The Massive Continuity of Ducks

triflesandparsnips:

stede bonnet is weird about touch
The beginning of a four-part journey of overwhelming nonsense, featuring more research than was strictly necessary. But fuck it, here we go.
Figure 1. Local man commits to least possible physical interaction imaginable with new fiancee.
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Because it was driving me bananas that I was picking up on this thing that very few others seemed to notice, and also because I am desperate for a particular brand of hurt/comfort Stede-fic in this fandom:
I watched the entire series again and made up a bunch of charts detailing all the ways Stede is touched, touches others, and the degree of “closeness” of those touches.
You can find the finished product here – first page is an overview, and remaining pages are breakdowns of each episode, including notes. If I missed something, or you disagree with a classification, pop in a comment. (You can also see my progress and original notes here.)
Broadly, though:
Stede is both touch-starved and touch-sensitive. And you can see it on the screen.
Because there’s so much here, this essay got ridiculously fucking long. As such, I’ve divided it into four parts – links to each section will be at the bottom of each post, but I encourage people to engage with whatever part of it they want.
Why is this important, though? Why go to all this trouble?
I think this behavior tells so fucking much about Stede, and that understanding his relationship with touch is crucial to getting a more rounded idea of his character.
I’m this close to calling it criminal that we aren’t more thoroughly acknowledging how much nuanced work Rhys Darby and his various scene partners put into this, holy shit.
I want to see this in fic, damn it.
And with that, finally:
✨~My evidence, let me show you it.~✨
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1. Stede wants to be touched, but is afraid of it.
Stede expects either violence or withdrawal from loved ones (or ones he’s supposed to have a close relationship with, at any rate) if he’s done something to displease them.
Nearly every memory of Stede’s father involves this on some level: blood on Stede’s face (and castigating him for his squeamishness), yanking Stede’s arm, bending over and getting into his face specifically to yell at him, and not looking at Stede when Stede’s essentially asking for comfort prior to his marriage.
Some of Stede’s memories of Mary at the dinner table show her as angry and physically distant from him (regardless of whether that memory is an accurate one). This is repeated later in episode 10 when we see her and the children again on the opposite side of the table.
The anniversary gift scenes in episode 4 are particularly telling: When Stede gives Mary his gift, he starts by dropping to a kneel next to her, his arm up on the table near her – and then Mary, over the course of realizing what he’s done/doing, proceeds to retreat from him three times – once a little ways, then again farther to the other side of the chair, and then finally leaving her chair entirely to face him. As Mary does that, Stede mirrors her retreat, a few beats behind and in reaction to her withdrawal, finally standing from his kneel, curling into himself, and losing his consistent eye contact with her.
Figure 2. Totally okay and not-at-all concerning body language in response to an upset life partner.
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Originally posted by ierospit
Ed reinforces this belief when he leaves the Revenge with Jack (immediately after Stede has actually expressed anger at someone he believes is Ed’s friend).
Considering all this, when Ed almost immediately runs off to find a dinghy in episode 10, leaving Stede alone right after he’s participated in an act that’s transgressive on multiple counts (gay AND cheating on his wife, tsk tsk)… well. It may not be what Ed intended, but there’s a bit of Stede’s brain that thinks “Ed left; therefore I did something wrong.”
Interestingly, this means that Stede will sometimes initiate the withdrawal if he perceives that someone’s displeased with him.
This could be for a couple of reasons: if he does it first, it makes it a choice on his part rather than a rejection on theirs; likewise, if he does it first, then perhaps that might placate the other person (by removing his “wrongness” from their presence). Most likely it’s some kind of inseparable combination of the two. We see how this maladaptive practice bears out with:
Mary presenting Stede his anniversary gift. At the start of the scene, he stands next to her, leaning in slightly, with his hands to either side; when he realizes he’s insulted her, he doesn’t step away but he does clasp his hands in front of himself, effectively removing the possibility that he might accidentally touch her skin (or she, his).
Stede leaving Mary and the children.
Stede offering Ed a nature walk. Ed demurs (using language that implies Stede’s suggestion wouldn’t be acceptable to various people) and Stede actually subtly leans away from him as his smile drops. You can see it below, particularly if you keep an eye on his relation to the rope in the background between them.
Figure 3. The subtle tragedy of a man whose best friend has just said that maybe his interests aren’t actually that cool.
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Almost as soon as Ed lets go of Stede’s face following the beach kiss, there is a very slow distancing happening between the two of them.
Stede leaving Ed.
Finally, one of Stede’s ways of withdrawing from someone else’s “space” is by losing eye contact.
This is something he developed after childhood – while in flashbacks we see that tiny Stede holds eye contact solidly with Father Bonnet (and only turns his head away when he’s shocked by the goose’s violent death), by the start of the series he’s pretty awful with it (dropping his gaze when Olu shakes him; closing his eyes to hide from the Nigel “ghost”; eventually dropping his gaze when Mary yells at him about the model ship).
He improves over the course of the show and as he gains confidence, though it’s easiest to tell in scenes of threat/violence where he would previously have dropped his gaze– this includes his steady stare at Calico Jack when he orders him off the ship, his violent twist of Doug, and his anger at Mary after the murder attempt.
However, when he feels uncertainty, that trouble with eye contact comes back again… including, unfortunately when Ed asks him to run away to China.
Figure 4. Local baby gay in middle of sudden revelation as to own sexual orientation is faced with object of said revelation asking for a life-changing decision instead of just, like, double-checking the kissing thing some more
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Originally posted by mabellous
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ONWARDS:
-> Review the raw data and notes
-> Go to part 2: Stede will avoid touch to protect himself.
-> Go to part 3: Stede has found/developed “safe” ways to physically interact with people.
-> Go to part 4: The top three people who touch Stede, or who Stede touches, are Ed, Mary, and Izzy.

northernpansy:

obviously Ed was obsessed with Stede from day dot but i really think he didn’t realised he liked Stede specifically until the fancy boat party
like up until that point he really thought he was just enamoured with fancy rich person-ness and then he met all those other fancy rich people and was like “hang on i hate all of these people” which means his feelings for Stede aren’t because he’s a fancy rich person it’s because he’s Stede
i think he’s realising that in the moonlight scene and i think that’s when the plan to kill Stede and take his identity goes out the window, because he’s just realised that what’s making him happy isn’t Stede’s (thievable) class identity it’s (irreplaceably) Stede himself

stede bonnet is weird about touch

I watched the entire series again and made up a bunch of charts detailing all the ways Stede is touched, touches others, and the degree of “closeness” of those touches.

Stede is both touch-starved and touch-sensitive. And you can see it on the screen.

1. Stede wants to be touched, but is afraid of it.