gary
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Post by gary on Mar 16, 2009 20:24:34 GMT
Would-be matchmakers are probably going to read far too much into Annie drawing a couple of hearts on her apology card. She also called him "dearest" and signed it with love. It's not like it'd be a huge reach. Having said that, I have no idea what Annie really does think about him. She's a hard one to read.
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Post by fjodor on Mar 16, 2009 20:34:32 GMT
Still wondering WHAT these monsters are, and where they're from. Can you cross over to the realm of nightmares via the aether?
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Post by sandjosieph on Mar 16, 2009 20:41:08 GMT
But those things also had a goofy side...
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audacity
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Post by audacity on Mar 16, 2009 20:54:34 GMT
Would-be matchmakers are probably going to read far too much into Annie drawing a couple of hearts on her apology card. She also called him "dearest" and signed it with love. It's not like it'd be a huge reach. Having said that, I have no idea what Annie really does think about him. She's a hard one to read. I never really understood this meme. So what if Mort thinks Annie is cool and Annie is his friend and is nice to him? He's a ghost, i.e., is not a living person. It's not like they're going to get married. HE IS NOT AMONG THE LIVING.
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gary
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Post by gary on Mar 16, 2009 21:02:19 GMT
They're eleven. None of them are going to get married anytime soon. If she has feelings in that direction the way that Kat implies she does, it'd be no less appropriate then Kat's toward Elgamore.
A ghost is a relatively safe early flirtation, for precisely the reason that it'll never go anywhere. Which isn't to say that that's the way I read her reactions but I wouldn't completely rule it out.
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Post by tyler on Mar 16, 2009 21:42:13 GMT
It would have trivialised the concept of death and the afterlife – “Oh, too bad my mummy’s dead, but we can still send letters …” – so indeed I think we should be thankful it was a letter to Mort after all. Which makes more sense within the context of this chapter anyhow. If knowing/being able to see psychopomps and having a relationship with them to the point that you can get them to run errands for you is trivial, I want your life.
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mjh
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Post by mjh on Mar 16, 2009 22:30:04 GMT
It would have trivialised the concept of death and the afterlife – “Oh, too bad my mummy’s dead, but we can still send letters …” – so indeed I think we should be thankful it was a letter to Mort after all. Which makes more sense within the context of this chapter anyhow. If knowing/being able to see psychopomps and having a relationship with them to the point that you can get them to run errands for you is trivial, I want your life. Huh? What has that got to do with what I wrote? If you were able to exchange letters with the dead, this would trivialise the concept of death, reducing it to something like a long vacation.
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Post by sandjosieph on Mar 16, 2009 22:39:18 GMT
I'd take a long vacation any day.
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Post by tyler on Mar 17, 2009 11:55:57 GMT
If knowing/being able to see psychopomps and having a relationship with them to the point that you can get them to run errands for you is trivial, I want your life. Huh? What has that got to do with what I wrote? If you were able to exchange letters with the dead, this would trivialise the concept of death, reducing it to something like a long vacation. The idea of Annie being able to ask Muut to deliver a letter to her mother is far different from the idea that there would be the ability to drop letters in a mailbox. the point being that Annie being able to wouldn't trivialize death on a global scale because the possibility of Annie doing it relies on certain things that are not Globally available. It's like saying Superman's ability to fly trivializes the airplane.
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gary
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Post by gary on Mar 17, 2009 12:57:15 GMT
The idea of Annie being able to ask Muut to deliver a letter to her mother is far different from the idea that there would be the ability to drop letters in a mailbox. the point being that Annie being able to wouldn't trivialize death on a global scale because the possibility of Annie doing it relies on certain things that are not Globally available. It's like saying Superman's ability to fly trivializes the airplane. But it would trivialize Surma's death which is a bigger deal, narratively speaking. And more to the point it would trivialise any death that happens from now on if Annie can still talk to them afterwards. So the only way a death would actually mean death (as in the character isn't around any more) is if Annie doesn't care about them. And since she's the main character, anyone she doesn't care about the readers likely won't care about either. Superman being able to fly won't put the airlines out of business but it does mean surperman writers can't string any drama out of 'gosh golly, I missed my plane". In the same way, if Annie can talk to the dead it means Tom can't get any drama out of 'gosh golly, this guy's dead and I'll never be able to complete our unfinished buisness as we'll never talk again'. Which is why I'm glad the letter was for Mort, instead.
