#but uhhhh YWAH. SOMETHING ABOUT PHYSICAL AND MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL DISTANCES IN THIS STORY AND HOW THEY INTERTWINE

[quaranmine]

so i was thinking about the themes of isolation and loneliness in this fic specifically.

i was thinking about how the further we get into the story and start uncovering more flashback/"before present day" sequences, the more and more emphasis is placed on grian's self-destructive self-isolation over the past year. it's also the role geography plays in letting him do so, by keeping him conveniently separated oceans and continents away from everyone who wants to check-in on him. if he follows mumbo across the world, and mumbo's gone now, who does he have? he purposefully locks out everyone at every turn despite their best efforts--and it's easy for him to do so because of the physical distance.

i was thinking about how this gets amplified in a different way when he is a lookout--the physical distance is more extreme (and literal) than it ever has been. there's a very specific, intense vibe about living in a small cabin that remote, and it's one of the reasons the concept captivates me. there's barely even any hikers for him to see. he could go days/weeks without seeing another person. i think anyone with any sense or knowledge about his mental state wouldn't have even hired him for the job because it's so obviously bad for him to be this isolated. he's literally just alone in the woods.

but at the same time, he isn't. and this is the beginning of the emotional turning point in the story. like he begins to overcome this emotional distance and self-isolation as he gets to know scar better, by seeking him out, by asking for help, by actually talking about his problems. it's a rocky journey and a lot of times scar is more dragging information out of him rather than him willingly letting it go, but it becomes clear in the story that scar is the only one he's actually let into his head. from chapter four on, scar is the person he's truly talked to. that's on purpose.

IDK it's just such an interesting analysis to me. the character who is physically distant from grian, who is not even on screen because he's located somewhere else, is the one helping close the emotional distance. is scar there? not in person, he's just a voice on the radio. but he's there in the ways that matter, and he's closing the distance.

it's about the ways that immutable physical distance/isolation interplay with self-destructive and purposeful social isolation. some physical distances can't be overcome--the lookout will always be lonely, the oceans will always be vast. but self-imposed social isolation can be broken. connections can still be made, still matter.

hmmm. gonna copy and paste my firewatch au isolation analysis i wrote in discord last night because it's my fic and i'll be insane about it if i want to