#because TV jug understands himself to be a character. he no longer has free will. his weirdness is dictated by someone else and he knows it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

diltonsstrangescience · 2 months ago

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It gets META???

It’s so frustrating that so many people don’t know or realise that Jughead Jones is actually weird, he is a weirdo, and it’s not just because of that stupid hat - it’s because of the way he mines the real life tragedies of his friends and loved ones for his own personal gain, the fact that he’s died at least 4 times, that there is at minimum 3 of him and you could make an argument for there being 6, that only like 4 of the people he’s ever met have liked him and those 4 people do not include his parents, that he trapped his friends in a perpetual cycle of being 17 because he can’t move on or get over anything, that he was asked to film his high school’s production of Carrie and ended up filming a true crime documentary and that isn’t even half of the weird but true facts about my friend Jughead

#I loooove that actually #‘we’re all characters in a story. we don’t have the ability to make our own decisions.’#that is existentially TERRIFYING #and it’s even worse if he’s the only one aware of this because he’s alone in that understanding #I can’t believe it gets meta that’s amazing #I guess once you’ve had enough weird experiences on the regular that meeting a Rat King seems like par for the course #you have to wonder why your life is Like This #archie comics #riverdale #jughead jones #meta #this makes another interesting contrast to the comics #his hat has always represented how *free* he is. how he doesn’t constrain himself to society’s norms.#he’s weird because he chooses to be. he wears that hat because he likes it and he doesn’t care what other people think of him.#on the show however the hat represents a LACK of autonomy #he calls it ‘stupid.’ he doesn’t want to wear it. but he has no choice because he has no agency in any aspect of his existence.#as in everything the showverse corrupts the hat’s meaning into a twisted dark reflection of itself (truly the darkest timeline)#rather than a symbol of individuality the hat has become a symbol of conformity #no matter how much tv jug wants to be a rebel or unique or anti-authority or whatever #he has no choice but to bend to the whims of his universe because he’s a character and he KNOWS it #both free will and predeterminism can exist at once but not for the same person. understanding of one view means you lose the other #OG jug has free will because he doesn’t *know* he’s a fictional character. all his actions are still his own. he’s weird on his own merits.#because TV jug understands himself to be a character. he no longer has free will. his weirdness is dictated by someone else and he knows it #even this is taken away from him #darkest timeline

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