[ SECRET POST #2473 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2473 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 012 secrets from Secret Submission Post #353.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

07. http://i44.tinypic.com/qqe2hg.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, but here's a lesson to us, watching him:

Some people are assholes, and nothing you do or say and try is going to make them any less innately assholery. That's their programming.

[morieris]

Pretty much.

[bored_bitch]

THIS.

Not everyone's going to "see the error of their ways" just because someone accomplishes something.

That's just reality, for you.

[lynx]

^+1

What matters is that RALPH was able to be happy with himself, and make valuable friends inside his own game, and on other games too. So honestly, if Gene is still a bitter asshole by the end of the movie, it shouldn't matter to Ralph. There are others that have his back, he's not alone, and he doesn't need to be liked by ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE to feel accomplished and loved.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes. I saw this in the first place because it was 12am and the person I live with had just gone to bed after another screaming, swearing, door-slamming tirade, and I had to get out of the house and do *something* remotely positive. I wasn't expecting anything beyond cute video-game references.

And I ended up at a movie whose message was 'Eventually you're going to find a place in life where you're accepted and valued, but you might have to break out of your comfort zone to do it'.

I'm always going to have a soft spot for WIR, if only for that.

[lynx]

I'm sorry about your housemate, Anon. *offers hugs if wanted.*

WIR was a big surprise for me too, I wasn't expecting anything about it either, and by the end I was legit crying. Good movie, good characters, good message. TBH, I don't think kids will get half the references, or the message of the movie. I feel like the last 3D movies by Disney/Pixar are deep down meant for our generation. WIR, Toy Story 3, Monsters Uni...

But I disgress. I'm glad the movie ended up as something valuable for you, and I hope things get better for you soon. (Even if you have to break out of your comfort zone to reach that place. It'll be worth it, I promise.)

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the kind thoughts; I'm working on it.

I'm hopeful that WIR will be one of the movies for this generation's kids that they can enjoy on one level now, then come back to in later years with new eyes. I know there are a few like that from my childhood.

[lynx]

OH! Absolutely! I'm sorry if it seemed like I wrote it in an elitist way, that was not my intention at all! Though I do reckon a lot of the videogame references are kinda dated for most children to get it, and I'm not sure if they'll have enough cultural relevance to be noticeable when those same children grow up and watch the movie again. I was born in 1988 and a lot of the references, I got them because I had the MAME32 emulator, not because I actually got to play the games at an arcade. The message, though, is universal :3

[(Anonymous)]

No offense was taken; I really do see that layered appeal as a plus of the movie. As for the video game references, I doubt I caught all of them myself, but that's another thing that encourages repeated watchings.

[cakemage]

Yeah, I agree. What I got out of it was that there are always going to be assholes who could change for the better but won't 'cause they're assholes, and that you have to accept that and not let their assholery keep you down and hold you back. It's a hard but necessary lesson to learn about life, and I think that WIR portrayed that well, even if they didn't consciously intend to.

[mekkio]

I think the lesson he learned was to accept who he was. Just because he was a bad guy, it didn't make him a bad guy.

[(Anonymous)]

They mean the guy who was circled, not Ralph.

[belacqua]

I didn't feel like we were supposed to see Gene as having grown?

[sootyowl]

I don't think every one had a lesson to give. If anything, I first replier anon would be right.

[(Anonymous)]

He's a supporting character.

[iggy]

Gene was a pretty minor character. I don't think he was really intended to have a character arc. He was just... kind of a jerk.

[world_eater]

I never understood how exactly the Nicelanders changed their minds. I assume it was because Felix suddenly was nice to Ralph, but genuinely notice their mistakes? How? When? Why?

[(Anonymous)]

I'm guessing either
A) Realizing that the situation hurt Ralph badly enough that he'd run away struck home a bit of genuine empathy, or
B) Realizing that like him or not, the game would get shut down if he wasn't there doing his part, so it was in their best interest to treat him like part of the team.

Individual Nicelanders could well have had either of these viewpoints, or various combinations thereof.

[bored_bitch]

I always viewed the grand majority of them as simply being naive to who Ralph really is.
They seem pretty confused and scared, the way Ralph was acting at the penthouse party. Like they didn't know what to feel about that.

Gene was really the only one outright acting aggressively towards him and being a jerk.

So they very well may have went "Hey, Ralph saved us! He saved someone else's game, too! He seems to have a good heart, so let's treat him better."

[(Anonymous)]

I think I can explain (but not excuse) Gene's behavior during the movie, because it's just as much Ralph's fault as Gene's that they acted and reacted the ways they did. (TL;DR at the bottom)

It's heavily implied that the attitude Ralph gave Gene at the party -huffy, grumpy, and a touch of entitled to being invited to any event occurring in his game- is based upon past experiences of the Nicelanders and Ralph butting heads, and further backed by a pencil test showing that Ralph being invited in the past has only gone sour, seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nfeBsZNC-U (if the link doesn't work, look up "wreck-it ralph gene pencil test" on youtube)

The art book also says that Gene, being he voice of the Nicelanders, was the only one to stand up to Ralph's attitude and abrasiveness on the people's behalf; yes, Ralph was a bad guy, but I don't think that necessarily mattered to them- maybe it did, I didn't see any obvious villains at the anniversary party. You can't stand up to him physically, so verbal aggression and, yes, asshole-ish behavior is their only option. Gene COULD HAVE directly told Ralph that his selfish, entitled behavior and bad temper were why they drove him away, and he probably has, but how are you supposed to word that in a way that won't cause someone you already have animosity with to brush it off?

Gene pointed out that Ralph was flawed, but he did it in a counterproductive way. It took their game being in danger and Ralph completely missing the point of why he had to get a medal to understand that the Nicelanders pushed him away not because of his position in the game, but because he lacked the personality traits that made a person good or redeemable despite his bad guy status. I'm pretty sure if they weren't at BadAnon, at Bowser and Dr. Robotnik/Eggman would've been invited to that party (of course that's just personal opinion.)

Gene probably figured that, after thirty years and seeing the big guy game jump during closing hours, that Ralph would get the message on what differentiated him and Felix other than their opposing positions, why people prefer good guys over bad. It's a logical possibility that he assumed Ralph KNEW that medals were symbolic for something more than a prize you got at the end of the game, and in making that assumption he (but mostly Ralph) put the game in danger. Based on two moments in the story ("is he serious?" "Of course he's not serious! Where's a bad guy going to get a medal?" and "Well, you finally went and did it...") it's likely that this isn't the first time Gene's challenged him either, or that Ralph bluffed about it before.

The Nicelanders aren't above mending broken bridges, though; after all, they gave him his very own cake at the end, and threw a party with him and all his friends invited too. Rich Moore once said that they cut out a scene in the film where Ralph and Gene made up right before Litwak pulled off the Out of Order sign, but unfortunately for that I don't have empirical evidence(might've been on Reddit).

TL;DR: Gene was a jerk, yes, but only because he was trying to give Ralph the answer to a better work relationship in the wrong way; challenging him to prove he was worthy of being called a good person without thinking the wrecker would take his wording literally, and rather than being angry at him, he was simply disappointed.

At least, that's how I see it.