Occam's Razor - Tumblr Posts
(Transcript for those of you with screen readers bcuz I couldn’t figure out how to attach it to the image itself on mobile for some reason)
Person 1:
Chekov's Cat: if you see a cat in the first act, it will probably be relevant later. (example: Alien)
Shrodinger's razor: an unopened box may or may not contain the solution to the story; there's no way to know without opening it. (example: Monk)
Occam's gun: the simplest way to kill off a character is to shoot them. (example: Bambi)
Person 2:
Chekov's Box: If there is a container introduced in the opening act, it will be opened later.
Schrodinger's Gun: Treat every gun as if It's loaded unless you've checked it yourself.
Occar's Cat: If you hear strange noises at night, it's probably a cat.
Person 3:
Chekhov's gun: a narrative principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed.
Occam's razor: if you have two competing ideas to explain the same phenomenon, you should prefer the simpler one.
Shrodingers cat- a cat in a box with poison that has a 50% chance of breaking, we will not know if the cat is dead or alive until opening the box leaving the cat in a perpetual state of uncertainty
William of Ockham wrote this post
Behind the scenes of Godzilla (1998)
The Opposite of Occam's Razor
The current definition of Occam's Razor is 'The simplest answer is the most likely'.
So is there anything that means 'This convoluted, complicated, unlikely and far-reaching answer is actually correct'?
So I found a couple of opposites on Wikipedia [link here] but none of them I feel fits the definition of 'intentionally choosing the most ridiculous and out-there answer'. So I am going to create a new term (until someone tells me this already exists): "Conspiracy Theorist's Tin-Foil Hat".
The Opposite of Occam's Razor
The current definition of Occam's Razor is 'The simplest answer is the most likely'.
So is there anything that means 'This convoluted, complicated, unlikely and far-reaching answer is actually correct'?
To put this tin-foil hat in use, remember this scene from Spy X Family. When Murdoch Swan asked her if she prefered her old mama or her new mama.
Occam's razor suggests that her mother died and Anya is crying because she is missing her and knows she won't get her back.
Most people know the implications and the themes of this so I am going to move on to two less likely theories.
A slightly more blunt razor would bring up the theory that Anya never had a mother and that she is a test-tube baby (a theory I believe some other people brought up).
In this case, she would be crying because she never had that motherly figure and seeing other kids with their mothers makes her feel left out and missing something she never got to experience until Yor came into her life.
That scene in the first episode where the mailman gives the interview letter from Eden:
"Could you please give this to your mommy or daddy?"
"There is no mama"
"ohh- I mean sorry"
There is an expectation that she has both her mom and dad and she may have some pressure on her to be in society's expectations of a nuclear family. She might be saddened by her inability to achieve that until this moment.
The implications of this are that unlike Loid and Yor, Anya is really starting her family from scratch and has no previous of what it feels like to be in a family and have people unconditionally look after her. For the three Forgers, it would mean there would be three unique approaches to this family:
Loid would be creating his family anew after losing all of them in the war.
Yor would be starting a new family and changing her connections with her only remaining family Yuri to fit in with this new family.
Anya would be having her first permanent family after only seeing others with theirs and experiencing it in momentary bursts from her previous adopted families.
It would also solve the potential issue of Anya's mother or any of her old family members from showing up again (because they don't exist). While her mother being dead would also resolve this, here's one thing that the 'test-tube baby' origin has over it: the records of the mother before the secret organization created Anya.
If Anya had a mother before the main events of Spy X Family, how come there isn't any information alluring to her and/or that she was pregnant. (Admittedly finding this information could be interesting story for the work to go into) but for simplifying Anya's background, her not having a family that is missing or that would miss her would cut this string.
Now to bring up the tin-foil hat that I promised in the first line of this reblog.
What if these weren't tears of sadness but rather of fear.
What if the few memories of her mother were so terrifying and so horrific that it caused this reaction.
Now admittedly this is a stretch with a lot of holes if you did managed to fit this over Anya's backstory. The issues that this theory resolves, the other theories seem to resolve a lot easier.
Why Anya doesn't talk about her old family: while this theory suggests she doesn't think about them because she scared of them, the other theories have simpler explanations of 'because they're dead' or 'because they don't exist'.
What if Anya's old family shows up: While the other theories have 'because they physically can't', this theory has a potential story between the family you make and the family you're related to but Damian Desmond can be easily fit onto that track.
Why Anya hones in on a spy and an assassin for parents: she was starved for entertainment from facility that made her do tests instead of play explains this but her biological family being so terrible that a spy and an assassin are somehow improvements also explains this (it explains it worse but it explains it).
This path would bring up familial abuse as a theme. While we have the Desmonds with parental neglect as abuse and Loid's biological father hitting him in an incorrect way of teaching him lessons, the story does not have physical abuse that has completely selfish reasons behind it. But does this story need that?
Donovan Desmond already ignores his son Damian as he thinks has no use for him and gives him little to no attention. Damian, as a result, is willing to stave off sleep in the episode 'Damian's Field Research' in an attempt to get more academically ahead so that his father notices him again.
Do we need an example where this dangling of a carrot from the abuser is more deliberate?
Should the Desmond family be the only bad family dynamic that is focused on?
Another path the series hasn't tread yet is excessive love to the point of unhealthy possession.
While there is Yuri Briar, Yuri respects his sister enough for her to make her own decisons and has learned to respect Loid enough to leave him alone at the moment.
Fiona Frost might be obsessed with Twilight and has tried to haress Yor out of being his wife, she hasn't directly forced Loid to divorce his wife and still greatly respects Twilight's decisions either though she might disagree with them (like at the end of the 'Wheeler' arc where Loid gives his reasoning for sparing Yuri).
The work does not yet someone yet have someone control somebody because they can't stand the idea of them operating in a way they don't like. Anya's old family being possessive to the point of harm would cover it but should the work showcase why this isn't true love?
I am not saying this is a likely theory, Endo is unlikely to go down this path and more likely pick one of the other two, but it might be something to think about and see how it affects the subjects of Spy X Family.
The Opposite of Occam's Razor
The current definition of Occam's Razor is 'The simplest answer is the most likely'.
So is there anything that means 'This convoluted, complicated, unlikely and far-reaching answer is actually correct'?