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Originally Posted by Thylacine
(Post 866536)
Yeah, but she doesn't say she wants to go back to science. His second article is his interpretation of the lyrics to "Still Alive".
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Right.
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Originally Posted by Second Article
First, GlaDOS rarely ever tells the truth. In fact, she is a veritable bottomless pit of sarcasm. If anything, she is being completely sarcastic with these opening lines. It wasn’t a triumph, it was an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions. If the point was to kill Chell or even get good experiment test data, obviously that was a failure (not a triumph), and if her goal was to get Chell to kill GlaDOS, that mission was also a failure, because as the song indicates, she’s Still Alive.
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The experimental data was excellent. The portal gun was shown to be fantastic at subterfuge and espionage. Basically, Chell showed just how powerful and useful the gun was, as well as showing it functioned properly during many stressful situations. Also, people didn't have their organs fucked up after using it repeatedly or something. The fact that Chell survived such a horrendous experiment is in itself the data.
2nd and 3rd analysis' are fine.
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I think she’s referring to her own failure to kill herself here. She will simply try again later. Also, as the cake is GODDAMMIT ENOUGH ALREADY, the line now means “you just keep on trying,” possibly referencing her constant mechanical slavery with no reward for her work.
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This and the former analysis convince me that the person didn't even see the ending cinematic. The cake was very much real.
And if you put these lines with the lines RIGHT BEFORE, she's referring to the people who died testing the Portal Gun, or whatever effed up experiments.
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It’s interesting that the last line isn’t “for the people who are alive.” It’s for the people who are still alive, implying that they should be dead, or will soon be dead, just as she should be. Not only is it the title of the song and the main chorus hook, it is interesting that it wasn’t titled “I’m Alive” or just “Alive.” It’s “Still Alive,” which implies so much using so little. “Damnit, I’m still alive!” Granted, it could mean “Holy crap, I’m still alive!” as well, but her tone throughout seems bitter and remorseful more than it is upbeat, at least to me.
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No, the use of GLaDOS' taunting tone throughout the song say otherwise. The title Still Alive is because Chell thought she killed GLaDOS, and failed. The line "for the people who are still alive" therefore takes the tone that "everyone will eventually die, but I am immortal."
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More bitter bitter sarcasm from the queen of lies.
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That's too easy. It's over. If GLaDOS is really supposed to be spilling her heart on this ending song, there's no reason she should continue to lie. Basically, GLaDOS isn't lying anymore because she has no more reason to lie. Keep in mind that GLaDOS promised that there was cake. And then there was cake. At endgame, GLaDOS has no more reason to lie and knows it, so she just spills the beans.
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Exhibit A: “you…killed me.” She died. She says it herself right here in this line. I think the reason she’s “Still Alive” is because a backup of her in another location kicked in once Chell destroyed her, and we are hearing the backup version’s sadness at finding itself “still alive.”
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Kill is a very interesting word. Even when we're talking about humans, to kill someone isn't to end them. There's many beliefs that even after someone dies, their eternal soul (or whatever other spirit we're talking about here) still exists. Therefore, to "kill" can be best summarized as destroying the body of someone.
Which is what Chell did, no BS involved.
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Was she happy for Chell because she succeeded initially in GlaDOS’s suicide mission? Or is she just using more sarcasm here? Is Chell dead? It’s interesting to note that the final camera PoV for the player (and therefore Chell) at the end of the game seems to be similar to the camera anytime the player dies while playing Portal, and that is one of being face down on the floor. GlaDOS could be happy for the player because of the possibility that player is dead at the end of the game. Is she jealous of Chell’s death perhaps?
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Maybe it's just because Chell was done being used as a puppet. Experiment over, and you're free.
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This is probably just a great rhyme about Portal releasing relatively on time compared to Half Life 2’s horribly delayed launch.
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Or it's a reference, again, to how this is all an experiment. To see if the Portal Gun works right. And it really, really does.
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It’s a lie. An obvious enticement to make Chell (or us) envious and an attempt to make GlaDOS’s own horrible existence seem endurable. It’s a classic “Huck Finn” attempt to make her situation seem like a positive one. I’m pretty sure the promise of cake is GlaDOS’s way of enticing herself to continue with her tasks since she cannot forcibly shut herself down.
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It's in the ending cinematic the guy didn't seem to watch. It's, again, more of a taunt. Like the entire song is.
Again, the ending song seems more like a taunt than anything else. The upbeat music, the assurance that GLaDOS is not dead, the cake, the references to more people will die in the name of science (like Chell almost dead)... it all seems specifically geared to taunt someone who survived an ordeal like Chell's.
