Bringing more Mark and Joke comparisons because there are SO MANY.
This post will be about posture, and the way War works his characters to be perceived differently purely by the way he stands on his two feet.
Oh, the perfection with which he prepared both of these characters is out of this world.
Joke, when he stands, stands taller; leaves no room of doubt he’s the chillest, coolest, most confident person, and cares very little how people are perceiving him at the moment,
as long as he feels awesome. [his insecurities are not rooted in the way he looks or the way strangers perceive him]
His head is kept high when he speaks. If you watch the show again, you’ll realize he’s always looking ahead and up unless he wants to go unnoticed,
and meets people’s eyes unwaveringly as he works his way through his elaborated ruses to get what he wants.
[We’ll talk more about how that changes with the object of his affection, Jack, on later posts]
Mark, my beloved, on the other hand, stands to look smaller than he is; not on purpose, of course, as it’s a deeply rooted thing within the character itself.
He does not look people in the eye for prologued periods of time, more of often than not looking away when he speaks to anybody.
Yes, that gradually develops as the show progresses, but shyness is an essential part of this character.
His posture is not completely relaxed; it’s slightly tense which casts light into the character’s personality:
Mark wants to be standoffish and cool, but his innocence and sweet, gentle demeanor are truly his worsts enemies.
He tries, though, throughout the entire show, to make it happen, but breaks off of it the moment someone (Vee or Mark’s dad) does or says something that awakens strong emotions.
When that happens he fails, because Mark cannot, for the life of him, hide his true feelings.
A stark contrast to Joke, an absolute master in hiding who he really is.
All in all, Joke’s posture comes from a confidence rooted in a combination of maturity and not giving two single flying shits
And Mark’s posture comes from a confidence rooted in a combination of innocence, self-esteem and guts.
War has done a hard deep dive in both characters; created entirely opposite personas and made both Mark and Joke have so much depth and detail to them a million more things could be said about them.
There are hundreds of little details that War has added to each of his characters. He truly has thought about every single mouth twitch down to a T.
Every head movement, his micro expressions, and even the way he speaks, even though it’s the same language, the same words.
Everything about these two characters is completely opposite. And yes, the fact that they are both making opposite fashion statements adds a lot of weight to their differences, obviously, but that’s not enough at all to create what War has created.
Just imagine eighteen year old Mark in Joke’s crop tops and feeling incredibly self-conscious, and twenty (five? six?) Joke in Mark’s fancy, neatly tucked-in dress shirts and wanting nothing more than to take them off. (Joke has worn that type of clothing before only while pretending to be someone he isn’t, so it does not count. When he’s himself, he opts to wear all baggy items)
I could go on forever, guys, but this post is already too long, so I’ll just say one more thing:
More on these things later, I guess!
Thanks for reading, remember to be nice!
