TIL that one moralist line from Disco Elysium is from a 19th century verse drama, Pippa Passes
TIL that one moralist line from Disco Elysium is from a 19th century verse drama, Pippa Passes
For the record, it's in a song sung by a child worker who's happy about the one day off she has in a year. Her song then goes on to inspire someone to kill a king, so the line is not really as optimistic and complacent as it sounds like nowadays.
Makes sese. That context makes it even more interesting. If I understand correctly, the ominousness of the phrase was originally the violent lengths people would go to to change the status quo (i.e. regicide). The way is used in Disco Elysium draws its ominousness from the opposite: the violent lengths the current order will go to to maintain the status quo.
The same phrase also pops up in Neon Genesis Evangelion, as the motto of the secretive organisation everybody works for. It's definetly still pretty plausible theyre familiar with Pippa Passes too, given Elysium has an absolute shitton of literary references