Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

Does Marten have goals?

<< < (12/26) > >>

DSL:
I interpreted Jeph's answer as meaning Marten's aware he's dissatisfied but is not sure why ... Just has a vague sense there's something he oughta be doing. I found the whole Marten-meets-Dora's-folks arc (starts about 1030)  telling, in the contrast between DoraDad's catapulting himself into freelancery and Marten's "I dunno, guess I'd like to be a rock star or something ... " -- not a sentiment generally calculated to impress the father of your then-sweetie, but storywise it gave Jeph a chance to speak through DoraDad.

Welu:
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1734 This is the comic I've been thinking of the whole time reading through this thread.

It's not directly relevant to Marten but I'd say it's the mentality of most of the QC cast. They're floating along, hoping for a bit better if it comes along but right now aren't actively going for it since they don't feel they need to do so. Sometimes good things fall into their lap (Dora coming on to Marten/Faye's commission for the Espressosaurus) or they have to work for it (Marigold coming out of her shell/Faye trying to get over her anxieties to try going out with Angus) but for now, the overall big picture is enough.

idontunderstand:
(helloimnewhieverybody)

Yeah, but the same goes for most people.. right?

I like how Marten constantly gets by despite getting stuck in relationships that fail miserably. And if the comic was about a guy who succeeds perfectly at work, spends most of his time working his way up the career ladder and has a stable, strong relationship with his girlfriend, it wouldn't be very interesting and the I-recognize-myself-factor would be zero (on my part at least..).
But yeah, sooner or later something's gotta happen. He's gotta do something. But the comic won't go on forever, however we see it and we may never see that event.

Tiogyr:

--- Quote from: idontunderstand on 17 May 2011, 03:12 ---Yeah, but the same goes for most people.. right?
--- End quote ---

Not really, most people still have some sort of goal they're working toward. Even if they're failing horribly at attaining it, they still have some sort of "prize" they're trying to attain in Life ranging from "I'm going to be a(n) X" where "X" can be the career they're after, from astronaut to actor/ress to "I'm going to Y" where "Y" is some activity or action they want to do before they die, like scale Mt. Everest or travel around the world.

This is the problem with Marten that seems to have started the thread. He doesn't really have any discernible long-term goal that, even if it's on hiatus right now, people can point at and say "Yep, Marten has something he wants to do with his life, he's just at a low point right now/not working on it".

People brought up Deathmole, but the problem there is that band was someone else's dream and Marten walked into it and got to join for a while, he didn't actually start the band since it existed before he came along (though he did end up getting his current library job due to his participation in the band). So, again, it wasn't a goal of his so much as something he got to join in on and enjoy for a while.


--- Quote ---I like how Marten constantly gets by despite getting stuck in relationships that fail miserably. And if the comic was about a guy who succeeds perfectly at work, spends most of his time working his way up the career ladder and has a stable, strong relationship with his girlfriend, it wouldn't be very interesting and the I-recognize-myself-factor would be zero (on my part at least..).
But yeah, sooner or later something's gotta happen. He's gotta do something. But the comic won't go on forever, however we see it and we may never see that event.

--- End quote ---

I think the main complaint that started this thread is that Marten hasn't ever really set out on his own to accomplish anything without a lot of groundwork being laid for it by other people in his life first. Yes, a lot of people in real life are like that, but it is still slightly depressing to watch and I think that was the main thing the OP was asking to be proved wrong about before things got derailed a little bit.

pwhodges:
Oh, I don't know - my goals have never been any kind of individual thing, a prize, as you put it. 

I have a number of specific achievements (in my mind, if no one else's) under my belt, but none of them was ever a specific aim.  What I have had is a general urge to do stuff in certain areas, and at times I have been able to make some of this happen, with variable degrees of success.  I have not infrequently had the "what's this all about" or "isn't there more to life" feelings that Marten's had - but they pass, and I get on with whatever's to hand.  Marten's vague interest in doing more with his music, whether performing or blogging, is not much vaguer than my "goals" have been at various times, and yet forty years on from his age, I can look back and see the things that did  happen after all.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page