If you're a Metal Gear Solid fan, you may appreciate the following perspective -
Regarding Venom Snake being The Medic, who is manipulated to believe he's Big Boss, but who also represents the player:
How loyal are you to Big Boss?
Would you have sacrificed your life to save his?
The Medic was to Big Boss what Big Boss was to The Boss.
In retrospect, what was the most heroic deed Big Boss did in his life?
I would argue he falls short of being a true hero in comparison to the Medic, who put his life on the line to save the life of a 'Legend'.
Without the Medic's heroics, Outer Heaven would have been nothing but a dream. The Medic also helped prevent WW3.
It also makes sense that Big Boss was introduced as 'Snake' in GZ instead of 'Big Boss'. He lost that title because it didn't mean as much to him anymore. He passed it over to the Medic - the one who truly deserved it for his heroics and saving Jack's life - Twice.
In that regard, the Medic (who portrays 'us') is the true hero. This is what Kojima has always wanted us to believe and feel role-playing 'Snake'.
Revolver Ocelot: "Given the right situation, the right story, anyone can be shaped into Snake." (MGS2)
Keifer once said:
"There's a secret you have to finish the game to know."
He may have been alluding to the Ishmael secret, or who Venom Snake/Big Boss truly was.
Ask yourself: Why would Mantis fight Big Boss at the end if Mantis was a 'Son of Big Boss'? Could it be that Mantis read through Venom Snake and knew he wasn't who he, and we, thought he was? Did Mantis figure out it was someone impersonating him?
They can program someone to be like someone else, like they did with the Mammal Pod. Putting that on a human would be the natural evolution of this technology - program someone to be another one.
Everything on your mind says you're someone because it's all there. You got all the information, the programming, etc. But then...you're not. You become, actually, nobody. Your 'face is irrelevant'.
And, maybe, we - as the player - are supposed to feel that way. We're sure we are someone (Big Boss), but then we're not and we will never know the truth. Know why? Because everything is 'in our minds' (meaning 'everything we have played') indicates we are Big Boss.
Maybe, if the truth were too straightforward, it would ruin it. To a person programmed like that, it could never be straight forward. Like Inception, you can never know if you're dreaming, no matter what.
Maybe that's why Peace Walker (the game) was created; With TPP in mind. The technology from the Mammal Pod to be implemented on a real person that cannot be hacked like the Mammal Pod was.
Such as all those saying, "Are you kidding? We have to be Big Boss. It's the last game. It would make no sense to be someone else."
Exactly. Denial.
"Are you kidding me? I am Big Boss. I remember everything. It's all in my mind. I can't be someone else. Or can I?"
Because, if we stop to think and reflect...That's what Metal Gear has always been about: copying a person. Always trying to copy Big Boss. That's why LET was created. That's why the Genome Project was created. That's why Raiden was created. That's why Null was created. And, maybe, they've finally done it.
The 'Perfect Soldier'...
But not without collateral damage.
Kojima gave us a hint in MGS1.
Have you ever heard about the "The Selfish Gene" theory? It was created by Richard Dawkins. It's a book, actually.
I was mind-blown, then, when I saw Liquid mentioning the book. Before we fight him, Liquid asks Solid: "Ever heard of the 'Selfish Gene' theory?". It's amazing because, even though it is an important theory to the Scientific community, it is not that mainstream. Kojima must have had a lot on his mind.
That theory says that the human mind is "programmed" to survive, but not in the way we're used to understand the meaning of 'survive'. To this theory, that "survival" means keeping your copies alive - meaning your children. Thus, this is why we have the impulse to procreate and protect our children: we're not being 'selfless', but rather 'selfish'. This 'selfish' gene only cares about copying itself and, then, survive.
And that's what Metal Gear is about: copying someone - as we know, Big Boss. Copying the 'Perfect Soldier'. What if they have achieved the epitome of "programming" theorized by "The Selfish Gene", copying perfectly not only the genes, but "memes" and "scenes"? How could we know and differentiate if it's all so real, perfect and well programmed - if it is a perfect copy?
This is what has transpired throughout the course of the Metal Gear Solid lore and why The Phantom Pain has finally solved the saga's biggest mystery.
'The Phantom Pain' - Your brain tells you that something is there, but it is not.
