#sorry guys i focused on the idea of panopticon and the effect thereof for like a day. and now This.

[kijosakka]

the thoughts. the thoughts are Consuming me. badly. i will ramble. i have not rread back over this.

this little idea lives in my head alot of like pre-total drama noah having a kindof absent-ishh household where esp bc of his intelligence hes allotted a lot of freetime and he frequents a little food stall super often since the owner started giving him free stuff when he came around long enough < thats chef. isnt it canon that he can actually cook good food or smth WHATEVER the point there is that when chris and chef start talking about bringing chef onboard for show-business/production or of the sort noah is There << THAT IS THE LITTLE IDEA THAT LIVES IN MY HEAD.

this little idea expanded into like 'ok what if chris and chef knew eachother EARLIER and maybe noah had a sister who was in that kind of work area whatever and thats where hes heard of chris before' and through Means and Shenanigans he ends up just kind of accompanying chris and chef through their working through the ranks. theyre like his medical proxys (il)legal temporary(?) guardians or however (mostly bc chris/chef and noah dynamic will live in my heart forever) for years,, studios know him interns employees whatever, he helps out sometimes yk very (read: too) honest kid who will critique anything and everything with no filter. < thats the Dynamic. CUE TOTAL DRAMA!!!

since like,,, new show and all not really renowned host and whatnot, chris has some trouble filling out the cast, missing three people for the intended 22: thus, duncan, ezekiel, and noah. who is pissed at first, hes so incredibly annoyed with the entire show. he complains. loudly. many times. island comes, he knows chris deliberately stuck him on the (objectively) better team to maybe try and incentivize him to coast and/or stick around a little longer since he knows the audience will love this snarky little asshole. but then dodgeball happens -- noah was There throughout all of the pre-td paperwork and sorting thereof of everything, ofc he knows about playa des losers. and he wants nothing to do with this show, why would he not take the vacation??? wtvr wtvr here comes the tddddi special where the timeline moves juuuust a little. noah ends up in the water with the action cast, and immediately starts frothing at the mouth just. absolutely refusing to do anything -- and while chris was going to make him do even just a little bit until he inevitably threw the game, he concedes when courtney starts Lawyering all over the place and lets noah handle most everything legal, making settlements haggling demands etc

the real changes happen in world tour -- cause im just thinking,,, like the burromuerto family are diplomats in canon but here their role has a liiitle more like theyre part of 'high society' or whatever the bit comes in where noah just. hates the burromuerto parents. despises them. had one bad encounter with them and has to conduct exactly one (1) interview for one (1) josé burromuerto auditioning for total drama dirtbags and refuses to do one for alejandro. cue world tour, and realizing that alejandro is a slimy eel in a different (and much more intriguing) way than the rest of his family, and it piques noahs interest.

^ for this specific little idea, i imagine having spent many many years of his life in the Show Biz/reality tv sphere, noahs play style of the game itself shifts (the word panopticon comes to mind here) into one where hes always aware of the entity of the cameras and those behind them (and their potential demands), much more so than his competition. (i also imagine tweaks to sierras character in this where she distinctly appreciates this fact about noah and how he plays against what the Man Behind The Show demands while remaining juuust unaware enough for it to not incur any real punishment) (<see also the term 'panopticon' being kindof bastardized in the td verse as to mean 'aware of the cameras' in reality tv in general)

anyway motivated mostly by intrigue, noah starts prying into alejandros character and develops something paralleling alejandros canon frustration at being found/called out towards him, being fascinated with the idea of pushing hard enough that the mask slips fully (something something vague references to chris and s2 geoff where the 'character' in the show and the real person is separate in his head but the same in the perspective of the actual person of discussion,,, character arc where noah appreciates the person beyond just disconnected interest???) while still staying as aware as he can of his own position in the competition. comparing him to the other 'villains' of the cast (see: heather, courtney, justin to an extent?), he settles on the idea that being outright beaten at this social game hes been running so effortlessly would be the thing to really see the person, and resolves that as his goal: not so much winning, just being the cause of alejandros loss.

