The True Meaning Behind Life Is Strange

[Ruskie]

Here is a little video I made giving my take on the hidden meaning behind this beautiful game's narrative. Enjoy :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxz2JC2LvJY

[Sommertristesse]

First of all, it says "Like is Strange" in the description on YouTube. I'm not sure if this is a subliminal message to leave you a like, but my index finger is itching...

Second of all, you make some good points and put down an interesting argument, yet I still disagree with you. Not so much because I think you are wrong - on the contrary, I think you point out exactly why you feel this way and you are completely right in having this opinion.
My main issue here is that I would vehemently disagree that there is only one true meaning to be found within the game. On the contrary, I would go so far as to say that there is no inherent meaning and the player is encouraged to infer his or her own meaning from the experience. Obviously, the message people take away from LiS and the way they choose to interpret the story is different for everyone. You soundly pointed out one way to see the game and the final choice, others may come to a different conclusion. Because of that I would discourage taking any hard stance on the meaning of the game because I feel that excluding any differing interpretations diminishes the greatness of the game itself. Life is Strange is such a powerful work of art because - as with most pieces of truly great art - each individual can infer his or her own meaning and more than one conclusion can be true at the same time for different people.

One specific point that stood out to me where my train of thought diverges from yours is where you argue that "[...] it is only a matter of time until Max isn't powerful enough to stop [Chloe's death]" (Around the five minute mark in the video). I see no reason to assume that. In fact, throughout the whole game there is never a single instance where Max's powers, Chloe's death and the tornado are indisputably linked to one another. Most of us only infer causation from correlation here because it "makes sense" for our brains to see it this way. But since we can never be sure that Max's powers, saving Chloe or - going further - some higher power, be it fate or nature or what have you, wanting Chloe dead caused the storm, I see no reason to believe that saving Chloe in the end will only lead to her dying again. After all, each decision in the end is a gamble that we take by interpreting those few ambiguous facts that we have about what's going on.

There is one more thing I want to put out there. You make the argument that the "How?" in getting the timetravelling powers is inconsequential, and instead give an argument for the "Why?". I want to state the idea, that even the "Why?" is - in the end - irrelevant. Since we once again have no hard facts about the reason or the exact nature of the powers this is only one more field of speculation. Instead, I want to go back to the only question each of us must answer in Life is Strange: "What for?". What do we use the power for, regardless of how and why we wield it. And that eventually comes down to the choice at the end: Sacrifice Chloe or Arcadia Bay. And we make this choice based on the meaning each of us individually found in the game.

[Palatine Katinka]

To be brutally honest, the video didn't really say much I hadn't read before and had a fair few points I've often seen countered. For example, I'd avoid ever claiming one ending to be the true ending or that the meaning behind the game relies on one ending over the other as that has been directly contradicted by the directors in multiple interviews and even the commentary available for free on Steam. There is no canon ending, correct ending, true ending or better ending (except in the case of 'better' being used subjectively in which case it's just a matter of opinion).

The idea that Chloe will keep being pursued by a fated death has also been debunked by the developers, if you sacrifice the town, that's it, weirdness over. Similarly sacrificing Chloe will prevent the tornado and not just delay it (despite that not making sense to some people due to there still being effects of time travel in place* and time travel being required to enact that ending).

It's fine to say you think there is a message of needing to accept that bad stuff happens and you need to learn to deal with it but is sacrificing Chloe really the only path to that message? I could even go as far as to say it goes against that message since it requires her to go back in time and change things again instead of accepting the tornado. Both endings involve a sacrifice and acceptance of that sacrifice. Which one you accept and live with is your choice and it is neither more valid nor less valid that someone elses choice. Just make sure you are happy with what you did (and if you aren't, accept that and watch the other).

PS: Why do you say the tornado grows more powerful as Max uses her powers? There's nothing suggesting that it is building up through the week. It's not there at all and then on Friday morning it is and we are only told it's strength once.

*When you said there was one thing that was still changed and that was Max, for a second I thought you were about to mention her contest photograph but maybe you didn't spot that. Originally it was torn in the girls toilets before Max spotted the butterfly but later Max changes the past so she tore it in her room as soon as it was taken. In the Sacrifice Chloe ending that photo is not on the floor, the overhead pans that show it there in episode 1 don't show it in the ending. It's not there because Max didn't reset everything.