#Christopher diaz's graphic tees

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Okay so I mentioned in my costume meta about Chris in water cycle tee but that my look at it got a bit long. well this is the separate post for it. - I love this tee - yes I did some more hunting and found the tee - not on sale anymore, but I managed to find the full picture of the graphic which is the most important thing. 

We don’t see the full image during the scene, but wardrobe wouldn’t know that, so it’s always fair to assume that there is meaning in the whole image. All of the print t-shirts Chris wears are significant - they foreshadow so much. We’ve already seen him in tees foreshadowing, for example both his and Eddie break downs were signalled through his slippery slope shirt (the idea of something snowballing and one thing leading to another i.e Chris’s breakdown contributing to Eddies own) and the shirt with the little embroidered surfers he wore at Bucks party just before the tsunami in 3x01 foreshadowed them riding out a wave, not to mention all of the dinosaur and space themed tees and pyjamas. 

This one is no exception - in fact there is a fair amount on this tee that is making me think! There is the obvious - the circular nature of the water cycle and the idea of things coming full circle. But there is also the idea that you can only have sun if you are prepared to accept the clouds and the rain that are the suns by products. This tee also shows snow - rain in a different form - which once its fallen is often considered transformative and beautiful. Snow can also be seen as cold and depressing (especially if it is where you are not used to getting it) but the t-shirt also suggests that the sun melts that snow and returns it to water - becoming a river and flowing into the sea. 

This is yet another example of water being hinted at in season 5, and the idea that water returns to the sea when we’ve had Buck being reminded of the tsunami as his ‘greatest hit’ at the beginning of the season. not to mention that there is a shark hanging out in the ocean on the tee after we’ve had a shark rescue featuring prominently in the episode before.

The little pine trees are very reminiscent of the snow covered one Chris wore when he smashed the gingerbread house in 5x10(which was foreshadowing the accident that led Eddie to decide to leave the 118) as is the little house we see and the fact that the arrow is pointing directly at it.

Then there is a waterfall. There is a couple of things about waterfalls that has me thinking. Firstly its the play on words - it doesn’t say waterfall - it says waterfalls - like water falls from the sky as rain etc. then there is the fact that waterfalls are a vital part of a healthy water system  - they purify and oxygenate water in the most efficient way - creating nutrients and supporting a healthy ecosystem. there is also the human health benefits of waterfalls - its been scientifically proven that waterfalls are calming - they help to release negative ions in the body - reducing stress. they have long been a symbol of letting go but also play into the idea of being adaptable and if we think about dream meanings then the waterfall represents the ability to shift identity, changing and growing - usually stemming from an emotional experience or seismic change in ones circumstances (sums up Eddie pretty well doesn’t it!). 

Basically the graphic on this tee is connecting several of the threads that we’ve seen playing out over season 5 connected to Eddie and his story arc!

The other thing that waterfall made me think of - the parallel with 1x01 (thanks @copyninjakura for helping with the episode number when I couldn’t remember) So this actually got away from me a bit and turned into something beyond my initial plan to point out a fun little potential parallels and well, I’ve gone full clown here, but I don’t care and I had fun and I do think its a bit relevant!!!

Athena; All right. No heroics. Don’t go chasing waterfalls.

Buck; I don’t know what that means

Athena; Nobody thought you would.

There are a couple of things about this scene and those 3 lines that has made me convinced it has been chosen by the writers room to come back into play this season (as we seem to be paralleling S3 and 1 hard iso far!) and have therefore gained new meanings. This whole scene is the moment that Athena begins to understand and appreciate Buck, its the moment when he gains her respect so its already important in the grand scheme of things. ‘no heroics’ - hello to the belief that Athena has at that moment that Buck has a very healthy hero complex and that its reckless. And when we have an episode titled hero complex in season 5 - the season when we’ve already had a call back to S1 Buck and his struggle with losing someone on the job - that you can’t save them all (it s a very hero like mentality; to think that you can save everyone!) with I am very 

Sure at the time the line ‘don’t go chasing waterfalls’ was a fun reference to pop culture that Buck would be too young to understand, but like ‘No heroics’ it also plays into who Athena this Buck is at that point in time - that he willingly goes chasing waterfalls - which is reckless and can get you killed (think of people taking risks, seeking adrenaline by riding waterfalls!) and again plays into the hero complex idea.

The thing is though - Buck is the one that finds the solution - he literally makes a waterfall to solve the problem and stop the bad guy from getting away. If you look at that scene as a whole - it actually has a fair few parallels with what we’ve been seeing in s5. Theres dispatch (Abby) being on the phone - preventing the situation from getting worse by providing information to Petey so he can ‘escape’ - only its a trap - parallels rather nicely with 5x11 and the speed rescue - Eddie being on the phone providing information that helps with the rescue (because it would’ve blown up before everyone was safe if he hadn’t) 

There’s the family of three moving into a new house - starting a new chapter of their life (especially as its implied they moved from out of the area), then when the trouble starts the kid leaves the relative safety of her bedroom. She’s scared and her parents not being present parallel with Christopher calling Buck for help when he’s scared and Eddie isn’t ‘present’ not to mention the locked doors - girl is locked in a closet and can’t get out while Chris is locked out of the room and can’t get in and the fact that both kids are on their phone getting help!!