(also?? little tweaks to alejandros character mirroring noahs own shifts, where he plays the game ruthlessly but still involves his emotions even if theyre on a tight leash as opposed to noah who separates it cleanly and strictly, to a point where it is too separated and alienates him in a manner bc hes treating something people see as the same as two different things and hurting feelings/being too brash and smth,, man theres Something there about arcs and complimenting eachother but i dont Know how to verbalize it)

^ umm anyways here comes london!! he spent a lot of time, esp in newfoundland and jamaica just Observing, and now alejandro is no longer with the cast and owen is asking him what exactly he thinks. themes of being watched come back, noah steps around the question entirely and turns it into a kind of 'who do i ever really trust?' to which owen affirms with like a 'yeah that makes sense',, come the scene where they run back for tyler, noah pauses to look around the room and dead-on spots the camera set up on a guess of what angle would provide the best shot of the room < again, references to being in the Business,, after london alejandros 'glad to see some where concerned' line is directed at heather, with much more flirty undertones referencing how she was worried at the beginning of the challenge

surprise london is a reward challenge!! and instead of tyler, noah ends up seeing the gwen/duncan kiss (which i haaaaaate in canon oh god do i hate and loathe it with my heart and soul. but i am sleepy and the thoughts are following This Line so i must write it as such), to which he Gets The Fuck out before anyone sees him and immediately sits courtney down to which hes like 'i will swear on anything you want this just happened' and shes obviously devastated by this -- noah comforts her, albeit stilted, but then tells her to absolutely not be angry. confusing advice, he continues -- her anger brings in watch time and ratings, and it will most definitely be exploited at every turn. but no one likes just watching people cry. do not be angry, not in public, not where its filmed. save it for when you swear and gesture so badly the footage is ruined, save it for the corners of the cargo hold where theres no cameras flat out, save it. < cue some more references to the concept of panopticon, and mention how its a reality show thing. court and noah is fun idk

^ this leads to a little Thing. gwen is missing from first class atm which is perfect for courtney and she reasons that if anyone knows a lot about reality shows its sierra -- she asks about the whole concept and sierra is suuuper excited to ramble about it. also alejandro needs to be there?? umm maybe he was going to first class to argue with heather or get away from his team or something idk. but he has to Hear. so sierra goes off on a tangent, which then evolves into her mentioning noah, which either cody or alejandro comments on (depending on whether alejandro is presently there or eavesdropping ig) it and she goes off on another thing, saying to the effect of like 'yeah noahs like a total nepo baby. or i guess not really since the td producers like toootally hate how he pushes back on demands and stuff and only let him work gigs for them since he basically runs the studios and if he walked out everyone would go with him.' and mentioning how well he embodies the 'always watched' entity while acting just unaware enough, mention unique play style etc etc, and she brings up how in london he saw the camera and says offhandedly that he was 'definitely going to say something bad about alejandro but probably guessed he was being filmed'

which them makes alejandro suspicious about noahs intentions/true thoughts!!! thus making noah notice the shift in demeanor and other further piques his curiosity as to what caused it and what he'll show because of it, and then uhhhhhh i havent thought too hard about the rest of canon. its obviously a very noah centric idea but also the Themes make it feel like maybe he wouldnt win?? i imagine he makes it to the merge and even pretty far but maybe not a finalist? he gets what he wants in Genuine Alejandro Reactions though and hes content with not winning since it 'wasnt in his archetype/character plan' or something to that,, maybe he got too aware of the camera or smth idk idk part of me wants to make heather win again with a different finalist or smth, there jsut needs to be a definitive 'ive won against you' or smth to that effect for the whole noah thing i think, maybe alenoah and 'winning' the social game is actually developing something beyond the game itself???? or past that developing something beyond the game itself that is genuine and tangible and cherished,,, idk im not sure on that part

iam thinking so hard about. noah. and nepotism. like uhhhhhhh