But they do have bars, because when you live in an eternal present a bar is not a bad place to be. It’s a place for enjoying life in the moment. It makes sense that a bar is the main social institution of Dixing.
I find this very interesting! This is also very much making me think of saloons and speakeasies, with the associations of lawlessness and distrust (or refusal) of government authority.
There's something that feels simultaneously very communal and very individualistic about a bar, and particularly about the Dixing bar.
the bar is a social institution that doesn’t require time.
And also maybe a social institution that doesn't require a sense of being a community and affiliation. (But I'm not at the episode yet!).
There also doesn’t seem to be any historical memory, other than vague mentions of Alliance times. I assume things were better before the Hallows were lost, but I don’t hear a lot of Dixingian talk about the Good Old Days. There are no empty schools and crumbling old hospitals. The awful of the present seems to be the only world they know.
I wonder if a part of it is a deliberate erasure of history -- I'm not sure why that would be, though. Or maybe it's a relic of the novels, where it makes a lot more sense given that Dixing is really the underworld.
But there’s a seed of redemption hidden there, because if nothing is ever in the past because time never moves forward then any love that ever existed can never be lost.
I do agree it's a seed of redemption, but I think I actually find this as terrifying as the other things you listed! Because that also means that you can never let go of more destructive or painful kinds of love, either.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2020-07-19 06:07 pm (UTC)I find this very interesting! This is also very much making me think of saloons and speakeasies, with the associations of lawlessness and distrust (or refusal) of government authority.
There's something that feels simultaneously very communal and very individualistic about a bar, and particularly about the Dixing bar.
the bar is a social institution that doesn’t require time.
And also maybe a social institution that doesn't require a sense of being a community and affiliation. (But I'm not at the episode yet!).
There also doesn’t seem to be any historical memory, other than vague mentions of Alliance times. I assume things were better before the Hallows were lost, but I don’t hear a lot of Dixingian talk about the Good Old Days. There are no empty schools and crumbling old hospitals. The awful of the present seems to be the only world they know.
I wonder if a part of it is a deliberate erasure of history -- I'm not sure why that would be, though. Or maybe it's a relic of the novels, where it makes a lot more sense given that Dixing is really the underworld.
But there’s a seed of redemption hidden there, because if nothing is ever in the past because time never moves forward then any love that ever existed can never be lost.
I do agree it's a seed of redemption, but I think I actually find this as terrifying as the other things you listed! Because that also means that you can never let go of more destructive or painful kinds of love, either.