Posted: 3/29/2004 12:25:25 PM EDT
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My friend had to do an analisys of a story told to her by someone for an english class. Se decided to analyize My telling of piccolo's antics with the Seeing Eye Cat. After she finised it and turned it in she asked me to post it here and get your responses since it was really an analysis of AR15.com as a whole. Her only request is for you not to correct her grammar since she has already turned it in. So here is the SEC analyized... [Notso]’s story about the seeing-eye cat is, with some considerations, a good example of a local character anecdote. Properly speaking, a local character anecdote typically relates short episodes about the character rather than a string of episodes, but since Aaron treated them as one narrative having a common theme I intend to do the same. Another consideration is that since these stories come from, and primarily circulate within, a web-based community it suggests that the traditional definitions of community, especially as applied to this genre of folklore, be rethought. Aside from these considerations, “The Seeing-Eye Cat” portrays many of the characteristics of a local character anecdote. It is an interesting contrast to note that the “deviant” behavior consists more in doing things that AR15.com members would like to do than in doing things of which they as a group actually disapprove. While members of his community may roll their eyes at some of his antics, they are also very proud of his abilities at mascot and wit. This is seen particularly well in the incident where Piccolo effectively hoodwinks a hostile news reporter. [Notso] said, “He [Piccolo] is held in almost mythical rapport with the group. We all are in awe of him for the kind of stuff he not only thinks up, but…does.” This rather universal, if somewhat dubious, acceptance of Piccolo by the members of AR15.com makes him a character more in the manner of those described by Catherine Peck in “Local Character Anecdotes Down East” than the Taylors described by Patrick Mullen. One of the unique things about this story is that it questions the usual conception of community associated with local character anecdotes. Both Peck and Mullen describe small, often somewhat isolated communities that are unified geographically and ideologically. Being a web-based community means that AR15.com is neither isolated, geographically unified, nor, by all accounts, small. Yet if you talk to any of the members you realize that, despite being spread across several countries, they have a strong sense of community. After all, for Piccolo to function as a mascot he must have something to represent. For anyone having some familiarity with firearms the name AR15.com instantly identifies that web-site as a hang out for gun aficionados. But after talking to Aaron I found that there is much more to the group’s identity than a common love of guns. The people of AR15.com have specific ideas about how the Constitution should be interpreted, the role of government in our lives, the role of the citizen, how to approach the status quo, and how men and woman can prepare for and impact the future. Additionally, they have the common bond of standing together against a society that vilifies guns without reference to the people using them and would deny as far as possible our right to use firearms for recreation or self-defense. In short, they have an ideology and common experience that creates a community, which therefore makes AR15.com members capable of producing their own folklore. In trying to step away from the community as a group to focus on [Notso]’s feelings toward this story I found that his views are essentially the same as those held by the group. [Notso] said one reason he particularly likes this story is that it is all about manipulating people’s assumptions. It is rather interesting to note that no one, not the person selling tickets at the theater, not the lady at the toll-booth, not the police who pull Piccolo over, and, arguably, not even the reporter, stops to seriously question why a blind man is driving on the road, going to movies, or shooting with his buddies. This is just the sort of mental dormancy that annoys Aaron when it’s carried into debate or academia and delights him when he can laugh over the harmless lunacy it causes. The subtleness of Piccolo’s antics is another aspect that appeals to [Notso]. Most everyone has seen a person with a guide animal, and there is no reason why a blind man may not go to a movie if he so chooses. As a culture we have been taught to treat such people, and their animal helpers, with a measure of deference. Yet this custom of courtesy becomes hilarious when we can no longer question a “handicapped” person in spite of most unusual circumstances. In many ways [Notso] seems to identify with Piccolo’s antics. Here is one example. Knowing that I tend to be just a bit absent-minded concerning my surroundings, and knowing that I could inadvertently walk into unpleasant situations that way, he will occasionally pop out of unexpected places in an effort to make me more aware. (That, at least, is his official explanation.) I may assume I’m safe and that I know my surroundings, but Aaron’s surprises challenge those assumptions and compel me to pay more attention to my environment. Like Piccolo, [Notso]’s actions can be interpreted on two different levels. On one level he just wants to get a good laugh out of the startled look on my face, but on a second and equally valid level he is attempting to challenge my preconceived ideas. I had actually heard a portion of “The Seeing-eye Cat” when [Notso] gave me a ride home from school a few days before the story-telling session. During the session at my house it came up about midway through the exchange. Aside from the numerous jokes, most the stories my friends had told up to this point had either been about themselves or people they knew, which is typical since neither Steven nor the Short brothers tend to care for “untrue” stories unless they happen to be funny as well. As I have indicated, this story was offered as an extension on a theme that had been established early in the session where each one seemingly tried to go one better than the previous story-teller. This particular story though is one [Notso] doesn’t feel comfortable telling around just anyone. He believes that many of the themes that make this story so amusing could also be misinterpreted as showing disrespect to physically disabled people and therefore offend people who are unable to enjoy the underlying themes. [Notso] told me that he therefore doesn’t tell the story to everyone because some people might find it offensive that Piccolo is masquerading in the guise of a blind man. Consequently, you’ll only here this story from him if he knows you and your sense of humor rather well. From [Notso] said I get the sense that this story, and others from AR15.com., don’t stray far from their origin, tending to circulate primarily among the immediate friends and family of community members. edited to add paragraph breaks -DF |
