#yeah of course That's who's relatable; never the like supposedly aspirational and/or peak relatable central/main characters

[unproduciblesmackdown]

mused on some thesis about how billions uses Indignity to illustrate that something someone does has failed / gone wrong in one way or another, and how the way this punishment is an Emotional one means that it can't land if the character just doesn't Feel that punished by it, or at least doesn't like attribute the supposed failure to something inherent enough to them to particularly stew on it, see for example people heightening/escalating their efforts to embarass someone if even that person doesn't Seem to sufficiently externally react in embarassment. winston able to truck along while (a) consciously crafting or maintaining some persona, of eternal and irrefutable dignity or whatever else is associated with "merit"/status, isn't much of a priority, when to him his skills speak for themself even though to others this is about their own merit in recognizing independently if winston's skills Happen to have use, and putting him down if he tries to speak to that anyways, and (b) he's also just able to move along from L's handed to him, whether he thinks it was warranted (like that he'll accept it doesn't count if he only thought it but didn't say it) or not (why can't you count to loyalty), when even if this resilience To How Others Treat Him isn't exactly peak realistic, that he thinks of himself in such a way that he doesn't need to be striving for some paramount official status, or think he's defined by never failing or indeed never possibly able to be seen within a "wow undignified / embarassing" framework so long as this winningness is recognized, or so long as anything is anything, is sure feasible enough.

but anyways thought about it like this thesis is just "i am cringe but i am free" like yeah that works

#winston billions #just lifelong recognition that like the [the way they are means they generate comedy] type like peripheral characters are the ones like #yeah of course That's who's relatable; never the like supposedly aspirational and/or peak relatable central/main characters #and that can extend easily enough to the [basically just a running joke] Outlier Single Weirdo Always Just Doing Their Own Thing #like boy we all know people like that huh eyesrollingemoji like yeah. we sure do lol #but also like I Love You any time smthing using comedy is like; look: Everyone is funny & ''weird'' & ''uncool'' & ''doing things wrong'' #like yeah they and we are lol #billions is creating what we Get to see or hear of in the first place / what info we get; how a character is shown to us.... #and boy it just so happens that the characters who aren't epic enough to be brought further into the center of things #also just so happen to inadvertently or advertently Spontaneously share more info abt themselves for ppl to have negative reactions to #while we may be ''surprised'' that axe sucks b/c huh wasn't he so externally epic seeming???? like on what planet; first of all.... #meanwhile winston is not here to be like as ambitious as possible & is more like. sometimes he'll play around; since he's here.... #but this joie de vivre spontaneity is never Cool(tm) of him & maybe he'd be Cooler if he was like (scrolling) ''beneath me; beneath me...'' #(he would not be lol. he's not allowed; fundamentally! it's not Merit in there or out here. nobody has a Deserved greater Air of Dignity) #(but he's getting to have a bit more fun now and then; he'd be punished for his inherent inferiority anyways. and even if like #basically his continuing to be present; continuing to choose to do shit; unacceptably flies in the face of the theory that someone's #inherent superiority will just Make It So that inferior ppl are shunted out of their way or w/e; means that ppl lash out about that by at #least trying to momentarily take Whatever away from him: positive emotional motivation; space to speak unpunished much less be listened to; #space to guaranteed have a Presence unpunished &/or unignored....like well that's the tradeoff to that versus if he tried going for the #tradeoff of much lower highs on average and maybe slightly higher lows on average. not up to You The Individual to simply ''correctly'' #strategize your way out of anyways. e.g. rian has to Choose to treat him with basic respect for his being a person. or someone else has to #Choose to intervene in such a way that lends enough support to winston / thwarts the means with which rian can torment him.) #and in the meantime he apparently can only be peripheral & [funny; little] b/c his Dignity is low stakes. no Arc to ''restore'' it in eithe #anyone else's eyes or much more usually the character's own perception of themself. winston will just be like eh yeah i suck then lol #(when like basically the way He Sucks that ppl give him shit for = his being autistic like ofc he can only roll with / ''accept'' that) #and then he can go whee yippee wahoo & have a blood orange flavored doughnut & ppl can go my god if i were him i'd die #mafee i guess exemplifying this too. Generally able to scuff his foot on the ground like aw gee :( yeah i effed up cringefail style huh #and then move on without it really being much of a whole damn thing. even though it's also Often abt taylor likewise being the one like #[head in hands over mafee fucking up having the collateral or direct damage for them] but they're not here to be fueled by grudges #& ofc this all being Perspective; everyone in billions Is cringefailing lol; but not everyone gets continual [joke at their expense] for it