one aspect of arthureames i really, really love, is that they’re both criminals.
there’s this unabashed hedonism, this lack of care for the pursuit of goodness and love of humanity. they’re both men who have carved out their space in the world and own it, men who have to be absurdly confident for their line of work. it’s in the way they hold themselves, from arthur’s careful enunciation and his proficiency with firearms, to eames’ casual, easy lying and command of his physical space.
“that price on my head, was that dead or alive?” “don’t remember. see if he starts shooting.”
eames is very casually nonchalant about the idea of cobb dying, because, quite frankly, he doesn’t care. and arthur is essentially the same, with nash and with shooting projections in dreamscapes.
i feel like, with most ships and most fandoms, a core component of the characters is that they’re “good people” (to varying definitions) and that they engage in this pursuit of joy and goodness. but arthur and eames aren’t like that. arthur follows cobb around the world when it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t have to, and it causes him pain. and eames does what he wants, however he wants. he enjoys making fun of people and his art is, literally lying. they’re not men preoccupied with their own place in this world, or how the chips will fall at the end of the day.
it’s not that they’re necessarily bad, or cruel people. arthur has kindness for ariadne and for yusef, he takes care of eames. and eames cares about saito, he takes into account his feelings/pain and he understands fisher’s wants.
but in terms of the ship, i think it affects the fandom a lot because they’re not criminals in the sense of like “mob boss, stealing and shooting and all that” but there’s something unmistakably criminal about what they do. they’re both men who have travelled the world, who don’t care about things most people do, like mortgages and pets and buying groceries. they fly in private helicopters and travel around the world on a whim, very easily.
and the characters are portrayed as these men who live outside of society’s purview, because they don’t prescribe to following its laws and expectations. and arthureames highlights the importance of individual choices, of individual trust and love. i feel like, contrastly, other ships rely on this idea of like “you make me a better person” or similar sentiments. but neither arthur or eames really care about being good people. for them it’s more about this idea of “i am choosing you,” or “i am loving you because i want to, not because you change me.”
they’re such singular people, who don’t give a shit about how people view them, that when they chose to be together, it’s just about them, and no one else.
turnnoffyourmind
izzy806
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