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audacity
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Post by audacity on Mar 17, 2009 14:58:18 GMT
The idea of Annie being able to ask Muut to deliver a letter to her mother is far different from the idea that there would be the ability to drop letters in a mailbox. the point being that Annie being able to wouldn't trivialize death on a global scale because the possibility of Annie doing it relies on certain things that are not Globally available. It's like saying Superman's ability to fly trivializes the airplane. But it would trivialize Surma's death which is a bigger deal, narratively speaking. And more to the point it would trivialise any death that happens from now on if Annie can still talk to them afterwards. So the only way a death would actually mean death (as in the character isn't around any more) is if Annie doesn't care about them. And since she's the main character, anyone she doesn't care about the readers likely won't care about either. Superman being able to fly won't put the airlines out of business but it does mean surperman writers can't string any drama out of 'gosh golly, I missed my plane". In the same way, if Annie can talk to the dead it means Tom can't get any drama out of 'gosh golly, this guy's dead and I'll never be able to complete our unfinished buisness as we'll never talk again'. Which is why I'm glad the letter was for Mort, instead. I agree. Psychopomps lead people to the aether, but they don't live there and as far as we know they may not even know what happens to people once they've gone there. Being able to talk with a psychopomp is like being able to talk with Coyote: it's crazy, but in the world of Gunnerkrigg Court it's not that unusual. Annie is definitely not the first to be able to. But being able to communicate with dead people who have crossed over? That's a completely different thing, and would definitely trivialize the significance of death.
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qmarx
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Post by qmarx on Mar 17, 2009 16:44:42 GMT
Annie's apology rings hollow.
No matter how terrible a fool she claims to be, she still has nothing on boxbot.
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Post by Midnight Meadows on Mar 17, 2009 18:56:33 GMT
Jeez, the amount of unnecessary butthurt in this thread is staggering. Chill out, guys.
Nothing is being trivialized, despite what your inclinations may make you believe. We have received NO indication whatsoever that the Psychopomps can act as messengers between the permanently dead and the living.
Mort is not permadead, he's in some ghosty-limbo-thingy. I'm not going to hyperanalyze the dynamics of Annie getting Muut to deliver the card for her, because it's pretty obvious why if you take a moment to think about it.
Besides, even if Annie asked him to, I'm sure Muut probably wouldn't take a letter to Surma.
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Post by tyler on Mar 17, 2009 22:39:17 GMT
Besides, even if Annie asked him to, I'm sure Muut probably wouldn't take a letter to Surma. This is part two of the non-trivializing bit. She may ask, but Muut and Company have more pressing matters than playing courier for her all of the time. Assuming they could, which has yet to be (and might never be) seen.
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gary
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Post by gary on Mar 17, 2009 23:04:08 GMT
This is part two of the non-trivializing bit. She may ask, but Muut and Company have more pressing matters than playing courier for her all of the time. Assuming they could, which has yet to be (and might never be) seen. Yeah, exactly. To clarify, I don't have a problem with the comic. I was just saying, because there was some debate about it, why I think it was the right choice by Tom to have the letter go to Mort because if it was to Surma it opens a bit of a can of worms. (And meta-textually, any written letter is probably going to be delivered otherwise the writer wouldn't have brought it up.) Admittedly, Tom doesn't need my assurance that I'm behind him on this because he's already written the page and posted it (and there's no reason to think it even occurred to him as a possibility) but he has it anyway. I'm sure it's a great weight off his shoulders to know I approve.
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Post by todd on Mar 18, 2009 0:59:24 GMT
So the only way a death would actually mean death (as in the character isn't around any more) is if Annie doesn't care about them. And since she's the main character, anyone she doesn't care about the readers likely won't care about either. Not entirely correct; Annie has shown little or no interest in many characters whom the readers have shown lots of interest in (the Mystery Girl in the photograph, Dr. Disaster, Boxbot, etc.). But I agree that it wouldn't work to have Annie be able to send letters to her mother in the afterlife (not to mention that the mere idea of sending letters or other physical objects to the afterlife seems improbable).
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