The Illusion Of Living - Tumblr Posts

Hello! 9 days ago I (finally finished and) posted the Lonely Religion very one-sided Jenry PMV on YT! If anyone would like to check it out, here’s the link : https://youtu.be/7i1jea9WR_M?si=UFDdbRvfd2AP9Gxu

Extra loreeee for the Untrusted AU in description

I used a color palette that… honestly I don’t even remember where I got it from. It’s called “disquiet”. If anyone knows who made it pls tell me so I can credit them tyyy

Nathan Arch's Foreward [The Illusion of Living]

Notes

The Illusion of Living was originally released in 1942, then later again in 1972.

Nathan believed that Joey was a positive influence and optimist, and cited readers being "deeply invested in stories about the horrors of the world" as the primary reason why Joey's message wasn't well-received, and why TIOL didn't sell.

Nathan created a private museum filled with as much studio memorabilia as he could get his hands on in an effort to restore Joey's name. (We see this later in BATDR.)

Analysis

Nathan believes Joey was cheated out of success, attempting to rationalize this by...er...blaming the general populace I guess, and their gravitation towards violence and drama when it comes to entertainment. He expresses frustration that Joey was unappreciated and misunderstood until the very end. Arch does everything in his power to clear Joey's name in death, and finally give Joey the recognition he feels he deserves, even going so far as to re-release his autobiography and added any pertinent context via footnotes.

"...some untruths have come to the surface, some rumors and backlash. The fact that the studio collapsed in such an unceremonious fashion, I have no doubt, contributed to the suspicions that Joey Drew was not the genius he truly was."

"My goal is to restore the name of Joey Drew to the history books as one of the greatest contributors to animation the world has ever known."

Nathan also sees Joey's fake-it-'til-you-make-it philosophy as an overall positive message.

"I hope that we can share the positivity of his philosophy and truly make, at long last, Joey Drew's dream come true."

He also hammers home just how important Bendy was to Joey, likening him to being Joey's own child. From everything we know about Joey, this isn't hyperbole, and Nathan Sr. seems to be strangely aware of this fact.

"Bendy was Joey's child, and he felt just as strongly about Bendy as I feel about my flesh-and-blood son."

Nathan also seems to have deeply cared about Wilson, (at least, according to him.) This means that Wilson is most likely a hater

The Illusion of Living (Multi-Part Analysis)

Naturally, first order of business on this blog will be Joeysplaining.

This lovely little directory doesn't link to much at the current moment, but will serve to keep all Illusion of Living posts under one easy umbrella.

NATHAN ARCH SR. FOREWARD

INTRODUCTION/THE ILLUSION OF LIVING

This book is so cunty for no reason

Introduction/ The Illusion of Living

Introduction

To clarify, there are two pages of the actual "Introduction", followed by a section labeled "The Illusion of Living," which is ANOTHER introduction. I'm crying.

The FIRST Introduction is all fluff, Joey yaps to his cab driver (just known as "Simmons") and sees a Borzoi, and immediately typecasts it as a villain OC to go up against Bendy. That's it. Next section.

The Illusion of Living [The What]

Joey does a horrible job at giving a simple explanation of the Illusion of Living, but not for the reason you'd think. At first it seems to boil down to "the art of lying" or "joey caps for five years," if you will. He also, unsurprisingly, thinks he's a genius and that his philosophy is a gift to mankind.

"It is a life philosophy, but unlike some of our great past thinkers, I did not come to any conclusion through thought and careful meditation. Instead it was born within me. My whole existence has been shaped around this concept. It just took some time for me to learn how to articulate it to others."

"I've always believed that we can communicate to even the simplest person. Communication is everything."

"We are all dreamers at heart, and I want to make sure that all of your dreams will indeed come true thanks in no small part to my unique insights."

But then Joey says something interesting for once, and it seems to imply that the Illusion of Living is a two-way street. Joey believes that reality is also fiction, but it seems to work in reverse as well.

"So in the briefest of explanations: The Illusion of Living is the art of mimicking real life on the big screen."

