vfds321s
Catastrophic Captain
Posts: 76
Likes: 10
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Post by vfds321s on Feb 4, 2019 8:26:11 GMT -5
In TWW, Klaus makes an excellent point. Why would Aunt Josephine, a woman who is terrified of realtors, would want anything to do with Captain Sham, let alone be friendly at all to him. Even if Captain Sham was not Count Olaf in disguise, he is still in her eyes a complete and total stranger whom she never met before. (The whole used to be cooking partners thing is such an obvious lie that even a kindergartener would see right through it.) Shouldn't she be as cautious to Captain Sham as she is to everything else? There have been salesmen who have scammed people for some reason or other so by that logic, wouldn't someone with (as far as she knew) a boat selling business be more untrustworthy than realtors? I mean his name is Captain SHAM. Subtle!
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Post by Foxy on Feb 4, 2019 11:46:16 GMT -5
The only possibility I can think of for her behavior is that she was an extremely, profusely lonely woman who was desperate for a man's attention, even if that man was as unattractive and unhygienic as Count Olaf. I think she may also have been sympathetic to him because he claimed to have his leg eaten off by the leaches, and she lost her husband to the leaches as well. In the show, they poke fun that a boat rental agent is very similar to a real estate agent, but he is renting sailboats, not selling them, so perhaps this was difference enough for Aunt Josephine?
If you dig deeper into the character of Aunt Josephine, at one point she was probably more brave, and I don't think she could completely suppress who she was before, which would perhaps explain why she might be brave enough to try dating when you also factor into the equation her loneliness.
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Post by Reba on Feb 4, 2019 11:56:38 GMT -5
just realized how dumb the captain sham is. if i tried to disguise myself under a false identity i would never choose a name that literally calls attention to its falsity.. what was Olaf thinking???
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Post by veryferociousdrama on Feb 4, 2019 12:00:57 GMT -5
I've always suspected that Aunt Josephine knew it was Olaf all the time, but played along as she was too frightened.
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Post by Liam R. Findlay on Feb 4, 2019 12:40:12 GMT -5
Sometimes the most vulnerable people are the most prone to falling into damaging relationships.
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vfds321s
Catastrophic Captain
Posts: 76
Likes: 10
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Post by vfds321s on Feb 4, 2019 14:38:24 GMT -5
Thanks repliers. I have something else pertaining to Aunt Josephine's fears. Why is she always frightened? Some say it started when Ike died but various passages say otherwise. They were afraid to have children of their own, Ike used a safety glove to answer the telephone, and the fact that Aunt Josephine warned Ike about the dangers of swimming until after an hour, means she was at least cautious. Also, if her being afraid of everything only started with Ike's death, why would she not jump in to save him or call an ambulance?
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Post by Dante on Feb 4, 2019 15:13:34 GMT -5
There are some fantastic replies in this thread, sensitive and thoughtful. I don't see the need to repeat those, so my own contribution would be this: Aunt Josephine's fears are irrational, and therefore I don't necessarily expect them to be consistent. Love, too, might be described as irrational.
As for when Aunt Josephine first acquired her irrational fears, I find it plausible that when TWW was originally written she was being truthful in stating that she had always been so afraid and that Ike was just like her; but once you bring V.F.D. into the picture, then we are compelled to dismiss that as a convenient lie. If it's a retcon, there's every chance the new version of events will be awkward and not fit; but we can still suggest that perhaps Josephine's fears were originally rather mild, but grew more and more egregious owing to time and repeated misfortunes, with Ike's death as the final straw.
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Post by Uncle Algernon on Feb 4, 2019 15:28:31 GMT -5
If you'll allow a bit of Netflix-bleed, the etchings on the bar in the Village of Fowl Devotees in the cinematic Vile Village imply that in their younger, pre-betrayal days Olaf and Josephine once dated each other. All sorts of detail and timeline alterations would be necessary for it to fit the books, but in the process it might explain the "cooking partner" nonsense; Josephine would be inclined to trust Captain Sham because she saw something confusingly familiar in him, and more than willing go along with whatever explanation he gave for it.
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Post by Dante on Feb 4, 2019 17:37:39 GMT -5
Of course, it's not the only interpretation; I took that etching as having been scratched in by Olaf within the timeline of the episode, and referring exclusively to his relationship with Josephine as Captain Sham.
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Post by Hermes on Feb 4, 2019 19:02:53 GMT -5
Thanks repliers. I have something else pertaining to Aunt Josephine's fears. Why is she always frightened? Some say it started when Ike died but various passages say otherwise. They were afraid to have children of their own, Ike used a safety glove to answer the telephone, and the fact that Aunt Josephine warned Ike about the dangers of swimming until after an hour, means she was at lest conscious. Also, if her being afraid of everything only started with Ike's death, why would she not jump in to save him or call an ambulance? I'm fairly sure that the passage in ATWQ about how you can put your fear on one side till later has something to do with this (not necessarily only with Josephine): if she faced a lot of dangers in her youth, she now has a lot of fear left over.
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