#disco elysium working class woman

[effen-draws]

Women? Pretty disco, not gonna lie

Close ups:

[rynli]

That "I don’t want to" after the dice roll hit me HARD… rip Billie you deserved better

Some extra sketches under the cut

I didn’t feel like lining and rendering a second page, but I really like that last Harry

[itscuntingseason]

playing disco elysium again, but this time i'm really paying attention to all the side quests and making the most of it (i literally finished the game on day 5 in my first run), except i took on the case of "finding working class husband" and then i remembered..... the dead drunk guy i found during my first run :(

[mascindulgence]

my piece for the Cleaning out the Rooms montage with Sea Power! Body on the boardwalk.... [x]

[Image description. An illustration split into three scenes: harry du bois and kim kitsuragi looking concerned, the corpse on the boardwalk and the working class woman: billie méjean. The corpse is surrounded by boxes highlighting the possessions on his person; sunflower seeds, alcohol, library card and mint gum. While billie is at the book stand reading. End ID.]

[disco-dancing-in-the-desert]

[1tbls]

i have been watching any austin's skyrim unemployment rates videos, and decided to do the same for martinaise. employment here defined as a person of the age of majority with reoccurring, compensated work. some of them, like rosemary and the washerwoman, are on the line, but oh well :p

per this chart, there's 42 applicable persons in martinaise. 32, or 76%, are employed. 10, or 24%, are unemployed. there's 6 children, 2 retired people, and 1 phasmid who are inapplicable.

these numbers probably aren't super accurate, since there's plenty of people and places of martinaise we don't see.... and there's also apparently thousands of dockworkers who are currently on strike who are unaccounted for here. but enjoy my maths all the same.

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

"They are at home, right? Smoking cigarettes."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "What? That's just -- my daughters are perfectly *fine*. They're with their friends down in Jamrock! There's *nothing* to worry about."

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - She's getting upset. Her voice has risen, as she tries to convince herself that her daughters are safe.

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "They're almost grown up now anyway. They're past the age they need me protecting them from everything now."

"I'm afraid the danger is now greater than ever. Tell me, how old are they?"

"Maybe you're right. Maybe they aren't missing after all. Tell me something else..."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "My youngest girl, Jolie, is just shy of sixteen. Jennie, she is turning eighteen next month. But we shouldn't even be talking about them!"

"And can you describe me their appearance? Any features that stand out, something to make identifying a little easier?"

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Why do you need to know this? Haven't I repeatedly told you that they are not missing? That they're in Jamrock, safe and well, at some stupid party."

"It's for the investigation. I'm trying to be professional."

"You're right, let's not talk about your daughters. I don't know what got into me."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "There is no *investigation* here, I can tell you that!" She picks up a book and tries to concentrate. A flock of seabirds passes by.

3. "Maybe your *cockatoo* is missing?"

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "I don't mean to disrespect, sir, but *you* are being a bit of a cockatoo here."

KIM KITSURAGI - "For what it's worth -- I agree. But cockatoos can't be stopped when they get like this. It's better to indulge him at this point."

"Ma'am, I was asking about your cockatoo. Is it missing?"

"What do you mean I'm being a cockatoo?"

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "I don't even have a cockatoo. And guess what?"

"What?"

"Alright, cockatoo not missing. I just wanted to make sure."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Even if I had, it wouldn't be missing."

"Alright, cockatoo not missing. I just wanted to make sure."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Great." She turns her attention back to the bookstand.

"Just one more question: what did you mean by me being a cockatoo?"

"Great. Got it."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Nothing. Go read up on them if you're so interested. There's a great book in the bookstore."

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Maybe you should... What if the cockatoo is your *astral captain*? Or your *heraldic bird*?

"Actually, that's exactly what I'm going to do, thanks for the tip." (Get task.)

"You're being sarcastic. Let's talk about something else." (Move on.)

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Wonderful. The store is open."

New task: Find your heraldic bird

5. "That's all for the moment. I'll let you read." [Leave.]

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - The woman before you nods and returns to her reading.

THOUGHT COMPLETE: JAMAIS VU (DEREALIZATION)

BONUSES: +1 XP for every orb clicked All Intellect learning caps raised by one

SOLUTION:

Jamais vu. The opposite of déjà vu. Not *already* seen, but *never* seen. Everything that should be familiar appears strange and new. Like some half-forgotten day in your childhood, only *now*. That's the feeling you've been having. And for who knows how long? You should go and ask Joyce Messier about this -- what world are we in? This is the fundamental question.