To be told "You are not who you think you are." has to be one of the most gut-wrenching psychological experiences we can endure as humans.
The power of language:
"...Words to control the subconscious."
Regarding language itself:
Solid Snake: "Listen, don't obsess over words so much. Find the meaning behind the words. Then decide." (MGS2)
Kojima's message to the player:
"You don't need a Legend's DNA to be considered a 'Legend' yourself. Anyone can be 'Big Boss'. You only need heart."
it also alludes to the idea that anyone can literally be 'Big Boss', or a 'Legend'. It is just a title. You don't need to be Jack to be 'Big Boss'. You can be you, or, in this case, the Medic.
What constitutes a 'hero'? a 'legend'? Wasn't Jack a nobody before he became 'Snake'? Before he was awarded the title 'Big Boss'? The same can be said about Solid Snake, too. Legends can coexist, such as Jack and the Medic.
"From FOX, Two Snakes Were Born."
Ultimately, We were the true hero. The real 'Big Boss'. The 5th Snake.
And there you have it. This is The Phantom Pain. 'YOU' have come to.
Brilliant, Kojima. Absolutely brilliant.
This turned out to be exactly like my theory regarding the connection between '36 Hours' (1965) and the hospital scene in MGSV: TPP. Kojima must have been inspired by that movie.
'36 Hours' was based on the book 'Beware of the Dog' by Roald Dahl.
https://a.wattpad.com/cover/32825682-368-k910619.jpgThis was a short story that was part of a book of short stories called 'Over to You':
http://test.londonconfidential.co.uk/i/GYR/3WMS_K.bmp'Expect the Unexpected'
Coincidence? I don't think so.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36_Hourshttp://www.stubbornthings.org/wp-con..._six_hours.jpghttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHoEG565Y-...1343721990.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hTL9DdmpyA...2Bhospital.jpghttps://www.movieposter.com/posters/...n/69/MPW-34748In 1950, Maj. Jefferson Pike (James Garner), an Army intelligence agent who served with distinction in World War II, awakens in a hospital with severe amnesia. He isn't sure where he is, how he got there, or even who the woman at his side is, even though the doctor tells him that her name is Anna (Eva Marie Saint) and that she is his wife. The doctor instructs Pike to recall, in as much detail as possible, what he was doing before the accident that caused his traumatic memory loss. But the doctor isn't a doctor, Anna isn't Pike's wife, it isn't 1950, and he isn't in an American hospital. World War II is still very much in progress, and Pike is being duped in an elaborate scheme prepared by Maj. Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor), a German intelligence agent. Gerber is trying to trick a drugged and suggestible Pike into telling him everything he knows, as the injured soldier lies in a Bavarian military hospital after being taken prisoner. Will Pike be able to see through the cracks in Gerber's facade before he spills the beans that could mean death and defeat for American soldiers?
More details from '36 Hours':
When Pike wakes up, he is in what seems to be a U.S. Army Hospital. His hair is graying, and he needs glasses to read. He is told it is six years later and the hospital is in post-war Occupied Germany, even though he has no memory of the intervening period.
The same happens in MGS V, but it's 9 years later.
An Army psychiatrist who seems American, Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor) explains that he has been having episodes of memory loss for the past few years, ever since he sustained physical trauma in Portugal in June 1944. He advises Pike not to worry, as his blocked memories have always resurfaced within a few weeks, helped along by a treatment that mostly consists of remembering events prior to Lisbon and then pushing on into the blank period. Gerber is assisted by a nurse, the dispassionate Anna Hedler (Eva Marie Saint).
To support the illusion that he has been a hospital patient for some time, Pike is provided with letters supposedly written by his father, and photos of German doubles who resemble his parents—Gerber has been researching Pike for many months to prepare for this event—and Hedler tells Pike she is his wife. He is also shown fake newspapers dated 1950, and listens to a faked American forces radio broadcast. The grounds are full of (captured) U.S. Army jeeps and seemingly American staff and patients, some happily playing baseball.
Ground Zeroes was used as a simulation to brainwash/manipulate the Medic into believing he is Big Boss. The tapes? The vehicles? The doctor? The nurse? It's all too familiar.
This movie has 'Kojima' written all over it and it's a theory that speaks volumes to its connection with what has transpired in MGS V: TPP.
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http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1098935&page=122