#the hive tgwdlm

[booigi-boi]

Hatchetfield musical villains 🎵🍏🦅

[inamindfarfaraway]

I love how Paul's character in The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is defined entirely by a lack of desire, or desire defined only as 'not what I don't want'. "What Do You Want, Paul?" is a big joke about what a terrible narrative protagonist he is. But it's deeper than that. Throughout the show, even in the smallest, most insignificant phrasing, this man only ever expresses wants in these negative forms, as if he's incapable of feeling attraction in itself rather than simply avoiding what he dislikes. And only avoiding! He never says that he hates anything, either! That would give him passion, drive, perhaps the goal of actively removing that thing. No, he exclusively uses the verb hate in past tense.

He doesn't like musicals, singing, dancing or public performances. He makes this very clear, to the point that it's one of his most significant character traits. At no point does he ever talk about liking any media.

He doesn't want to do social activities.

He doesn't want to give away his money. About both this and the above, he can provide no logical explanation or moral justification. He just doesn't feel like them.

He always gets black coffee because it has "no cream, no sugar, nothing in it"; that is to say, he might not necessarily love it, merely prefer it over its sweeter or more complex alternatives.

He doesn't believe that Emma should have to sing and dance at work - he doesn't want her life to be so unfair and annoying to the both of them.

He doesn't want to obstruct the workings of his office (saying "that's the last thing I want" triggers "What Do You Want, Paul?").

He says, "I wanna go home!" when Mr Davidson is singing at him, but means that he wants to be somewhere safe and not stuck in this incredibly uncomfortable situation.

He doesn't want to die.

He specifically doesn't want to die in Clivesdale, because fuck Clivesdale.

He doesn't want to join the Hive.

He doesn't want to leave Hatchetfield, even when it's the site of an alien invasion that is his personal worst nightmare. He actually says that "All things considered, I like Hatchetfield", arguably an exception to the standard. However, he's also well aware of the town's flaws and problems. He grew up one of its poorer residents, attending the inferior, underfunded Sycamore High School where he casually admits the students "hated [themselves]" and having to watch its more respectable rival Hatchetfield High's school play. He has no strong investment in his tedious middle-class office job. He doesn't get along with some of his fellow townsfolk, like his coworker Ted and all the employees of Beanies except Emma. He awkwardly evades giving to charity and the homeless every morning on his way to work. His life is decidedly not one of utter bliss, and yet it's good enough for him in that he doesn't have the energy, ambition or imagination to want anything more. Since he's "been here [his] whole life", his affection for his hometown could be more an aversion to everywhere else or the hassle of travelling. Sticking with the devil he intimately knows.

He doesn't think badly of Emma, and says so because he doesn't want her to or believe that he does after learning that she helped make a "hated" experience of his happen.

He doesn't want to let Bill die, which is why he goes with Bill to rescue Alice. His heroism and proactiveness at the turning point of the end of Act One start to notably erode his apathy, but his phrasing reaffirms his negative motivations: "Hey, it's not like you're asking me to go see Mama Mia!", "Emma, there comes a time in every man's life when he has to draw a line in the sand. And I will never be in a fucking musical."

He doesn’t want Bill to blame himself for Alice's endangerment, stay in the area once Alice is revealed to be a vessel of the Hive or kill himself.

He doesn't want to do some light reading on the universal truth of love and the strength of the human heart.

He has no positive motivation. He breaks one of the most basic rules of being a fictional character, let alone the main character the audience is supposed to root for. He isn't just an antihero, he's an anti-protagonist. Although this could easily make him boring or unsympathetic, he manages to seem relatable. Real. Human. He captures so genuinely an ordinary person living an ordinary life suddenly trapped in a horror story. How many of can honestly articulate "one concrete goal that motivates all [our] actions"? Even if you can, you wouldn't undergo a narratively fulfilling and thematically cohesive arc related to that desire the way a fictional character would. We're all essentially just trying to survive each day. To make or keep our lives however we define 'good enough'. We may not have a crystal clear picture of our ideal life, but I bet we all have a long list of things we don't want in it. We're all Paul.

What more appropriate antagonist for this man to face, then, than a force that exists to strip people of their autonomy, their individuality, their personhood, and force them to play archetypical characters in a conventional narrative? The Hive observes that Paul is an anti-protagonist and takes offence to this. It seeks to convert him into his antithesis, the "bold" "leading man" of its musical who the audience can "sympathize with". The Infected highlight this in the opening song, in which they eagerly anticipate and prepare the audience for his entrance... and he misses his cue. He isn't following their script. Perhaps that's why the audience is able to believe in this average, unassuming antihero's potential to succeed, to defeat the Hive or at the very least escape it, despite how fraught and grim the situation becomes. The story certainly proves itself to be cruel to its characters; but Paul doesn't operate like a normal character. The Hive promises to fulfil people's desires and make them happy throughout the play. Charlotte, Bill, Hidgens and Ted's deaths are connected to, either in direct causality or thematic relevance, their respective desires for Sam's love, Alice's safety, world peace (and the glory of a musical career) and Ted's own survival. Paul is uniquely immune to this pattern of death related to a core motivation.