Before moving on, let's check in with Annette.

ANNETTE - "Hello again, sir!" You see Annette sipping on her hot juice. She looks at you with shy amusement.

6. "Who is that?" (Point to the woman browsing books.)

ANNETTE - "Oh, that's auntie Billie. She's nice, if a bit distressed."

"She's your aunt?"

"Why is she distressed?"

ANNETTE - "No-no, sir. She's a working woman who comes to look at the books a lot."

"Why is she distressed?"

ANNETTE - "I think she has a bad husband. Not very nice or helpful."

8. "Okay, bye. See you around, Annette." [Leave.]

Hm.

"This little girl over there told me you have a bad husband."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Excuse me, a *bad husband?*" Her back straightens. "What do you mean?"

"Not a nice and helpful sort."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Do *police men* just go around repeating what some kid off the street said?"

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - She doesn't mean to be antagonistic, but she can't help coming off defensive.

"Those were her words, not mine. I'm merely asking."

"She isn't just some 'kid off the street'. She seems very mature for her age."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Is she now?" She dries her hands in the apron underneath her coat. Her eyes narrow.

"Annette's a sweet sprout, but she doesn't know anything about marriage. Why am I even talking about this..."

"So you don't have a bad husband?"

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "No, I don't. I have a good husband, the kind and helpful sort. And he's *not* missing."

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - He's totally missing.

That brings us back to a conversation branch we've already seen, so...

3. "Okay, thanks."

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - "Mhm. You're welcome." She reverts her attention back to the book stand.

5. "That's all for the moment. I'll let you read." [Leave.]

WORKING CLASS WOMAN - The woman before you nods and returns to her reading.

[juniesfairies]

good afternoon I have two (three if you check tags) insane disco elysium rarepairs that don’t make sense at all with no information than these two screenshots for your consideration.

[i-likegamesbut-cant-playthem]

[bluastro-yellow]

it would have been too on the nose but I like to imagine Harry pestering Kim about how [person they just met in Martinaise] is "just like him fr T_T"

[discoelysiumtxt]

[Image ID, copied from Alt Text: A screenshot of some dialogue from Disco Elysium reading:

LOGIC - If she's such a working class woman, why isn't she working?

/End ID]

[grrrenadine]

A hug a day keeps the bourgeoisie away.

A memorable line you utter when you hug the Working Class Woman in a communist playthrough of Disco Elysium.

Available as a print on INPRNT.

[godspeedmajortom]

I’m fascinated by how variations of Sea Power's “Want to Be Free (Remix)” provide a musical theme for death and endings that follows Harry and his foils throughout Disco Elysium.

The first place you hear it is as “The Field Autopsy” while inspecting the Hanged Man’s body. It's barely recognizable as the original song, though. It's sluggish and muddy and bilious. The piano melody has been lowered and sustained to an ominous funereal organ and combined with deep strings. A lilting viola line in the lush layers of the original "Want to Be Free" is isolated here and contrasts with the low organ, rising like the stench off a corpse. If you do the autopsy first thing as Kim suggests, Harry – freshly, grotesquely awakened from his apocalyptic bender – is not in a much better state than a corpse himself.

The music underscores a visceral scene of death and decay, our introduction to the Hanged Man, the first of Harry's foils. Both Harry and Lely are agents of state-sponsored violence as a cop and mercenary, respectively. They bear similar physical scars from the neglect of the systems they grew up in. They both desperately want to escape the horrorshow of their lives, using drugs and dark fantasies to cope with the terrible things they see and do but finding little more than self-destruction in the nihilism. The Bloated Corpse of a Drunk taking the Hanged Man's place in Harry's first night dream makes their connection explicit: you should be dead, Harry. This may as well have been you.

The next place you hear a variant of "Want to Be Free" is in the washerwoman's shack in the fishing village. “Live With Me” is wistful and melancholic. The gentle piano and cooing vocals evoke the wind and waves on the bay, an escape calling outside the salt-rimed shack. But this is a place of death, or at least its potential, as the return of the high viola from "The Field Autopsy" reminds us. This is where Ruby hid when Harry's arrival made her fear for her life, where she contemplated killing herself if things got even worse. This is where Harry can end up if no one vouches for him at the RCM tribunal finale, where his wounds will grow infected without medical care, where there is little left to do but return to drinking and wait to die.

