#Atama reads TLB

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hi, if you don’t mind me asking, where are you reading the lost boys novelization?

Originally I found a PDF on one of those free book archive sites, but some of the text was corrupted and enquiringangel was kind enough to hook me up with a Google Drive link!

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It's actually kind of mind-blowing to think that Grandpa wasn't always the strange chaotic neutral old codger that we've come to know and love. Suits??? Kicked Lucy out of the house??? Sir!!!

But also, it does keep with the themes of youthful rebelliousness, parental expectations, and friction between generations.

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Oh buddy, have I got some news for you...

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Not me panicking and looking up other potential meanings of bugger, because where I'm from that's just what you call children, lmao. I'm pretty sure that is the meaning they're going with here...I just wish this sentence wasn't so fucking awkward, bud.

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Chekhov's Gun "refers to any seemingly unimportant element that becomes significant later on in the story. “Remove everything that has no relevance to the story,” Chekhov wrote. “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off."

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In an ironic twist, Sam bites Michael long before he attempts to bite Sam.

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So I read the TLB epilogue first...

And in the epilogue, you learn that the book is written/dictated by Grandpa Emerson.

...which makes little asides like this one, hilarious:

Grandpa Emerson has opinions on the fashion choices of the local gangs.

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"The Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s. The term "Brat Pack" was first popularized in a 1985 New York magazine cover story, which described a group of highly successful film stars in their early twenties." -Wikipedia

Though lists of "Brat-Pack" movies vary, the core movies are considered to be The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire.

Rob Lowe, pictured in the poster seen on Sam's closet door, starred in St. Elmo's Fire, directed by none other than Joel Schumacher.

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Waltzing Matilda on the Calliope

In the novel, during the Lost Boys x Surf Nazis brush up, "Waltzing Matilda" is playing on the Calliope...

One line from the song is included: "Won’t you go a-waltzing, Matilda, with me." So it's pretty safe/easy to assume that it's a reference to dancing, and to the use of "dance" for "fight". But looking into the lyrics and origin/meaning of the actual song gives it a completely different vibe.

(Did the author do this on purpose? Hell, I don't know, but I'm rolling with it because it pleases me)

The song is an Australian folk song, filled to the brim with slang. (so basically you need to translate every other word) In this case, Waltzing is slang for walking on foot. Matilda refers to the bundle of belongings (swag) on a swagman's back. (Swagman a man who travels looking for work. Similar to Hobos in the U.S.)

The song is about a swagman who captures a sheep to eat but is found out by the owner of the sheep and three officers, and rather than be caught or punished, commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby lake saying: "You'll never catch me alive!"

So anyway, you've got these little vagabonds who value freedom above all else and don't necessarily have a "home" or "job" in the traditional sense, and in this scene, these boys are squaring up with the Surf Nazis (who they will later eat) and they are "caught" by the security guard, Big Ed. They then leave in order to avoid punishment.

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So the Lost Boys PDF that I got has some formatting issues, which have mostly just been weird breaks and such (very easily corrected)...up until now. Bro help.

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I'm reading the Lost Boys novelization...

and I'm probably gonna overanalyze literally everything, so I'm gonna tag my novel-specific posts as #Atama reads TLB.

Feel free to block that tag if I start annoying the piss out of you. <3

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Stick that in the "Grandpa is a Half-Vampire" theory box.

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I wonder if it was his wife's death that led to this change? Or maybe just a natural progression of getting old and weird? (...or getting turned into a half-vampire by the Widow Johnson? lmao)

It's actually kind of mind-blowing to think that Grandpa wasn't always the strange chaotic neutral old codger that we've come to know and love. Suits??? Kicked Lucy out of the house??? Sir!!!

But also, it does keep with the themes of youthful rebelliousness, parental expectations, and friction between generations.