Sam & Max's Relationship

[Avistew]

Hehe, I remember in high school a bunch of student told my literary teacher about how authors didn't care about that kind of stuff we were analyzing and it was stupid to do so, and the next day the teacher came to class with a book that had copies of the notes of some French author - can't remember who - and we were all completely taken aback. Every single word was super analyzed and replaced with one that served the message better, etc.

Bottom line is, it really depends. Some authors will intend deep meanings, some won't, and you can over-analyze things but you can also miss things completely.

What I do agree with is that if the author says "I didn't do that intentionally", we should believe them. We can still interpret it that way, it's there, and they might have done it without noticing, but let's not call them filthy liars.

[Didero]

Originally Posted by Lena_P

they must symbolize [...] the national deficit or something

To be fair, Max is actually pretty good at that.

[Omegabegin]

Originally Posted by light_rises

[essay]

Aaannnnd now I've written an essay too. Yikes. I cannot claim the same finesse as Omegabegin in this area, but hey, I've gotta start somewhere. ^^;

*Claps*

Nonsense, I loved it! Visual cues are always an excellent addition to any essay as well; good job on that

We should so start a coalition of essay writers.

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Didero

To be fair, Max is actually pretty good at that.

Actually, if you go down to the core of the message, Sam is the national deficit. See, Max is the exuberant and thoughtless actions that LEADS to the deficit. Notice how he seems very dualistic, mentally fractured. This obviously is meant to show how the problems that cause the national deficit are caused by mutliple people, but in this combined into a single problem, leading to the split. Sam and Max spend all of their time together because Sam is the deficit, they CAN'T be separated because they can't exist without each other.

Notice how Sam seems to try and reign in Max's actions, notice how he seems to prefer the simpler things in life? The deficit itself is a thing that pulls back our actions, it limits us, it makes us somewhat less exuberant. Notice how, in the finale of Season Two, they go to Hell and have statues there in their honor. Perhaps the deficit and the actions of various parties that cause it cause far greater evils than we can realize? Notice how, in the next episode, the caninification of the deficit(Sam) is suddenly left without the problems that cause it to exist. Now he seems lost, doesn't he? He feels like a very part of his being is stripped away, and suddenly becomes violent, erratic. This is what happens when you take away the creature comforts of government spending, you find yourself with an uncomfortable period of adjustment and anger from certain parties. The deficit will fight to exist.

The full message probably won't be clear until the finale of The Devil's Playhouse. After all, this season is far more story-centric. That means that the financial messages offered by the Sam and Max universe are going to become less and less subdued as time goes on, it's the natural progression of things.

[jaden551]

If their is no evidence then thier should be no essay otherwise what would be the point?

[Lena_P]

@avistew I didn't say the author isn't going for an effect; I meant people try to force their ideas onto a text without trying to understand it as a whole first. I had a friend read a story for me about a young woman traveling to an island. The story is basically the conversation between the girl and the boatman on the row over. She told me that my description of that trip reminded her almost exactly of the time she visited an island off the coast of Ireland. The misty, quiet day and sense of mystery and expectation matched her experience almost perfectly. She asked if I'd had something like that in mind when I wrote the story and I told her no, I've never even been to Ireland. It was a wonderful to feel that my story had connected so deeply to her personal experience, though.

At the same time if someone told me the water they were crossing was actually the River Styx, and the boatman was carrying the young woman across to the afterlife I would tell them flat out that wasn't so. My story was meant to be very much about life, and my characters were never named, but to me they are still very much real and alive with back stories I discovered as I was writing. I admit that I don't know everything about the two of them, I'm always learning new things about my characters as I write for them, but what I do know about I am personally very definite on. Not everything necessarily gets into a story either. Most of the time my notes are twice as long as the story itself; very rarely do I hammer it out as I write it. I try to give my reader the minimum of information they need to understand the story since I think there is a beauty in efficiency, and it opens up more to the readers imagination.

I'm not interested in writing "literature", but that doesn't mean I don't want to challenge my readers either. When a book takes pains to spell everything out for me I get bored; I figure my readers might be the same way.

Originally Posted by Didero

To be fair, Max is actually pretty good at that.

Symbolizing the national deficit?

[Avistew]

I totally agree with you. I was just trying to show how it goes both way.
Incidentally, my mother does that. Correct you on stuff. When she first met Ian he talked about taking the bus in winter and she corrected him saying that buses didn't run in winter because of the snow. He then talked about something else Canadian and there again she interrupted him to tell him what he actually meant.
It's extremely frustrating and I should know, I grew up with that.

[tabstis]

WOW

need I say more?

[Lena_P]

God I hate that. When I first moved to California people did that to me constantly. That's why after a couple years I gave up talking about growing up overseas, or my past at all. It just seemed impossible to convince them I wasn't a liar, so I decided to let people assume whatever they wanted. You can try your hardest to make a "statement" or create a persona for yourself, but in the end there really is only so much you can do to control other people's perception of you. I decided that what other people think of me doesn't really matter. Their thoughts don't change my intrinsic nature, so why worry about it? If I was ever going to change their minds I could only do it through action, not words.

Okay, so that's not technically getting the thread back on track, but it is talking about our relationships as individuals with society so it's at least heading in the right direction.

[Didero]

Originally Posted by Lena_P

Okay, so that's not technically getting the thread back on track, but it is talking about our relationships as individuals with society so it's at least heading in the right direction.

I'll help!
So, do you guys think Sam and Max are gay?

[Avistew]

Originally Posted by Lena_P

You can try your hardest to make a "statement" or create a persona for yourself, but in the end there really is only so much you can do to control other people's perception of you. I decided that what other people think of me doesn't really matter. Their thoughts don't change my intrinsic nature, so why worry about it?

Good for you. I agree with that.
It's hard not to care when your parents don't believe a word you say and you're forced to live with them, though.
Fortunately, that kind of situation is only temporary.

[jaden551]

Originally Posted by Didero

I'll help!
So, do you guys think Sam and Max are gay?

Who wants to tell him?

[tabstis]

Look, let's leave this to Sam and Max to confess themselves, guys.

[tabstis]

Relevant to topic:

[jaden551]

you only made the comic so you could try that guy's method of puting the comic on the forum.

[mightypiratetm]

Originally Posted by Ophenix

302 had at least two gay refrences about them. I'm sure its nothing more then a joke, but it makes you wonder...

and 301 has when you find the hard luck ring give it to max and you will see a funny cutscene

[tabstis]

Originally Posted by jaden551

you only made the comic so you could try that guy's method of puting the comic on the forum.

shhhhhhhhh

[jaden551]

this doesn'thelp.

[mightypiratetm]

anyway i don't think they are gay they are just friends with a close connection like brothers

[jaden551]

Originally Posted by mightypiratetm

anyway i don't think they are gay they are just friends with a close connection like brothers

THIS THREADis NOT ABOUT THEM BEING GAY! WHY DO YOU PEOPEL NOT UNDERSTAND THAT?