But true to the song title, the shack also offers Harry the possibility of learning to with himself as he emerges from his bender. Here is a mirror free from the damage and trauma of attempting to destroy himself where he can reflect on who he was and who he wants to become. He can choose to keep or let go of his past coping/defense mechanisms like his facial hair and The Expression. He can choose to embrace or reject the self-defeating fantasy of fascism. The shack marks a midpoint of the game, when the hangover has worn off but before the case is closed. So "Live With Me" scores the balance between potential endings: abandonment or acceptance, relapse or recovery, death or life. Harry breathes in the sea air, breathes it back out, and takes another step.

I didn’t realize this until a recent replay, but “Live With Me” also plays when you visit the Working Class Woman to notify her of her husband’s death. Since this is an optional sidequest, I understand why they didn't create original music for it. But they didn't reuse "Rue de Saint-Gislaine", the song for the rest of the Capeside Apartments (including the Smoker on the Balcony's apartment when you talk to the Sunday Friend). The Working Class Husband is another mirror for Harry who has met his end, and "Live With Me" plays to mourn him.

Victor Méjean died from an accident while inebriated, a fate that also could have befallen Harry on a previous drinking binge. The striking thing about Victor's death is how easily he could have been overlooked and forgotten. He died at the end of a pier in a fenced off, abandoned part of town. His wife wasn't concerned about his days-long absence. It's only by virtue of Can Opening and Jamrock Shuffling that Harry will know about or find him. Victor literally and figuratively died slipping through the cracks – of the rotted boardwalk, yes, but also of any sort of social safety net. This is what happens to alcoholics in Revachol. This is what will happen to Harry if he continues drinking and hasn't built his own personal safety net with Kim or Cuno to prevent the RCM from abandoning him. As Harry informs Billie of her husband's death, it's only natural for him to think of his own possible endings, and the soundtrack reflects that.

The final version of the song you hear is “Burn, Baby, Burn” blasting from Sad FM on the boat ride to the Sea Fortress to find the Hanged Man's killer and Harry's last dark reflection: Dros, The Deserter. Dros shares Harry's penchant for clinging to political ideology to give meaning to his life and obsessing over women he can't be with. He lives in bitter isolation, refusing to move beyond the failures of the past, his personal shortcomings and the evils of the world alike. He's emblematic of yet another possible outcome for Harry: not literal death, but despair-induced stagnation that leaves one living like a ghost in the mortal realm.

By the time Harry gets in the boat to the island, his fate at the end of the game is set. The RCM (specifically Jean) has all they need to decide whether to accept or abandon their prodigal lieutenant-yefreitor. Should his former partners leave him, Harry can return to the shack and the circle of drunks who have also given up on life. Or he can return to the island, where he would take Dros' place as the creepy old man haunting the fortress, scaring children, and staring at the mainland with longing and resentment. But even if Harry returns with his unit to Jamrock, simply resuming his old life will not keep him from returning to the depths of despair. The RCM broke him; the RCM will not save him. Neither outcome helps Harry become a person he truly wants to live with.

"Want to be free/It will last forever/Eternally," croons the boombox on the boat. The lyrics echo the self destruction that Harry sought before the game's events: freedom forever from pain, the ultimate release of death. At least that's what the Ancient Reptilian Brain would see in those words. But there's tension in the lyrics as the desire for freedom and exhortations to "burn, baby, burn" repeat. The bridge offers an alternative vision of verdure not consumed by the disco inferno: "And the trees are green and overhanging/Feather-light, free, and everlasting." Perhaps a less moribund future exists for Harry, even if only in the next world, as a new person.

[looking-for-wisdom]

the “ex-something” character in disco elysium is so interesting to me because what we finally learn about the true Dora from harry’s dream sequence & conversations with the 41st precinct initially undercuts the first impression you get as a player. We learn things that makes it seem like Harry should be over her leaving. Specifically, the fact that she and Harry were never actually married and that it has been six years since she left.

