#With heavier topics and still maintaining a respectful tone

[takadanobaba]

Definitely shouldn't be romanceable prior to Ingo being Hisui'd, don't think it would be fair on anyone if you were dating/married while the events go down.

Ingo would be leaving his spouse and if you plan on him still having amnesia, he would have forgotten about them too.

If Emmet does leave in search of his brother, he'd be leaving his spouse forever how long he's gone.

The player would have to deal either a husband who disappeared for a year and now doesn't remember them or a husband who left them for a year and now has abandonment issues.

If they're just friends it doesn't seem as bitter (and you can play with them having feelings prior the events but never admit to them until now).

Yes.... exactly. I wanted the Hisui stuff to be a separate download from the first mod for people who don't want to play through the Hisui storyline and want a more lighthearted/relatively angst free tone but going forward I think it will just be a separate mod entirely since it would be too difficult to account for marriage prior (I didn't think too much about Hisui stuff since I was focusing on just working on the first mod ^^;;).

And that's a good idea for their heart progressions! I like the idea of them having feelings prior but unable to admit them until you help them with their problems.

[ahopefuldoubt]

Aaron and Rameses Parallels in The Prince of Egypt

based on a few points from this list (jul.-aug. 2016).  written between dec. 2016 and jan. 2017.  originally posted in 2017 [x].

An interesting parallel between Aaron and Rameses seems to occur about midway into the movie, doing so off-screen:

While Moses is in Midian, both take up more prominent roles in their respective communities.  Rameses becomes Pharaoh of Egypt, and Aaron assumes the position of doubtful spokesman for the Hebrew people*.  Because the throne room scene with Moses and Rameses is followed by the mud pit scene with Aaron and Moses, these changes get revealed in succession, creating a nice opportunity to explore the characters themselves as well as their dynamic.

There’s some dramatic irony where Rameses is concerned.  Those who are familiar with the story know that he is the pharaoh whom Moses must contest.  However, for the characters, the situation is ambiguous, and their reunion is therefore able to cover a lot of emotional ground.  Moses comes back to Egypt to discover that his brother has taken their father’s seat, and suddenly his mission from God takes on a much heavier dimension — “Pharaoh will not listen,” but perhaps Moses hopes that the brother he’s always loved and respected will.  And Rameses is none the wiser, secure in his authority and bemused by Moses’ humble appearance.  Their amicable acknowledgement of the past and present quickly turns into a tense hint at the future.

On the other hand, Aaron is a surprise to Moses and the audience.  Not only does his assertiveness in the mud pit scene seem sudden, but the overall changes from the source material are also unexpected.  And here is a reverse parallel of sorts: In reviews, the movie’s alternate take on Rameses and Moses’ personal relationship is often considered a unique addition, whereas the differences made to Aaron’s character are thought of as a curious reduction.  Aaron is an important Jewish figure whose admired qualities include his positive relationship with his younger brother (a notable contrast from all the fraternal strife in the Book of Genesis), so in that regard I understand people’s disappointment.  But his shift from being fearfully vigilant, to calling for justice, to taking the first steps into the Red Sea is compelling, and in my opinion it humanizes him in a meaningful way (just as the other characters have been humanized for this film).  It also means that, like Rameses, he must navigate his past, present, and future relationship with Moses — though it’s one that has a rather different history and track.

The directors cite practical reasons for changing Aaron’s part, as it allows Moses to maintain agency (e.g., Moses performs all of miracles and plagues instead of delegating the first few to Aaron, as happens in the Book of Exodus) and puts a better focus on his conflict with Rameses.  Personally, I think that the Rameses-to-Pharaoh, Aaron-to-spokesman transition also gives them this more immediate sense of opposition, or greater approximation (and makes me feel all the more deeply about certain lines of dialogue**).  Maybe, in some odd way, it’s a small nod to the story in the Book of Exodus.

Representing Aaron as someone who frets and questions things brings me to the next parallel, which is that now both brothers are skeptics of God and of Moses.  In The Prince of Egypt, Moses must convince them both (to very different ends, of course).  There are moments in the reunion scenes where their responses to Moses sound alike in topic and tone:

Rameses

I do not know this God.  Neither will I let your people go.

Aaron

God?  When did God start caring about any of us?

Here they sound angry and faithless, but it’s another similarity that separates them, I feel, since their doubt in and experiences with God differ quite a bit.

