The world exists in such a baffling state of simultaneous sex-aversion and sex-hegemony. Every social platform on the internet is trying to banish sex workers to the shadow realm but I can't post a tweet without at least two bots replying P U S S Y I N B I O. People are self-censoring sex to seggs and $3× but every other ad you see is still filled with half-naked women. Rightwingers want queer people arrested for so much as existing in the same postal code as a child and are also drumming up a moral panic about how teenage boys aren't getting laid enough. I feel like I'm losing my mind.
Generation Loss is a comedic tragedy in every sense of the word. Every character we see exemplifies this fact, but no one other than The Austin Show proves its truth.
We begin at the carousel. Austin, Gay, takes his turn by pleading for himself to live because he has a wife and children back home. The rest of the cast interrogates him about his “wife and kids,” clearly suspicious of his truthfulness without even knowing his dubbed “title.” Everyone in the room treats Austin like a joke.
In turn, so do we.
Next, we reach the closet and shortly after the failed drag show, Austin remarks, “Look, I uh… I didn’t expect to die here.” It’s a moment of pure honesty, whether we like it or not. It happens again when the Puzzler tries to party with them, and Austin has to angrily remind him that they are his captives and are actively trying to kill them.
Austin: “What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? We're trying to get out of here. I have children and wives— wife. One wife! What is this some sort of game? I’ve been stuck in hear for hours it seems. We’re trying to get out. Why is nobody else freaking out? We’ve got C4 strapped to our neck…”
It isn’t until Ethan’s death, his blood pooling out from underneath the door, Austin screaming at the others, begging them to have a reaction, to care about their circumstances, to care about death, that we finally understand Austin’s role in Generation Loss.
After all, in every great comedy, someone always has to play the straight man.
@chipper-smol I couldn't get the thought out of my head of dragon loop flying on unfamiliar wings away from their problems because obviously that's why they have them haha ha ha
I was always befuddled how such a mindflayer can be so hard to trust while ultimately having simultaneous goals as the team. Then I finally saw their stats in the other timeline.
It all makes sense now.
I am forever bemused by this this lower-than-the-average-squid-charisma disaster of a mindflayer.
I can only surmise that when the Emperor said Stelmane was the face of their business-partnership, it was not only meant literally but charismatically as well. Squid buddy's got the brains, none of the suave. If Emps tried rebuilding the Knights of the Shield without another business buddy, it might've been a tad difficult if morals were concerned huah.
It's so hard to articulate but why would I want economic liberalism and a million foreign companies selling me stuff when I already have the love from my community and parks and clubs and meriendas with my friends? why do I need a Sephora when I can go with my friends to el Centro and buy my make-up there? why do I need Dunkin donuts when I already have a panadería with tables with the best cheesecake I ever tasted, three streets over? The free spectacles that are organized by the municipalidad, its courses, all of it.
Our culture is all over the streets in its shop in the kioscos, it's warmth, my friends, my family, my university. It's mine, it's ours.
Sometimes I wonder if part of the reason Jon hates the word spooky so much is that using such a deeply unserious word to describe very real and very traumatic supernatural encounters reminds him, on some level, of being a traumatized child who wasn’t taken seriously by anyone after he watched someone die horrifically while being fully aware that the victim’s fate was nearly his own. Maybe part of the reason why he wants so desperately to be taken seriously is because he remembers all too well what it felt like when he wasn’t