In the tenth part of Moving Pictures<\/i>, the Librarian finds an answer, Gaspode has an identity crisis, and Victor discovers Holy Wood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s affect on Ginger. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For talk of body image\/weight loss.<\/b><\/p>\n
Ruby<\/b><\/p>\n
Oh, Detritus. He tried so hard.<\/p>\n
So, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got this horrible threat looming over everything in Holy Wood, and yet? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really fascinated by all these little existential and moral journeys the characters are going on. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re each trying to figure out their purpose in life through the events of Moving Pictures<\/i>, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s making this book a lot more rewarding because of it. In Ruby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s torn between tradition, instinct, and desire. It would be easy for her to dismiss her attraction to Detritus by claiming he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153modern\u00e2\u20ac\u009d enough for her, but that attraction isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that simple either. And I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cool that Pratchett is putting this struggle onto the pages because it keeps this from feeling so one-sided. I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve criticized him for writing women as if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re mystical creatures who cannot be understood, but this<\/i> is how you can try to avoid that. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to say that there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anything to criticize here, as I think you could easily talk about desire and gender performance. Is it bad for her to want to be protected and reassured? What about the line about her being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153400 lbs above the fashionable weight\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? I think Pratchett could have delved more into that instead of making it a throwaway gag. (That was a little distracting, since I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell the intent of the joke. Was he satirizing Hollywood culture\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obsession with thinness or making fun of Ruby?)<\/p>\n
Still, I want more from her perspective as well as from Detritus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. It makes for a richer story.<\/p>\n
The Necrotelicomnicon<\/b><\/p>\n
Oh, holy SHIT. So is it mostly a book of dead people? Cultures? Gods? Things From That One Place??? While I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t claim to understand what the Necrotelicomnicon holds, I have a greater grasp on what exactly might be going on here. LET ME DISSECT THIS.<\/p>\n
As I already knew, that Doorway led to another reality or dimension, one where \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dread waited between the universes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I also knew that this force basically caused people to get Ideas, capitalized because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not ideas but Ideas. YOU GET IT. But this part was new to me:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6for Others<\/i> found the Gate of Holy Wood and fell upon the World, and in one nighte All Manner of Madnesse befell, and Chaos prevailed, and the City sank beneath the Sea, and all became one withe the fishes and the lobsters save for the few who fled\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Which now explains what it was that Victor saw under the ocean. Does that mean that the people turned into<\/i> lobsters and fish? Is that why they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re so unnaturally huge? This is also deliberately vague, which I suspect was intentional on Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part. What exactly is the chaos referred to in this passage? What does that mean<\/i>? I can sense that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing some of that chaos already in Holy Wood, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a concrete thing.<\/p>\n
So how much more worse is this going to get???<\/p>\n
The Golden Warrior is then mentioned, who is clearly the first of the Keepers of the Door, the one who guards the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wild Idea.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d This part was very<\/i> interesting to me:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And he grew until he was the height of a tree and said, Only you Remembrance, that I do Not Sleep. Three times a day you will remember Holy Wood. Else The Cities of the World Will Tremble and Fall, and you will See the Greatest of them All in Flames.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the ceremony or ritual where something was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153performed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d three times a day! So, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confirmation that the Wild Idea was kept at bay by the Keeper and<\/i> this specific ritual. And the following section makes it clear that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153magic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of Holy Wood \u00e2\u20ac\u0153touched\u00e2\u20ac\u009d certain humans and animals, almost like it was a curse that sat dormant for years and years. Which explains why everyone<\/i> is not affected by the pull of the place.<\/p>\n
And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like I doubted how serious this threat was, but I certainly believe it to be a million times worse than I thought it was. What will the Wild Idea do to the Discworld?<\/p>\n
Well, if the section from the POV of Azhural and M\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Bu is any indication, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll give people a Wild Idea, compelling them to do things they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never thought possible. Which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite understand why that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s awful. In Ginger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case? Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little odd. When Gaspode and Victor return her to her apartment, they discover that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not only saved every poster of every movie she starred in, but she plastered the walls with them. I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the worst thing ever, and the book seems to be saying that Ginger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quest to be famous is a horrendous thing:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fate don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it when people take up more space than they ought to. Everyone knows that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to be the most famous person in the whole world, <\/i>thought Victor. That<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what she said. <\/i>He shook his head.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a power to Ginger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obsession, sure; that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case with anyone with a singular goal like this. But Victor senses that this power isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anything normal or what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s used to, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a disposable detail. Pratchett wants us to think about it, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it? AND Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL ARE LAUGHING AT ME, I JUST KNOW IT.<\/p>\n
Ambition wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t magical. Powerful, yes, but not magical\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 surely?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is the Discworld. Anything is possible.<\/p>\n
Dog Existentialism<\/b><\/p>\n
This is surely one of the strangest things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever read, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a kind of charm to the long section detailing Gaspode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s identity crisis. I hesitate to say that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an anthropomorphized animal character because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really the case? He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a dog, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been granted a temporary access to humanity, which means I read an entire part of this book about Gaspode getting drunk. Because he wants alcohol. Because if Gaspode were<\/i> a human, he would totally be a self-pitying alcoholic. I DO NOT QUESTION THIS.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just a running dog of the human imperialists,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Gaspode severely.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Why is this the funniest sentence I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever heard?<\/p>\n
Still, I felt kind of sad reading about Gaspode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life. He was abandoned at the start of it and was lucky enough to be thrown in the Ankh, since you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sink into that river. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had an easy life since then, and that feels even more evident as he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mistreated by everyone in Holy Wood. They call him a mutt, they ignore him or<\/i> give him negative attention. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s through all of this that he begins to question what it means<\/i> to be a dog. Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a problem on the surface, except\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 should<\/i> dogs even be able to question their identity like this? Is this the sort of life that the other animals will have to accept if the magic of Holy Wood isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stopped? It seems that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, since the cat, Squeak, and Mr. Thumpy all confirm that their lives have become infinitely more complex in the wake of their new power. That<\/i> feels bad to me, you know? It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem sustainable!<\/p>\n
Blown Away<\/b><\/p>\n
Is this<\/i> the chaos spoken of in the Necrotelicomnicon? Is this how the world ends? IT HAS TO BE.<\/p>\n
The original text contains use of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mad,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153madness,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153crazy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153insane,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nutcake.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Amfs6JvJLXk<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running,\u00c2\u00a0I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the\u00c2\u00a0MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the tenth part of Moving Pictures, the Librarian finds an answer, Gaspode has an identity crisis, and Victor discovers Holy Wood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s affect on Ginger. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,493,248],"class_list":["post-3338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-moving-pictures","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}