ext_38092 (
dogwoodblossom.livejournal.com) wrote in
indeedsir_backup2012-01-16 02:15 am
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Apropos of Nothing...Drones Club Discussion Question
I read a fic recently that had an offhand reference to the Drones Club Darts Tournament. This gist of it was that the Drones are all too stupid to realize that they wouldn't always have ties if they'd play an odd number of games. This is manifestly true, but the fic had Bertie grouped with the rest of the mentally negligible Drones. I know I've read the story about the tournament but I can't really remember it, but I know that the impression that I got from the show was that Bertie was well aware of the problem but that he and his partner were using it to tie on purpose and split the winnings when the other Drones inevitably lost their bets. But I have been known to make up backstory out of whole cloth before, so I'd like to hear other thoughts on the subject. Am I right about the show, and was that implication part of the original story?
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There is some serious WTFery in the tv show that doesn't occur in the books that just makes me want to bang my head on a desk. Superfluous blackface when it doesn't happen in canon comes to mind.
edited for oops
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But Bertie is always the smartest of the drones. Unlike, say Bingo, Bertie admits he falls in love with a profile, and right back out again. Bingo sees no worries with how he falls in and out of love, or drags his friends into situs and never learns anything.
I also think Bertie does grow after being exposed to Jeeves. Jeeves molds him, if you will, by being an example of what a brain is for. All the smart people in Bertie's life had been out for themselves, scheming to get this cow creamer or that woman, whatever. jeeves is the first person to come along and make things better for other people. He gets paid well and tipped, yes, but he doesn't do it for that reason. He does it to make Bertie happy.
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I'm sure that Bertie gets smarter because he's exposed to Jeeves. Jeeves is a lot more subtle about improving Bertie's mind than Florence could ever dream of being. And Jeeves does work toward Bertie's happiness most of the time (but not always). It's not that Jeeves isn't selfish -- you bet he is sometimes -- but that he does actually like Bertie, in a way that most of the people in Bertie's life just don't, and he really really wants to keep his cushy position with him, so he'll do whatever it takes to do that.
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As for Jeeves, I think Bertie's influence makes him more human, both in the books and on the show. I think in the very beginning all he wants is an easily manipulated master who doesn't fuss a lot and will wear what he lays out for him. Hearing about the many positions he's had before, he strikes me as a (very properly attired) rolling stone that gathers no moss. Being with Bertie gives him some grounding and some roots.
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They may spat and disagree on a regular basis, but they are very much a symbiotic relationship. One without the other feels so terribly incomplete. They have, over their years together, changed one another and made each other better people.