#james monnier

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you know there's just a couple of things that i like

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jamiee ndsantiago in WWSP charcater fit. ok

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A Proper Jamie Character Analysis, and why Santiago stays his friend.

I think Jamie on some level thinks he isn't 'human'. By that I mean, similarly to how Santiago thinks there's something fundamentally wrong with himself that sets him apart from other people, I think Jamie does, too. This is also why I really do think, in the end, Jamie and Santiago could be good for each other; because despite the flaws in their persons and relationship, they both seem to legitimately really like the other. Santiago's exasperation with Jamie is never about Jamie himself– he never takes a dig at the socially 'weird' things Jamie does, like how he speaks or dresses. It's always something related to his bad habits.

I think Jamie's substance use is legitimately a problem. He considers promising not to get drunk such a big deal that it's on-par with bringing Santiago to the party uninvited. But he says he'll stop next time– a common refrain to anyone who's ever dealt with an addiction, before.

Jamie is CONSTANTLY associated with drinking. His hobbies, his official merch, the ways Santiago describes and remembers him; all of it is inextricably tied to his substance use.

If you read between the lines of how he's described, Jamie getting so drunk he can't function seems to be a common occurrance. While he's never outright ditched Santiago, he HAS made Santiago feel abandoned by, well, being so out of it that he's borderline not there anymore ...So the way Santiago DOES end up finding him at the end of chapter three really isn't anything new.

He tries to get free drugs and alcohol- key word ALWAYS. If Jamie's at 'every party', that implies he's trying to get free drugs fairly often, and presumably succeeding at least sometimes. At most parties, booze is provided. This lets Jamie have a substance abuse problem while not having to suffer one of the major drawbacks from that problem, which is how much money it can cost a person. Without the immediate financial drain, it's a lot easier to dismiss the harm 'casual' substance use causes.

When we get a single flashback panel, the one where Santiago's thinking back to when he really enjoyed being around Jamie, there's a few interesting things; namely, it's daytime, and the two of them are presumably sober. This is the only time we see Santiago legitimately smile in the whole comic (so far), including bonus and promo material. Santiago isn't ashamed to be looked at by others, here. That's completely different from his present-day reactions to outside attention. Jamie gave him some kind of confidence in himself.

Santiago cares about Jamie, and so it hurts and annoys him to see Jamie in the less-than-ideal circumstances he winds up in. When he says he hates how Jamie 'does whatever he wants, says whatever he thinks', it's accompanied by images of Jamie drinking and (presumably) hooking up. What he hates isn't Jamie himself, it's feeling like Jamie is choosing drinking and 'party culture' over him/their friendship.

All of the things Jamie does that annoy Santiago are all things that draw him away from Santiago, that put him in possibly unsafe situations. That make it so Santiago can't spend as much time around a coherent (to whatever degree he is when sober) Jamie. This might also be what he really means when he says 'things change. Why couldn't you?'– Santiago's had his fill of the party lifestyle (something he seems to have been alright with doing when he was younger). He doesn't understand why Jamie keeps at it, especially when it's obviously bad for him.

The drinking and partying are Jamie's attempts to find social acceptance. To have other people look at him and care about him on an equal level; to consider him a person in the same way they are. Even in the bonus comic- the way he describes himself, and what he ascribes value to in himself, are things that underline how important and likeable he can be to other people, if they just let him.

Because of how 'funny' Jamie talks, it's really easy to miss or overlook just how self-demeaning what he's saying is. His phrasing here, 'Some people are content with the amount of jamie in their lives. They can walk away with just a taste.' 'sick and twisted freaks like you? Ohhh no. You're not like the rest', implies that he thinks if someone is genuinely interested in him and wants to see him more/again that there's something wrong with them. 'on the menu 24/7, 365!' is desperate– because people very rarely want to be around him, (at least past when the novelty of first meeting him wears off), he needs to always be available so that in the unlikely chance someone does, he won't miss out on the opportunity. In offering himself up to anyone at any time, maybe he can have just a little bit of value to anybody.

Jamie deals with his feelings of inadequacy/alienness by trying desperately to prove them wrong; by making as many opportunities them to be proven wrong as he can. By being at every party, maybe someone will give a lasting shit about him, this time. Maybe this time will be different.

But Santiago already gives a shit about Jamie. And, seemingly, liked him more before he fell harder into his bad habits. Santiago is trying to get clean, to move away from that lifestyle – he brings a water bottle, he avoids drugs, and doesn't like crowds or attention. This is what I think what the comic blurb means when it says 'the tension between their two different lifestyles has begun to drive Santi crazy'; not that Santiago hates Jamie for partying hard, but that he hates Jamie for partying hard.

Jamie's studying anthropology, something much more specific than Santiago's english major. To MAJOR in anthropology, someone needs to at least have an interest in people. And Jamie is fascinated by people. In his bonus comic, Jamie's opinions on fight club aren't about fight club at all– they're about how the people who watch fight club react to it.

