I just wanted to save the world.
on April 16, 2019 at 12:01 amLindsay Ellis talked about in her “Independence Day vs War of the Worlds” video that alien invasion apocalypses in fiction are never just alien invasion apocalypses for the sake of being alien invasion apocalypses. They’re analogs for some other thing! It’s hard to escape their execution without there being any subtext, without the aliens really standing in for some other omnipresent cultural threat. The two movies in that video, for example, reflected the dueling notions of a pre- and post-9/11 America.
And it got me thinking, hey, wait, what is It’s Walky!‘s alien invasion really about? Oh no, did I somehow have a daft alien invasion free of depth just because I started writing the dang thing when I was 7 and plagiarizing G.I.Joe?
But after like five seconds of thought, I realized what my alien invasion was really about. And those of you who follow Dumbing of Age and its broader strokes will probably not be extremely surprised when I tell you that the Martians (and Aliens) in It’s Walky! signify being gaslit by your parents. That’s right, it’s Toedads all the way down. Even the Head Alien was an evil dad whose primary weapon was tortured, misleading truths.
“Where is The Cheese?” indeed. Where is that distant, ineffectual nigh-deity who is supposed to be solving everything, according to everyone you ever trusted.
P.S. apparently i forgot that sal killed like 12 people in the first storyline, unless daisy is being unusually specific about killing people only when you’re brainwashed i dunno
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Daisy, one of Sal’s victims was literally hugging you a few seconds ago.
It doesn’t count if they come back?
Does that count as a take-back, or a do-over?
“because I and ‘Where’s the Beef’ lady want a cheeseburger”
…
dang now I wonder what XCOM is REALLY about
And why is EXALT opposed to XCOM fighting the aliens? What’s their deal?
and what’s in those ADVENT burgers?!
Lindsay Ellis is great. She’s one of those people who I’ll watch discuss a work I barely care about.
definitely. she’s been someone I’ve been really happy to see grow as a content creator.
Yay! Discussion of Lindsay Ellis, one of my favorite internet people!
And yeah. I watch literally everything she puts out. Including the PBS ads.
Linda Walkerton, on the other hand, is just the worst.
…panel 1 expression’s a lot goofier than I remembered!
“I mean it! Which one of you took my lunch out of the break roo-
….I missed something, didn’t I?”
Interesting. I’d absolutely gotten that that’s probably what the Aliens were. I’d kind of assumed the Martians were the devil, less literally and more in the role of a oft mentioned but unseen threat held over people’s heads to force action.
Although I guess that’s not entirely not the same thing.
The Cheese has no interest in holding SEMMF’s hand, Alan. He’s made that very clear before this.
Where was Alan this whole time while this stuff was going on with Penny and the Britjas?
Hey, Alan’s back! For someone who was a big part of the opening arc, Alan sure doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot in this series, does he?
The cheese stands alone
This is always the page I recall first when I think about the home stretch of Its Walky. It’s not really the most iconic or anything, but Linda’s devastated gaze really did something for me. Having her in the background some pages back and finally focussing on her. Sh just wanted to save the world. So did most of us.
Yeah, I actually really love her breakdown. Linda is a pretty bad person, but you can at least understand her in the Walkyverse – she’s just broken too.
And now your adopted son is dead, Good work.
We can only pray that DoA Linda eventually comes to a similar realization about how shitty she is.
It won’t actually do anything, but it can’t hurt what already has no chance of happening.