Tadc shows the audience that the best way to keep yourself from abstracting is by valuing your connections with others through communication, personal growth and mutual understanding.
So it's interesting how much gangle could've played a role in preventing jax's abstraction post ribbits death. When Gangle arrived in the digital circus, Jax had practically burned all of her bridges and was in her early stages of creating a persona who's function was to push the remaining circus members away.
The moment Jax named Gangle was not only the beginning of Gangle's loss of personal agency in the circus but also what will define what most of their interactions would be in coming years, jax choosing things for gangle, and gangle letting her.
A big part of Gangles arc is regaining her own agency back by learning how to dictate and discover the life she wants. So much of her life both in the outside world and in the circus had been spent letting things happen to her.
• She let her peers pressure her into choosing a career doesn't want.
• She let a fast food job consume her until it became all she thought was worth noting of her life.
• And she let Jax asign her a name and a role she never asked for.
Jax takes full advantage of Gangle's unwillingness to push back because despite what Jax wants everyone to believe, she can't actually stand being completely alone. Jax views Gangle as "safer" compared to the rest of the circus members because she gets to decide exactly what happens in the relationship and how it happens. That is to say that jax is ultimately the one in control of who knows what and how it will be perceived. (Ie: the reason why Jax seems to know so much about gangle enough to blackmail her, but gangle doesn't seem to know much about Jax)(Not to say that gangle knows absolutely nothing about jax, when you spend that much time with another person your bound to see the mask slip occasionally.)
It all circles back to her cartoon nihilism ideology, the defense mechanism that kept her from abstracting all these years. Torn between her need to validate her worldview and her need for connection, instead of choosing one or the other jax decided that she wanted both at the same time. Which, lo and behold created the incredibly toxic relationship between them.
Jax's funny guy persona needed someone to be the punchline not only so she could fully immerse herself in circus's cartoon wackiness but also to forget about the underlying issues she doesn't want to confront.
She needed someone to project all her issues on, an outlet where she could take out all of her repressed emotions on with little to no repercussions, a way to sort of vicariously have feelings.
and finally she needed someone who would keep her company while simultaneously keeping the control & emotional distance she desires. Someone who is too scared and reserved to question or pry into her actions/past but also someone who doesnt take any initiative to try and leave said relationship. (Atleast not without outside help)
And when gangle entered the circus in such a vulnerable state, she was unfortunately the perfect vessel that could provide all of what jax wanted at the time.
Put all these factors together and you get an abstraction proof method that has absolutely no cracks or flaws what so ever and that requires none of that icky "emotional vulnerability" and "personal growth" stuff. 😀👍👍
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