I went into this in the audio commentary that got eaten (actually in the part that
didn't get eaten, but it doesn't really stand on its own), but the point of Kirby barreling down from the sky is that I wanted to have another "friendly" character caught up in the screen wrap there. raocow had played Kirby's Adventure recently, and I remembered how pitiful the Kirbster looks when he falls off screen in the "Miss!" sequence, so I thought he was a good choice for the role (then I felt sort of bad for him and let him catch onto a line guide in the end). It doesn't strike me as out of place in the level since, well, I don't regard this level as all too grim and serious to begin with. Because, well, it's a Mario game. It's totally fair to say that it leans more to the sombre side, but in the way that the last world of a normal Mario game tends to do so--it takes on a darker tone, to be certain but there's still a lot of goofy enemies and the occasional comedic moment and the like. And that's essentially what I was going for here. Even if the mood and æsthetic themselves are quite different from what you would find in the normal Mario games, a certain Mario-ish sentiment remains at its core. Which seems appropriate enough.
And it's not just the two elements mentioned about. Honestly, this level is
filled with jokes, as my levels tend to be. Admittedly, they're Rameau jokes, which are as likely to get a sideways glance as they are a laugh, but still. Let's take a look at the major non-saw enemies in the stage. We have:
- Several variants of an obscure Dr. Seuss creature
- This weird, Jack-o'-lantern-like bug/crab thing with chattering teeth
- My avatar
- The world's doofiest-looking Octorock
Honestly, that's a pretty silly rogue's gallery. Oh, they fit naturally in their environment, because their environment is so unnatural that they feel like logical inhabitants of the place, but that doesn't make them any less goofy in design. And being a bit goofy in design doesn't necessarily prevent them from filling other roles at the same time. Clowns did not become popular villains because they look suave and debonair.
In addition to the enemies, Kirby, Daffy and the
:
- The mushrooming falling into the water then raining down from the sky again to introduce the screen wrap is meant to be funny.
- The hidden cave raocow missed is meant to be...well, more cute than funny, but hardly grim and serious.
- The hidden
peek-a-boo Bloog in the Gaia path is meant to be funny.
- The fake door (again ignored by raocow; see the video) is meant to be funny.
- The shark things falling down slowly in the gravity-defying pool when you bop them (again, raocow didn't bop them, but trust me, it happens) then falling off screen very quickly once they emerge from the water on the other side is meant to be funny.
- The larger Bloogs hyperaccelerating due to the screen wrap is meant to be at least mildly amusing.
- The platform fakeout with the switch in Gaia's section is meant to be funny.
- The lamp turning out to be a sprite which falls forever (while the fire, being red like the blocks, turns to an "off" state) is meant to be funny
- Ouranos contradicting himself by unintentionally making a dad joke while disowning his son in overly-dramatic language is meant to be funny (if sort of sad at the same time).
- Mario being sent to the flippin' moon at the end is meant to be funny.
If I were to describe the mood I was going for here, I'd say it's meant to be sort of like a dream, or maybe a nightmare when you look back on it the next day, when the inexplicable fear has evaporated, leaving you with a series of bizarre, sometimes funny, sometimes compelling images, now that you can view them on their own. The reaction I was going for was more along the lines of "Ha-ha,
man this is weird, but neat!" rather than trying to wow the viewer with my astounding depth and profundity.
That said, plenty of serious and sombre works of actual art (as opposed to strange Mario levels about Dr. Seuss meets Greek mythology) have humorous moments as well, often in intentional opposition to darker elements. Should Beckett have cut all the jokes out of the unremittingly bleak (yet also hilarious)
Endgame? Would Werner Herzog's Stroszek be a better film had the relentless and haunting ending not so prominently featured the Dancing Chicken? I'd say no. Humor is a major part of humanity's dealing with darker emotions, and life in general. Denying that gets us no further
But again, we're not talking about enduring works of art, we're talking about some excessively wordy hobo's entry for a Super Mario World level contest. While my personal atmospheric preferences do tend to trend towards the sombre, bizarre and uncanny, there's pretty much always a certain undertone of silliness there to balance this out. Because life itself, even in its darkest moments, can be a very silly thing, if looked at from a certain angle. And looking at things from that sort of angle is
my way of dealing with things, I guess you could say. We all have our own peculiar gait when walking down this road.