|
JulieH
|
 |
« Reply #45 on: August 29, 2011, 04:27:08 PM » |
|
Back on topic - Wilmarth in Whisperer. Super dumb, naive, or just so certain of his own superiority that no one else could possibly be right?
I say just plain thickheaded. When he gets the typewritten letter that says "oh, it's all right now. don't tell anyone, but come and visit, and bring all evidence with you. BTW - I'm typing this because I'M ACTUALLY AN ALIEN THAT HAS TAKEN OVER!" (Ok, so that's an inference, but it's not even a big leap) He blithely obeys.
Once again, we see there is a huge difference between someone who is book-smart, someone who notices things (he's actually pretty observant - he just NEVER seems to correlate any of what he notices, or have a clue what it all adds up to), and someone with a lick of common sense.
[as a side note - the way they handled Wilmarth in the film version, both in the scripting and the acting, was very nicely done. I didn't end up anywhere near as annoyed with him.]
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
TheMediocreYoungishOne -Tom-
Unhinged
Posts: 143
Ex Astris Scientia
|
|
« Reply #46 on: August 29, 2011, 05:52:45 PM » |
|
he just NEVER seems to correlate any of what he notices, or have a clue what it all adds up to
We all know what happens when you correlate.  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"I never ask a man what his business is, for it never interests me. What I ask him about are his thoughts and dreams." H.P. Lovecraft - In a letter to Maurice W. Moe, January 1929
----
We are the Borgcraft. Your knowledge will be correlated. Insanity is inevitable.
|
|
|
|
JulieH
|
|
« Reply #47 on: August 29, 2011, 10:20:06 PM » |
|
he just NEVER seems to correlate any of what he notices, or have a clue what it all adds up to
We all know what happens when you correlate. You make a "corr" out of "e" and "late"?  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
bkd69
Blissfully Ignorant
Posts: 22
|
|
« Reply #48 on: August 30, 2011, 06:56:59 AM » |
|
Back on topic - Wilmarth in Whisperer. Super dumb, naive, or just so certain of his own superiority that no one else could possibly be right?
I say just plain thickheaded. When he gets the typewritten letter that says "oh, it's all right now. don't tell anyone, but come and visit, and bring all evidence with you. BTW - I'm typing this because I'M ACTUALLY AN ALIEN THAT HAS TAKEN OVER!" (Ok, so that's an inference, but it's not even a big leap) He blithely obeys.
Once again, we see there is a huge difference between someone who is book-smart, someone who notices things (he's actually pretty observant - he just NEVER seems to correlate any of what he notices, or have a clue what it all adds up to), and someone with a lick of common sense.
[as a side note - the way they handled Wilmarth in the film version, both in the scripting and the acting, was very nicely done. I didn't end up anywhere near as annoyed with him.]
Mostly naive. I had to remind myself that I've seen quite a few more Coen Bros. movies than he has, so it's obvious to me that you make copies of everything. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
JulieH
|
|
« Reply #49 on: August 30, 2011, 05:29:29 PM » |
|
I don't know that I can agree with you - he rattles on and on about how he's wiser than others, and how he's all edumacated and stuff, and then falls for a sudden about face like that?
Even if you put it into possible real-world counterparts, and even taking into account the time and place - would you have such faith in someone who was scared to death of, say, Commies (yes, the red scare was a later era, but it's the only thing I can think of just now), and hated Commies, and went on and on about how commies were attacking his house, and killing his dogs, and then suddenly did an about face and said "oh, yes, now that I've talked to Ivan and his comrades, I realize they just want to be friends" - you'd at least wonder if someone was holding a gun on him (and making him type), or worse - that he was brainwashed!!!
Even if Wilmarth never read a single sensational novel in his entire life, or a single issue of Black Mask magazine, he still was around people who occasionally spoke of "real life"....
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
chrisblue77
Blissfully Ignorant
Posts: 33
|
|
« Reply #50 on: August 30, 2011, 11:44:20 PM » |
|
There all stupid, the only one with any brains turns out to be one of the monsters |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Bob Lovecraft
|
|
« Reply #51 on: August 31, 2011, 09:08:22 AM » |
|
I think I have to go wtih JulieH on this one. Wilmarth gong to Akley's farm with everything of relevance to the case seem to stretch the bounds of believability here. I have to remind myself that both Wilmarth and Akley were committed to stopping anyone else from messing with the Mi-Go and thus enraging the aliens into killing a bunch of folks, but still and all, why would he ever bring irreplaceable evidence with him anywhere? Likening the Mi-Go to the "Commies" in this instance really does bring the issue more into focus,and to me, only illustrates Wilmarth's idiocy.
Bob
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
If someone ever dares you to read the Necronomicon out loud... just say no.
|
|
|
|
old book
|
|
« Reply #52 on: August 31, 2011, 01:34:01 PM » |
|
What the Yithians (?) really need is to leave a faithful human minion outside of the brain jars as a Judas goat to recruit new grey matter for the voyage. I think Wilmarth is almost unquestioning enough to fit the bill.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
We live on a placid Rhode Island and Providence Plantations of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of an infinity of dark foreigners, and it was not meant that we should voyage too far.
|
|
|
|
Bob Lovecraft
|
|
« Reply #53 on: August 31, 2011, 01:37:19 PM » |
|
I don't know, I think they would have just used him as a bit of a joke.
Mi-Go #1: "Hey you wanna see a real sucker?"
Mi-Go #2: "Sure."
{sound of switches being fliped and volume adjusted}
Brain Cylinder #2578: "Akley? Are you there? When am I going to meet your friends? Are we to Pluto yet?"
Mi-Go's #1 & #2 "Bwah! Ha-hahahaha!"
