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Sep. 19th, 2012 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gala_applesI wrote meta for the obedience square, because as soon as I thought of the prompt I thought about Adam Webb struggling to get Bugs Potter to follow the rules, only to end up doing everything Bugs tells him to. Except I'm sort of crap at meta, so this is kinda more like a book report. BUT I TRIED.
Who Is Bugs Potter is a book by Gordon Korman. I’ve loved the author since I was a child, and I still enjoy reading most of his novels, but I read them with a very different eye now that I’m an adult. Rereading with kink goggles I can’t help but notice there’s always a dominant main character and a submissive main character, along with less detailed secondary characters. The difference with Who Is Bugs Potter is literally all relationship dynamics have a degree of obedience.
The setting is predominantly a hotel. A hundred high school musicians have collected to play the Forum in Ontario Place in ten days. Adam Webb is a flutist and main character. His room assignment is with Bugs Potter, a chance pairing that greatly affects him in the next week. Though the book is written in third person and occasionally switches POV, things are seen mainly through his eyes.
The first relationship of obedience is traditional in high school media. Mr Darby is the bandmaster. His introduction is a full page paragraph of text explaining what exactly he expects his musicians to do for the next ten days, including distributing a daily schedule beginning with breakfast and ending with lights out. This ends with the sentence “You will belong to me, and to your music.”
Bugs doesn’t agree with this at all, later remarking to Adam “You can’t listen to anything Darby says. He’s the guy that told us all that rot about museums and lectures and stuff. You don’t believe that, do you?” Adam does, replying “Well, if it’s on our schedule, I guess he meant it.”
It’s around this point that Bibi Lanay comes in. She’s an actress Bugs Potter has a crush on, made famous in part for her necklace, a diamond chain on which the Falusi emerald dangles. Bibi wants to get rid of the Falusi emerald, sure that all the bad luck she’s been having is connected to the curse it’s purported to have. Claire, her agent, tells her it’s nonsense, and forbids her to destroy it. Throughout the book Claire constantly directs Bibi as to where to sit, how to behave, and to keep up her fake accent. Barney and Ralph are criminals. Barney’s only interest is in stealing the emerald. Ralph is similarly concerned about the curse, but every time Barney plans a new caper, Ralph plays his role as convincingly as Barney demands. While Bibi and Ralph are obedient to Claire and Barney, it’s really Adam’s transition from obeying Mr Darby to obeying Bugs that I enjoy.
Bugs becomes determined to meet Bibi. That and drums are his only interests. The first night at the hotel he decides to experience the Toronto musical nightlife and asks Adam to sneak out with him. Adam refuses, pointing out that Darby has a rule against it, and Adam follows the rules. Unfortunately for him, when Bugs gets caught it becomes clear it won’t be as easy as just following Darby’s rules.
“From a disciplinary point of view, you’re not only sharing accommodations, you are responsible for each other. Therefore, by allowing Potter to violate curfew, you yourself are guilty of breaking the rules.”
From this point on, Adam is caught in a bind. Bugs is going to do whatever he wants with joyous tenacity, trying to bring as much company as he can with him so everyone can enjoy themselves. In order to follow Darby’s rules, Adam has to go with Bugs and do what Bugs wants so he can put his foot down at the precise moment before they get caught. In the beginning he’s adverse to obeying Bugs, each time resisting before eventually falling in line.
Adam stamped his foot. “I’m not going to wear that idiotic mustache!”
“Oh,” said Bugs, concerned. “Well I’ve got a beard here that would look pretty good on you.”
“No. I absolutely refuse.”
[...]
That idiot was going upstairs to break into a movie star’s room disguised as a plumber. Any fool could see he wasn’t a plumber. He’d never get near Bibi Lanay. Bibi would call hotel security and hotel security would call Mr Darby and Mr Darby would call-
“Me! Oh no, I’ve got to stop him.” He jammed the grey cap onto his head, fixed the blond moustache under his nose and rushed out into the hall.