Real life ---> Big Screen. So not only is fiction reality, the two are interchangeable.

Illusion of Living [Bendy]

"I am a very self-aware person."

Joey goes on to talk about Bendy, but there's...another aspect I'll be sure to bring up before we close on this section.

"I am not offended that he is first in your heart. He is, after all, first in mine. He was my very first creation- one could even call him my firstborn."

"Bendy is my muse. He is also my messenger. He tells the stories of our lives in absurd, hilarious ways that put all of it into perspective. He reminds us that what we truly need in this world is joy and laughter. Money doesn't matter, power doesn't matter, not when we acknowledge the Illusion of Living."

Nathan adds a footnote here that the Illusion of Living wasn't the only thing important to Joey. He knew the value of a dollar and was a good businessman. So apparently, the money did matter after all. Are we shocked that a Capitalist required money to achieve his goals and aspirations?

"He isnt' real others might argue. Such a ridiculous argument "isn't real." We can see him, we can touch him, kids snuggle with their stuffed Bendys at night. He has more fans than the Marx Brothers! What is real if he isnt'?"

"I tell people that Bendy is the perfect example of my philosophy. He is its manifestation. Or as I like to say, "Dreams come true."

Joey isn't entirely wrong here. We see movie franchises IRL that have a huge influence on pop culture all the time, and we see fandoms and cult followings spring up from said media. The impact is real, if not the characters themselves.

"Your dreams can come true. Because, as I've explained, illusion and reality are the same thing."

Again, the Illusion of Living is an insistence that reality and fiction are one and the same.

I'm going to swap a line from the end of the Bendy section to here, because I want to touch on something I noticed afterwards.

"Now I'm getting ahead of myself. I get excited and tell the story too fast. That's what editors are for I suppose."

Nathan adds a footnote here that IOL went through three different editors, finally landing on the desk of Sandy Pommel (another rando), who opted to put back in a lot of the remarks in order to 'truly capture Drew's charm," as Nathan puts it. (My girl wanted that edit credit so bad lmfao)

ANYWAY, let's take a look at these little slices of IOL I've been saving for last.

"I tell people that Bendy came to me in a dream."

"No, what I had to do was want the dream in the first place. To know that I needed a creation so perfect, so accessible to so many people, that it would help me change the way the world saw itself. That was my dream. I was awake, I knew what I wanted; I made it happen."

He mentions wanting to "change the way the world saw itself" through bendy. Wanting to create a character that was "accessible to so many people." Later in IOL, we see Joey discuss with Abby what he wants Bendy to be like. Not Satan, he specifically clarifies, but an imp-like character, someone mischievous. We know Joey believes reality and fiction can be swapped out for each other, so that could be the world change he was talking about, but I think he also wanted people to recognize their own impish nature- getting into trouble and laughing every once in a while. Or maybe, just maybe, I've been reading the words of Joey Drew for too many hours.

"Only then did Bendy appear to me. Only then did I start working with other artists to make him a reality. But you see, I first made my dream. And then I made my dream come true.

Working with other artists, eh? Like who, Joey?

Also, note the insistence that he created Bendy first, directly after that sentence. As if trying to convince himself that Henry had no part in creating Bendy, and trying to keep his story straight in the way he wants it portrayed to the public.

(This facade later crumbles on page 154, with Joey pretending not to miss or need him at the studio and failing horribly.)

Things get really interesting when Joey describes Bendy's creation. He sees it as his big dream being fully realized. To him, this is also the"birth" of his son, or at the very least, the creation of his muse, messenger, and avenue to tell his stories. "I tell people that Bendy came to me in a dream" is a coverup of course, some smoke and mirrors to convince people that he had an epiphany and came up with Bendy himself, but he also clearly sees it as a wonderful event.

We know Henry created Bendy, of course. We know it wasn't Joey's hand that ultimately struck paper. However, that doesn't make Joey's feelings any less real.

