Here's a fan theory-- every protagonist in every story
ever has been dead the whole time.
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This episode of "Idea Channel" is brought you by Dropbox.
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OK, that is maybe an overstatement.
But really-- spoiler alert-- the following
is a list of characters who, it has been theorized by fans,
might have been dead or in a coma the whole time--
Ash Ketchum from "Pokemon," Link in "Majora's Mask,"
Squall, from "Final Fantasy XIII," Sandy from "Grease," all
of the Rugrats, except for Angelica, Homer Simpson,
Sandra Bullock in "Gravity, Carl from "Up,"
Terrence Mann in "Field of Dreams," the Ghostbusters.
And the list, it goes on and on and on.
That the main protagonist is in fact dead to the whole time
is arguably the most widely theorized fan theory.
And I don't know.
In a post "Sixth Sense" world, I can maybe see why.
The plot twist of "The Sixth Sense"
was such an influential moment in a modern and connected
world.
In 1999, wide adoption of the internet
was still novel and in progress.
At that point, the Eternal September
was only about six or so years old.
And at least as far as my experience went,
the possibility that some major piece of entertainment
could be spoiled by strangers so easily
was reasonably unprecedented.
"Sixth Sense's" ending was my first piece of purely
plot-related pop culture scuttlebutt--
I imagine sort of like what happened in 1980 after "The
Empire Strikes Back" came out. "Dude,
did you see 'The Sixth Sense'?
Did you hear how it ends?
Oh, man, I know what happens, and the twist is it nuts.
Don't let anybody tell you.
You gotta go see it right now."
Knowledge of the always already deceased-ness of Dr. Malcolm
Crowe was a bulwark against jibes of unconnectedness.
If you knew, you knew, and that was power.
And so maybe, I don't know, this is
how the idea that some central character is actually
secretly dead the whole time wedged itself
into the brains of audiences, who would then
go on to populate the Now Internet
and generate fan theories?
Call it a fan theory about this particular fan theory.
This is not to say, though, that the canonical dead-all-along
character is something new.
"The Twilight Zone," "Chronicles of Narnia,"
Sartre's "No Exit"-- there is a whole TV Tropes
entry for this, if you want a rabbit hole to fall down into.
Also, obligatory preemptive apology
for the possibility I've just torpedoes all of your free time
by recommending that you go to TV Tropes.
You sunk my battleship.
Sorry.
What I am wondering is if fan speculation regarding
dead-from-the-start protagonists is particularly modern.
Like, did Shakespeare deal with people being like, "Hey.
So, Prospero.
Dead the whole time, right?
It makes perfect sense, because,"
and then they scratch a complicated infographic
into the surface of whatever public
house table they're sitting at?
A collective fixation on death does
far predate the internet, Bruce Willis,
and Elizabethan England.
It's arguably a consistent preoccupation
deeply ingrained in us as an effect of just being human.
We will all ultimately kick a bucket, buy a farm,
bite some dust, leave the building,
or go on permanent vacation.
And we know it.
And there are all sorts of weird ways that we deal with that.
Which is to say theorizing that Squall, now, or Prospero, then,
is dead the whole time perhaps indicates something
about our Selves, to put it in Heideggerian terms and as
dramatically as possible, being-toward-death.
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I know.
It sounds a little bit scarier than it really is.
Heidegger said that part of being is not the possibility
but the fact of death.
It's going to happen, period.
It's not a likelihood.
It's a given.
Heidegger calls death impending as opposed to outstanding.
It is always a part of our existence.
Being-toward-death, then, isn't about leaning
towards our own eventual demise but admitting a facet of being.
Being-toward-death death doesn't mean one rushes
to inevitable expiration.
It's more a way to approach one's own existence.
One can deny their own being-toward-death
and, therefore, deny part of their being.
That's bad.
Or one can confront it.
And this, Heidegger says, opens up
one's experience in some way.
He uses the word "authentic."
If you want the ultimate, you gotta
be willing to pay the ultimate price.
And just for the record, I feel like it's
important to point out the difference between this
and Freud's idea of the death drive.
Freud said that we're all host to some self-destructive force,
that our mental actions, conscious and not,
are informed mostly, if not entirely,
by preoccupations with pleasure and death.
The death drive is the mental force
that makes us all in some way attracted
to suffering like a moth to a flame, which has actually
been out the whole time.
Being-toward-death isn't the opposite of the death drive.
They're not mutually exclusive.
But when considering fan theories
postulating that protagonists kicked
the bucket before the opening credits,
I think being-toward-death is more applicable.
It positions death not as the opposite of action
but as a factor in its possibility.
Dead-all-along fan theories usually
posit that it's because a character is dead
that we get to spend time with them
or experience their stories.
It's postulated that because Squall is dead,
"Final Fantasy XIII" goes down the way it does.
It's because Sandy has died that "Grease"
progresses how we see it.
It's because Carl has passed away
that "Up" can chronicle his grand adventure.
In some of these theories, maybe the characters
succumbed to their death drive, lived dangerously
and paid the ultimate price.
But in all of them, death, or something effectively
indistinguishable from it, is posited as an inextricable part
of their existence, as far as we are given insight into it.
These theories admit that confrontation with death
is not the opposite of agency but a necessary precondition
for it.
They provide us with a new way to look at media that we love,
as any good fan theory might.
But maybe they also habituate us to the idea
that death doesn't stop great stories.
It might make them possible.
What do you guys think?
What explains the preponderance or popularity
of dead-all-along fan theories?
And do you have a favorite?
Let us know in the comments, and I will respond to some of them
in next week's Comment Response video.
In this week's Comment Response video,
we talk about how Stormtroopers are not clones.
We talk about your thoughts regarding
why Stormtroopers can't seem to fire their blaster
rifles correctly.
If you want to watch that, you can click right here,
or find a link in the doobly-doo.
I had a rad time in Vienna.
It was great getting to meet some Austrian "Idea
Channel" fans.
And if we didn't get a chance to say hey, maybe next time.
Already planning a return trip.
I had such a great time.
Vienna-- so rad.
This week's episode was brought to you
by the hard work of these death drivers.
We have a Facebook, an IRC, and a subreddit,
links in the doobly-doo.
And the Tweet of the Week comes from Spencer N. Wharton,
who as far as I can tell, is the first person of many to make
sure that we are aware of the fan theory
that Jar Jar Binks is, in fact, a powerful Sith Lord.
Why didn't we know about this fan theory,
like, four weeks ago?
Now we know about it now, so that's-- so that's good.
Some consolation.
It's very good.
And hey, in case you were curious,
this episode of "Idea Channel" is sponsored by Dropbox.
If you're designing, presenting, writing, or building,
Dropbox makes it easy to work together on any file.
Because hey, if you can work with anyone, anywhere,
any way you want, the world will surely
be full of interesting things.
Dropbox.
All yours.
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