July 2024

Anything interesting to say about annabelle cane?

fakecrfan:

theboombutton:

fakecrfan:

Annabelle Cane has, by default, ended up as one of the most complex, layered, and interesting characters in the narrative–and I am pretty sure it was done completely by accident by the writer.

Now, why do I say this? Because, TMA is a story that from the very start invests in the theme of, well, the passage and preservation of information. Then, it makes Annabelle specifically the single character who has taken charge of how every single piece of information we get in the podcast is edited and framed.

And specifically, it is Annabelle, the individual, who edits and frames the show. Not the Web working through her. Why do I know this? Because when she is referring to herself as merely a part of the Web in the statement she writes in MAG 196, she uses “we”–

An opening into, we believe, other worlds than this tired old thing.

It was not wide enough to allow true passage, not yet, save for the odd accident. But it was wide enough for what we now intended…

–But when she talks about the decision to use tape recorders as opposed to a TV show, she uses “I.”

MAG 197

MARTIN

Oh. Wonderful. I can’t wait to attend the Annabelle Cane Show.

ANNABELLE

Huh! You know, I did consider it once.

MARTIN

Excuse me?

ANNABELLE

A TV show.

So Annabelle is–herself, as an individual–responsible for the medium through which we hear the story, and thus implicitly responsible for choosing what information gets kept and what information gets thrown out. This means that, although Annabelle only directly appears in a few episodes, we can read her schemes, aesthetic, and preferences into every single episode and every single cut.

For example–Melanie talks about multiple people telling her to “be fair to Jon.” Logically speaking, she probably isn’t lying or projecting. Martin, Daisy, Basira, and Georgie would likely have taken this stance against her at different points. Georgie canonically spoke up in Jon’s favor to Melanie offscreen in the beginning, Basira was supportive to Jon’s in s3, Daisy was supportive to Jon in s4, and Martin is Martin.

But we don’t hear anyone say this to Melanie. Which means that Annabelle deliberately left out every single conversation where this happened.

Why? There are a lot of different possible answers–maybe because Jon listens to all the tapes, and Annabelle wanted to give him a certain perspective on his companions. Maybe because she’s simply decided those conversations are unnecessary. But whatever the answer it is, it is about Annabelle and her specific choices/values/preferences.

That choice may very well be about manipulating the narrative Jon gets, how he sees the world around him–but if you look closely,not every choice is about that.

Another example: the s3 and s4 finales are clearly edited and spliced together from multiple tapes. Annabelle could have just recorded from multiple sets of tapes and then had them play one after another. But instead, scenes from entirely different locations are spliced together back to back. I can’t think of a practical reason to do this, but I can think of artistic reasons. Annabelle doesn’t just edit based on necessity and manipulation, it seems. She takes the material and cuts and puts parts of it together purely for the aesthetic value of it.

Annabelle is thus implicitly in every single episode of the show. Her taste and her choices are the very lens through which all of the information in the show is presented to us. Everything from three of Jon’s stalking victims not being caught on tape before Jess Tyrell, to the tape recorders turning on and then off specifically to catch Jon saying fuck–it’s her. It’s all her.

And you know, there is a kind of poignancy to that. Annabelle, as I noticed in a previous post of mine, is utterly self effacing in her goals. She doesn’t care if she lives or dies by Jon’s hand. Only the continued survival of the Web matters. So Annabelle is a charming, funny, intensely creative, and highly theatrical woman whose individuality is deliberately disregarded. She interacts with almost no one over the course of a story that she’s directing, seems to have no desires that are about herself, and no one ever expresses curiosity about her as an individual. But we see her individuality in her work. Her retro aesthetic, her sense of humor, her keen eye for manipulation and shaping a narrative.

I keep having an image of her sitting alone at Hill Top Road, splicing together tape after tape, cutting and listening and then cutting again. Indulging herself by leaving in those little moments of humor or drama or switching things on just to hear Jon swearing. Because she doesn’t get to express her individuality any other way.

She also makes sure her own introductory episode is number 69.

FUCK. SHE SURE DID.

Hi hello;;;; i come with a query. Do you mind explaining how you think jonathan got into that fleshy business? Did he read a cursed book? Did he have a mentor who pushed him towards it?

hello!

