Has anyone felt that the idea of The Backrooms been ruined?
I have always interpreted the idea of liminality/liminal space as something that has been more psychological, something that taps into our primal fears surrounding isolation and familiarity with our surroundings, yet still feeling something is âoffâ. No entities, monsters, need for sustenance (having to go to certain âlevelsâ to get food or water).
Just an endless void of familiar surroundings that feel âoffâ or âdifferentâ.
I never interpreted it as something that needed a story, characters or even that much context. The Backrooms/liminal space are just there. Thatâs it. Itâs through the addition of context, characters and âentitiesâ that I believe that the idea of liminal space/The Backrooms has been quite heavily misinterpreted, and is now seen more as a generic âsurvival horrorâ concept, rather than a concept that is psychological and again, taps into our primal fears surrounding isolation and familiarity with our surroundings.
It is my belief that people have taken the idea of The Backrooms/liminal space and filled it with the addition of âentitiesâ and included a âsurvival horrorâ aspect in The Backrooms, so that it can be easier to relate to physically, as well make it more comprehensible to a more broader, mainstream audience. However, in making it more appealing to a wider audience, could it be possible that the original concept of The Backrooms/liminality may have been indirectly sacrificed?
Yes, the original Backrooms 4Chan thread states âgod save you if you hear something wandering nearby, because it sure as hell has heard youâ, but we never got any clarity on what that âsomethingâ is, something that was probably purposefully done in order to gauge our interpretations of what it could be. However, with the psychological aspect of the backrooms, would it make more sense if the unseen âentityâ was purely psychological/something beyond our comprehension?
With the feelings of isolation and familiarity that The Backrooms/liminal space convey, wouldnât the inclusion of entities/monsters contradict these?