Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
Dora,Tai, and Therapy
Madmartigan:
--- Quote from: TinPenguin on 30 Aug 2012, 08:58 ---
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 30 Aug 2012, 00:26 ---Well, today's comic is relevant. Dora says she needs to take it slow(ly). She may realize that she's not ready to jump in yet.
--- End quote ---
Or, even if it's not about herself, she's aware of just how much Tai is into her, and knows she needs to slow Tai down more than herself.
--- End quote ---
I think it is more about knowing how much Tai is in to her. Agreed on that. I think it is more a matter of not knowing how she really feels about Tai in the romantic sense and doesn't wanna commit anything to Tai too fast too soon. Like a booty call. That'd be a massive sucker punch to Tai to give into some physical loving and the bumpin of uglies only to figure out she either A:) Still isn't ready for a relationship, particularly a committed one, B:) Just can't see herself long term with Tai, C:) Just doesn't feel that way after all for Tai or D:) The unknown. Meets someone else, second thoughts, yadda yadda.
Dora being mature in that sense. Just hope she doesn't tease Tai too much, like the double booty grab, through all this before she decides what she really wants. That's one way to screw up her progress and become all those past BFs who treated her like dirt.
Hell, I hope they put off the bumpin of uglies for as long as possible. For both their sakes.
Is it cold in here?:
At least long enough for Tai to get over the initial unrealism of infatuation and for Dora to understand her own feelings.
Tova:
--- Quote from: Carl-E on 30 Aug 2012, 07:56 ---It's the patented part of full fledged Dora-kisses.
--- End quote ---
Hmmm. I imagine I could find prior art if I put my mind to it.
Carl-E:
Well, there's the one where she flashed Marten, but that wasn't a kiss.
dps:
--- Quote from: Tova on 26 Aug 2012, 17:19 ---I'd just like to expand on why I think the distinction between the characters and how Jeph depects them is important when it comes to our discussions on these forums.
You may think that the distinction is unimportant or nonexistant. But I think that it is critically important.
It's a question of whether you want to respect the fourth wall, basically.
If you do respect the fourth wall, then we can discuss the ethics of the characters' actions, cleverness, whether they were wise, foolish, or whatever, based on what we've seen. People obviously draw on their real life experiences in doing so. As such, we treat the characters and their stories as real for the purposes of discussing principles that apply to all of us.
However, if we're going to just rip the fourth wall down, then we're just down to discussing what we think Jeph will do next. I don't think that's anything like as useful or interesting a focal point for discussion. Unless you're interested in drawing your own comic, I suppose. Beyond anything else, I can't read Jeph's mind and don't know him.
The discussions aren't really about Jeph: they are about fictional characters, and more to the point, situations and flaws that those characters experiences that we can discuss because we've seen those flaws and situations in our own lives.
Breaking down the fourth wall also leaves geniune discussions open to sabotage. If we disagre as to what is likely to happen next (again, based on our own experiences), and then one thing happens, you can always refuse to cede ground by basically inferring that Jeph is "wrong".
So I do think there is a pretty massive difference between discussing the characters and discussing how Jeph depects the characters, even though one can't happen without the other.
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I don't agree, and think that what you are asking DSL about is indeed a distinction without a difference, if I understand both your question and his post that prompted it. Breaking the 4th wall isn't something the audience does, so IMO the whole issuse of the 4th wall doesn't even enter into the discussion.
Basically, as I see it, he's saying that what we know about the characters, their personalities, situations, backstories, etc., is derived entirely from how Jeph has depicted them. We don't know anything except what he tells us, so we really have no way to separate what we know from his depiction. What will happen, and how the characters will react, is a matter of what he shows us.
OTOH, I think that there are other ways that the question might be framed where the distinction does make a difference. If we talk about HOW the characters should behave, or what advice we'd give them if they were someone we knew IRL, we can separate that from what we think Jeph shoud have happen. For example, in the present story arc, I think most of us feel that instead of going on a date with her, Dora should have told Tai something along the lines of, "I'm flattered, and I am attracted to you, but I can't handle a new romantic relationship right now, so if that's what you're looking for, I'm not the person to look for it with". But if we talk about it in terms of what direction Jeph should take the story, it's entirely reasonable to say the he should have Dora go on the date, because it leads to more potentially good story lines going forward (though Dora turning Tai down would not have been completely without storytelling potential).
I hope I'm not rambling too much here, and that I've actually made the point I was trying to make.
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