Mi-Go #2: "I gotta get one of those!"
Bob
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
If someone ever dares you to read the Necronomicon out loud... just say no.
|
|
|
|
old book
|
|
« Reply #54 on: August 31, 2011, 01:39:10 PM » |
|
LOL. Do you need batteries?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
We live on a placid Rhode Island and Providence Plantations of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of an infinity of dark foreigners, and it was not meant that we should voyage too far.
|
|
|
|
JulieH
|
|
« Reply #55 on: August 31, 2011, 02:04:17 PM » |
|
There all stupid, the only one with any brains turns out to be one of the monsters Except Henry Armitage and his friends Rice and Morgan. They're definitely the "A team" of Lovecraft. Back in Whisperer, at least Akeley seemed to realize that staying put was a bad idea, and struggled with it. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Bob Lovecraft
|
|
« Reply #56 on: September 01, 2011, 08:32:25 AM » |
|
I kind of wonder about Akley's refusal to GTFO when the Mi-Go started showing up. At the beginning, yeah I can see it: Hell no I'm not going, they're the invaders! But later on, when he starts going through dogs left and right and the things start landing on his house? Yeah, time to pack up and move in with the kids. It made me wonder if the Mi-Go were actually influencing him to stay where he was. They were confident that in time they would be able to pickle him, but if he ran for the hills (or in this case FROM the hills) they might never find him, and he could cause them all sorts of trouble. So I have to wonder...
Bob
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
If someone ever dares you to read the Necronomicon out loud... just say no.
|
|
|
|
JulieH
|
|
« Reply #57 on: September 01, 2011, 12:21:03 PM » |
|
It's a recurrent theme in Lovecraft's oevre of people not just not being willing to GTFO, but actually not being able to leave. Happened in Colour, too. I don't know whether it's that sense of "this is my house!" or inertia or mind control, or just rationalizing away how bad things are getting until it's WAY too late to get out from under.
Akeley does talk about how he's lived in the house a long time, his wife died there, he had kids there - he has a lot invested in his home emotionally. And he's ...well... old - and that makes it harder to get up and change your life dramatically. (at least, back in the day it did) We all get set in our ways, and like things "just so". Particularly when you know it's not just a vacation - once you're gone, you can't come back or the mi-go will get you.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Bob Lovecraft
|
|
« Reply #58 on: September 01, 2011, 01:02:03 PM » |
|
It's a recurrent theme in Lovecraft's oevre of people not just not being willing to GTFO, but actually not being able to leave. Happened in Colour, too. I don't know whether it's that sense of "this is my house!" or inertia or mind control, or just rationalizing away how bad things are getting until it's WAY too late to get out from under.
Akeley does talk about how he's lived in the house a long time, his wife died there, he had kids there - he has a lot invested in his home emotionally. And he's ...well... old - and that makes it harder to get up and change your life dramatically. (at least, back in the day it did) We all get set in our ways, and like things "just so". Particularly when you know it's not just a vacation - once you're gone, you can't come back or the mi-go will get you.
True, but Akley KNEW the consequences of staying, and most of us don't. Say you decide to stay in a home during a catastrophic hurricane or volcanic event. For all you know, your house might make it through just fine, or maybe get really messed up, but in your heart, you never really believe you won't be around to pick up the pieces. Akely, on the other hand, knew EXACTLY the kinds of things he was dealing with and that to stay would mean eventually being destroyed by the things in the hills. He had seen the dead animals and the enthralled or subverted (in his mind) human agents and had evidence to back it all up. There was no real ambiguity to possible conseque3nces here. That is why I have to say that it was either a mental influence or a case of getting what he deserved for his hubris in staying there. Either way, a total dumb-ass! Bob |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
If someone ever dares you to read the Necronomicon out loud... just say no.
|
|
|
fishy
Unhinged
Posts: 159
Esoteric Order of Dagon: Norwegian Chapter
|
|
« Reply #59 on: September 01, 2011, 03:16:14 PM » |
|
It's a recurrent theme in Lovecraft's oevre of people not just not being willing to GTFO, but actually not being able to leave. Happened in Colour, too. I don't know whether it's that sense of "this is my house!" or inertia or mind control, or just rationalizing away how bad things are getting until it's WAY too late to get out from under.
Akeley does talk about how he's lived in the house a long time, his wife died there, he had kids there - he has a lot invested in his home emotionally. And he's ...well... old - and that makes it harder to get up and change your life dramatically. (at least, back in the day it did) We all get set in our ways, and like things "just so". Particularly when you know it's not just a vacation - once you're gone, you can't come back or the mi-go will get you.
True, but Akley KNEW the consequences of staying, and most of us don't. Say you decide to stay in a home during a catastrophic hurricane or volcanic event. For all you know, your house might make it through just fine, or maybe get really messed up, but in your heart, you never really believe you won't be around to pick up the pieces. Akely, on the other hand, knew EXACTLY the kinds of things he was dealing with and that to stay would mean eventually being destroyed by the things in the hills. He had seen the dead animals and the enthralled or subverted (in his mind) human agents and had evidence to back it all up. There was no real ambiguity to possible conseque3nces here. That is why I have to say that it was either a mental influence or a case of getting what he deserved for his hubris in staying there. Either way, a total dumb-ass! Bob I think that Harry Truman (of Mt. St. Helens fame, no the president) would have disagreed on that one ! |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
I say to you againe, doe not call up Any that you can not put downe; by the Which I meane, Any that can in Turne call up somewhat against you, whereby your Powerfullest Devices may not be of use. Ask of the Lesser, lest the Greater shall not wish to Answer, and shall commande more than you.
|
|
|
|
