#cogs turning

Specifically one thing in particular I see brought up a lot which is people calling it “A big middle finger to Disney.”

And maybe it is that. I don’t know Dana Terrace’s mind. But watching the pilot I get the sense that the feelings are more complicated than just an angry “hey, fuck you”.

There’s this moment I keep coming back to, over and over, of Frankie talking about her dreams of being an engineer for Park Planet, and specifically what she says about meeting “A real Gwen” in the park. She says to Andi, “That memory is still so vivid. And now, you make stuff that gives other people memories like that.”

Gwen and Park Planet’s other characters are really important to Frankie. They’re clearly one of the guiding sparks of her creative spirit; the things she makes and repairs look like those whimsical little characters. Even the earliest machine of hers we’ve seen, the little frog that hacks the claw machine(important enough to her that she’s kept that frog design for the more refined version she made/uses as an adult). She found inspiration and creativity in Park Planet’s art that has stayed with her, and she wants to be able to inspire something like that in other people someday, because it’s a fucking incredible feeling. And even if the world is cynical, and the corporate structure doesn’t grant or encourage that kind of opportunity, I don’t think Frankie is wrong or stupid for having those kinds of dreams. And I don’t think the show thinks that, either.

It feels, TO ME, like there’s a disappointment, almost a kind of… grief that informs Frankie’s writing. What if the thing that sparked your dreams doesn’t want to encourage them? What if the entity that made the art that shaped you so thoroughly was uninterested in you and the people you would love to share that with, and frankly seemed to be losing interest in making that kind of art anymore at all?

I feel like if it were just anger and resentment at being screwed over behind KOG, there wouldn’t be that element. It would feel a lot more mean-spirited. And I’m sure there IS anger, but it feels to me like there’s some disappointment, too, and maybe even some sadness. And at the end of the day, you have to have Cared about something to be disappointed.

I dunno. Maybe I’m wildly off-base and just projecting my own weird, complicated feelings onto this show, but I figured I’d type it up so it’s not just in my head anymore.

PAT:

Sometimes real life is saturated and colourful. Sometimes the light is bright. Sometimes, even when it’s nighttime, you can see things.

Sometimes. There is visual interest.