I should preface this by saying that I have 2.5 versions of his story in my head. aside from Flesh avatar Jonathan (Fanshawe, to be clear. I don’t really talk about him much here), I am also an eye-aligned-but-not-an-avatar Jonathan believer (I think this is actually the most possible scenario, though that is a rant for another time). That Being Said I do have extensive headcanons about that

this is about to get very self-indulgent, so be warned. and note the discussions of drug addiction, Jonah Magnus (manipulation), self image issues and other Flesh-typical stuff

so, the way I like to see it going down goes like this: in the late 1820s Jonathan develops an opioid addiction (morphine, to be specific, as this part of his story is highly influenced by Bulgakov’s Morphine. the plot revolves around a doctor who had the drug injected as a painkiller and became addicted to it). it soon becomes a very pressing issue as it starts to interfere with his day-to-day life and work, and as he realizes that he can’t, actually, just drop it. Jonah, being his dear companion of many years, notices that something is wrong with him, maybe even Knows about it, and confronts Jonathan about it. while I do believe that by that point Jonah made peace with having to kill off his friends occasionally, I don’t think it’s something he does for fun. plus, having a doctor as your friend of very useful (and even more so since they are both trans, which means Jonah can trust him with his health), so Jonah volunteers to try to help him

they try a couple of things (lowering the dose gradually, quitting it cold turkey with Jonah overlooking Jonathan – diy rehab of sorts) and all of them fail miserably. so, Jonah decides to apply his knowledge of the supernatural to it: loss of control over yourself, your urges, your life sounds like a Web thing. then what is the opposite of it? which Fear would grant you total control over your body, balancing out Web’s influence? it’s the Flesh

or so he tells Jonathan – by that point Jonah did not believe in the ideas of balance, so he didn’t really think Jonathan could “balance out” anything. he knew from the start that if Jonathan tried to flirt with the Powers, he would not walk away unaffected. he did mention to him that he may or may not end up in the service of the Flesh if they tried that, but Jonathan was desperate enough to agree anyway, which was very good for Jonah: he wanted to know what will happen. it was a very new Fear at that point, so he didn’t know how it would interact with a human, since he never met an acolyte of It, and so… he made one

Jonathan was a good fit for the Flesh. as a trans man with no access to any kind of gender affirming procedures and in a very dangerous environment, he dealt with a lot of dysphoria. Jonah was trans as well and had similar feelings, but while Jonah’s dysphoria came from being afraid that other people don’t see him for who he is, Jonathan’s came from the very experience of living in his body. plus, Jonathan was always curious about human anatomy, limits of the human body, its inner workings etc etc – it was one of the main reasons he wanted to pursue medicine. his personal philosophy resembled the Flesh’s ideas too, even though it was mostly informed by his experiences as a doctor (a talk for another time). so, the only thing that Jonah had to do is suggest that path and maybe lead him a bit, but he was sure Jonathan would get the hang of it very quick. and he did

to be fair, it did help with the addiction, even if just by replacing one urge with another. it also made Jonathan rely on Jonah even more to navigate his new nature. Jonah suggested writing everything down to try to make sense of it (and to keep an account from his perspective, which Jonah could then study)

Jonathan was grateful to him for his help – he believed Jonah was fully sincere in that. and he was sincere, but… to an extent. at the same time, there was a faint feeling of betrayal, which he tried to suppress because (technically) he knew what he was signing up for. nevertheless, he couldn’t come to terms with his new way of being, what occasionally led to him lashing out at Jonah for making him like this and then apologizing profusely. rinse and repeat for a couple of years

when Jonathan finally cuts ties with Jonah, he quickly realizes that without his help, it is very difficult to continue surviving. especially since he doesn’t want to be a monster – never wanted to, but at least before there was Jonah to tempt him – so he struggles to keep himself fed. it gets worse and worse and eventually resolves in his suicide around 6 months after he sent the letter to Jonah. before doing that, he donated his diaries to the Magnus Institute as a way to preserve the knowledge about who Jonah Magnus is. no one would publish them, obviously, but he knew that Jonah didn’t have it in him to destroy them, so the Institute seemed like his best bet

a brief pause for applause, and now we are in the paragraph where I address historical accuracy. Morphine was published in 1926, and they had modern syringes by that time. Jonathan died before their invention in 1853, but they already had morphine – it was isolated in 1803-1805. which means that he’d have to take it orally, which in turn would require a higher dose to cause addiction (but it’s still the most addictive substance according to wiki, so it wouldn’t take that much). does it have to be morphine? no. but I want it to be, so now it is

I’m not going to ponder how possible it would be for two Regency trans men to meet, but I want to mention James Barry who was a surgeon and a trans man born somewhere in 1789 just because it makes me happy to know about him :)