#This doesn't mean mouthwashing is bad because Anya and her SA aren't main themes

[blissfulrain12]

Jimmy is the Protagonist

It's weird feeling like I need to say this but here we go. Jimmy is a villain protagonist. Protagonist and antagonist do not mean good guy and bad guy. The protagonist is just the main character. Jimmy is an awful person but he's still the main character. The antagonist is whatever force in the narrative that opposes the protagonist. In the case of Mouthwashing we can have really interesting discussions about just what is the antagonist of the story. In my opinion it would be something like Jimmy's hubris or capitalism or patriarchal hierarchy.

I love Anya but she is not the main character. She is a very important character who is essential to the story but she is not the main character. Same thing with Curly. He's not the main character but he is important and essential to the story. If you refuse to engage with or misinterpret or mischaracterize one of them you will not be able to fully understand the narrative and themes in Mouthwashing.

Which brings me back to Jimmy. You CAN NOT understand Mouthwashing if you don't engage with Jimmy as a character. It is through him that we see the world and other characters. He is the active factor in the story. He is at the center of everything. To understand Mouthwashing is to understand Jimmy. Jimmy is the source of horror in this horror game and it's not because he's a monster. Jimmy is a horror because he's an average man who fully believes in the ideals of the hierarchies that make up the systems in power and when those systems screw him over he destroys everything around him by trying to force those ideals on others.