TGCF:
I think Xie Lian would very quickly realize he has a stalker. He has had a stalker before! Three times, even, though the other two were small ones compared to the big first one. He is, one might say, experienced in being stalked. However unlike the previous ones, this stalker is kind of.... nice.... kind of. Fun. Yes he keeps popping up where he shouldn't and Xie Lian definitely saw his own picture in the guy's wallet that one time, but he's very NICE and POLITE and honestly, the attention is nice. This is a good stalker. Xie Lian will lean into it to the horror of all his close ones. Xie Lian will encourage the stalker to stalk and meanwhile Hua Cheng thinks he's winning the Best Courtship Award, not knowing anyone more sane would have called the cops.
MDZS:
Wei Wuxian would see Lan Wangji staring weirdly and acting weirdly one too many times and decide the man is stalking him. What a shame! He's so beautiful! Beautiful men aren't meant to be stalkers! Wei Wuxian's immediate decision to stalk right back is questionable at best and mostly impulsive.
Several months after they end up together, it turns out Lan Wangji recognized Wei Ying from a Missing Child Poster and also from meeting as little kids, and all that staring was him trying to figure out if the Jiang family kidnapped him as a child. When Wei Ying decided to stalk him, Lan Wangji just thought the guy recognized him in turn and wanted to rekindle their childhood friendship.
SVSSS:
Shen Yuan is not gay. He's not gay. However, lately, he keeps running into the most beautiful, handsome, gorgeous, hot, THE most perfect man he has ever SEEN. The guy is so charming and sweet and clearly having a rough time lately, CLEARLY he needs some support! Some encouragement! So what if Shen Yuan decides to dig up everything he can on the guy? That's normal! The dude seems to be HOMELESS, he needs help! Shen Yuan just needs all this information to make sure he can get Binghe the most fitting, best job. And besides, clearly they're meant to be (platonic) if they keep running into each other. He's so proud he made a friend and he's so proud he can help said friend. He ignores all the attic wife jokes from Airplane. There is nothing wrong with enjoying cleaning and cooking, dude! Binghe is very masculine. And he can leave whenever he wants!
Meanwhile Binghe, who knows stalking is bad but can't help it, can't help make sure to run into Shen Yuan every chance he gets, or memorize all that he likes and dislikes and- well, it's fine! Because it turns out that when he finally moves in with Shen Yuan, his boyfriend ALSO stalked him! Not that Shen Yuan will admit it, but Binghe sees the conspiracy board with all his info carefully mapped out, and he knows that his precious A-Yuan stalked him right back, doing it the digital way instead of on foot, like Binghe did.
had to watch the new Folding Ideas video twice, read all of the comments, watched Lady Emily's video, watch an AVGN video for the first time (sorry i'm gen z), failed to get through Wavelength (1967), read a bunch about Wavelength (1967), and read through a bunch of Twitter comments, but i think i'm finally understanding the artistry in "i don't know james rolfe"
narratively it's dan olson revealing the rorschach test of media analysis, i.e. there was no way for him to critically analyze james rolfe's career without revealing all of his own obsessions and insecurities, just as james rolfe reveals himself through his film and video game reviews. this concept is lampshaded by the highlighting of Wavelength (1967), an extremely minimal and obtuse film that engages with the idea of inattention — meaning that bored or negative responses to the work are still responses to the theme. which is cool.
and it's cool that criticisms of dan olson's video include people upset that he hyper-focused on specific elements of james rolfe's life and not other, arguably more important elements, such as the Monster Madness controversy or james's time in special ed — almost as though the character of dan olson is cherrypicking aspects of james rolfe's life that are the most personally wounding to him. aspects that expose dan's insecurities relating to filmmaking and failed dreams, expressed through the vessel of AVGN.
but meta narratively, the video becomes a rorschach test for the audience — your response to the video reveals your own obsessions and insecurities in how you relate to dan olson. why does someone find the video mean-spirited? why does someone else think the video is self-serving? why do I feel so awkward watching dan attempt a deeper, more abstract creative work?
where does dan olson end and the character of dan olson as a media critic begin? where do you as an audience member end, and YOU begin?