For pop culture fans, Easter eggs aren’t just reserved for one holiday in April.
Published 4:39 PM EDT May 14, 2019
The concept in visual media of hiding clues and callbacks for fans to find has grown into a full-blown cultural obsession. After every new episode of “Game of Thrones,” articles flood the internet pointing out the obscure references to past plot lines and scenes. 'Avengers: Endgame' was an Easter egg goldmine for Marvel fans. New “Star Wars” trailers are picked apart for secret messages in the seconds after their release.
'Pokemon: Detective Pikachu,' 'Riverdale,' the new releases of “Mortal Kombat” and 'Fortnite,' the 'Stranger Things' trailer and even Vampire Weekend’s new album have all been subjects of Easter egg hunts in recent months as fans take to social media to identify clues.
But what happens when creators go overboard and make Easter eggs the entire point of their release?
That’s the danger that Taylor Swift has been flirting with in recent weeks, with a new music roll-out that been almost entirely focused on the hidden clues in her Instagram posts, magazine covers and music video for her new single “ME.”
When done well, Easter eggs are a fun dialogue between artists and consumers. Fans feel rewarded for their engaged viewing with a jolt of recognition and that deeply satisfying feeling of belonging to some exclusive club of fans-in-the-know.
Swift, who is well-known for being a master marketer, has deployed Easter eggs throughout her career to stoke her fans' excitement for her new releases. She’s doing the same now, too, with many of her fans obsessed with her current hunt.
But somewhere in between her 'Look What You Made Me Do' video in 2017, in which fans got to watch iterations of Swift from her past eras battle one another, and her current album roll-out, the focus on Swift's Easter eggs has superseded everything else related to her new music to the point where they've become meaningless.
Swift's weeks-long Instagram campaign, including daily posts of pastel imagery, many of which later showed up in the 'ME' video, was only the beginning. The 'ME' video was stuffed with clues such as her boyfriend's hometown of London and a painting of country artist the Dixie Chicks. The eggs almost completely consumed media coverage with Swift sharing in an interview that the clip contained three distinct tiers of Easter eggs of varying obscurity. Her Billboard Music Awards performance was equally filled with callbacks.
On her recent Entertainment Weekly cover, featuring her first proper interview in three years, she wore a denim jacket covered in pins – all Easter eggs, obviously. She explained that the butterfly high heels she wore to the 2019 iHeartRadio Awards as well as her pastel nail color in a 2018 Spotify video for 'Delicate' were clues foreshadowing her forthcoming era.
'I love to communicate through Easter eggs,” she told EW. “I think the best messages are cryptic ones.'
Yet, many Swift fans – those who have connected with her plainspoken, honest songwriting over the years– may disagree with her statement that she's at her best when she's being cryptic. And listeners interested in engaging with her new music on a deeper level or for its artistic value may be hungry for Swift to give us something more substantive than the zero-calorie confections that are Easter eggs.
Discouraged Swifties tired of the Easter egg overkill can take heart in the fact that with Swift's previous two releases '1989' and 'Reputation,' the albums' initial singles were equally kitschy. Fans were skeptical of 'Welcome to New York' and its associated NYC tourism campaign as well as the overdone villain posturing of 'Look What You Made Me Do.' But both of those were eventually followed by stronger singles and deeper content.
So while Swift may be leaning all the way into our cultural Easter egg obsession, there's hope that she will ease up on the hidden clues in her new music still to come.
Published 4:39 PM EDT May 14, 2019
Main Easter Eggs
The following is a list of Easter eggs which can be activated if the player follows the specific steps.
Character/Game File Secrets
While playing for the first time, there will be 4 files in the 'game'/characters folder. Each has its messages/links and different ways to decode them.
Save and Exit Bios Setup.Step 3. Change the boot order to first boot from “CD/DVD Drive”.3. Boot your computer from the CD/DVD drive.1. Place the “ Recovery Media ” ( Windows 7 Installation DVD or the System Repair Disk) on your CD/DVD drive.2. Repair your computer option missing windows vista 10.
Random Occurrences
Special Poems
At the beginning of each run, three special poems are chosen to be shown throughout the game. There are a total of 11 special poems. The poems can be associated with certain characters.
Redacted text is 'Yuri'.
Unused files
The following is a list of unused files left in the game data.
SpeculationsProject: Libitina
It is possible that Project: Libitina is based on Portrait of Markov, the book referenced by Yuri.
Yuri explains that the book deals with a human experiment prison and, based on all of the current information we have along with the http://projectlibitina.com website, it is safe to assume that Libitina and others were previously being tested on within this prison. This, along with the ominous-looking eye symbol on the book's cover (possibly a reference to the 'Third Eye', referenced throughout various poems in the game and in the report detailed on the Project: Libitina website), which Monika says in Act 3 that she 'cannot talk about' as it would reveal spoilers, highly suggests that these two are connected.
Portrait of Markov may be a reference to the Russian mathematician Andrey Markov, known for creating the stochastic processes known as Markov Chains and Markov Processes. This 'Markov process' is the testing of certain variables and the states in-between the variables that are tested, like the state between birth and death or the state between fertilization and birth. The Project: Libitina site has records of tests that oversee multiple different and incredibly specific variables being studied and the states between them.
It is also worth noting that the name 'Libitina' is likely a reference to the Roman goddess of the same name. The goddess Libitina is the ancient Roman goddess of funerals and burial, a symbol of death and the planet Venus.
Special Poem 'Nothing is real'
It is possible that this poem is a hint of a new game being released in the future and may be related to the description of the book Yuri mentioned, as the characters in the poem are not mentioned in the game. Not much is known about the reasoning for this poem.
Monika Playing Piano
It is speculated that the music playing in the background while playing the game is directly related to Monika and her ability to know about exactly what is happening in the game at any given moment. This theory is supported by the times and places the piano in the background is present, distorted or absent.[2]
References
Top games
Natsuki
Just Monika2.3
Monika, a cute Japanese schoolgirl is the founder of the Doki Doki Literature Club! For some reasons, the Club President realizes she is in a game. She is a game guide, as in the majority of visual novels. Because of that she doesn’t have a romantic line. The literature fans do not have enough members (comparing to other school clubs) to compose a Literature club. In the Act 2 a protagonist joins the club, and since then it starts to be official. The Club President understands she is in a game, and vice-president is always a victim. A discussion club is also recalled in the game. Monika (the Literature club President) is a former member of it.
Ddlc Easter Eggs
There are 4 main characters (except protagonist), 4 cute girls, writing different poems with a deep sense. Protagonist connects easily with the girls. However, Monika realizes in a while they are in a game and interrupts other members’ attempts to become friends with the main character. The player will think to play a typical dating simulator. Your expectations will be broken very soon though. The second Act turns to be a psychology horror containing the fourth wall breakdown feature. Suicide, depression and death will be the central topics.
Monika After Story Faq4.2 из 5Comments are closed.
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