I would definitely like to discuss TADC theories and discourse more, but before I do, I think I just need to let off some steam.
For a show that asks a lot of the viewer in terms of empathy for its characters, I've seen a strange lack of theory of mind in a lot of TADC discourse? A lot of people seem to have trouble reconciling the fact that characters can genuinely believe false things.
WARNING: Barely organized ramble below.
Honestly I mostly see this in relation to Ragatha, Caine and Jax, but it drives me nutty to no end. There is a kernel of truth to each of them, yes, but it's clear that each of them has unhealthy coping mechanisms that lead them to false beliefs. Ragatha thinks that people hate her - that's not necessarily true as even Kinger points out.
Or that Caine is made to make adventures, Kinger (again) gives us the explanation that Caine was only made to make his own ideas. That doesn't mean Caine is lying when he says his purpose is to make adventures, he could 100% believe that his purpose is to take care of the circus. Because he doesn't KNOW about C&A, not really, all he knows is that he was abandoned and "cut off" from the macroverse. It's a destructive belief which puts himself as apart from humans, and ties his worth to his job to the point at which he breaks down on believing he is anything less than perfect, but not (just) out of pure egotism, but because he has this flawed belief in what he has to be to be loved.
And the king of misbelieving, Jax himself, in his belief that the cast members are all cartoon characters who aren't truly real or don't matter. But AGAIN, the show has shown over and over, through Gangle and Zooble, through Pomni and Gumigoo, that this belief is truly misguided. It's clearly a coping mechanism that Jax had developed to overcome the absurdism of the reality he now inhabits, one that's breaking down if episode 8 is any indication.
Yet... I still see people genuinely defending this belief like its not a narrative construct and mindset that's been intentionally shown to be holding Jax back. Like no, they aren't cartoon characters! But Jax is forcing himself to believe this, perhaps because of what happened with Ribbit, maybe because of the "real" world. He does seem genuinely surprised when Gangle doesn't act according to his archetype of her. It's a wall he put up to protect himself, but it's not true, not even by the show's text. Sure the cartoon torture may look silly, and perhaps it doesn't feel as bad as normal torture either, but it's still bullying, and Jax is still doing himself no good by this false belief.
If we wanted to buy what is doing good for Jax as a person, he should be brought out of this unhealthy coping mechanism, not defending it. Neither would I argue does this make Jax irredeemable either- I think it's clear that he's acting according to what he thinks. And for all the characters in this show? I think the point is more showing what these unhealthy coping mechanisms DO to them, not necessarily casting a moral shadow on them for being right or wrong.
At the risk of making this more of an unorganized ramble than it already is: I think the beginning of episode 8 really brings to a head what the show wants to say about mental health and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Jax is NOT right, what he does is harmful. But he is also a person- and if is a chance for things to get better, it is by showing him empathy. Giving him a path to choose something else, not necessarily excusing what he has done, but giving him the choice to be something else, which would ultimately benefit everyone in the long run.
After all, we already saw the outcome of making someone feel unwanted and unloved at the end of the episode. It's a tragedy, and not a victory.
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