Going to parties and constantly being surrounded by other, more 'normal' people gives Jamie the opportunity to study them, whether conciously or not. There's an anthropological practice called 'participant observation' which is, 'as anthropologists occasionally joke, "deep hanging out." One learns not just through asking questions or observing but by getting involved directly, trying things out oneself.[1]' The idea is that someone can learn way more about how a society/culture functions by actively participating over an extended period of time in the day-to-day activities of a certain group. Jamie's at every party. Partying is what one is 'supposed' to do as a young adult– and because somewhere deep down Jamie wants to be 'normal', he tries to participate in that culture as much as he can.

Jamie when sober is at the same level as the 'average' person when drunk– being inebriated works as a good excuse to why Jamie 'acts like that'. It allows him to turn a social 'weakness' (how weird he is) into a social 'strength' (he's the life of the party). If someone is drunk, their ability to tell between people laughing AT them and people laughing WITH them is eroded. Every smile becomes a friendly one. Confirmaton bias wins, and Jamie can feel liked by everybody for being earnestly himself. Everyone loves a fool[2].

His hobbies include drinking and babes. Although drinking being listed as a hobby is further evidence to it being both a common thing and something he doesn't consider a problem, Babes is the most interesting one to me, because it's been established that Jamie legitimately respects or at least cares about women– he clowns on 'alpha male bullshit', and O'Connell said once on stream he wouldn't like how in american psycho the main character kills women (lol). So specifically listing babes as a hobby feels weirdly demeaning...

unless you consider that a. jamie doesn't actually get with girls as much as we're led to believe, and/or b. his interest in them (or at least the platonic ideal of a 'babe'), again, stems more from a desire to be normal rather than actual attraction. By specifying his hobby as BABES, not just 'girls', it conjures a specific kind of girl; the kind that societal standards (aka other people) would deem 'attractive'. If Jamie's not good at reading social conventions, he'd have to go off of what other people deem as 'normal' in order to have any chance at fitting in and being accepted.

This is also why his getup in the flashback panel is so interesting: compared to how Jamie presents himself now, he's a lot more conventionally masculine. Some of my friends initially thought Jamie was a girl when reading the first couple pages of the comic, LOL. Jamie's long hair is important to him, as is evidenced in the webtoon promo!

O'Connell said that 'depicting femininity in a variety of ways' is important to him– not just women, but femininity.

I think Jamie's gnc-isms are intentional, rather than accidental. And I'm willing to bet that at least part of the reason his presentation changed so much is because of his friendship with Santiago: Jamie is comfortable enough with Santiago, and knows Santiago won't judge him, to express himself how he wants to, rather than how he feels he 'should'. Remember: no matter how angry Santiago thinks he is at Jamie, he never takes a dig at the socially 'weird' things Jamie does, like how he speaks or dresses.

They're 'a match made in heaven' they ‘deserve’ each other not because theyre mutually destroying each other but because they're the only ones who help each other. They're the only ones who see each other's issues and try to help fix them, even if the way they try isn't without flaws. They 'fill in the gaps' of each other, support each other's weak points.

So much of why Jamie goes to parties is that he wants to find someone who pays attention to him; who makes him feel like he matters, like he's a human being equal to them. If he could be the FUNNIEST person at every party, then someone will look at him longer, right? ...But Santiago VERBATIM says he thought jamie was the funniest, friendliest guy on campus (before his substance use ramped up, and Santiago's ambiguous girlfriend situation happened). If Jamie allows himself to absorb that Santiago cares about his well-being, he might not feel the need to continue all his self-destructive habits (or at least could have a solid base to work towards fixing them). He's careless with himself in the first place because he thinks him on his own merit isn't inherently worthy of respect and love. Isn't 'human'. And that's why/how he's a parallel to Santiago– Santiago who's outright been told there's something wrong with him, that he's scary, that he's bad and wrong and inherently different from other people.

At this point, as far as we know, Jamie is the only one who doesnt think Santiago is some kind of monster– who actually likes Santiago and goes out of his way to spend time with him/try to help him. Santiago is the only one who doesn't think Jamie is some kind of jester. Jamie wants Santiago to realise people love him—someone loves him (it's him!); Santiago wants Jamie to realise he doesnt need to do all this party bull in order to be likeable— that in fact, he's more likeable without it. Jamie tells Santiago that everyone will love him, even though we see that they don't. Santiago grumbles to himself about how everybody loves Jamie, even though we see that they don't. Both have a habit of projecting their own feelings onto others because they can't understand how anyone else could feel differently to them.

This is why I really do believe Jamie and Santiago love/care about each other, why I really do think their friendship could be 'built to last'. Why I think they're more good for each other than they are bad. Jamie helps Santiago get out there and try new things, and Santiago helps stop Jamie from going too far and hurting himself. Jamie cares how Santiago feels, Santiago cares what Jamie thinks. They both deserve someone who thinks the other is inherently cool, won't mock him for being himself, and will care for him even when he's not in a good state of mind. Nobody and no relationship is perfect, but there's a level of consideration for each other between them that they don't seem to be afforded by anyone else.

[1]- page 5, ancestral lines, 2nd edition, john barker [2]- something i was told verbatim when trying to maintain a sobriety streak that really stuck with me and feels relevant

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i get it

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been thinking a lot about this guy