Footloose Comic
I think it might actually be a tradition in stories for people to undergo significant personality shifts while under the effects of alcohol. Part of this admittingly is truth in advertising; alcohol is a depressant which can loosen the inhibitions of those affected (which doesn’t necessarily mean that every drunk person will be silly and light-hearted; stories of otherwise good-natured people becoming “mean drunks” are as often seen as serious people becoming airheads). Early into the latest chapter of the contemporary fantasy Footloose, one character stated she was going to get Keti’s friends, the twin werewolves Jin and Daniel, drunk. Thus while Keti might have been dumbfounded to see Daniel behaving much like his sister (affectionate, expressive, and flighty), it seemed to be par for the course. Yet even knowing the tropes and traditions behind drunken antics, I wasn’t prepared to see a serious and sardonic Jin.
What’s more interesting than Jin taking her brother’s place personality-wise is in Jin’s wording in responding to Keti’s complaint over Daniel trying to set her up with another girl (An, whom Keti had a huge crush on while she thought An was a guy, and who now is causing some rather conflicted emotions in Keti that haven’t been fully expressed). Rather than snarking about boys wanting to see two girls together, Jin instead comments on her brother is “picking up on lesbian subtext.” This suggests to me that Jin likewise has “picked up on” Keti’s own conflicted feelings over An, and feels these feelings are romantic in nature. I’m left to wonder if Keti is whimpering in that last panel out of shock of seeing her best friend as a mean drunk… or because of what Jin just hinted: that she too sees “lesbian context” in Keti’s repressed feelings about An.
This isn’t just wishful thinking on a drunk Daniel’s part either. I suspect that subconsciously, part of Keti still “thinks” of An as a guy; while I don’t recall any scenes with Keti showering with her classmates, her reaction when she runs into An in the showers seems to be more than just body-shyness. Considering An was already fairly androgynous even when she was pretending to be a boy, it’s likely Keti will be struggling with feelings for An for some time to come. What’s more, writer Alice Nuttall once stated for the record that Footloose was going to be more ambiguous about sexuality than other stories (citing Willow’s 180 degree flip in sexual preference in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an example of what she wanted to avoid). Also, it’s a sign of good storytelling that Keti’s feelings didn’t vanish the second An was revealed (literally) to be female… and for her friends to pick up on those emotions.
Of course, there were also signs that Daniel was feeling attracted to An even when he thought An was a guy (which was probably one reason he kept pushing at being An’s rival), so it has to be both a relief and a burden to him that An is female. A relief since he doesn’t have to deal with unwelcome sexuality issues, and a burden since he now has to figure out what to do.
I actually suspect that Daniel is attracted to both Keti and An. While An was thought to be a guy, and Keti was interested in “him”, Daniel could safely be just friends with Keti, and rivals with An. Now that An is revealed and Keti is confused they are both potentially available. But given Daniel’s last encounter with dating he might have felt safer when they were safe from consideration.
So while Daniel was definitely being boorish there, there may have been some subtext to that as well. One, he is trying to figure out if Keti is still interested in An, which could make his friend happy and put them both safely out of reach again, two, indicating that he is attracted to both of them.
I’m not sure if Daniel is attracted that way to Keti. Of course, considering his normal behavior, it would be difficult to determine from his actions… but he seemed much more shocked at seeing An as a girl (in the dress that is) than he ever did around Keti.
You might very well be right about An however. ^^ That would explain a bit… might even make for an interesting dynamic in the dojo with Daniel pulling his blows because subconsciously he doesn’t want to hurt An.
Rob H.
An interesting comic on this vein is this one. Just because something is a joke doesn’t mean it is incorrect.
Really, I’ll admit that the primary evidence for Dan having any feelings beyond friendship for Keti is his jealous reactions regarding An, which could just as easily be explained by his feelings regarding An. There is also a comic where Jin specifically states that Dan wasn’t interested in her, but that was also in the first day or two of her being there, too. Over all though, Dan’s comment about being very happy is the most direct interest Dan has ever shown in Keti, so it is pretty much wild speculation for that.
