Sockimonium

Inspired by @georgiarose and @ravenconspiracy 's Jekyll and Hyde AU with Gyro and Ducktor. You guys should go check it out

Also, Gyro and Fenton almost being in the pilot/first episode AND the potential of Gyro being a villain? We need to revive the DT multiverse and throw this au in there. I'm naming it 1795

I mean look at this lil baby...

Remus: COKED UP DICK SUCKING HOE?!

Every movie can be viewed through 'critical lenses' or basically, with mindsets. For example, you can watch The Truman Show (1998) with a focus on 'what roles do women play and do they really have power' and quickly come to the conclusion that a society centered around a male (Truman) really holds no place for women (all the women in his life were easily replaced, cast out, or held no real importance besides keeping him there). With this in mind, you can look at the Lorax (2012) with a focus on the relationship between nature and greed, and money and power.

In the Lorax, we see corporate greed, driven by a thirst for power through having more money, repeatedly disrupting natural order. First it happens with the Onceler who cuts down all the truffula trees so he can become rich, then by O'Hare and his monetization of air, and it presumably happens in other situations like the Oakamatic (fake trees). I'm gonna focus on the Onceler in this though.

Throughout the movie, the Onceler serves as a metaphor for capitalism. He starts out innocent enough, like an entrepreneur, just trying to get his work out there. It's within control and no natural order is really being disrupted, just like the intent with capitalism. He's only taking some of the tree's fluff and nothing is getting consumed beyond any means. However, that all changes when greed steps in. Once the Onceler gets greedy and wants to become rich (his descent documented through the song 'How Bad Can I Be?') natural order suddenly becomes sacrificed. Now overconsumption is an issue, he's failing to replant or replace the losses, factories are being built where they shouldn't be. As far as the movie and analogy goes, the Onceler illustrates how quickly capitalism can descend from being an orderly and effective system, to a breeding ground for destruction, therefore tying back to one of the movie's themes: Corporate greed disrupts natural order.

How does this relate to Onecest? Glad you asked. If we establish the Onceler as a symbol/metonymy for capitalism, it's quickly made clear: capitalism can only love itself. This ship originated because the audience was never given anyone plausible to ship the Onceler with at any point in his story (aside from the Lorax but that was beyond cursed both as symbolism and as something to witness). Similar to capitalism, it can't love anything. It does not benefit the young or the old or nature or humans or animals. Capitalism can only realistically love itself, which is why it survives in a society like the USA today.

We can take this a step further. Since Onecest was based around the young Onceler and the slightly older Onceler, one can further this analogy by saying: Those supporting capitalism under the belief that they can make it (young Onceler), love capitalism because of a deep-rooted desire for money (older Onceler). Then ultimately, at the present time of the movie, the Onceler is old and deteriorating, not shipped with anyone, to show that any relationship with capitalism will not end well. He had the money, he had it all, he was a big flashy billionaire but he still ended up alone because his greed went too far. Like a snake eating its own tail, capitalism eventually self-destructs and leaves nothing but memories and scars behind, like the field of dead trees surrounding the old Onceler. Modern capitalism is a breeding ground for exploitation and greed, and often is irreversible. Look at the declining fish populations, the lack of Old and Mature Growth forests, the exploitation of workers in underdeveloped or developing countries, all of it was caused by greed overtaking the concern for natural order - under the ironic guise of Darwin's theory of natural selection (the stronger wins). Just like the Onceler was in his song, the modern understanding of natural selection in relation to capitalism is sorely mistaken, which may indicate that the two do not actually go together.

I think there's a pipeline guys...

Varian: Oh I did try. Once. I let Angry and Red use a new machine I built.

Angry: And you lectured us for 30 WHOLE MINUTES ABOUT SAFETY

Lately I haven't been active and it's spanned much longer than I intended. I originally thought it was the Team Science Zine sucking up all my energy (that zine was awesome but a beast to make) but I now realize that may have been me trying to convince myself of an untrue reality. I've been exhausted all the time with no time for me. I'm also dealing with more personal issues and being in a period of transition uses a lot of spoons. Hopefully I'll resolve some issues through therapy or other means but it's a lot to balance and I don't necessarily have the resources to take on everything. Unfortunately, art and writing has taken a backseat for the time due to everything going on. It is what it is, I hope to create again one day. However, the end of DAC as an account may be nearing.

I know I've been silent/quiet for months. I know I've not finished anything. I have few WIPs but they're limited in development and not something I want to post. Overall the Dear-Alex-Chill account is fading on all fronts and I'm not sure I want it to revive. I know my stuff rarely shows up in places, in part because of the niche I drew myself into, but also a lack of relevancy in what I produce. I honestly haven't touched digital art in a while, I do miss it. However, I'm exhausted constantly or I'm under the perception I'm too busy to do it, carving time is hard right now. I am considering leaving everything up and just sorta orphaning my account, I would never delete my writing and I don't like the prospect of deleting my art, but actively maintaining a social media like that is taxing and not something I can do right now. DAC might turn into an archive of sorts and when I'm ready I'll start anew entirely with a new name and page. Or maybe I'll come back in a while ready to get going again, I'm not sure.

Some of the lack of desire to revive was a slightly toxic culture. When things blew up around me (not really at me though but like Tumblr? Yk) I felt the need to step back and a part of me just never wanted to return. Moots, I love you guys, you're the reason I stayed so long. But sometimes it's hard to want to engage in a community of people that dislike you and that you generally dislike, it's tiresome. Wacky and Sikyu especially, you guys were awesome to talk to (I'm just mentioning you two specifically because I feel really bad for leaving you guys with no context after months of hyper-dumping hcs and ideas. Anyone I've repeatedly dmed or shared my hcs with and talked to, I do miss you all. Everyone is owed an apology but that's a lot of names to write.) It's hard to stay in a place you don't want to be, especially when you feel you're leaving those close to you, but I think it's of my best interest to step away from DT and TtS/RTA.

To my followers, I'm sorry you haven't gotten what you followed for.

To the anons and haters, cool. Have fun with your lives, I believe in karma but don't act on it, it's not my job to enforce karma, that's the universe's job.

To my mutuals/friends, I haven't forgotten you all and I do think about you. It's just hard to reply or I feel bad reaching out after so much silence. Hopefully I'll be chatty again or return to some normalcy later and I'm sorry I didn't tell any of you earlier.

Overall this just serves as a message/wellness check. I'm still here, I still lurk, but I don't really know if I want to stay active. When I decide to either orphan or revive, I'll let you all know in a new post, but for now here's what's been happening. I love y'all.

See ya later.

🎉🎈🎊🥳🎁🥳🥳🎂🎂