#theory notes

It is a space where standardization coexists with the negotiation of identity, where the commodity coexists with affect, and where the music industry intersects with grassroots practices. For this reason, popular music today is neither a promise of the future nor its negation, but rather a mode of existence in the present: a way of being audible, visible, and present in a world that increasingly offers fewer alternatives beyond the logic of the commodity.

Its political dimension no longer consists in producing utopias, but in organizing experience—of the body, memory, community, and affect. It seems to me that it is precisely within this contradictory and dynamic space that the contemporary significance of popular music unfolds.

At the same time, however, affirming popular music as a “mode of existence” carries a certain theoretical risk. It threatens to naturalize a system in which the possibility of “living within it” begins to replace the question of whether it can be transcended at all.

When visibility, representation, and affective intensity become the primary stakes of musical practices, it is easy to overlook the fact that they are increasingly managed, monetized, and optimized by the very same mechanisms that once constrained cultural imagination.*

*That is to say, the same system that today declares inclusivity and diversity has long defined the boundaries of what can be thought, imagined, and recognized as possible within culture.

Syllabus:

Marek Jeziński, Popular Music as a Form of Cultural Memory, “Kultura Współczesna” 3(96)/2017

Theodor Adorno, On Popular Music, “Res Facta Nova” 2015, no. 16

John Fiske, Reading the Popular, Chapter 5a: Madonna, 1989

Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures (Introduction), 2014

The Unstoppable Rise of Reggaeton (Jhoni Jackson) / A Love Letter to Reggaeton (Eddie Cepeda), Crack Magazine 2018–2019

Tomasz Lada, Everything Goes: Polish Pop 1990–2000, in 1990, Wydawnictwo Czarne, 2025

In case y’all want it. And if you don’t then gtfo and don’t bother telling me “I crossed a line”. Spoiler Alert: I probably didn’t. And to quote the theory god MatPat himself…”Go point your witch hunt somewhere else.”

Snow blankets the field

A pristine meadow of untouched white

No animals call

No birds cry

Only the steady rustling of wind

Through dead trees exemplify the impact of his axe

A crack like thunder rings out as the ancient pine succumbs to his murderous assault

The old giant crashes into the ground

Damie—

I hope you got all your hahas out, Fischbach. This hurt my soul. ~Ally

1. Equivalent Exchange - Did you watched Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood? Do you remember the show talking Equivalent Exchange? Yeeeeahhh.. That one

2. Philosopher's Egg, Elixir (I thought is Elixir of Life), Philosopher's Stone

- it lead to me researching alchemy without any knowledge other than.. Youtube videos telling an explanation regarding FMAB

3. Comparison between DMC and Bleach

Take note on Phone Guy's recorded Phone Call during the 3rd game where he basically states that you need to use the hand crank to coil the springs of the suit's endoskeletons down and lock them in place using the Spring Locks before you even have room to put the suits on.  He couldn't have simply jumped inside Spring Trap without it being coiled and locked up already so why was it coiled in the first place? Was he planning on wearing it? It didn't seem that way, why was it even in that room to begin with? Jeeze, so much of that ending still didn't make sense. He clearly knew the animatronics were going to come after him so he wasted no time in dismantling them so they couldn't hurt him, or interfere with his plans? What was he doing there?

I also wonder what time of day it was since it was clearly late, we can draw that conclusion from lack of customers so was he the new reappointed night guard after Mike and the others got fired? Was he planning on burning the building down? We know the fire had to have taken place after Mike and the others were fired which means his death did too and we can assume this because Mike was still being attacked by them. We know they were dismantled so they couldn't have attacked if it took place before hand. 

So there were 6 victims in Five Nights at Freddy's, one happened at the Fredbear's Family Diner and that child is now possessing the Marionette who then goes on to seal the other 5 new victims into the animatronics at some point near when Jeremy was hired. The 5 murders happened earlier then when Jeremy started, but after the Diner closed down so it had to be the early days of the first Pizzeria. The Toy animatronics were tampered with and not possessed while the old animatronics were possessed.

Foxy, Chica, Freddy, Bonnie, AND Golden Freddy. 5 Newer Victims

Marionette. 1st Victim.

Then during Jeremy's game were learn from Phone Guy that Jeremy would be doing the day shift during the party, and was told to stay close to the animatronics to make sure they don't hurt anyone, when the Bite of '87 happened thus we can conclude safely that Jeremy IS the bite victim and it was most likely Freddy since there IS A RULE stating, "Don't touch Freddy." AND ONLY FREDDY, why not the others? Because Freddy is the dangerous one.

Purple Guy is most likely not Phone Guy since Phone Guy dies while recording his messages in the office, how do we know he was in the office? Because the banging on the large metal doors and the song plays that indicates his battery is dead. The animatronics come in and kill him then, his body could be anywhere, this isn't important. Though we also learn from him that ALL the animatronic suits can be used as mascot suits if you turn the hand crank that is provided by the manufacturer to coil the springs down and then use the Spring Locks to lock them down, thus enabling them to be worn.

This tells us that Purple Guy was killed by the Spring Trap suit because he didn't make sure the Spring Locks were sealed and most likely why it's called Spring Trap. The Golden Bonnie suit he was in was one of the ORIGINAL 2 from the Fredbear's Family Diner, the other being Golden Freddy. Purple Guy has probably been with the company for a long time, not necessarily since the beginning, but he was definitely there when the Diner existed and probably stuck around since then, we can also assume that the convicted killer was obviously not the actual killer.

I figure Purple Guy was in the building when he died because he was planning on dismantling the animatronics and ending the curse for good, I bet he planned to start the fire or the company did to cover up his death. How the hell the people who took Spring Trap didn't realize there was a dead fried body inside it, I'll never know.

He definitely followed the company the entire time since he clearly knew enough to see that the animatronics were acting dangerously and he was able to dismantle them, we would assume that if he didn't know he would have been caught unaware by them. He was foolish to put on the suit without properly checking the locks, scared or not, Phone Guy wouldn't have messed up like that.

Think that covers about everything I can think of note-wise.