AWE posting 10.1. (2)

[yvannairie]

Like.

Largely it just comes down to genre and coding. The Controlverse stories take place in worlds that are heavily driven by the concerns of the genre, where the characters are shaped by their narrative environments. They're event-driven, not character-driven, which gives them room to set up characterisation that is in conflict with himself. In the first game the genre-driven development Alan gets is "man with a sedentary intellectual's lifestyle has to pick up a gun and start shooting", he doesn't become Ash from Evil Dead until Alan Wake's American Nightmare, thanks to that story's shift into an action-mystery genre for its duration.

Casey in the Dark Place is ruled by his noir coding over and above what the real Casey or even Alan thinks about him. His genre has been decided for him, and he doesn't get to show fear or sentiment or tenderness beyond what is prescribed in that codified shared-subconscious "noir detective" frame. The real Casey, once he is within the field of effect of the story, gets prescribed the genre markers of "the cops in a horror story" -- he's ineffectual, unaware or incomprehending of the forces at work, granted prestige and authority just so the story can subvert that authority, unable to even help himself to drive home the fact that nobody is coming to help the protagonists. He has to be cool, has to seem capable and dependable, so it's scary and upsetting when he can do nothing to make the narrative budge.

And once the story really kicks in, Casey becomes what the story needs him to be. But before finding the first manuscript page, there's that liiitttle sliver of time before the narrative has been established, before either of their backstories become relevant, where he's played noticeably less eloquent, more restrained, almost awkward, and in real life... that's just how guys like him come across. Resting bitch face, kind of intense, seems unsociable because he doesn't really talk to people.

Also, the guy self-consciously looks like Sam Lake, who -- while being quite attractive, ngl -- is still kind of a goofy nerdy guy. You could make a drinking game out of the times he gets describes as "youthful" and "boyish" and "childlike" in interviews and profiles, and presents in public as not exactly being in a rush to get people to take him seriously. Casey, in universe, looks like kind of nerdy, and outside of the narrative we don't see enough about how he's treated by the people around him to really draw any conclusions either way.

So this naturally means I get to read my preferred baggage into the character, right?

Comments

[nonesensed]

I totally feel you on this. Getting at who Casey "really" is, is beyond tricky, with canon being as spares-yet-complex as it is. My current interpretation is that fictional!Casey is Alan's noir-filtered take on glimpses he's seen of a very limited part of FBI!Casey's life (possibly, one of course never knows what's "canon-canon" with Remedy 😆). In turn, DarkPlace!Casey seems to be all of fictional!Casey turned up to 11, combined with Alan's self-loathing and set loose to make Alan suffer. I haven't finished the Final Draft yet, so I'm in the dark about the game possibly giving us more info on this, but I'm very curious to see what FBI!Casey will be like now that the Dark Presence has been inside of him; if that causes permanent changes to him as a person or not.

One thing I found interesting (and kinda endearing) was how swiftly FBI!Casey became divorcee-BFFs with Agent Estevez, immediate first name basis and everything. I wonder how much of that was his "original" personality in the driver's seat and how much it's fiction influencing his personality.

And yeah, 100% agree on Sam Lake = attractive but very Different from what I think most people picture when they think of a stereotypical "hard-boiled detective"-guy.

[yvannairie]

I'm not sure what I think! I've been struggling very badly with imposter syndrome lately, and haven't been feeling good about my characterisation in this fandom, especially when it comes to the real Casey -- the story is trying so hard to obscure his personality from us, I don't really think I can trust anything except maybe Saga's impression of him, and even then it could be that she has history with Casey because the story requires her to have history with Casey, y'know?

I defintely also think Casey and Estevez getting along right away was some Story Shenanigans, but that's largely because I've got like no grasp on Estevez. She's cool, I guess, but her presence feels very suspicious to me overall.

[nonesensed]

Imposter syndrome is beyond the worst - you have all my sympathy! For what it's worth, I've really enjoyed reading both your takes on Casey, your prose and your other Remedy meta. You clearly put a lot of thought into what you write!

Personally, at this point, I've thrown in the towel on ever writing an FBI!Casey that'll be 100% guaranteed in-character for everyone who reads my fic, 'cause, as you said, canon does its very best to hide him from us. As I'm not a Remedy employee with access to character creation discussions and behind the scenes information, I'm basically staring at a painting through a straw, so I've tried to just embrace that and go with how FBI!Casey came across to me. But I also get that, while a fun and relaxing approach for me, it's definitely not the way that works best or is the most fun for all fic writers.

I'm a little torn on if I think Casey and Estevez insta-bonding is 100% the Story taking control or if it's a mix of "the story needs this to happen" and "Casey's real life personality bleeding through, 'cause fiction!Casey doesn't seem that affable with anyone...as far as has been shown". And yeah, I hope Estevez gets to show up in future games in a more prominent, fleshed-out role! She's cool but she's rather "to be continued" right now.