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Post by lsandthebooks on Sept 28, 2019 20:22:04 GMT -5
In the Bad Beginning Rare edition, it says the Baudelaire mansion and Olaf's house had hidden cameras.
So...I was wondering, since every place the kids went to was either owned by a VFD member, a past VFD headquarters, or was at least associated with VFD in some way, wouldn't all of the places have been filled with cameras? Why would the Baudelaire mansion and Olaf's house be unique?
Hidden cameras would explain how Lemony knows how the kids' private conversations went. Hidden cameras would explain how Lemony knows every detail in the series actually. But is this idea possible? Is there anything else in the series that mentions hidden cameras?
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Post by Dante on Sept 30, 2019 8:48:47 GMT -5
It's possible, though at least some cameras were probably mobile and wielded deliberately by volunteers rather than stationary and hidden in the architecture. Consider, for instance, the photograph of the Baudelaires at Damocles Dock, which appears on TCC p. 140 and is mentioned on TSS p. 168.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Sept 30, 2019 11:36:27 GMT -5
Hidden cameras would explain how Lemony knows how the kids' private conversations went. Hidden cameras would explain how Lemony knows every detail in the series actually. I have already considered this possibility, and had to abandon it for a few reasons. First, Lemony Snicket's narration is not just a description of events, as if he had just seen or heard the events. Lemony Snicket's narration also involves the thoughts and feelings of the Baudelaires. Second, Lemony Snicket's narration is from the Baudelaires' point of view. It tells what the Baudelaires saw, felt and heard, and what they thought about it. Third, no character other than the three of them and Lemony Snicket himself has their thoughts and feelings recorded, nor is there a description of what they saw or heard. For example, imagine the scene where Olaf, Esme, and the sinister duo enter a tent. Sunny watched them enter, and watched them leave. But Sunny doesn't know what happened inside. Because Sunny doesn't know this, Lemony doesn't know what happened in detail either. Lemony doesn't know who started talking, or what was said, or if anyone stumbled upon reading Filet Snicket. Interestingly, when Klaus was hypnotized, Lemony does not describe what happened to him in detail. That's because Klaus doesn't remember what happened to him. In TPP Lemony demonstrates subtle knowledge of events involving other minor characters, but apparently Lemony was very much involved with the secret plan that was going on at Hotel D, so it is easy to understand what the source of the information is. In any case, the detailed description of the particular events with the Baudelaires, as well as the description of their feelings and thoughts, leads me to the conclusion that the source of information is Baudelaires themselves. As apparently Daniel Handler had already thought of the island's events long ago, I think he imagined that at some point in the narrative he would insert a book where the Baudelaires could have written about their history. I believe Daniel Handler thought about this in TRR when he wrote about Klaus not being able to sleep properly years later. When Daniel Handler wrote this, I can only imagine that he planned to have Lemony read Klaus's diary, or interview Klaus, the most likely first option. Even though you believe that Daniel Handler changed his mind in writing about the chronology of his own story, I believe the original idea was something like that, and that Daniel Handler did not change his mind throughout the series about the source of the information. True, it seems that when Daniel Handler wrote LSTUA, he put Lemony to start writing about the Baudelaires before the events recorded on THH. However, this initial description was not necessarily the same as a book publication for the general public. When Lemony was researching the events recorded on TRR, he stated that Dairy editors were the penultimate option for publication for the general public. Thus, I conclude that when Daniel Handler was writing LSTUA, he had in mind the idea that Lemony began writing TBB before the events of THH, but was only able to publish TBB after several failed attempts. These attempts themselves took a few years. And as Lemony's letter to Dairy shows about the movie Zombies in the Snow, as he tried to publish and couldn't, his research continued. So I think Lemony finally arrived on the island, read Baudelaire's own account, and then significantly improved his writings on the Baudelaire case. So he was able to publish TBB and TRR.
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Post by Foxy on Oct 2, 2019 19:02:49 GMT -5
Lemony Snicket's narration also involves the thoughts and feelings of the Baudelaires. Second, Lemony Snicket's narration is from the Baudelaires' point of view. It tells what the Baudelaires saw, felt and heard, and what they thought about it. You know, that is what I think makes this story really unique. It is a third person story, and yet the author is also a character in the story. I've never realized that before. That's a spectacular deduction, along with the one about Klaus being hypnotized. I want to say no because the kind of technology doesn't exist in Snicketland, but there are computers in TAA, and there are references to cameras in TBBRE. But still want to say there wouldn't be high-tech enough of cameras for this.
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