Things get even more intense for Adam when Bugs becomes a star. The second night Bugs sneaks out Adam goes with him, obedient to Bugs only so he can be obedient to Darby. They end up seeing Bugs’ ‘favourite band’, Endomorph, and Bugs sneaks backstage to ask if he can drum one of their songs. The band allows it, and he does so well that word out mouth gets around in the punk scene. By the third night Bugs goes out to see his ‘favourite band’ -Vanderboom this time- the band knows who this Bugs kid is and request that he join them on stage before he can ask.
On the fourth night Adam tries another brief rebellion, saying he’s too tired to go to another concert. Bugs is disappointed, but says he’ll go by himself. Adam quickly changes his mind. If Bugs weren’t hauled out of these clubs immediately after his performance, who could say what might happen? He seemed to work rock fans to fever pitch. Without a firm hand guiding him Bus would never get back to the hotel. “Hand me my beard, please.”
Bugs awarded him a mighty wallop on the back. “Attaboy! I knew you’d change your mind after you thought about it. Let’s go!”
By the sixth night, seeing Toast, Adam has given up all attempts at resistance. Bugs wants to see Toast, so Adam goes with him to Toast, not even attempting to talk him out of it. He was getting to be old hand at this. [...]Underneath his false beard he permitted himself a little smile. It was funny the way things turned out sometimes.
My favourite part of the book is when Adam makes the full leap from following Bugs’ directions to actively defending them against other people.
“He is unbelievably stupid!” exclaimed Laura when Bugs was gone.
“Oh I don’t know about that,” said Adam casually. “He can recite the complete history of every rock group that ever existed. Can you do that?”
“No. And why would anyone want to? I mean his interests are so childish- and he’s just obnoxious. I really can’t stand him!”
Adam stood up and looked down at her. “You are talking about my best friend,” he said, “my roommate and pal. I’ll tell you one thing about Bugs Potter. He really is The Most, and I won’t listen to anyone putting him down. And don’t you ever, ever touch one of his drumsticks again!”
By the end of their time together Adam is compliant to Bugs’ whims. He goes as far as helping Bugs set up fireworks to set off during their symphony, which end up lighting Darby’s trousers on fire. To me it’s almost symbolic of Adam choosing which person he wants to obey. And the book ending in Adam promising to visit Bugs allows me to make my own happy ficcish ending, one they deserve.
Who Is Bugs Potter is a book by Gordon Korman. I’ve loved the author since I was a child, and I still enjoy reading most of his novels, but I read them with a very different eye now that I’m an adult. Rereading with kink goggles I can’t help but notice there’s always a dominant main character and a submissive main character, along with less detailed secondary characters. The difference with Who Is Bugs Potter is literally all relationship dynamics have a degree of obedience.
The setting is predominantly a hotel. A hundred high school musicians have collected to play the Forum in Ontario Place in ten days. Adam Webb is a flutist and main character. His room assignment is with Bugs Potter, a chance pairing that greatly affects him in the next week. Though the book is written in third person and occasionally switches POV, things are seen mainly through his eyes.
The first relationship of obedience is traditional in high school media. Mr Darby is the bandmaster. His introduction is a full page paragraph of text explaining what exactly he expects his musicians to do for the next ten days, including distributing a daily schedule beginning with breakfast and ending with lights out. This ends with the sentence “You will belong to me, and to your music.”
Bugs doesn’t agree with this at all, later remarking to Adam “You can’t listen to anything Darby says. He’s the guy that told us all that rot about museums and lectures and stuff. You don’t believe that, do you?” Adam does, replying “Well, if it’s on our schedule, I guess he meant it.”
It’s around this point that Bibi Lanay comes in. She’s an actress Bugs Potter has a crush on, made famous in part for her necklace, a diamond chain on which the Falusi emerald dangles. Bibi wants to get rid of the Falusi emerald, sure that all the bad luck she’s been having is connected to the curse it’s purported to have. Claire, her agent, tells her it’s nonsense, and forbids her to destroy it. Throughout the book Claire constantly directs Bibi as to where to sit, how to behave, and to keep up her fake accent. Barney and Ralph are criminals. Barney’s only interest is in stealing the emerald. Ralph is similarly concerned about the curse, but every time Barney plans a new caper, Ralph plays his role as convincingly as Barney demands. While Bibi and Ralph are obedient to Claire and Barney, it’s really Adam’s transition from obeying Mr Darby to obeying Bugs that I enjoy.
