Macdennis meta/theories
Dec. 16th, 2018 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dickinsonsSo since my Tumblr might get deleted tomorrow (I guess? I honestly haven't been following everything about the purge) I'm gonna repost here all the meta I've written about macdennis (Mac/Dennis from IASIP). There aren't many posts, but I'd rather have them saved somewhere.
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In this totally uncalled for post I’ve commented on the episode Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs in relation to the suburban boom that took place in America in the 1950 and the gender roles associated with this new lifestyle.
The suburban model of the family became popular in the US during the Cold War. The nuclear family was the ideal, and it was pretty common for families to have even more than 3 children. The family was conceived as a safe place, a refuge from the Soviet menace.
In this episode, Mac and Dennis are portrayed as a married couple. This is not the first episode where they were treated as such (see Mac and Dennis break up). Dennis is representing the husband in the ideal nuclear family from the 1950s, while Mac is representing the wife.
Mac is the one in charge of taking care of the house, his husband, and the children (Dennis Jr. in this case). He is supposed to find happiness in life from these labours. In reality, he feels that his life is unfulfilled: he’s bored, and he begins to demand more attention from Dennis.
Dennis is the breadwinner, who carries the pressure and stress of going to work everyday to sustain a family that completely depends on his economic success. This pressure, combined with a sense of superiority, turn him into an authoritative figure at home. His house is the only place where he can exert his power.
The increasing tension in Mac and Dennis’s relationship is not only due to the pressure they have to fulfill their assigned roles. It also comes from several external elements that we can see throughout the whole episode.
Both Mac and Dennis distrust their neighbour Wally, and Dennis becomes extremely nervous about Jimmy, the pool guy, being inside their house. This anxiety towards the unknown, being suspicious about people for no reason are attitudes that were pretty common during the Red Scare.
Since we are talking about Mac and Dennis here, I have to mention that the communists were not the only people persecuted by the government during the Cold War. The Lavender Scare, that is, the persecution of gay people, was parallel to the Red Scare.
Much has been said about both the chirping noise and about the fact that Dennis denied hearing it until that iconic scene where he revealed that he had been hearing it the entire goddamn time. I’d say maybe the noises said more about the characters than about their environment. Maybe they are a sign of the menace that is not external, but that comes from within themselves.
But how can I be really sure that this Red Scare thing is really connected to this episode? WELL…
Anyway, to conclude with my analysis: what may seem as a ridiculous development of the events in this episode, since Mac and Dennis do such terrible things for apparently no other reason than existing in that house can actually be read as a representation of the toxicity of the strict gender roles and family model that were imposed during the 1950s in America.
***
during the rpg scene I feel that Charlie, Frank and Dee are aware that what they are witnessing is actually a really intimate moment between Mac and Dennis. Dennis is constantly looking back at them as if he’s uncomfortable with everyone watching
and the only one who’s 100% okay with this is Mac, because Mac is always so… open with his emotions, really?? he’s not ashamed of his feelings, even if others might think he’s desperate or needy (think about the way he asks for love from his parents). and the only thing that was stopping him from acting on his feelings for Dennis was not being out, but now that he is he doesn’t conceal anything anymore (that s12 finale, god!!). BUT compare that with Dennis’s reaction. he’s trying so hard not to cry or smile too much, lowering his voice and making the weirdest facial expressions. it reminds me of Dee’s reaction to Charlie’s song in this episode: she’s about to cry but she starts mocking him to cover up her feelings
***
I’ve seen several people saying the macdennis dance scene in Flowers for Charlie is supposed to mean that Dennis is setting a “trap” for Mac when he’s seducing him just as if he were going to catch a mouse. But has anyone ever mentioned that immediately afterwards that, Dee tries to catch the mouse with Dennis’ trap and she gets stuck in her own trap? And Dennis says “you trapped yourself on a trap”? what if it means… Dennis is trying to seduce Mac as a “trap” but he gets stuck in his own trap? (as in: maybe for Dennis it was a game at first but he’s fallen in love with Mac)
***
do you ever think about the fact that mac probably slept with dennis’ prom date because when he saw them together he was jealous and he assumed it was the girl he liked and not dennis?
