Kawi and his sense of Self
I've had Thoughts jumbling around my head for a few days, ever since @waitmyturtles started watching Be My Favourite (and sped through all 7 eps - so great to have you on board!) and having read some really great posts about time travel, the idea of 'present' and 'past', truth, and Kawi's character growth (here, here, here, and here are just a few examples by @waitmyturtles, @rocketturtle4, @wen-kexing-apologist, and @ginnymoonbeam).
But it was @rocketturtle4's addition on this post that made me think more about Kawi and his sense of self, specifically the bolded part of this line:
The overall theme of being who you are regardless of the time you are in feels like it needs teasing out more.
And this might not be interesting to anyone but me, or relevant to the analysis of the show, but it's bouncing around in my brain and I need to write it down.
The above line (and all the talk about Kawi's present and past) made me think about Antonio Damasio's theory of the construction of the Self in his book The Feeling of What Happens:
The idea each of us constructs of ourself [sic]...is based on autobiographical memory over years of experience and is constantly subject to remodelling. (p. 224)
This remodelling occurs through the reworking of memories - so each time we remember a memory we craft it slightly different based on our accumulative life experiences and innate biases.
BUT what really made an impact on me about this is the following:
The changes which occur in the autobiographical self over an individual lifetime are not due only to the remodelling of the lived past...but also the laying down and remodelling of the anticipated future...The memories of the scenarios that we conceive as desires, wishes, goals, and obligations exert a pull on the self of each moment. No doubt they also play a part in the remodelling of the lived past, consciously and unconsciously, and in the creation of the person we conceive us to be, moment by moment. (pp. 224-225)
So how does this relate to Be My Favourite?
Many people have already talked about how Kawi is not a nice person (this is a great post by @respectthepetty). Why does Pisaeng like him? Kawi doesn't even like himself. And, at the beginning of the show, Kawi's Self - his identity - is built from his memories of the past and his immoveable desire of what he wanted and still wishes his future to look like. Kawi is miserable, stuck in a miserable life (of his own making), and unable to make any changes because his idea of what he wants his future to be is impossible.
But then he gets to go back in time, and his sense of self starts changing. It changes because he's remaking his memories in real time, and in remaking those memories he's being exposed to things which are gradually altering his desires and goals for his future.
And that's a huge shift for Kawi. It's almost like going through a break-up - in a break-up, not only do you lose the person you're with but the future life you imagined with them ceases to exist. So you lose your sense of identity. Who are you without them? - Who is Kawi when he's not pining for Pear? Who is Kawi when he gets and loses Pear? Who is Kawi when he dates Pisaeng?...
And it's no wonder everything is still a mess when Kawi jumps forward to his present - he hasn't had enough time in his changed past to process the new memories of his past, nor to honestly admit to himself (or realise, if he's not quite there yet) what he really wants for his future.
And this journey is such a beautiful one to watch. As his memories and future scenarios change, Kawi's sense of self changes - hopefully to a happier, 'better' person...and I mean 'better' in the sense of nicer to other people because he's nicer to himself (and vice versa) and more open to change, rather the rigidity of his 'older' Self stuck in his miserableness.
I think this is why I'm warming up to him, because he is changing, albeit gradually, and changing for the better. He's becoming more pliable in his outlook, choices, and acceptance of things he can't control. All of which will aid him in being able to see a different future for himself - like an upward positive spiral. (This is a great post by @lurkingshan which is sort of related).
I'd love to be able to connect all this with other people's takes (especially to the discourse around whether Kawi will stay in his past and live his 12 years again or jump forward to an altered present and 'fix' what he can there) but my brain has stopped here. HOWEVER, I welcome others to jump on and expand on this if they wish.
(also tagging @grapejuicegay since we've been shouting to each other in our dms about this show 💖)
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I'm pissed off to see that Palestine is not trending on here. I know that we all have interests we want to talk about, but this week is another global strike, Palestine should be the number one trending, and it's not even number 10. You can put aside your interests for one week. Bisan and so many others are begging us to use our voices to pressure our governments to put an end to this genocide. MILLIONS of people are counting on us, PLEASE don't look away no matter how upset and tired you are. We have the luxury of being able to just put our phones down and going off to do something to feel better. But just this once, for ONE WEEK, you can put aside your discomfort and SPEAK UP. How many people have to die for you to care.
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anyway, Elden Ring is about love and hope
Marika burns everything she has build out of sorrow
Ranni banishes the Outer Gods and also fucks off the Lands, giving agency back to the normal beings of the Lands
Fortissax endlessly fights Death for his friend/lover
Melina burns herself and Erdtree in hopes of a better world in the hands of the Tarnished
Blaidd fights against the very reason he was created out of love for his sister
Ranni and Rykard always keep an eye on their mother, protecting her
Radahn evokes so much love from his troops that they organise a whole festival to give him a honorable death even in his madness
Radahn learns an entire new school of magic in order to still ride his favourite horse
Boc's love for his mother, his mother's love for him
How all but two endings are build on the hope that this new era (whatever it might be) will be good
Miquella attempting to create an whole new world-tree to host the forsaken and the damned
Miquella turning on the faith he was raised and even believed in to an extent, when it was unable to cure his sister's curse
The Cleanrot's loyalty to Malenia and their endurance of the Rot, only to stay in her service
Malenia marching through the entire continent in search of her brother
Finlay traveling all the way back on her own, carrying the incapacitated demigod on her back
Tanith's love for Rya
Dialos' entire questline
Edgar being driven mad after his daughter dies
Vyke embracing, to a point, the Frenzied Flame in order to save his finger maiden
or you know, that's just how I see it
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Idea expanded, Rockstar Eddie falling head over heels for Bartender Steve working in a high class club type of joint. He sees him working one night and thinks God damn, he's hot. I'm taking him home tonight.
Except bartender Steve has developed a significant distaste for celebrities and rich people in general because of getting cut off from his homophobic parents for coming out and the general bad way many have treated him at work whilst sloshed. But lucky for Eddie, Steve doesn't recognize him. And even though he started off in a trailer park, the fame has gone to his head a little and he asks Steve out with the full intention of getting into his pants and never seeing him again.
But oh no, would you look at that Steve isn't easy. And what Eddie thought would be a booty call ends up being a ten hour date around the city where he has more fun than he even thought was possible. Just from talking with Steve about anything and everything, flitting to parks and museums. And Eddie doesn't even realize until he's back at his hotel that they didn't even kiss.
And they go out more and more, and Eddie likes him more and more and he finds out where the rich people hate comes from. And it scares him. So he keeps lying. Like an idiot. And he tells Steve a fake last name, he tells him a fake job (which is only half fake because he did used to be a tattoo artist) and he rents an air bnb that he pretends is his own place. And the lies keep getting more elaborate to cover up more lies. And he keeps refusing to meet Steve's friends out of fear that they'll recognize him. And he really just drove himself into a corner here because he is absolutely in love with Steve at this point but how the fuck can you have a normal relationship when you are pretending to be someone else?
Turns out you can't, and Steve finds out the truth despite his efforts. But the twist is, he thinks it's fucking hilarious. After a normal period of What the fuck reaction time he gets over it. But never let's Eddie live it down.
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6/27 Edit: Welp, now there's a fic.
Two fics actually. The other is by KikiZ on ao3 which is great if you're not looking for an explicit fic! Because mine will be. It's also a bit more introspective than what I got going on, and also thus far, hella romantic.
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