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Post by Hermes on Aug 2, 2014 15:35:32 GMT -5
This cartoon is from an 'Official Movie Magazine', issued as a companion to the ASOUE movie, and, having long languished in the archives of 667, has recently been rediscovered by Terry. It's interesting as being a long-forgotten example of Sebald Code; we previously knew of eight (four in TUA, one in TPP, one in TBL, one in TNN, and one in TPPuzzles), and this is a ninth. It also might illuminate the plot; as Bandit pointed out, it's not clear if, as a movie tie-in, it should be considered canon, but it's worth asking what would follow if it were. It seems to be a message of warning about Olaf when he was working at Prufrock Prep. Two things would seem to follow: first, that Sebald was still alive at that point; and second, that Nero (as the obvious person for the warning to be be directed to) had at some time been a volunteer, so that he might be expected to know Sebald code. (I find the first implication helpful and the second disturbing, but others will no doubt disagree.)
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Post by Dante on Aug 2, 2014 16:09:23 GMT -5
As I remarked in the thread at the time, I was (and am) of the opinion that it's actually a fourth-wall-breaking address and warning to the reader, in the same vein as some of his machine replies to fan mail. Hermes, you are advised to check your colleagues' ankles forthwith.
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Post by Liam R. Findlay on Aug 2, 2014 16:29:08 GMT -5
I agree that it is probably just a little joke to any reader who may have picked up on Sebald being the writer and are a fan enough to know the code. But making these speculations is always worth it, for it is how exciting discoveries are made, on occasion! I think that if Handler (or him and the publishers/film promoters) wanted to imply such a detailed contextual background from this little piece of film promotion (the demographic of which were mostly children), then it is an example of paying unbelievably intense (perhaps excessive) attention to detail.
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Post by Hermes on Aug 2, 2014 16:35:39 GMT -5
It wouldn't be so much that he was positively trying to imply this, as that he might have been taking it for granted. There's nothing particularly surprising about Sebald being alive at this time, except that there's a theory (that Gustav Sebald is the same as Gustav the assistant) which would cause problems for it. As for Nero being a volunteer, there are various passages which suggest that almost everyone is a volunteer; some of us tend to play these down, as they cause a number of problems, but we've already been proved wrong with Hector, and might be wrong about others as well.
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Post by Liam R. Findlay on Aug 2, 2014 17:40:29 GMT -5
Indeed, by The Penultimate Peril especially, noble and villainous people seem to almost seem inter-changeable with the sides of V.F.D. I suppose it was more clear-cut as to whom was in V.F.D. when Snicket was younger. In All The Wrong Questions, it's pretty clear who doesn't have a clue what Snicket's organisation is about, while near the end of A Series of Unfortunate Events, anybody could be involved.
Just something that's been confusing me- if Count Omar (referred to by Sally Sebald) is a young Olaf and he was in Zombies in the Snow (also suggested in The Carniverous Carnival as Olaf says that as a young man, he was approached by a director to be in a film), how did, all those years later, Sebald know to warn Monty about older Olaf being Stefano? I can only assume that Olaf wasn't actually in the film and that Omar is a different person after all, or that the film was edited especially for that screening as a warning. This would make some sense if Sebald is indeed Monty's old assistant and was made aware of Olaf at an early stage, but that's just a side-thought.
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