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talkingtattletail · 7 years

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Y'all over here talking about tattletail but like,,, please I love Mama with all my heart she is just a really overprotective parent trying her best please be nice to her

as much as i appreciate any and all meta of this cryptic ass game i’ve got some points to bring up here, considering sometimes the lines between overprotective and abusive seem pretty hazy when it comes to a lot of metas of parents so. tw for abuse discussion

ok first of all, the first actual in game mention we hear of mama is tattletail saying “mama scary” which is already a red flag considering that your first impression of a child’s parent/s shouldn’t be that they’re scared of them. that’s a sign of abuse. children shouldn’t be inherently scared of their parents. and let’s separate strict parents from abusive parents right away - while yeah some parents are strict and that’s that, your sole emotion of your parent/s being fear is Not Good.

there is no mention of mama trying to protect the tattletails like… at all. mama seems to pose a danger to tattletail, considering tattletail does seem scared of mama (the mentioned “mama scary” part, tattletail’s shifty eyes when danger appears, the fact they’re trying to banish her, the thanks from tattletail when mama is successfully banished during the good ending). also the “show me mama” bit doesn’t invalidate this as it’s perfectly natural for abused kids to still feel attachment to / want to be close to their parents so that can’t excuse anything. the “mama’s looking after you” line can’t be used either considering the tone is condescending and mocking, but i mean it IS said by a furby monster so the tone is debatable

in mama’s longest line of dialogue she talks about how “the children thought that mama would never find them as long as she couldn’t see them”. this implies that they’re trying to hide from mama which would imply that she’s posing a threat to them. and no, it’s not hide and seek like tattletail plays with his friend - it ends with “and she put them right back to bed,” which, aside from being sinister as hell, implies that nah, she’s trying to get them back, no game involved.

also, the tattletails wanting to banish her can’t really be a “teenage rebellion” thing. first, of all, tattletails really don’t seem to be teenagers, more like really young children. probably about 6-8 if i’d have to guess. second, the tattletails aren’t rebellious. they seek out mama at first, try to throw a party for her, and do seem to hold affection for her, but like most victims of parental abuse, they long to get rid of their abuser (i.e. the banishment). and post banishment the tattletails aren’t like “haha fuck you mama!” they, instead, tell you (in the good ending at least) a very sincere “thank you.” this is telling. you’ve helped the tattletails.

also mama literally like. ate a kid eyes out as implied by the steam description so she is totally a threat in general at least

also, this is a stretch that was probably not at all intended but the 5 days of the game loosely resemble the ‘Cycle of Abuse’ pattern developed in 1979 by Lenore E. Walker that explains the cycle of abuse that takes place in abusive relationships.

The first stage (tensions building) fits the first night. the “mama scary” line, but no mama being present, mimicking the 'breakdown of communication’ aspect that is often associated with this stage of the model.

the second stage (incident) fits the second night, too. we see mama for the first time. the environment is unpleasant; frightening, and this is the first night where you can die. this is the stage associated with the actual abuse part of the cycle (although the cycle within itself is abuse (emotional abuse), but you get what i mean)

the third stage (reconciliation) doesn’t fit the third night SUPER well, but it does kinda vaguely - tattletail plays a game with his friend, which why isn’t really reconciling with mama, does allow him to be free from mama at least briefly. there’s also the whole “mama? in the bedroom? ok! bye bye!” line but analysis of that is an ENTIRE other can of worms

the fourth stage (calm) fits the fourth night better than the third did, but not quite as well as the third or second. mama isn’t exactly calm this night but the tattletail supposedly trying to make amends (throwing a party) is there. this stage is usually associated with the incident being forgotten or shoved under the rug by both parties, with no direct abuse taking place. although you can die on this night (and boy howdy is it a hard night), the front of a 'party’ for mama seems to imply, at least to the player and/or mama, that the incidents of the other nights have been forgotten, that that’s old news and they’re going to throw mama a party now.

while the stage does consist of 4 stages, the fifth night (day?), christmas day, does continue to fit this model. there’s two endings - good and bad. the bad ending represents the continuation of the cycle - tensions build (the very long wait to open your present ft. extremely ominous music for the sole purpose of creating suspense and tension), and then the incident - tattletail being gone, with mama killing you. but the good ending is very different - it repersents the cycle breaking. mama is gone, tattletail thanks you very sincerely, fade to white and it’s all good in tattleville.

and the “mama’s just protecting her children from you!” argument doesn’t fly either - while protecting your children is great and all, 1. you shouldn’t keep your children from hanging out with people (it’s abuse) and 2. you shouldn’t kill the people your children are hanging out with. it’s not like you’re even a bad influence or anything - you’re taking care of tattletail - mama doesn’t have any reason to be overprotective to the point of murder. tattletail isn’t under any danger around you, you aren’t mean to him, no harm comes to him - you play with him and his friends, feed him, brush him, charge him - there’s no reason for mama to distrust you other than initial meeting. tattletail hangs out with for a while, and she doesn’t let up.

tl;dr, mama is abusive, not just overprotective.

i’m very sorry that i ended up writing over 1,000 words on this… sorry if this is incoherent considering it’s past 1am, but this is a topic i’m very passionate about lmao

#abuse /#elliott answers #elliott theorizes #theory #i mean??????? i guess #meta #thats better

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