And finally we have the role Buck plays in the rescue - he is in civies, but he’s in the fire truck (4x13 parallel), he is the one who spots the bike that helps them locate the right house, he knows there is something going on inside, but he just stays outside and observes - relaying information and letting the cogs in his brain turn. When he is then faced with needing to step in and help Buck grabs Emma (the mom) before she can get into the house and into the path of danger, but he also comes up with the solution - he doesn’t chase the waterfall - he makes the waterfall. Knocking Petey off his bike and stopping his getaway in its tracks (don’t even get me started on the Buck and Athena and bikes and stopping parallels that would need to be a whole other post!!). 

Season 5 Buck had spotted the problems Eddie was going through (the bike) and we see him observing Eddie and making comments to push him a little but not actively getting involved because he knew it wasn’t his place at that time (observing and collecting information) then he does chose to step in and offer advice - (the Ana of it all) but continues watching - He sees where Eddie is at - sees the warning signs of breakdown coming (you don’t have to pretend with me Eddie) but doesn’t have a solution at that moment (Petey making his initial get away on the bike before turning around because the roads s blocked) but as soon as the breakdown happens and he can step in (petey firing at Athena) he is there to support and he figures it out (uses the water canon) -  getting Eddie and Chris what they need - he makes them the waterfall that will enable them to re oxygenate and create a healthy thriving eco system (that he is an integral part of)

Then finally there is the tie into 5x14 and Buck misunderstanding the assignment paralleling with him not understanding the meaning of ‘don’t go chasing waterfalls’. He took that line and used it to his advantage - he connected the dots and made the waterfall instead of chasing it. just as he probably didn’t misunderstand the assignment, he connected some dots and used the assignment to his advantage - he made Eddie (and probably Christopher) smile - those moments of light heartedness are everything when you’re as low as Eddie - they can give you the little lift you need to keep on climbing the mountain - Buck understood the assignment perfectly!

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Happy new episode day everyone! 🎉🎉🎉

I wanted to get this out before the episode goes live and I’m hopin o can get everyone else done this week so I can then do a more general costume post for the episode looking at all the characters rather than individual focus! I’m sorry it’s ended up as an Uber long post! As always thanks to all the gif makers who’s gifs I’ve shamelessly stolen to make my mountain of text look prettier and show my points!

As ever this is a continuation of my costume metas which you can read here, here, here and here.

I’m going to look at Christopher in two separate parts - firstly the suit shopping scene because I have a suit Goldilocks theory (and this is partly because kids only wear suits at certain events - not in more day to day and work scenarios like adults!)

- his old suit that he wore to his mother’s funeral is too small.

- new suit he’s trying in to please his fathers girlfriend is too big and doesn’t fit properly (telling that he’s tried on several).

- the next time we see Chris in a suit I expect it to fit him perfectly (Manifesting at Buddies wedding 🤣)

- These suits are a literal metaphor for where Chris is mentally and emotionally and his costuming is important because he’s a character we don’t really often see away from Eddie or Buck.

I’m not saying the old suit is too small because he doesn’t still love his mom, because he absolutely does and he always will, but she can never come back into the picture. We as humans continue to grow and develop and change even, and especially, when we loose someone close to us (I speak from personal experience here - I lost my mum at 18 - I will always love her and she will always be a part of me, but I know I’m a different person than I would’ve been because she is no longer a physical presence in my life providing support and guidance - I wonder if she’d be able to recognise the me I am now.) Chris may not be cognisant of this yet, because he’s still a child, but to us as the audience the suit is a physical representation of his personal growth as well as his physical growth as a child, the fact it doesn’t fit properly shows us he’s not yet there.

The suit shop suit is also showing us, the audience, Christopher’s opinion on Eddieana as a couple - it doesn’t fit and he is manifestly uncomfortable! The only other time we’ve seen him act out in any way when Eddie told him in s4 that he was dating Ana and this suit is a continuation of that.

- an ill fitting suit and it’s interesting that it’s grey - he won’t be the focus of the scene even though other aspects of the mise en scene initially pull you that way (that it’s supposed to be Chris they’re shopping for, shop assistant and everyone are focused on him - except the camera and sound etc) - an aside to say I love the use of mirrors and both Eddie and Chris being seen in reflection - the representation of not being one’s true self (911 uses this concept really effectively- think Bobby getting back into the dating game in s1 and all the times the mirrors on the fire trucks or mirror reflections have been used!) - they are both trying to make the other happy by projecting what they think the other needs - neithers reflection looks comfortable in that moment even though they’re trying - an indication that they’ve not spoken with each other about it, they’re just following along with a projected image!

