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#come from him. and yet she bats the hand away so spitefully. because dani is touching her perceived property.
mallahanmoxie · 3 years
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evil has invaded my heart so now i’m just vibing and thinking of what circumstances would bring notorious attention hater eun jiho to partake, nay, lead something like a host club. i think my best bet lies in tamaki’s very real divide between loving someone as a person (a “man” in his case) and performing the duties of a host -- he’s striving to make these women happy, going out of his way to do so, in fact, but he’s not really doing it as, like, himself (note that when he does bring himself or the club into the equation it’s often in supporting roles to the pursuit of someone else’s romantic/affective ambition). he’s not their friend, much less their lover. he’s a host, he’s playing a role. here the performance necessarily rescinds any (or most, depending) of the vulnerability that comes with exchanges like these, which in their natural (as in not artificial) form are meant to be taken seriously.
it provides, in many ways, a shield. it’s how, for example, hikaru and kaoru can put on that brothers’ love act of theirs and the under layers of truth in it--which performances need in order to ring, well, true to its audience--don’t threaten their inner, private dynamic, even as haruhi’s involvement is upsetting the pre-set balance of their relationship. and, beyond that, it also provides distance. there’s an audience to which you are performing, they are the ones consuming it, it technically exists for their benefit. in traditional settings, the performers and the audience are divided by the physical form of the stage, even if these boundaries are pushed nowadays to make a point. within the system of hosting, the boundary is not physical but it doesn’t mean it isn’t present and constantly being pressed upon.
now, thinking about jiho and the boys (and even ban yeoryung, who in this context would probably serve as haruhi), it doesn’t seem wildly out of the question that these aspects of the system would be seen as benefits. i still don’t think they’d be inclined towards it (rather isolation seems the knee-jerk reaction) but i could see it. and (the performing of) hosting also introduces something else, which in jiho’s case would perhaps make the most difference: control. they are all already constantly scrutinized and objectified. peoples’ fantasies can and will run wild, often in worrying directions, and if they’re not something you can do away with or hide from, wouldn’t the second best option be to control the way they go? turn them malleable in your hands, curbing the want of possession, putting a stop to the personal and turning it into commercial, offering a service, establishing end hours of this performance of my life that you insist on me reliving. so that i can go home and be myself there. so there’s an end to this thing. if you want a show, i’ll give it to you. but there’ll always be a curtain closing.
in that sense, i don’t think it’s too outlandish a notion.
#im talking out of my ass here btw i haven't watched ouran in ages#i don't think it's entirely the same reason for everybody BUT none of the above is exempt from application to the others#you know how jooin is about controlling his image himself#and also there will ALWAYS be people trampling those boundaries (the girls at ouran seem much much kinder than the kids at the 4hk's hs)#but the fact that they EXIST and they're CLEANLY DEFINED and back by a SYSTEM and an INSTITUTION#again it softens the blow. which doesn't mean that you can always take it. but the cushioning is preferable#eunhyung plays into/with people's expectations already and there's very many things about his situation you can manipulate to subdue him#into agreeing into something like this#chunyoung is already so goddamn intimidating i think it's just mori senpai 2.0 he wont even have to TALK#it'd be very funny if he was the mori to lee ruda's honey but NOT in a loveable way#they're not tender. they fight. the girls are in on it for the 100k slow burn enemies to lovers. they're not even pretending about that.#also ban yeoryung would unironically take to it like duck to water. completely unironically. loves to see pretty girls smile.#she n tamaki are kindred souls in that regard except yeoryung is gay#and butch. obviously.#in reality i do think it would take some of the weight off their interactions with the rest of the populace#particularly when romantic affection is involved#perhaps i read too much into it but like. take that scene where the sunbae confesses to chunyoung in the classroom. how she bats dani's hand#away because dani doesn't have a /right/ to touch him so intimately but this total stranger is VYING UNIRONICALLY FOR HIS AFFECTION#but more than that for the position of his lover. she doesn't even /know/ him. everything she thinks she knows about him absolutely didn't#come from him. and yet she bats the hand away so spitefully. because dani is touching her perceived property.#and it really is about ownership. it's like he's an expensive handbag. it's almost decor.#jiho is right when he says it's like they're monkeys in a zoo. it must be so suffocating.#and wouldn't you like to take some of the narrative back?#for yourself?#ANYWAY. that's a lot. fuck.#simba lb tv#the lion reads#inso's law#no way that's showing up in the tag after the million tags i just put. if it does im cursed. im just playing
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