Editing 2741: Wish Interpretation
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | In | + | {{incomplete|Created by Rain, Rain, Stay - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
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+ | In stories where wishing can come true by magical means, a common theme is that the wisher will make a wish (for greater or lesser personal gain) but the entity who grants it will {{tvtropes|LiteralGenie|inadvertently}} (or {{tvtropes|JackassGenie|'inadvertently'}}) fulfill the exact wording such that something bad happens which the wisher clearly did not foresee. This may teach the wisher, or at least the reader of the story, an important moral lesson against greed. The wish-granter is not always represented as deliberately obtuse or malicious, but may merely be a naive and uncritical servant of the wish-granting process. A wish for money, for example, might be 'easiest' to accomplish by suddenly being the recipient of a loved-one's Life Insurance rather than the rather less upsetting scenario of finding that they possess a winning Lottery ticket. In the comic, however, this genie is perfectly self-aware of the part he will play in creatively misapplying the wish, and even goes so far as to forewarn the wisher – maybe a deliberate ploy to have wishers take a moment to think and tone down their more spontaneous demands. | ||
− | + | However, as is characteristic for him, Black Hat immediately wishes for rain to no longer happen, perpetually, for the apparent trivial reason of merely saving him the need to carry an umbrella. The {{w|Water cycle|consequences}} of this drastic change to the weather (no matter by which method it is accomplished) would plainly be very bad.{{Citation needed}} As Black Hat almost certainly is fully aware. The genie realizes that there is very little 'good' idea for him to twist into a bad one, and that Black Hat will be peculiarly unreceptive to being 'taught a moral lesson'. Especially compared to the utter devastation that the granted wish ''will'' cause to the rest of the non-wishing world, which the genie might be reluctant to enact. | |
− | + | Having persuaded his wisher to retract the original request, the genie now has to deal with two rather ''too'' open-ended requests. Exactly what Black Hat "deserves" is possibly subjective; and perhaps would often be not very charitable, given how most people's usual interactions with him pan out. But the genie, at this point, still seems to have enough latent sympathy to lampshade the trouble being invited, presuming that it was a particularly unintended turn of phrase. Undaunted, the next version of the revised wish invokes an even more perilous wording. The suggestion of "what's coming to" someone is frequently used as a threat (or menacing promise) of violence. Taken literally, though, it would either be meaningless (Black Hat would receive whatever fate would have befallen him without the wish, and the genie would have effected no change), or it would be tautologous (whatever is coming to him is whatever the result of the wish is, so how is the genie to decide what that should be?). These interpretations seem to dishearten the genie even more, given his apparent obligation to be inconveniently literal in such matters. | |
− | + | Clearly outclassed in his attempt to establish his ability to cause problems, he gets frustrated and backtracks rapidly. He offers just $20 (a token amount of money, possibly out of his own pocket in order to completely avoid using his potentially dangerous magical abilities) to get himself out of the original formulaic deal and permanently away from having to be under Black Hat's influence. | |
− | + | In the title text, the wisher (possibly still Black Hat, or possibly just another rather awkward individual) wishes for everything in the world. This is itself a not unknown "bad wish" that would be creatively twisted into a bad consequence for the necessary narrative reasons (for example, ownership of everything in the world might come with inconvenient or even impossible responsibilities). The wish continues, however, and explicitly asks that all of this be put into their house. This is impossible for two reasons: First, everything wouldn't fit in their house;{{citation needed}} second, it causes an infinite regression, since their house is something in the world, so it would have to be put inside itself. Trying to grant this wish would likely also frustrate the genie, and certainly not allow them their usual scope of a personal (and proportional) educational twist. | |
− | + | ==Transcript== | |
− | + | {{incomplete transcript|Feel free to improve it or add more details. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
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:[Black Hat is holding a genie lamp in his hands. A genie has appeared from the end of the lamp. The genie is depicted as a turbanless Cueball-like figure floating without a lower body, having a puff of smoke in place of his legs.] | :[Black Hat is holding a genie lamp in his hands. A genie has appeared from the end of the lamp. The genie is depicted as a turbanless Cueball-like figure floating without a lower body, having a puff of smoke in place of his legs.] | ||
:Genie: I will grant you one wish. | :Genie: I will grant you one wish. |