I’ve seen a lot of posts about how good it is that the show forces the audience to acknowledge just how evil Caleb was, of his own free will, and I fully agree. But the other thing the show establishes about Caleb’s past that is really important is how big a role Empire nationalism played in him becoming a Volstrucker.
No one forced Caleb to do what he did, to murder, torture, or make a man to kill himself. No one HAD to force him, all they had to do was reminded him that he was serving the Empire. He made the choices himself, and it clearly wasn’t just nationalism that caused him to become a Volstrucker, but it is the constant throughout his decision making. Thats what Ikithon reminds him of, that’s what he, Wulf, and Astrid remind each other, and thats how he was convinced to kill his partners.
And the most important thing the show establishes is that this propaganda didn’t start with Ikithon. Empire above all is what Caleb’s parents taught him. That’s what his mother invoked to convince his father to let him go to the academy. Caleb was already primed for a life of murder because he was raised Empire nationalism, Ikithon didn’t even have to try to indoctrinate him, the work had already been done.
And this isn’t just true of Caleb, it’s true of the greater story. The Empire doesn’t need to convince its people that going to war with the Dynasty is good, because most already believe it is because of years of propaganda about the Kryn. The Empire’s propaganda is just as deadly a weapon as the Volstrucker themselves.
anti montage theory where each shot has no relation to the shots preceding or after and the cutaway is just kinda a coincidence
the film just kinda did that dont know why
are you sure about that? are you sure a sequence of seemingly unrelated shots would remain erratic and unknown by the viewer, who, being human, has a tendency to search for narrative and emotion even within random coincidence? isn’t there a soviet film theorist you forgot to ask…?
The thing that really makes Caleb shine for me (beyond him just being a good character) is that he’s got every edgy bad boy sad man style character trait that I usually find loathsome, but he actually does them right. His tragic evil past isn’t just set dressing, it’s an incredibly deep trauma that motivates almost all of his choices for a very long time, and he only “escapes” it (as much as it’s possible to escape any trauma that bad) through long term growth, work, and support. He’s got cool magic and action sequences, which are all earned through training and leveling up, and even then he still falls on his ass a lot. He’s sad, but his sadness isn’t his only character trait, nor is it treated as a joke or an aesthetic, it’s a part of him he struggles with that does not ultimately define him. He’s entangled in a lot of romantic drama, but all of those romances are narratively fulfilling, played out logically, and filled with chemistry. He’s got all the juice of an edgy fandomified bad boy but with actual depth, realistic storytelling, and none of the fluff. I love him.
OHO it’s SO juicy and painful that Fjord walks past the guy getting beat up in the alleyway. He sees HIMSELF in that guy and cannot give HIMSELF even the compassion, let alone a stranger, too afraid to intervene. When he drops the fruit the framing suggestion is clear: is he about to interrupt them? But no, he isn’t. Yess, yesssss, be at the very beginning of your arc, prepare to get CHARACTER DEVELOPED idiot