Until:

"I can't leave without Emma”, “a friend of mine."

"Is there a chance of something more?"

"I think so. I'd like there to be. I want there to be."

He wants Emma, her life and her happiness and maybe, just maybe, her love. He wants to love her. To spend time with her. For the first time ever, he wants more out of life, not less. He's a little bit more of a character. After the Infected reprise the "Did you hear the word?" section of the opening song, building up to his appearance, this time he does enter the theatre, coming down the aisle just as he was meant to. Right on cue. Paul is now vulnerable to the narrative - the Hive's narrative. And the Hive's control.

Still he resists, even while doubting if he was ever really happy before. Not only does he use his final words, fittingly, to declare that he doesn't like musicals, but before that he firmly refutes the Hive, and the philosophy behind it and all the pressures and temptatations it might represent: "It doesn't matter what I want." What matters is the good of the world. Emma. Love. Hope. Freedom. Integrity. Humanity, which must be wonderful if we can make sacrifices like this for all the right reasons.

Rest in peace, Paul Matthews. You were the opposite of a conventional protagonist, but a true hero.

[akicklineisinevitable]

i was talking abt this irl a while back but i relistened to TGWDLM and it just reminded me of it- remember the Jekyll-and-Hyde back-and-forth thing Paul does in Let It Out? there's a subtle difference in the way Jon sings, between the 'normal Paul' and 'infected Paul' lines- infected Paul's' voice is brighter, slightly higher-pitched. his voice rises at the end of the lines, too.

and as a former theatre kid, whenever i hear that part of Let It Out i always remember something my old music teacher told me- your voice sounds brighter and clearer if you smile when you sing. something about the muscles in your mouth, i think? but obviously, in live theatre you have to act as well as sing, so most of the time you can't do that. but that infected version of Paul is always smiling. in Let It Out his expression changes by the line, and in Inevitable as soon as he starts singing he smiles- and his voice is brighter and clearer and happier.

i dunno there's something there

[marvelmaniac715]

Hello, have you considered joining a collective hive mind recently? We sing musical numbers and have fun times together. Why, just look at this friendly bunch!

They’re reaching out to YOU! Don’t be shy, join us and die today! You have no other choice.

[theatre-apocalypse]

[celestetcetera]

@happistar stop infecting me with the blue hivemind musicals !!

[nocakesformissedith]

Emma and Infected!Paul during “Inevitable”

Pokotho making Infected!Paul watch him (through the Hive) perform

[static-kills]

What if we just

Give the infected a vocal dampener

[vaguelydreaming]

i'm sure someone has already said this to some degree but. thinking about the implications of paul's "i'm still the man you trust" during inevitable compared to the ENTIRETY of not your seed. like alice, for an entire song, telling bill that she's not the same girl anymore, that his daughter is gone, etc., and then paul. just. reassuring emma that he IS still the same man she trusted. idk man just got me thinking

[serendipitous-posts]

Unstoppable force 'alien race intent on taking over the human race by using their own desires against them' meets immovable object 'literally just a dude with no ambitions'

[swingingthehatchetnow]

Not to let my mild anger issues maifest on main but I fucking hate how I can’t sing. I’m tone deaf.

I want to sing covers of songs but I can’t because all the music talent went to my brother (he has perfect pitch)

I want to cover Not Your Seed, and What if Tomorrow Comes, and Time Bastard, but if I do, I fear I will rupture eardrums.

[saintkey]

no other moment in any hatchetfield musical will ever beat the initial realization of tgwdlm being a time loop that emma is forced to relive every time they do a show

[blufox3542]

Pokotho is a theater kid who finds every person that isn’t him to be annoying and I honestly relate.

Also he’s an eldritch being beyond our comprehension so bonus points for that

[local-soda-can]

me: alright, so my friend want to do an oc nightmare time episode. this shouldn’t be too bad right?

-a while later-

[superlustersnew52]

the guy who didn't like musicals except instead of the alien hive mind making people sing it makes them incredibly horny (and the hive mind spreads through sex)

[blankensnappeas]

im soooooo glad people are seeing my emdroid & infected paul vision