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Brought Up From the Footnotes: Trauma
Apr. 30th, 2013 04:15 pmI've already said I don't think Jack would vocalize the fact that he and Lucinda were sexually assaulted, not just because so much of the world is conditioned to not let guys say that out loud (and it's his parents that do that to them, which might make it even harder to acknowledge). I don't know. But also,
The show also never used the word "gay", or the phrase "veteran with serious PTSD". Now, I'm sure the lack of use of the word "gay" was to prevent angry protests from more puritanical viewers (oh if only enough people watched to generate angry letters!) but also...it helps establish this fictional world as a place where people just don't talk about stuff. I mean, when he comes back from the front, people basically act as if he was merely in a bad car accident or something. His entire unit was slaughtered and he was taken hostage. He might be having all sorts of FEELS that no one seems very interested in hearing about and which are causing a great deal of his over emotional, erratic behavior. Not that I believe he was a Super Good and Stable Person before, I think he was already a little broken, but if you see him as a PTSD suffering veteran, he starts to make more sense.
Weepy, mood swings, rage, disturbing risk taking, wildly shifting between sadism and masochism, heavy drinking, abusive to lover, girlfriend, sister, surrogate brother... this is a person who is clearly going off the rails and almost no one is doing anything about it. ETA: well, I think Silas wanted Jack in a desk job for maybe that reason, that he was afraid for Jack's mental health and physical safety but of course he doesn't come out and say that. So Jack thinks he's let everyone down and goes overboard trying to compensate.
Shame about being captured and needing to be rescued when he was supposed to be in charge and come back a hero.
Guilt about being one of two survivors out of fourteen men. Can you just stop and try to picture that scene from his pov for a moment? No one comes out of something like that okay.
A warrior kept out of the fight, trained 24/7 to respond to situations in certain ways, trying to readjust to civilian life (having trouble settling on on a way to be of use until he decides Being King is it) where he is...
Blamed for screwing up even though he didn't, he was set up. He knows enough to know that he was not at fault, but people are totally gas lighting him about it.
When he's alone with Belial, he comes close to really losing it, it's his first time back on active duty, he can't get David to follow orders, and...he seems to be having trouble fitting into the role he's always played so well before, instead of continuing to calmly torture the guy for information, Jack allows Belial to make him lose his composure.
It also explains why Jack is so determined to avoid too much bloodshed and why William doesn't consider that relevant. Jack's been out there, fighting William's war, watching his own friends get mowed down (he also knows that William is supplying both sides in order to prolong the war and make more profit). William and his cronies sit up in their offices and get Jack's friends killed.
I kind of like that they don't come out and say most of this, partly because unpacking it on my own gives me more to analyze in a show that was cancelled four years ago and only has thirteen episodes. Not sure how well I'm doing at following this tone in my own fic, but I am monitoring that situation.
The show also never used the word "gay", or the phrase "veteran with serious PTSD". Now, I'm sure the lack of use of the word "gay" was to prevent angry protests from more puritanical viewers (oh if only enough people watched to generate angry letters!) but also...it helps establish this fictional world as a place where people just don't talk about stuff. I mean, when he comes back from the front, people basically act as if he was merely in a bad car accident or something. His entire unit was slaughtered and he was taken hostage. He might be having all sorts of FEELS that no one seems very interested in hearing about and which are causing a great deal of his over emotional, erratic behavior. Not that I believe he was a Super Good and Stable Person before, I think he was already a little broken, but if you see him as a PTSD suffering veteran, he starts to make more sense.
Weepy, mood swings, rage, disturbing risk taking, wildly shifting between sadism and masochism, heavy drinking, abusive to lover, girlfriend, sister, surrogate brother... this is a person who is clearly going off the rails and almost no one is doing anything about it. ETA: well, I think Silas wanted Jack in a desk job for maybe that reason, that he was afraid for Jack's mental health and physical safety but of course he doesn't come out and say that. So Jack thinks he's let everyone down and goes overboard trying to compensate.
Shame about being captured and needing to be rescued when he was supposed to be in charge and come back a hero.
Guilt about being one of two survivors out of fourteen men. Can you just stop and try to picture that scene from his pov for a moment? No one comes out of something like that okay.
A warrior kept out of the fight, trained 24/7 to respond to situations in certain ways, trying to readjust to civilian life (having trouble settling on on a way to be of use until he decides Being King is it) where he is...
Blamed for screwing up even though he didn't, he was set up. He knows enough to know that he was not at fault, but people are totally gas lighting him about it.
When he's alone with Belial, he comes close to really losing it, it's his first time back on active duty, he can't get David to follow orders, and...he seems to be having trouble fitting into the role he's always played so well before, instead of continuing to calmly torture the guy for information, Jack allows Belial to make him lose his composure.
It also explains why Jack is so determined to avoid too much bloodshed and why William doesn't consider that relevant. Jack's been out there, fighting William's war, watching his own friends get mowed down (he also knows that William is supplying both sides in order to prolong the war and make more profit). William and his cronies sit up in their offices and get Jack's friends killed.
I kind of like that they don't come out and say most of this, partly because unpacking it on my own gives me more to analyze in a show that was cancelled four years ago and only has thirteen episodes. Not sure how well I'm doing at following this tone in my own fic, but I am monitoring that situation.
