What Remains of Edith Finch is Pregnant.
Pregnancy in media is godhood with responsibilities. Pregnancy binds people. Pregnancy arrests potential. Pregnancy promises potential. Pregnancy can both incite a life-changing journey and can stifle an in-progress journey. Pregnancy is magic. And pregnancy, much like a gun, is cheating.
A gun is an unearned power shift. A story should survive by its characters, but a gun puts too much power into the hands of an undeserving character. When I read a story with a gun I’m primed to look for the narrative weaknesses that made the gun necessary. In the episode titled “Email Surveillance” of the sitcom The Office, Michael Scott ruins an improv class by pantomiming a gun at every possible opportunity. Not surprisingly, none of his classmates want to be in scenes with him.
Use of a gun in a story must be handled with grace. It must be earned. Of course certain genres such as action movies and war dramas demand forgiveness. When everything is a gun, the gun is nothing. But outside those exceptions, a gun must be respected.
The same is true with a pregnancy. Imagine two characters who hate each other. One pulls a gun on the other. Suddenly, the entire story is about the gun. Imagine these same two characters, but one reveals her pregnancy. Suddenly, the entire story is about the pregnancy. These two characters could be sitting atop a melting glacier, minutes from being swallowed by a shark and suddenly their own imminent death is less important than the potential of a future generation. Atop the shrinking block of ice these characters no longer fear their own death, they fear their inability to care for the unborn child. A last minute rescue spawns a shared smile, one that silently commits to the health of the child over the second chance they’ve been given to extend their own lives.
Edith’s pregnancy, which results in her son Christopher, is earned. It’s subtle. It exists before the start of the game, and therefore is part of the player character rather than a simple addendum. Most importantly, Edith’s pregnancy represents an escape route from a family imprisoned by a curse. Christopher is the only surviving member of the Finch family and can commit to ending the family lineage.