Also since it hadn’t been mentionned, it also seems possible that An does like Daniel. An was completely horrified when Daniel thought that she was about to molest Jin, the only time in the whole comic where An has been flustered. See this comic for more signs. No big flashing neon sign, but upon some rereading it does look like An cares a lot about Dan’s opinion.
For completeness, I could mention Iordan seeming to have a thing for Keti, but that one does have a bit of a neon sign associated with it.
I think that An’s reaction to being accused of molesting Jin was more because she was accused of molesting someone. If An has shown any “interest” in anyone, then it’s Keti. And that could easily be explained as the fact An doesn’t have friends at the Dojo… and Keti allowed her a chance to actually have someone she could call “friend.”
Indeed, she may be uncomfortable with the idea of Keti having romantic feelings toward her not because of the thought of a lesbian relationship or the like… but because she doesn’t want to lose the only female friend (or only friend, period) she has at the Dojo.
There is no need to assign romantic feelings to something that can be explained as simple friendship. ^^
However, I am willing to speculate that Keti is required to have romantic feelings toward An, even if she’d rather not… but the reasoning behind that is hidden in the prequel fanfic that Ally and Emily wrote. =^-^=
Rob H.
No need? When does need have to come into relationship speculating?
Now I agree that An is probably just showing friendship towards Keti. What bothers me with An and Daniel is why An continued to be so reluctant about the duel? Perhaps An was aware of the properties of Daniel’s weapon, or perhaps it was because her disguising magic would be officially illegal there. But, on another level, for a fighter, the duel would have been a clear way to defend An’s good name. Winning should have been important to An. There was something more than embarrassment weighing on An, causing her to be depressed. If An was worried about the risk to her secret it would have been nervousness, not depression. To my mind the person whose mind was least likely to be changed one way or another by the outcome of the duel was Daniel. Therefore Daniel is the person whose opinion she is most worried about. Might be about friendship, but they weren’t really friends before the incident.
One more tidbit to put out there. An is obviously wearing her costume as a statement, “Yes, I’m a girl, really!” The question is who is she hoping will get that message?
For that, I’m going to guess that it is a result of An’s past. We’ve seen more than sufficient evidence that An was involved in illicit activities to say the least, or was a pirate to out-and-out speculate before she was caught and took “exile to the Dojo” rather than being sent to the Mortal Realm. It could be that An helped the authorities in some way and that was why she was given that choice, rather than just being exiled outright.
Perhaps the steps that started down the path to An’s redemption and path away from piracy was a duel… which didn’t go well. Someone An cares for may have been hurt during the potential duel (or even killed). And as a result, An and Kharis left the “trade” (only for Kharis to get snared back in once again at her former Captain’s request).
It could even have been for something as simple as a mere misunderstanding. ^^
Thus An went into the duel with Daniel knowing it was for a stupid reason and not wanting to hurt Daniel… but having to defend her honor. And knowing also that Daniel was going to go in full-bore, so she couldn’t hold back. Because ultimately… An blames herself for not protecting Jin from the Mecha. If she’d been there… but what-ifs and maybes don’t matter.
BTW… An was likely pretending to be a boy while a pirate. Or whatever she was doing back before the Dojo.
(*shakes fist at Ally and Emily for doing such an effective job of pulling the wool over our eyes on An’s gender* You know how many times I had to correct my typing “he” to “she”? Ah well. ^^;; )
Anyway… maybe she’s dressed up as a girl now because after all that time pretending to be a guy (and even after being exposed to the Dojo as a girl she’s still dressed fairly masculinely) she felt like dressing up. I mean, why not? ^^
Rob H.
Well, I’m going to assume from the amount of words like maybe, guess and perhaps that you are at least conceeding that it is a possible interpretation if not the one you are personally in favor of. Personally, when it comes to teenagers I’m likely to assume hormones before most other interpretations ;->. And for the record it wasn’t a big surprise for me when An was found to be female, I won’t say I knew it before then, but I had considered it a very strong possibility. It is not certain that An likes Daniel or even that Daniel likes An, but don’t be too surprised if it comes out later.