Everything we’re told about Dora needs to be taken with a grain of salt, since it primarily comes from Harry. He’s an unreliable narrator and, if we had her perspective on things, there would surely be more to the story. But even with that said, I feel reasonably confident that the player’s first impression — that whoever this ex is did some damage even beyond typical breakup heartbreak — isn’t completely wrong.

We know a few things for certain. Harry was a gym teacher before they met, and Dora was the reason he joined the RCM. We can also do the math to figure out that they were together for around 12 years. Married or not, that’s a serious relationship. There are implications that Dora might have been pregnant at some point.

Dora’s family was wealthier than Harry’s, but they struggled financially when they were together. They had to rely on her parents for support.

Harry is a grown ass man who is responsible for his own choices. None of this changes that. But the way he is starts to make more sense when you consider that it wasn’t just their breakup that was traumatic. Their relationship itself seems unhealthy.

Harry clearly likes working with kids. Kim actually points out how he is easily able to connect with Cuno and the other teens in Martinase. With that in mind, I imagine he probably liked being a gym teacher. But we learn that Dora encourages him to join the RCM to do more for the greater good. Again, Harry had to agree to this — she didn’t force him to quit at gunpoint. But it rubs me the wrong way that, shortly after they start dating, she implies that his work isn’t fulfilling or important (probably patently untrue in an area where kids won’t necessarily have stable home lives). And, more than that, she suggests that joining the police is the solution.

Granted, we’re told there’s a lot of crime in Jamrock. Maybe it is as simple as her thinking law enforcement helps prevent that. But given the political tones of the game, which intentionally critique cops and the moralist forces they represent? I think it’s notable.

Speaking of which. The class difference between Dora and Harry has to be thematic. So much of the game discusses the struggle between the working class and the bourgeoisie. There’s an inherent power dynamic there. It’s her parents who are consistently paying their bills and keeping them afloat. She has an out that Harry doesn’t. Money won’t be an issue for her when they split, but Harry will be left without any support. Regardless of whether she intentionally held this over his head, this game shows that even without meaning to, the capitalist system harms the poor. That strain must be felt in their relationship, and could cause a lot of damage over 12 years.

All this to say: their relationship clearly wasn’t some fling. And, if Harry is to be believed, the blame for things falling apart was largely placed on him: working to much, not bringing home enough money, not being enough. But even if Dora wasn’t actively manipulating him and he came up with all of this on his own, I think the facts still point to a dynamic where he was made to be small in the face of a woman who came from more. Their backgrounds create an imbalance where Harry was always going to feel the flaws in their relationship more acutely. He starts with little, and gives up much of what he does have to pursue something better for the both of them. But when that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, he’s the only one left with nothing. She can leave the country and start over.

It makes sense, to me, that he might not have recovered from that in six years. Especially when that rock bottom feeling seems so permanent that he isn’t trying to get better so much as numb himself enough to exist another day.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t responsible or that he’s exempt from having to get his shit together. The game very clearly illustrates that everyone will turn away from him if he doesn’t. But it does complicate his character a bit more than “got left by extremely bangable woman, proceeds to make the lives of everyone around him worse.”

[theanxiousbookdevourer]

(Disco Elysium spoilers)

Thinking about cockatoos (and René, Gaston, and Harry himself).

Thinking about how Gaston calls René's usual outfit his "cockatoo uniform" and how he, despite wearing it almost every day, ended up dying in civilian clothes.

Thinking about how Harry is also compared to a cockatoo if we pry into the Working Class Woman's life too much.

What does the game say about cockatoos?

They're needy.

They're moody.

They're loud.

In short, they have behavioral problems.

There's one reminiscent of a funeral.

There's one that flamboyant and proud.

There's one that's shy and prone to blending in.

Yes, that describes Harry.

But it also describes René.

On Day 5, regardless of what we do, René passes away. The darkness of the funereal cockatoo.

He is known to be loud and proud about his war efforts, like the majestic cockatoo.

And if you follow the fascist sidequest, you learn he was hiding a secret. One he truly did take to his grave.

Yes, Harry is a cockatoo. But so is René. And knowing he will forever stay that way, never knowing how Gaston felt about him or how Gaston will go on without him, just does something to me.

But then I think about how René passed in something BESIDES his uniform… and it makes me wonder if, at the very, VERY end, he shed all of that and managed to accept himself. Even if no one else ever got to see it.

[disco-dancing-in-the-desert]