---
In this totally uncalled for post I’ve commented on the episode Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs in relation to the suburban boom that took place in America in the 1950 and the gender roles associated with this new lifestyle.
The suburban model of the family became popular in the US during the Cold War. The nuclear family was the ideal, and it was pretty common for families to have even more than 3 children. The family was conceived as a safe place, a refuge from the Soviet menace.
In this episode, Mac and Dennis are portrayed as a married couple. This is not the first episode where they were treated as such (see Mac and Dennis break up). Dennis is representing the husband in the ideal nuclear family from the 1950s, while Mac is representing the wife.
Mac is the one in charge of taking care of the house, his husband, and the children (Dennis Jr. in this case). He is supposed to find happiness in life from these labours. In reality, he feels that his life is unfulfilled: he’s bored, and he begins to demand more attention from Dennis.
Dennis is the breadwinner, who carries the pressure and stress of going to work everyday to sustain a family that completely depends on his economic success. This pressure, combined with a sense of superiority, turn him into an authoritative figure at home. His house is the only place where he can exert his power.
The increasing tension in Mac and Dennis’s relationship is not only due to the pressure they have to fulfill their assigned roles. It also comes from several external elements that we can see throughout the whole episode.
Both Mac and Dennis distrust their neighbour Wally, and Dennis becomes extremely nervous about Jimmy, the pool guy, being inside their house. This anxiety towards the unknown, being suspicious about people for no reason are attitudes that were pretty common during the Red Scare.
Since we are talking about Mac and Dennis here, I have to mention that the communists were not the only people persecuted by the government during the Cold War. The Lavender Scare, that is, the persecution of gay people, was parallel to the Red Scare.
Much has been said about both the chirping noise and about the fact that Dennis denied hearing it until that iconic scene where he revealed that he had been hearing it the entire goddamn time. I’d say maybe the noises said more about the characters than about their environment. Maybe they are a sign of the menace that is not external, but that comes from within themselves.
But how can I be really sure that this Red Scare thing is really connected to this episode? WELL…
Anyway, to conclude with my analysis: what may seem as a ridiculous development of the events in this episode, since Mac and Dennis do such terrible things for apparently no other reason than existing in that house can actually be read as a representation of the toxicity of the strict gender roles and family model that were imposed during the 1950s in America.
***
during the rpg scene I feel that Charlie, Frank and Dee are aware that what they are witnessing is actually a really intimate moment between Mac and Dennis. Dennis is constantly looking back at them as if he’s uncomfortable with everyone watching
and the only one who’s 100% okay with this is Mac, because Mac is always so… open with his emotions, really?? he’s not ashamed of his feelings, even if others might think he’s desperate or needy (think about the way he asks for love from his parents). and the only thing that was stopping him from acting on his feelings for Dennis was not being out, but now that he is he doesn’t conceal anything anymore (that s12 finale, god!!). BUT compare that with Dennis’s reaction. he’s trying so hard not to cry or smile too much, lowering his voice and making the weirdest facial expressions. it reminds me of Dee’s reaction to Charlie’s song in this episode: she’s about to cry but she starts mocking him to cover up her feelings
***
I’ve seen several people saying the macdennis dance scene in Flowers for Charlie is supposed to mean that Dennis is setting a “trap” for Mac when he’s seducing him just as if he were going to catch a mouse. But has anyone ever mentioned that immediately afterwards that, Dee tries to catch the mouse with Dennis’ trap and she gets stuck in her own trap? And Dennis says “you trapped yourself on a trap”? what if it means… Dennis is trying to seduce Mac as a “trap” but he gets stuck in his own trap? (as in: maybe for Dennis it was a game at first but he’s fallen in love with Mac)
***
do you ever think about the fact that mac probably slept with dennis’ prom date because when he saw them together he was jealous and he assumed it was the girl he liked and not dennis?
