pyreo: Everyone loves this shot because he leans towards the...
Everyone loves this shot because he leans towards the screen and he’s looking right at you, yadda yadda.
I actually always get distracted by his hand on his chest. He’s doing that ‘you’ve hurt me emotionally’ gesture, in response to being called bad. It’s pretty funny for him to be essentially going ‘well what about MY feelings???’, and it’s perfectly self-centred, but at the same time it gets me, that little OH I’M WOUNDED gesture.
It’s a theatrical thing to do, like always, and it’s a little like putting your hand on your chest to take a bow, drawing attention to yourself as he leaps into this role as the typical self-absorbed, spoiled lead guitarist. He’s deflecting all the arguments against this development by making it about himself. Doesn’t anyone care about HIS feelings?
…Well, no, they don’t. But it’s interesting that he frames it this way. Who are the people who actually HAVE hurt his feelings and possibly done him lasting emotional damage? The same people right behind him now, not 'behind him’ in a truly supportive sense… more like literally cutting him off from backing out of this path. They’re not really marching behind him as support, they’re forcing him forward so he can’t back out.
I think on some level he kind of knows that his family is fickle and could rescind their approval of him at any time. He knows he can’t get an honest answer out of them because he’s so desperate he’ll happily take a lie. So he’s not asking them, he’s asking us. He wants validation from the listeners of the story. And this is the one time in the song he seems to ask 'how bad can I possibly be’ completely sincerely. Every time after it’s a growing challenge. It’s still rhetorical, but inkeeping with Once-ler’s magical fourth wall powers, it’s like he expects us to go 'oh no, it’s fine, you’ll be rich and happy for the rest of the movie’ because he’s past being able to trust anyone in his own universe.
The other thing I always notice is his eyes. He looks terrified.
date of origin: 31st of october, 2012.