everyone’s talking about parallels between Glasses Boys without commenting on the symbolism of the glasses themselves, so let’s talk about it:
glasses help us refine our vision, but they only help if there was a flaw in the first place. if you have perfect eyesight, glasses won’t help your vision in the slightest. however, if you realize something is off, you can correct it.
glasses do not give us the ability to see any better than someone with 20/20 vision, they allow us to keep up. they do give us a greater awareness of the potential for flawed vision, and sometimes a greater appreciation for our corrected vision.
at the same time, they place a physical barrier between us and the rest of the world. we can be as close as anyone else to the action, but we will always have an extra tiny bit of protection.
we have two “hero complex” characters: pang and supot. at first sight, their glasses counterparts fit the role of sidekicks, but i would argue that they are more than that. they do not just blindly carry out the hero’s will; they are there to resist it. which, in the context of the heroes both possessing powers allowing them to impose their will on others, is extremely necessary.
supot and pang they have (or had) seemingly the strongest moral compasses, a constant drive to do what is best for everyone, but they both lose sight of the dangers involved in their mission. they lack awareness of the possibility of endangering not only others, but also themselves (supot telling the ministry about his experiments, pang facing the director directly at the end of season one). yuth’s line, “when you want to accomplish something, you can’t just attack it head-on,” is so important. wave’s anger when pang went to face korn alone was similar.
the hero characters forget that the consequences of their individual loss could mean losing the war, and they throw caution to the wind. the glasses characters, even as they acknowledge that morality drives the hero characters, are able to take a step back and see the flaws in their plan.
our hero characters cannot afford to acknowledge that their morality might be wrong. what they’re fighting for, what they’re fighting against, is too big to face with half a heart. but the glasses characters are different. they have an extra bit of protection, they have already had to acknowledge that they are lacking (yuth doesn’t have a potential and doesn’t want to gain one through experimenting; wave’s lack of trust made him an antagonist for most of season 1) and move forward with the knowledge that broken doesn’t mean unfixable.
if there heroes acknowledge the danger, they also have to acknowledge their fear. as the ones on the frontlines, this isn’t as sustainable as going in blind, going in stupid, going in without fear - and also without caution. yuth and wave are constantly on edge, they’re looking for fear, and that’s okay - because they are a little bit safer. they have some protection. yuth didn’t interact with the ministry (until the very end, but we’ll get to that in a bit), and wave observes the action from a computer room. they can be scared because their actions don’t require fearlessness. they require bravery in the face of fear.
and you know what? as soon as supot lost yuth, as soon as he lost his vision, his protection, he became a “bad guy.” no, it wasn’t by choice, but it happened because supot did what heroes do: he faced the bad guys without fear, and by the time he felt it, it was too late.
i think it is telling that yuth continued working with supot in spite of supot’s betrayal. maybe it’s wishful thinking, but i believe wave and pang will make up, too, because that’s the other thing about glasses characters - they have placed their trust in the wrong people in the past, and so they can now see more clearly when someone is worth trusting. even if that trust is breached - they might need some time to think things through, some space to protect themselves and to feel safe, but they will eventually return to the people who give them hope. the characters who want to be heroes so badly they lose their way.
on another note: yes, i think chanon and third’s glasses are symbolic as well, but in different ways. for example, pom never wanted to be a hero. as a result, their dynamic is different from those of supot/yuth and pang/wave. pom doesn’t see himself as a hero, or even as a good guy, but chanon does. i think chanon was the bravest of all, because he saw the outcome, he knew things would go wrong, and i’d bet money he was scared, but he chose to face things head on because he knew they’d turn out okay for his friend that way. i cannot stress how much i hope he remains a good guy but also how much i doubt he will. i don’t know. maybe if he goes to the dark side pom will bring him back, but on the flipside of channon’s bravery is pom’s cowardice and i’m not sure he’s made much progress to overcome that.
third is the one i know least about and thus have the least commentary on, but - his potential is stealing information from people’s mind’s, right? so actually very similar to waves but with people rather than computers. he has been antagonistic at times and i could see him having a villain arc, or maybe he already has in a way that was less dramatic than wave’s. i really can’t tell where he stands right now but maybe i’ll have more to say about him in another episode or so.