In reaction to the conditions of slavery, the persistent threat to their lives, Aaron has turned to wondering, bitterly and from a place of anguish/fear, if God has abandoned them.  Moses’ return means many things to Aaron, and the unintended outcome of Moses’ confrontation with Rameses probably seems like further proof that God does not care.  Rameses, on the other hand, has no experience with the God of the Hebrew people.  To admit inexperience with something isn’t necessarily bad; however, he speaks about God and those who practice the faith as the Other.  Moses’ return means many things to Rameses, too, and Rameses perceives God — and even/eventually Moses — as a challenge to his sovereignty.

Beyond the parallels discussed in this post are others that visually and auditorially connect Aaron and Rameses.  Serious and cautious***, Moses’ brothers tend to carry many troubles and hold on to negative events from the past.  It’s possible to treat Rameses as a prisoner of tradition, or a victim of his family and God’s wrath.  It’s possible to criticize Aaron for his fears and lack of faith in God.  But neither is fully or fairly illustrative of who they are as characters.  (For me, that interpretation of Rameses absolves him of too much responsibility.  And that reading of Aaron causes too much oversight of his courage and compassion.)  Indeed, it’s important also to recognize the choices they make in the film and the paths they walk.  I think that there, too, lies a vast difference between them.

* From here: It’s worth noting that Aaron’s role throughout the film is representing his people’s doubts and concerns.  But I also think it’s something that develops as he grows/ages…

** I’m referring to the line, “Pharaoh still has the power over our lives.”  Also, as I note here [link to be added], there’s really no film-canon evidence that Rameses even knows of Aaron’s or Miriam’s existence.  This is interesting to me because it deviates from the Book of Exodus, in which Aaron deals with Pharaoh directly.  But, it’s also interesting because of course viewers know how all the characters in the film version are related, and I feel that fans like to project some kind of “rivalry” onto the brothers, usually boiling down to which one is the “real” brother.  The line of dialogue above helps underline the grossly uneven power dynamic between Rameses (Pharaoh/Egypt) and Aaron (the Hebrew people).... and this dynamic is one of the many reasons why any “rivalry” over “real brother” status will never sit right with me — especially if it's one that disparages Aaron (to be frank).

*** “Cautious” describes Rameses as a teenager.  He loses his uncertainty and self-doubt when he becomes an adult — though he’s still afraid of being “the weak link.”  Aaron remains cautious into adulthood, and the source of his uncertainty is markedly different.  Not to keep belaboring a point, but Rameses does not want to lose power (at the same time, he doesn’t believe that his power can be threatened); Aaron is afraid of losing his life (losing Miriam, losing everything).  [2019 edit] I might also need to rewrite this sentence with a word other than “serious” because I don’t think it’s quite the right word.  But I know there must have been a reason why I used it.

i’ll probably be adding a few notes to this space, so… stay tuned.  [eta] here are some:

This is a multi-pronged subject, and rather than address the adoption aspects, I decided to concentrate more on the themes, character motivations, dialogue, etc. of/in the movie itself.  I tried to think about the implications of the changes that were made to the original story; I’m sure a lot of it is conjecture on my part (but reasonable conjecture?).  While writing I also discovered even more depth to the story and characters… which I worry I didn’t include enough of in this post…

I don’t know if I’m going to do another one of these, though I’d like to… and back in August [2016] I did start to write an analysis of a parallel from the first half of the movie, which would examine more directly Aaron’s and Rameses’ relationships with Moses (as well *clears throat loudly* as Aaron’s with Miriam).  And of course the adoption stuff is always on my mind.  It’s natural to want to show and seek out similarities and differences between the biological and adoptive families in The Prince of Egypt, especially since the characters and their relationships are so rich.  At times, the movie draws conscious comparisons: for example, having baby Moses grasp Yocheved’s finger, and later, Tuya’s.  I probably tend to view things through a more critical, and personal, lens, but I’ve also given much thought to these parallels.  And as usual, there’s just a lot I’d like to write about the siblings…

Last edited: 2/23/17; 1/8/19, some clarifications

[2019 2020 notes and thoughts] Where to begin?  I thought I’d have the time to edit this, but I didn’t, so I’ll write more notes later:

Added, in italics: Aaron is an important Jewish figure whose admired qualities include his positive relationship with his younger brother (a notable contrast from all the fraternal strife in the Book of Genesis).

It’s a bit hard to come back to this after another year has passed, mostly because I don’t remember what I was going to write.  I think I had changed this sentence to reflect some of what I learned between 2017, which is when I wrote this analysis originally, and 2019.  I wanted to make a more specific statement about Aaron being a Jewish figure and ancestor, as well as pull in some Torah interpretation and midrash (for example, that Aaron embraces Moses right away, when he could or might have been more steely towards him; and that the two have a very different partnership and relationship than do Joseph and his brothers, Jacob and Esau, Leah and Rachel ( (“sororal” is a word I didn’t know), etc.).