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Culturally this story has a great deal of resonance. While discussing the story’s meaning for [Notso] I learned a lot about how the group as a whole views Piccolo and how his antics embody or reflect the community’s values and desires. The people at AR15.com don’t want to let anyone off easy. What [Notso] said of himself is true of the group. They enjoy challenging people’s assumptions by forcing them to actually think about what they are seeing or hearing instead of just passively assimilating it. That is one of the main reasons AR15.com members enjoy the story of Piccolo’s seeing-eye cat. We are taught how to respond to the needs of disabled people with respect, but to turn off our brains when we do so is not necessary. In a way this story is exposing the secret awkwardness most of us feel when confronted with an usual situation such as a blind man attending a movie with his seeing-eye cat. Often we compensate by not asking questions of the disabled, which we have been taught is rude, and by bending certain rules of etiquette, society, or the establishment wherein we meet them. This can easily carry over to our interactions in politics as well, which is most likely the larger point. If our politeness and sense of awkwardness or inadequacy can keep us from challenging the absurdity of a blind man driving down the road with the guidance of his see-eye cat, or any other animal, then perhaps it can prevent us from challenging other absurdities we come upon in politics or society at large. By challenging indifference and mental dormancy on a small scale, Piccolo is questioning our ability to discern and think on a larger scale. The scene with Piccolo and the reporter provides another example of this story’s cultural richness by combining aspects of the esoteric/exoteric function of the local character anecdote with Piccolo’s role as mascot. There are two specific incidents mentioned in the Piccolo/reporter episode that are part of the AR15.com member’s common identity. The first is Piccolo’s participation in a shooting club. At the most basic level, AR15.com membership and identity centers on having a hearty appreciation for firearms and the right to use them; it is this core identity that the reporter attacked in his article on Piccolo’s shooting club. This attack only reinforces the community’s feelings of living an endangered lifestyle liable to the hostility of those who would deny them their rights under the Second Amendment. Since the conflict concerns the interpretation of the Constitution, which guarantees citizens the right to bear arms, it goes beyond any basic us versus them to becomes an issue of which group truly supports and embodies America. AR15.com member’s, of course, feel that they are the true Americans trying to save the country from people who would take away our rights on one pretext or another, while the other side, in this case the town media, argues just as vigorously against them with the conviction that they know what is best for America. Naturally, in light of their own sense of identity and purpose, the people of AR15.com have come to view the media as primarily a hostile group with little understanding of the Constitution and very little reasoning capability period. In his own encounter with the reporter, Piccolo embodies that large scale tension on a smaller, local scale. His basic identity is threatened by a reporter who says that Piccolo’s shooting club is training a paramilitary force who wants to take over the country –it doesn’t matter that this is a groundless accusation to make about a bunch of retired veterans. Yet at the end of this episode Piccolo and his seeing-eye cat prevail over the hostile reporter. The reporters own gullibility and eagerness to grab a story makes him a laughingstock not just once, but twice. The first time being when Piccolo himself led the reporter along with his story, and the second time occurring amid his colleagues when he discovered the folks over at AR15.com laughing at the hoax Piccolo had pulled on the very reporter who had made he and his friends look so bad in the news. A story like this would have great meaning for any group who felt marginalized or threatened. It tells members of AR15.com that while their detractors may seem to have the power, ultimately the nature that makes possible the outsider’s hostility can be turned against them to bring about their own downfall. Overall “The Seeing-eye Cat” is the story of one man representing his community. Often times even his absurd antics are merely the workings out of some other person’s arm-chair fantasy. He does the things that most of the people of AR15.com only wish they had the guts to do, and in doing so embodies the conflicts, values, and concerns of the community. Whether Piccolo claimed to have a seeing-eye cat or a seeing-eye parrot is inconsequential to the ultimate message of the story. Gun owners are good and smart. People against gun ownership just don’t have their heads on the right way and will eventually be overcome by the rightness and cleverness of gun owners like those at AR15.com. Absurdity is good when gives you a laugh and compels people to stop passively viewing their environment. By affirming and enacting these basic aspect of AR15.com’s worldview Piccolo acts as their mascot. They may laugh at his absurd antics and roll their eyes at his hoaxes, but no one will deny his importance to their identity. [Changed My name to make me look innocent] added paragraph breaks -DF |