Trishna Virahanna Autism Rant 2.0: Electric Boogaloo
Heyyy!! You might remember me from this post about a year ago, that yes, should be rewritten because of all the grammatical errors (please forgive me, English is not even my first language), but also wasn't enough information... So I ended up writing a part two, yay!
In this post, we are going to dig a little further in Trishna's psychology and how it is expressed during the show, and we will also talk about other fun facts around her character that I accidentally skipped in my last article or didn't know about until recently.
Without further ado, let's get started with this article :)
Trishna's Body Language & Social Anxiety
Trishna's body language is beyond peculiar, and surprisingly, it tells us more about the character than what it would appear to do at first sight. Something that's noticeable in a lot of the non-choreographed pictures of Trishna is that she uses a closed body language, that makes her look rather neutral in the scene: sitting down with a leg close to the other, hands softly laying on her thighs and a submissive posture.
Alongside this, other body language quirks she actively shows are, for example, the way she uses her arms: she actively has her hands either behind her back or intertwining her fingers waist-height. In general, her postures never include open arms unless it's choreographed; and even in choreography, sometimes this particular quirk remains.
This could be easily taken as simple shyness, which is fair since it's one of the main aspects of her personality, but there's also psychological implications that would affect on why she'd act this way. Small Things Become Big Things is a song that's not only driven by romance, but about emotional growth and opening, quoting:
"Small things, become big things, become all the world! […] Everything comes and it goes, and I know it echos—it echos."
Applying the theory of Trishna representing the butterfly that's being talked about—this because of the metamorphosis symbolism—, this song is reflecting on how Trishna would've been able to achieve amazing things if she opened herself to the world, thing that she never did before her confession to Hank. Technically, we could take Small Things Become Big Things as the first attempt from Trishna of doing "something scary" and risky socially.
So, what does this have to do with her body language?
All these points on her backstory, plus her described personality, end up confirming the presence of social anxiety—which can be or not disordered but it's definitely present. People deal with this condition in very different ways, and one of the main ones is by masking (this is often present in neurodivergent people, which fits perfectly with one of the most popular headcanons for the character, which is her being autistic. Me—as this article's author, her number one fan, and autistic—sincerely agree with it.)
Masking can happen in a lot of different ways, and often one of them is silence: trying to not stand out, to be another leaf in the stack, and never be perceived—therefore, judged. Trishna often shows this behavior, as in most if not all of the photographs she's in as of the night writing this article she's not speaking up at all. Her closed body language, in which she tries to take as little space as possible, is clearly her attempt to reduce herself in order to not be noticed by the others: this is different in comparison to other characters, who have a slightly more open body language, and it lets us know that it's an artistic decision.
Other fun facts (because why not!)
In Play To Win (and possibly in other songs), she shared choreographed moves with Asløg from the October 2009 production. This is confirmed thanks to two pictures taken during Ocean's monologue in Play To Win: this also implies that they share a similar role in the song, which is "Big City Nerd" (according to the costume designer's sketches fro the October 2009 production.)
In the early pictures that were taken in the workshops, she's usually in the middle or in front, which is remarkable considering she's a character who usually tries to hide away; though I wouldn't give this fact much relevance, as this could easily be because of Almeera Jiwa being the shortest from the cast.
According to the promotional poster made for the World Premiere show, she was sitting on the back seat of the rollercoaster with Hank. This could imply small interactions between them before the Cyclone accident, but this is not necessarily confirmed: after all, they're neighbors, so they might know each other for nothing that doesn't go beyond casual.
Funnily enough, and following the last point, in the choreography the positions the characters were on the rollercoaster change drastically: in two of the pictures (presumably from Tragic Fact) she's on the front row with Constance, while in other one (from the closing number, Karnak's Final Prediction) she's on the front row with Hank. According to the parallels, the most accurate position would be her being on the front row with Hank, though it's something funny to consider because of her anxious personality.
In pictures taken on the workshops, it's noticeable that she wears an earring on each of her ears. Interestingly, these earrings do not appear in the pictures from the World Premiere photoshoot, and neither on the news recordings. Why did they take away her pierced ears? Nobody knows…
According to Almeera Jiwa's voice range, she's probably a mezzo-soprano. This is backed because of Jane Doe's/Penny Lamb's absence during the beginning of Uranium Suite/Tragic fact, specifically on the vocals; Sarah Jane Pelzer is a mezzo-soprano too, so it's not surprising that they'd get a backup mezzo for the opening number. Plus, along with sopranos, mezzos usually carry the melodies or big harmony jumps that are important during harmony-based numbers. Embrace the mezzo appreciation!
In Sugar Cloud, she's the only character that doesn't have an apparent role in the photos taken. She's just standing there awkwardly, which is pretty funny to see considering her introvert nature (hopefully she's still having a fun time.)
A really known fact that I forgot to put on my first Trishna rant: she has a stopwatch necklace, that according to Almeera it didn't really serve a purpose, and it's sometimes not even on stage: it disappears, specifically, during Ocean's monologue before Play To Win. It's also absent during Noel's Lament, which was the number prior to Play To Win. It's possible that the stopwatch was hid so Almeera could dance without the stopwatch constantly being on the way.
Continuing with the stopwatch rant, it reappears during The Ballad Of Jane Doe, though it's not clear what would the purpose of this be. There's no enough pictures of Trishna during The Ballad Of Jane Doe to know if the stopwatch would have a specific role, and it's the last time it's seen, so it's perfectly possible that it was used in the transition between Space Age Bachelor Man and the scene the picture was taken.
It is said that Trishna and Hank were supposedly "making out" for the rest of the show after their musical number, but it's important to clarify that this was an exaggeration or a joke: in Jane Doe's "birthday party" they are shown interacting, but it's more of them talking rather than showing any explicit flirting or physical intimacy.
Wow!! That was a long one, haha. I hope you guys enjoyed this :) I'm really thankful for the Ride The Cyclone community, I've met nothing but kindness since I wrote my first article here, and I've been yearning to write a new one! As it might be obvious, I love Trishna a lot—to the point I would consider her a separate special interest from Ride The Cyclone—, and it makes me happy to know that by writing these posts people can connect with her as well.
If you enjoyed, I would be grateful if you liked, reblogged or posted your opinions, theories and questions as well!!! Thank you so much for reading. ♡
