Something I've been wondering since seeing W2H (love the short, by the way!) - why did Sock feel like he had to kill himself after he accidentally murdered his parents? Was it guilt? Did he feel like going to prison or foster care was worse than death? Something else?
Thanks! Y’know, I think early on when I was first writing down ideas and trying to script it, I had Sock talking himself through it and weighing all of his options before settling on suicide… but I guess it felt like it dragged on a little too long, so I scrapped it. Having him discuss any alternatives would also mean having to make a statement about all of those things (prisons, foster care, etc) and delving into like… law, basically, and all of the technicality that comes along with that. (How old is Sock? Would he go to prison, or juvenile hall? What state is he in? Do they have a death penalty? Does it apply to minors? Is Sock a minor?)And those are all totally valid questions, but they drag out the set-up a little too long, and I thought it’d be best to just get right to the point! Actually, in a reeeeaaally early germ of the idea–prior to the comic, even–I had considered a whole ridiculous court scene where Sock was on trial (people have actually claimed to be sleepwalking during a homicide!) where all of the evidence is clearly against him, and he pleads guilty, but he’s so genuinely remorseful and believable that everyone still finds him weirdly sympathetic and lovable. I guess just to drive home that sort of weird duality to his character… but again, for a short film, all of that just kind of slows the story down, when I could be communicating that in a more natural way, through his actions later in the film.I also feel like skipping over his reasoning gives the audience a chance to just run through all of the potential options (like you just did, haha), and pick one that makes enough sense to you and just roll with it. PERSONALLY, my headcanon is that his reasoning was not wanting to inconvenience or burden anyone with the impending consequences of what he’d done. Like, he knows he’s guilty, he knows he’s not going to get away with it, he’d rather not waste everyone else’s time with a trial, he’d rather not go to jail—it’s a whole cocktail of things, and he figures suicide is both the easiest way out, and the most fitting solution. He even labels the graves “mom”, “dad” and “me”, which is just a visual gag really, but he’s also admitting to his crime and spelling it out for everyone. Does any of that make sense? Haha… this is why I didn’t go into it in the film. The whole premise of Sock’s character is kind of ridiculous already (and that’s intentional), but if I draw too much attention to it we get stuck in the set-up! But on the plus side, it also leaves room for me to come back to it later, y’know? Maybe that’s a future episode idea!Anyway, hope that answered your question, or at least gave some fun facts, haha.
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