On to the rest of Christopher’s outfits!

we have no real idea how he felt about the break up - because we haven’t been shown his reaction, but we can make some assumptions based on his clothing. This season Chris has had some different outfit choices from previous seasons and they reflect what I’ve previously said about Buck being in smart and patterned shirts around Taylor. I should also add that the outfits Chris has worn in previous seasons are really interesting in relation to how his personality is developing into a blend of Eddie, Shannon and Buck (I might do an entire post on this alone when I get some time!!) Chris has had 5 scenes thus far and they all reflect his comfort levels (and also to a subconscious extent his fathers) especially related to Ana and Eddie - hard to get a read on anyone else because he’s not really been around anyone else yet.

Green poisonous creatures tee - aside from the rather obvious poisonous creatures, the shirt is green - not quite the army green of Eddie’s, but it’s in that tonal area - he’s going into battle for his dad - the brighter shade is also interesting because it sits in the spectrum between the subtle shades of Eddie (reflecting his quieter more stoic personality) and the brighter tones of Bucks clothing (again reflective of Bucks more outwardly loud personality) - perhaps, and I might be reading more into this than is there, but it’s something I would’ve done, (and the costume designer will have been involved in season arcing conversations so will know where Buddie is headed at this point - lucky Alyana!!) as a way of showing that Chris’s personality is becoming a blend of both Eddie and Bucks - that Chris is prepared to be a it louder when he needs to be - that Chris is the one that drops the info to the Dr about the shooting holds this theory up and it’s his way of fighting for his dad and getting him both some support and for Eddie to acknowledge he needs some help - that it’s being instigated by chris is an important and wonderful thing because Eddie will always do stuff to make sure his son is ok so for them to signal chris is willing to do the same is just amazing and shows the father son bond and all through a t-shirt, never doubt that designers do thing intentionally (even if it’s to play with the audience’s minds). 😍

When Chris and Ana visit the firehouse we see Chris in a pretty formal outfit for a 10 year old considering it’s also a heatwave (we’ve seen Chris in shirts before, he does wear them fairly frequently. When around Ana he never wore t-shirts in previous seasons which makes the green tee from above the exception and the reason why is obvious!). Again the shirt is slightly over sized, but it’s also patterned - the pink and blue check which from a distance reads as a purply red colour and is pretty busy, this all matches what I’ve said previously about Bucks shirts indicating his discomfort around Taylor - formal = not comfortable - putting up a front or presenting an ideal, and the pattern = disordered thinking and lack of mental comfort. All of this is signalling that Chris is not happy being left with Ana so he’s putting up a front. We know if he’s been with Carla he’d have been much more casually dressed - we’ve seen it in previous series, which is why this outfit was so important and jarring!

I can never never never get enough of this hug btw!!

I can’t find a Gif so you’ll have to take my word for it or go watch the (cringe fest of Ana) scene again. Chris’s yellow shirt is an acid almost neon yellow - it’s super bright - the brightest thing in the whole scene by a long way and it’s meant to draw our eye - it’s as much a signpost for us as it is for Eddie - Chris is the way out of the darkness, he is Eddie’s guiding light, a route out of the mental darkness that has preceded, the blackout (which is a metaphor for most of the main characters internal turbulence at this time) and in some ways ties in with the green shirt from the hospital (I wish I could fully see the design on it to see if it revealed more).

We’ve seen Chris in yellow a couple of times, and they’ve been important.

the tsunami - which cemented his bond with Buck, separate from Eddie.

Also at Mays graduation party - where we saw Buck stepping into a fatherly role (mays message board) and cementing the Buckley-diaz family dynamic (that this is happening at a time when we now know Eddie is changing/ has changed his will makes it even more pertinent!).

The blue tee Chris is wearing bed is super interesting to me - this is one of the few times we’ve seen him in a single colour t-shirt (especially when he’s in pyjamas!). Normally Chris is either wearing multi colour tees (such as the striped ones we’ve seen him in previously), patterned pyjamas, or t-shirts that have logos on them. In fact (off the top of my head) the only instance prior to this I can remember Chris wearing a single colour t-shirt is when Eddie comes home from the hospital (and fun fact it was a mini Henley in army green!). There could be several reasons for this - blue is considered a calming colour and Eddie is seeking the calming comfort of his son, he’s not in need of guidance at this point in time (the universe doesn’t need to scream at the moment for more than one reason) so there is no graphic logo (as an aside we don’t even see the solar system mobile in this scene!) also the fact that it’s what I term a ‘jewel’ shade (which is the colour spectrum they tend to put Buck in fyi,) is designed to re-emphasise the importance of Christopher to Eddie - the importance of family.

I can’t wait to see what Chris is wearing in future episodes, his costumes are always so interesting and I’m expecting a return to graphic tees and colour ways that match both Eddie and Buck at different times! I’m definitely going to have to run a closer look at his outfits since S2 in more detail, especially around when he is and isn’t wearing stripes because I have a theory about 911 characters in stripes, but I need to check it holds up I’ve just not had the time to look at it yet!! And one other thing I need - Eddie in yellow, to support another theory I have (and the yellow from the crossover doesn’t count even though it made him look so pretty 😍)