Gunnerkrigg Court/Analysis: Difference between revisions

''Dualism is a major theme of the comic.''

 

Stibnite, her mother's surname, is an ore of antimony and sulfur. Alchemically, sulfur is one of Paracelsus' Three Primes, the Spirit of Life. Additionally, stibnite was used to make Kohl and Surma, eye-makeups known since antiquity (Annie, of course, is almost always seen with eye shadow).

 

 

Finally, like bismuth and lead, antimony is Alchemically considered a fairly base material. It is mundane. Notice that Antimony has a tendency to dispel the weirdness around her. She is generally unfazed by Mort. She is stiffly polite with those who shuttle souls to the next world. She is curious rather than intensely frightened when a dragonish creature crashes the roof of her dorm down upon her. When helping Mallt-y-Nos and the Moddey Dhoo, whatever she touches is unaffected by the boy's visions. She is able to dissipate the Nobodies and acts as a calming effect for Zimmy. In other words, Annie is a source of mundanity in the fantastic world of GC.

 

== The Court and Gillitie Wood are balanced opposites, representing opposing concepts. ==

* You are very observant, however you have yet to look a little deeper. Look at the treatise. Above both girls there is a symbol: Annie has an alchemical glyph (the one around her neck) that is symmetrical (i.e. organized), while Kat has one that is asymmetrical. It seems to me that Mr. Siddell is suggesting that the essence of both worlds are reversed: nature is apparently chaotic, but has a deep underlying organization, an order (think ecosystems), while human society, which is apparently based around order, is actually flawed and decaying into chaos (I'm thinking of depression, poverty, crime, etc). Look again, at the suns to the sides of the picture. The human one is looking towards the forest (i.e. outward expansion, conquest, both human traits), while nature's sun looks down, or has its eyes closed (introspection, self-organization, evolution). Man changes through expansion, nature changes through evolution. Addendum: This is only a personal analysis; I'm trying to justify all the time I've lost in literature class instead of studying dark matter; I'm not trying to push any ideals, either. I'm deeply in love with the human side of the world.

* It should be noted that the Technology vs. Nature divide is somewhat blurry, when you take into consideration the Court's [[The World Tree|Cherry Tree]], Ysengrin's using Robot 13 for his own ends, and the TicTocs (who seem to be [[Mechanical Lifeforms|both machine and animal]], and are not allied with the Court or the Wood).

The contrast between the darkness and the light does not map onto the aforementioned contrast between Gunnerkrigg and Gillitie, as both places are predominately dark, with specific places of light. Instead, illumination corresponds to revelations of truth. It also corresponds to danger: either physical danger, from some threat which is confronted in the light, or psychological danger from the unpleasant nature of the revelation. Thus, while darkness represents ignorance, it also represents safety: "ignorance is bliss".

* Strong light is deadly to the Glass-Eyed Men, and Shadow2 is prevented from returning to Gillitie by the lights illuminating the Annan Bridge.

* The first well-lit room we see is the artificial habitat room, containing [[The World Tree|the cherry tree]], in Chapter 6, "A Handful of Dirt". Here, Kat learns the depth of Antimony's [[Not So Stoic|pain]] over the loss of her parents. Though initially unpleasant, this leads to a deeper friendship between the two girls, and to Kat seeking help from her parents for Annie.

* In Chapter 7, "Of New and Old", Annie ventures onto the lit Annan Bridge herself, to learn if Robot S13 needs her help. She instead discovers that Robot has changed somehow; for her troubles she is pushed off the bridge. Eglamore arrives with a glowing sword, with which he kills the Shadow and dismembers Robot, but he is unable to save Annie.

* Chapter 17, "The Medium Beginning", sees Annie move from a darkened physics lab, to the somewhat brighter hallway, then to a sunny rooftop and a well-lit gymnasium. It's at the latter two where she learns of the history of Mediums in the Court, and of her mother's involvement. It's also on the rooftop where Jones, attempting to provoke Annie, claims that her father abandoned her because he doesn't care about her.

* Chapter 18, "S1", sees Antimony bringing illumination: first, using her blinker stone as a torch in the dark hallway, then by plugging in the floodlights in the arena. Similarly, Reynardine's glowing eyes illuminate the dark, just as he unintentionally reveals his concern for Antimony. It's in the lit arena that Kat accidentally activates Robot S1, causing the arrival of the menacing Bull-bot.

 

The other factor uniting all these incidents is that these revelations and hardships have made Annie and Kat wiser and stronger. Though the darkness is safer, the light is invariably better for them in the long run. As the story has progressed, the girls have become more proactive about seeking answers, and this has led them to spend more time in well-lit locales, rather than the shadowy halls of the early chapters.

* In the Second Treatise at the end of Chapter 14, she is depicted holding a torch.

* In the Third Treatise at the end of Chapter 22, she is depicted holding a fiery blinker stone, and with her hair turning into flame.

* Coyote refers to Annie as "fire head girl".

* When Muut describes how she is the only person who can help Jeanne, the illustration accompanying his monologue depicts Annie with a crown of fire.

* In the skirmish on the Annan Bridge, Eglamore attacked the Shadow-man, successfully preventing the abduction of Reynardine (and unsuccessfully attempting to save Annie). In the process, he seemingly killed Annie's friend, Robot S13.

* In contrast, during the skirmish at the parlay, we are given no reason to sympathize with Eglamore's foe, Ysengrin. However, Eggers' attack proves to be completely ineffective. Donald Donlan's and Reynardine's purely defensive maneuvers were what saved Annie's life.

* The practice sparring shown in Chapter 17, "The Medium Beginning", is positively portrayed. The Court doesn't teach the subject because swordsmanship is a useful skill in itself, but because "it instills a sense of self awareness and how to read an opponent's body language". When Eglamore spars, he goes on the offensive, and promptly loses to the unarmed Jones. (Interestingly, this spar is also about as [[Interplay of Sex and Violence|sexually-charged]] as a kid-friendly comic will allow.)

** The chapter's bonus page features Tea educating the audience about swords, reminding us that swords "serve as a physical metaphor for humanity's eternal, savage thirst for destruction!" The internet, meanwhile, completely misses the point and talks instead about how "[[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|I think swords are neat do you think swords are neat!!]]"

 

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[[Category:Gunnerkrigg Court]]

[[Category:Analysis]]