Is He Out There? [3.02.07]

[milowent]

www.lonelygirl15.com/?p=198

Summary
I got stuck with the late night watch. Bree and I are still freaked out about Jonas. We don't know where he went... but he couldn't have gone far since his car is still here.

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milo adds (spoiler alert):

so DB loosened jonas ropes? good for him. i'd like to think that daniel wasn't as passive as he appeared to be in allowing bree to tie up jonas. the real test of someone's character is when you have to deal with a situation like that, and daniel just can't blame bree for doing it. daniel wasn't physically tied up.

DB makes it sound like he just loosened the ropes, but he knows Bree is going to watch this video. Maybe he did the "loosening" with the full expectation between the two that Jonas would escape and either try to reason with Bree, or leave to get evidence (somehow) that he's not in the Order. But, now that Jonas took the car keys but not the car, and trudged off into the wilderness, he doesn't know what Jonas is doing and may be doubting whether Jonas is telling the truth or not.

Of course, all of this is just idle thoughts. If Daniel had posted one of these "private transmissions" the creators recently mentioned as an upcoming storytelling device, we could know how truthful this video is.

[milowent]

hyemew post (we started threads almost simultaneously):

hyemew said:

Summary
I got stuck with the late night watch. Bree and I are still freaked out about Jonas. We don't know where he went... but he couldn't have gone far since his car is still here.

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Daniel confesses, of sorts, and could use a good bro-down right around now.
In an attempt to mimic reality, the videos are coming in very fast succession. These videos are all short, keeping with my belief that they were all filmed over one weekend up at the cabin and never went there again. I wonder where their next home base will be?

[Smashing]

I wonder what's the hold up on the "private transmissions?" All they have to do is put a "private transmission" title at the begnning of the video and people will understand. Maybe their working on some unnecessary more complicated intro, or maybe they just changed their mind about doing it.

I'm surprised, despite the announcement weeks ago that all videos would be posted on the LG account, that they are still using the DB account. They must have changed their minds about that. I know originally it made sense to have multiple accounts, but they are probably missing out on an extra 100,000 views per DB video. My philosophy is, at this point, if you can't tell who made the video by watching it, then it doesn't really matter. Maybe they decided it's worth sacrificing views to say they still have 2 channels in the top 20 subscribed. They might change it if/when the YT profit sharing comes in.

[brianmpei]

why do they keep inserting "will you stop filiming this" or "put that thing down" into the dialogue?

[trash180]

brianmpei said:

why do they keep inserting "will you stop filming this" or "put that thing down" into the dialogue?

So, we don't accuse them of overlooking the fact that it's often ridiculous for them to be filming while doing some of the things they do. Though I agree, they can stop now. I thought Daniel's explanation (interrogation 101) that he wanted a record of what was happening was a good idea...enough said on the subject for a while. Hell, if I were in their position, I'd be totally paranoid and film all the time just so I wouldn't miss something. Frankly, we don't want them to stop filming. That's a bit of unreality I'm willing to live with.

The vlog was kinda necessary from Daniel. I'm glad he did it, but it's also a little late. He's kinda blaming it all on "crazy Bree" only after Jonas escapes.

Like, "hey man, I'm your bro! I didn't mean all that torture stuff. Bree so crazy! Come on back, we'll tie up Bree!"

Interesting that they aren't worried that he's going to die of hypothermia, innit? Wasn't it snowing when Daniel went back to the cabin?

[hyemew]

Filming it is one thing, but posting it on the internet? There is no doubt that what Bree did was 100% illegal in constraining Jonas, and seeing as he has some good lawyers to handle his estates, he very well could use them to go after them. Bree obviously has no money TO sue out of her, but she could easily find herself in cuffs. Kidnapping has got to be a felony! And yet they put it on-line without a care! ...Well yes, I know while we want this to be realistic, things wouldn't be exciting if they could never break the law on camera, however I think seeing as this is a show about a bunch of teens one should really be thinking twice before they make them do such extraordinary things.

[Smashing]

Okay, this is not criticism, this isn't sarcastic, this is pure observation. I've thought a lot about this, and I have a clear idea of the rules of Breeality at this point that I can finally articulate:

Conceit #1: Bree and Daniel, despite the fact they are fictional characters, are making these videos for the Real Life audience. Meaning us.

Conceit #2: No one in the Breeniverse can see these videos except for people who are directly a part of the story (Gemma, Jonas, OpAphid, Tachyon, etc.)

Conceit #3: The characters, for whatever reason, don't talk about conceit 1 or 2.

If you take these as the premise of the show, instead of plot holes, the show basically makes sense. Call it a fanwank, since these "ground rules" are never explicity stated anywhere, but it seems these are the basic operating assumptions of the show.

[milowent]

good framework, smashing. but WHY do they make the videos? it was clear early on why bree made videos - she was bored and saw other vloggers doing it and wanted to try too. do they keep making videos because they know their vlogs are so popular? they never mention once that they are the #1 most subscribed channel, of course.

[Smashing]

By the logic that I was presenting anyway, they make the videos purely so we can see them. Why they would care about entertaining strangers who cannot help them while on the run from a murderous cult is simply not explained. It is lumped into Conceit #1. By definition the characters are compelled by unseen forces to make videos for us. It is a principle of the Breeniverse.
Honestly, I don't think the creators think in these terms. They just know that if the characters don't make videos, they don't have a show, so in reality it's the creators that are compelled to make videos. But if I were going to rationalize it in terms of the Breeniverse, this is how I'd do it.

EDIT TO ADD: To put it another way, above is the list of things you would have to take on faith if you are to find this story believable. All fictional stories operate on some conceit. We as the audience will accept the wildest explanations for things: magic, divine intervention, technology, coincidence, etc. But if it isn't at least labeled as such, it becomes nonsense. That is the real problem with LG's plot at this point. It's not that they don't explain it, it's that they don't even try. It was different at the beginning, as you point out, Milo. Bree had a reason. Bree was bored, stuck in her room, watching YouTube. The creators abandoned this initial premise after the reveal, but neglected to come up with any new rules other than 1) The characters would keep making videos no matter what, so the creators could have a show.
Unfortunately, the creators neglected to realize how poorly that rule would translate to the screen.

further edited to add: If you want to fanwank a specific reason why Bree, Daniel, and Jonas make videos, you could say they suffer from a rare form of videoblogging obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. According to wikipedia: People who suffer from obsessive compulsive personality disorder (not to be confused with obsessive-compulsive disorder) are not aware of anything abnormal about themselves; they will readily explain why their actions are rational, and it is usually impossible to convince them otherwise. That would explain why they keep making videos and don't realize how batcrap crazy they are.

[milowent]

smashing said:

Why they would care about entertaining strangers who cannot help them while on the run from a murderous cult is simply not explained. It is lumped into Conceit #1. By definition the characters are compelled by unseen forces to make videos for us. It is a principle of the Breeniverse.

...

... you could say they suffer from a rare form of videoblogging obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

this reminds me that daniel referred to taking film classes one or two times when they were on the run the 1st time. that helps Conceit#1 because it explains that daniel gets joy out of making videos, and its also a hobby that just happens to allow us to watch their story.

in jonas' first video he said he was into "editing." that is a bit weaker than daniel's motivation (because jonas doesn't like "working" and seems to be more of a trust fund kid), but its better than nothing.