infinitejestislit

[infinitejestislit]

wait....... Orin is one of those annoying tiktok guys, isn’t he? 

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hmmm my Infinite Jest obsession is reviving from its hibernation...what this probably really means is that I want drugs haha

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John “”N.R.”” Wayne?? more like john “Dissociation” wayne am i right

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This is one of my notes from reading the book at first and, well...I still agree with it (I love Lyle but) 

[infinitejestislit]

[infinitejestislit]

“You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It’s their mistake, not my failing.”

— Richard P. Feynman, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

[infinitejestislit]

ouch

🥴🥴

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"...Jim Troeltsch's pseudo-radio program, backed by its eustacian-crumpling operatic soundtrack, "

how did I not notice that before...it’s yet another proof that infinite jest is literally a sports anime

[infinitejestislit]

Interestingly, in Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace that whole trend is kind of reversed - many of the characters are disabled or disfigured in some way, and the physically “perfect” and “beautiful” ones are the most twisted and evil (there are still some serious issues with the portrayal of disability, but it’s at least better than the trend you mentioned). 

Hey. Can we talk about how media portrays disabled people (especially disfigured people) as evil and repulsive? Like y’all… they’re just people living their life. If (when) the villain takes off their mask to reveal that their face is covered in scarring, why does that make them more evil? Why does the masked hero always reveal flawless skin and sculpted bone structure that perfectly fits society’s idea of beauty?

Are there, like, any shows/books/comics/anything with disfigured/disabled characters who aren’t evil and don’t obsessively hide behind a mask? Can we please normalize physical appearance being unrelated to morality???

The closest thing I’ve seen is POTO fics where Christine eventually manages to “overcome” her initial repulsion upon seeing the Phantom’s face (a theme present in multiple versions of POTO canon as well: notably, ALW’s stage adaptation features the line “this haunted face holds no horror for me now / it’s in your soul that the true distortion lies”) and there’s certainly a lot to say about the recurring themes of ableism in POTO, but let’s take a look at why this reaction, even removed from context in which the Phantom has already been clearly defined as an antagonist, is fully expected and predictable. In fact, there’s very little difference between the Phantom and other disfigured/disabled characters in the way that people react to them. But that still doesn’t explain why this happens— or why it’s an issue.

Why is it that society as a whole views scars as being ugly and shameful? Why do we feel pity for the “monstrous villain” when they take off their mask before/during/after the big fight scene— why does the villain always bitterly ask if the protagonist feels pity for them?

It honestly seems as though, in the eyes of directors, writers, producers, and anyone with control over the plot, being disfigured/disabled and still choosing to keep living is inherently evil. That it’s the wrong choice to make. And that it’s crueler to keep someone alive but scarred than to “let” them die. This clearly mimics real-world ableism: disabled people are frequently told that they’d be “better off dead,” and being left alive but disfigured is often portrayed as “a fate worse than death.” It shouldn’t need to be explained why this is an issue, but let’s go over it anyways: disabled people are still people. People are inherently worthy of the right to live. Disabled is not a bad word.

I don’t have an easy way to solve this. I’m honestly not sure if one exists. But let’s at least stop pretending it isn’t an issue. Call it out. Spread awareness. Content creators: do your research and consciously make an effort to avoid falling into the same problematic tropes.

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James Orin Incandenza and Abed Nadir: some Highly Interesting Similarities

First off, and most obviously, they're both strange and misunderstood filmmakers who use filmmaking (both in a variety of different genres/styles, btw) as an attempt to communicate with those around them but fail badly in their endeavors for the most part.

Like Abed, JOI is socially awkward, but more in a way that seems like he's on another plane altogether rather than there being something easy to pinpoint (such as someone being just, say, humorless, or romantically awkward, or bad at making friends, or unintentionally obnoxious). 

I guess what I mean is that it's something that seems more fundamental to his general mental processes than mere awkwardness - IIRC Abed was confirmed to be on the autism spectrum and personally, I view James as autistic as well (I'm definitely going to make a separate post about this at some point). In both cases, these social difficulties cause significant family conflict, specifically a father being disappointed in and unable to relate to or understand his son.  

Despite their social difficulties, they both have a certain pride/confidence in their work as filmmakers (often to the point of arrogance or self-indulgence) balanced only by their own self-criticism and insecurities about their art, and are both narcissistically obsessed with perfecting it, sometimes at the cost of other, much more important things like their health and relationships.

Lastly, both JOI and Abed have a single particularly close friend (Lyle and Troy, respectively) who understands/accepts them fully (partly due to being on a similar but by no means identical wavelength). In both cases, this friend is simultaneously less intellectual and more relaxed/chill than them, but is still rather odd and often misunderstood by others. Both relationships are insular to the point of bemusing "outsiders" and can be read into as something other-than-platonic, but remain textually ambiguous.

On top of all that, they're even somewhat visually similar - Abed looks rather like what I imagine a young James Orin Incandenza to look like (well, aside from Abed not being 7 feet tall, but no one is perfect).

I don't know what all of this means, or if there was any influence from Infinite Jest on Abed's character, but I find it pretty interesting - I think that reflecting on one of these characters can actually lead to insights about the other in a way that, in this case, applies in both directions. 

[infinitejestislit]

I can’t not picture Rémy Marathe as looking, sounding and acting exactly like Spy from TF2....I would say that it makes no sense because Spy is so obviously a spy, but based on how ridiculously obvious Marathe constantly is I actually see no inaccuracy or contradiction there 

[infinitejestislit]

why is there like 0 fanfiction for infinite jest