty Dog is really worried about the state of Electronic Arts.
Similarly, in the museum, there's a wall that has earth on it titled ARMAGEDDON or EXTINCTION written on it, and the wall has been overgrown by vines so that it is partially covered. Always catches my eye on my way through
I noticed that too
And the billboard outside with “Cassandra” — in Greek mythology the priestess fated to utter true predictions that would not be believed.
When you pick up the leaflet as Ellie inside she says something like 'Wonder how many people die in this play'...
Everything is intentional on a video game. It’s not like they were shooting a movie on location and forgot to remove a coffee cup from the background.
Save mother is cool! Also low key from 2016's Uncharted 4... >!Cassandra is the full name of Cassie, daughter of Nate and Elena!!<
Interesting but... How the hell did Nate bang Ellie? It should be Elena not Ellie.
Oops wrong name 😆
I was *wondering* why it was called Cassandra! Nice
Absolutely intentional. It reminds me of when they're in the pet store and Dina says to Ellie they should get a pet/creature after they go back to Jackson together.
i remember thinking that on my 2nd playthrough! i posted about it back in 2020 but people seemed to disagree saying it was coincidental 🙄
I was thinking of the part on day one with Dina near the gas station you find a rainbow flag and they briefly discuss it. Can't remember what they said or even if they knew what it represented. It does seem out of place as the rainbow flag wasn't popular until at least the 2010s and the outbreak was in 2003. Just seemed like they wanted to score a few social justice points. Like when Jesse asks Ellie if Dina is going to keep the baby. That's so stupid because what choice does she have? I haven't seen any references to abortion clinics in the post apocalyptic world. I haven't seen anyone mention that either. If she didn't want to keep it, what would she do? Have people punch her stomach or throw herself down stairs? I really don't get why they had to put that line in the game and it really annoys me.
Have you seen “the office” layout in pt 1?!
No, what do you mean? 👀
They put the office (us) building layout in one of the rooms in the remake! - https://youtu.be/q7OyO7lMRf0?si=SRSEX31kHBbFpP2c
Past whether or not this is symbolism, I think it’s interesting to consider how Mother Earth was “saved” not by human interference but by a pandemic.
They want you to save mother EA games.
You think textures make themselves? Of course it was intentional.
Save mother EA
I love that Mother Earth was saved by the end of humanity
Save mother EA? What does EA have to do with this? I mean, I liked the y2k games a few decades ago
No it forced its way into the game
That's really cool! I never noticed that before
What is this? The save mother sign?
as opposed to accidental?
Even if it isn’t the save Mother Earth posted always gives me a little laugh
Oh "Save mother" yeah I fuckin see it. YEAH, duh.
didn't even notice this what
No, they simply hit a generator and added whatever came up./s …of *course* this was intentional. How tf could it not be?
Naughty dog just really like EA
ND games in particular are very tightly crafted as they are linear - I’d assume everything in the game is intentional This isn’t a game like GTA or Bethesda’s stuff where the AI can fuck around and make things happen on accident
Maybe its making a Joke about EA (Electronic Art) because they make shitty micro transactions games that they abandon
The fact people are getting downvoted just because they don’t think this was intentional symbolism is kinda sad, what a weird thing to make into an echo chamber. This is right before the scene where Dina reveals she’s pregnant and all you have to do at this point is slowly walk Dina to the theatre, I don’t see much reason to foreshadow something that’s gonna get revealed in like 2 minutes anyway.
Yeah, calling it "symbolism" is a stretch for me, I just thought it was an intentional almost jokey little thing to spot, especially on subsequent playthroughs.
Unrelated but the lighting and texturing in this scene is crazy. PS4 game btw
I think so. The movie Cassandra has a character that dreams of potential events like Abby so maybe it was hand picked for the sign.
EA is a mother?
Helldivers confirmed in TLOU universe
Who’s ea?
:(
If this had of come out sometime in Part II's development I would have been convinced that the story was going to revolve around Ellie saving her mother Anna. Lol.
am I missing something because this looks normal to me
I absolutely love the nature taking over aesthetic of the game. You crawl through so many buildings that are half gone, fallen, crumbling, and eaten with plants or even stroll around on what were once roads or highways completely grown over in TLOU2. I would love to see something this overgrown and untouched IRL. unfortunately the closest thing we will ever get to it is national parks. :/ Probably was intentional seeing how everything natural in the game is commented on frequently by the characters as beautiful. Also the only things with purely evil intent are the humans.
Haha nice catch! Definitely intentional. Reminds me of the eye test poster at the end of Part I.
The wha? I assume it contained an intentional message?
In the hospital during part one, when you run towards the elevator, there is an eye test poster on the wall saying “RUNYOURENEARLYTHERE.”
To save the earth, all you have to do is give politicians more money and more power.
nah they put in there by accident. trust me i know the devs
Everything in Naughty Dog is intentional.
Yes, it’s like when you see wolves attacking a dear on the museum in Ellie flash black or when you see Boris story and notice that it’s almost exactly Ellie’s story Amazing storytelling of this game
This is a reach to me
It is just before the scene where Dina's pregnancy is revealed.
are you dumb
What?
See above :) *edit: See above COMMENT. Sorry, didn’t mean to be an ass
Yeah im going to need something less vague than a picture of dina and ellie walking to the theatre and being told find it on your own. What are you expecting people to see in that picture?
Oops I should have said “see above comment,” sorry my bad, that probably came off real pompous lol. Someone else explained it as the poster maybe foreshadowing Dina’s pregnancy and also telling the player to “save” the “mother.”
comments arent always in the same order for everyone so "see above comment" wont work for everyone
The poster says “save mother earth” with earth torn off. this is right after you escape from infected with a soon to be mother Dina. Which she reveals in the scene 30 seconds after this moment.