#sorry for feeling slightly crazy abt bart & ken all the time. as if it's my fault

[rustystars]

see. it's all about control.

if you put dirk gently in a box, he's gonna try to get out of it. & then he'll get angry. & then he'll get sad. & he'll start thinking Well maybe there's a reason i'm in this box. Maybe it's protecting me. but after a while he'll start saying Maybe i'm in this box for a reason. Maybe there's something wrong with me. Maybe i'm the problem. & he'll repeat that to himself over & over til he's the one putting himself back in the box over & over again. that's why his identity is so important to him. dirk is the name HE chose. todd & farah are the friends HE made. the agency is something HE opened. he's taking himself out of the box now! he's rejecting the box! he's determining his own life! & even if he fucks it all up he's still choosing his own life. he's still out of the box.

vs the rowdy 3. if you put them in a box they will say Let us out of the box. & they will fight every step of the way until they're out of the box. they know the box hurts them. acting violently outside of the box is a way to make sure they never get put in again. you dont want to contain people like them. that's why their arc with amanda is so moving! they've known each other for barely a day, & martin gives her a weapon. a way to hurt him. he lets her into his van. he hasn't seen her in months but he fights a war for her & hands her control. it's such an act of trust! to say i love you & i accept you & i trust you with myself. i trust you with my family. i trust you with my vulnerabilities because i know you will never put us back in that box. (& in doing so he gives amanda self-autonomy! they trust her so she can trust herself! she doesn't have to be terrified all the time because there are people who have faith!)

but bart. you put bart in a box & she doesn't get it. you'll say This is a box & she'll shrug. she doesn't get that a box is A Box because everything is a box to her. she exists in a box & then a different box & then another box & this is just how the world works. & then she meets ken (& sings to bad car songs! & gets shot! & washes her hair!) & suddenly realizes that if everything is a box, there are good boxes (ken! the fantasy realm!) & bad boxes (blackwing). but it's still all one big box to her. & there's no point in finding good boxes because they open up & she's alone again. she doesnt know how to keep a good box. she must not be made for the good boxes. so she goes back to the only Good Box that she's ever known, even though a box can't be good, & she calls it going home. & now ken & blackwing are one & the same but it doesn't matter because it's all a box. it doesn't even matter. he hurts her & it's just what boxes do. she wants to kill him but he says that's just what boxes do. & its all just one. big. box.

#dghda #dirk gently's holistic detective agency #dirk gently #sorry for feeling slightly crazy abt bart & ken all the time. as if it's my fault