Dissecting Character Scenes: Billy Hargrove
*I say that like he’s not the only character I analyze lmfao- anyway*
His Hand Movements
The above movement is what I do when:
I’m nervous. For one, it helps me calm down. Since anxiety is essentially unwanted energy, it helps deal with me being an overcharged energizer bunny by using that energy in a non-harmful way.
I get too in my head, and I need to ground myself.
I’m thinking.
I’m about to talk to someone or do something. When you overthink, or when you have a lot on your mind, even talking to people is something you feel like you need some preparation for. Especially when you’re in a completely different environment, and you have to start over.
I need to remember something, like the “script”. What am I going to say to Person A? What are they going to do? How are they going to respond? How should I respond? These scripts are like mental teleprompters. I play numerous scenarios in my head, and I prepare a bunch of responses to them, whether it’s physical or verbal. It’s an internal peptalk. Sometimes you cancel out the responses that you don’t think will apply, and you zero in on what you’re going with. Needless to say, it takes some time to always do this, which you aren’t always offered.
When you live with an unpredictable abuser, you’re walking on eggshells. It can require you to apply extreme control over your tone, your volume, your facial expression, and your words. They nitpick at everything you say, so you learn to think before you talk. You have to take a step back somehow, collect yourself, and keep a level head, which is hard in an environment like that.
The impressions other people have of you can get you in trouble with your abuser. Whether you’re late for a class or you don’t turn in an assignment, the last thing you want is for someone to call your abuser.
They count on you to mess up somehow, so they have a “justification” to punish you. If you talk back or raise your voice, they can see this as a green light, because they’re making you react. And your reaction, no matter what, will probably piss them off.
So, thinking things through, including your tone of voice and what comes out of your mouth, are things you tend to pick up in that sort of environment.
Scene #2
How am I going to handle this?
That’s what I find myself asking when I find myself in an unknown situation where I need to measure my response. The unknown tends to be borderline suspicious. Sure, living with someone like Neil can make you paranoid, but you’ve got some built in red flags in your court. You pick up things that others may not. To you, it’ll probably be common sense. In this situation, it IS common sense for Billy to be suspicious of Steve.
Flying off the handle immediately isn’t Billy’s style. It takes a considerable amount of control to even talk to Steve. Neil had shaken him up, and then Billy dealt with Karen. Now he’s having to deal with Steve lying to him about where Max is. But he uses force as a last resort. So much happened to him before this particular scene, that he was most likely a bundle of emotions and anxiety by the time he drove up to the Byers’ house.
While the audience knew what was going on, Billy didn’t. The fact that he actually tried to talk to Steve shows that he didn’t want for there to be a fight. He just wanted to get Max home.
“I don’t understand” is quite literally his theme all throughout his life. The entire time he was in Hawkins, he did not understand what was going on.
@ickypuppi3 pointed out that he fidgets so much with his fingers, like that scene with Max in the car at school when he’s holding his cigarette. The anxiety really comes through when he’s about to do something.
Scene #3
Like in this scene, where he’s prepping to face Neil, who’s banging on his door, signaling that he’s in a hotheaded mood. How Neil’s “temperature” is will indicate what Billy’s reaction will be. Here, he has to face Neil’s heat with as much of a cool head as he can. He also knows that no matter what he does, Neil will blow a gasket.
GIF credit to @suledins
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ooga booga lives on as the draft title for eternity for Dirigo, Eureka
also uh. if it wasn't obvious. Dirigo is the state motto for Maine, meaning 'i lead' basically, and Eureka is California's meaning 'i have found it'.
and i thought hawkeye being 'i lead' was poetic, yknow. he's awlays looked at to lead, in this most notably by BJ, because BJ doesn't know anything when he first gets there, hawkeye is the one that teaches him the stuff he needs to learn. hes his own person obvi but its clear. he also leads in the way that he influences the camp greatly and when hes Off the whole camp is Off.
and yknow BJ's being 'i have found it', yknow, found someone to cling on to over here. found someone that lets him break out of his goody-two-shoes role over here. found his Person over here. and also bj being prone to exclamations of joy at things, like Wahoo and eureka is on the list of happy things to yell out.
anyway
cruisin along
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