Bugs becomes determined to meet Bibi. That and drums are his only interests. The first night at the hotel he decides to experience the Toronto musical nightlife and asks Adam to sneak out with him. Adam refuses, pointing out that Darby has a rule against it, and Adam follows the rules. Unfortunately for him, when Bugs gets caught it becomes clear it won’t be as easy as just following Darby’s rules.
“From a disciplinary point of view, you’re not only sharing accommodations, you are responsible for each other. Therefore, by allowing Potter to violate curfew, you yourself are guilty of breaking the rules.”
From this point on, Adam is caught in a bind. Bugs is going to do whatever he wants with joyous tenacity, trying to bring as much company as he can with him so everyone can enjoy themselves. In order to follow Darby’s rules, Adam has to go with Bugs and do what Bugs wants so he can put his foot down at the precise moment before they get caught. In the beginning he’s adverse to obeying Bugs, each time resisting before eventually falling in line.
Adam stamped his foot. “I’m not going to wear that idiotic mustache!”
“Oh,” said Bugs, concerned. “Well I’ve got a beard here that would look pretty good on you.”
“No. I absolutely refuse.”
[...]
That idiot was going upstairs to break into a movie star’s room disguised as a plumber. Any fool could see he wasn’t a plumber. He’d never get near Bibi Lanay. Bibi would call hotel security and hotel security would call Mr Darby and Mr Darby would call-
“Me! Oh no, I’ve got to stop him.” He jammed the grey cap onto his head, fixed the blond moustache under his nose and rushed out into the hall.
Things get even more intense for Adam when Bugs becomes a star. The second night Bugs sneaks out Adam goes with him, obedient to Bugs only so he can be obedient to Darby. They end up seeing Bugs’ ‘favourite band’, Endomorph, and Bugs sneaks backstage to ask if he can drum one of their songs. The band allows it, and he does so well that word out mouth gets around in the punk scene. By the third night Bugs goes out to see his ‘favourite band’ -Vanderboom this time- the band knows who this Bugs kid is and request that he join them on stage before he can ask.
On the fourth night Adam tries another brief rebellion, saying he’s too tired to go to another concert. Bugs is disappointed, but says he’ll go by himself. Adam quickly changes his mind. If Bugs weren’t hauled out of these clubs immediately after his performance, who could say what might happen? He seemed to work rock fans to fever pitch. Without a firm hand guiding him Bus would never get back to the hotel. “Hand me my beard, please.”
Bugs awarded him a mighty wallop on the back. “Attaboy! I knew you’d change your mind after you thought about it. Let’s go!”
By the sixth night, seeing Toast, Adam has given up all attempts at resistance. Bugs wants to see Toast, so Adam goes with him to Toast, not even attempting to talk him out of it. He was getting to be old hand at this. [...]Underneath his false beard he permitted himself a little smile. It was funny the way things turned out sometimes.
My favourite part of the book is when Adam makes the full leap from following Bugs’ directions to actively defending them against other people.
“He is unbelievably stupid!” exclaimed Laura when Bugs was gone.
“Oh I don’t know about that,” said Adam casually. “He can recite the complete history of every rock group that ever existed. Can you do that?”
“No. And why would anyone want to? I mean his interests are so childish- and he’s just obnoxious. I really can’t stand him!”
Adam stood up and looked down at her. “You are talking about my best friend,” he said, “my roommate and pal. I’ll tell you one thing about Bugs Potter. He really is The Most, and I won’t listen to anyone putting him down. And don’t you ever, ever touch one of his drumsticks again!”
By the end of their time together Adam is compliant to Bugs’ whims. He goes as far as helping Bugs set up fireworks to set off during their symphony, which end up lighting Darby’s trousers on fire. To me it’s almost symbolic of Adam choosing which person he wants to obey. And the book ending in Adam promising to visit Bugs allows me to make my own happy ficcish ending, one they deserve.