During Bendy's creation, there are two truths happening at the same time to make the full picture. Henry drawing, and hell, maybe Joey bouncing a couple ideas off him. The process takes just minutes, but it feels like hours. Bendy is created, and Joey is there to witness it. And to Joey, it's the most perfect creation in the world. And he's going to share this creation with Henry, this dream with Henry.

I am not being hyperbolic when I say that, to Joey, Henry created his son.

TL;DR The Illusion of Living is Joey's philosophy that reality and fiction are one and the same. Joey wants his OC to be real so bad. Joey views Bendy as his actual son and Henry created him and also Joey was there for his creation so what I'm saying is Henry created a son for his business partner and they were just gonna chill like that until Henry left and broke his heart or something

I'm sorry but Joey Drew is literally so funny. There's a page in Illusion of Living where he gets mad at this detective he's been "job shadowing" because he made an effort to look presentable around him and he didn't notice...and then Joey mentally claps back with "whatever I would never want to be friends with you and also your hat is actually a woman's hat invented for the great Sarah Bernhardt" WHAT??

Whup his ass Shawn

Joey Drew is Gay and there's no way around it (Pt 2)

In Illusion of Living, Joey claims that he was the one who created Bendy. In reality, Henry was the one who ultimately put pen to paper and created Bendy, Boris and Alice. Again, there's possessiveness over Bendy here, but that isn't all. Remember when I said in the previous part that Joey viewed Bendy as his literal son? So, the funny thing about that is...Henry created Bendy...and from Joey's perspective, his son.

Henry created his son.

And even if that's still a reach, Henry created the entity that was one of the most important things in Joey's life-his muse, messenger, and avenue through which he communicated his stories and ideas to the world. (Basically, his favorite OC.)

Things start off pretty swimmingly in terms of their friendship.

Joey was the one who got Henry set up working at the bookstore. (Apparently he also found him more complex than he initially thought.)

Things only pick up steam from here. When Joey finally does see Henry's art, he seems to have a strong reaction.

Joey has a "lightbulb moment" at the sight of Henry's cartoony style. He doesn't stop at the art, though.

(Joey, did he tackle what was right in front of him, or did you just want him to tackle what was in front of him? Be honest, now.)

Notice Abby's reaction. She sees how quickly he gravitates towards Henry's art, and the man himself.

Henry also seems stunned to silence by the high praise Joey gives him, which is a fair reaction to being told he might chart the course of the rest of someone's life.

Notice how Joey can't explain why he had such a sudden fascination with cartoons, he just "felt" it.

Pardon my french, but Abby seems to either be worried that he’s thinking with his dick, or not thinking at all. (Probably both.) Despite Abby's reservations, when Joey keeps his insistence that he wants to get into cartoons, she knows Henry is the man for the job.

And her intuition about bringing them together as business partners paid off.

Henry co-founded the studio with Joey, and by all surrounding context we're given, Joey seemed to be perfectly content with this setup. That is, until their eventual falling out.

We don't know the nitty gritty specifics of their falling out, but we know a few things. For one, it was brutal, which Nathan helps confirm via footnote.

Secondly, we know Henry moved to California. That's all the way across the US. Thirdly, we know Henry had a wife, Linda.

So the guy that helped him actualize his dream, created his SON/favorite OC, and was probably his best friend at the time, fell out with him and moved all the way across the country with his wife (and assumedly didn't talk to him again.)

I would find it hard to believe that Joey was solely using Henry similar to what he did with Susie, because there are very curt admissions throughout Illusion of Living that he can't entirely erase Henry from the narrative, as badly as he wants to. Joey couldn't get Henry out of his mind. Of course he didn't treat Henry fairly, and of course Henry had every right to leave. But he had a strong connection to Henry whether he wanted to admit it or not.

There's no proof that he felt romantically about Henry. There is, however, proof that Joey wanted a family, viewed Bendy as his son, admits he still admired Henry after the fallout, and seemed perfectly content living out his wildest dreams with the man who, from his perspective, created HIS SON.

But we're not done yet. See, Henry is FAR from the only man who had a great deal of relevance in Joey's life.

PART 3>>

Joey Drew is Gay and there's no way around it (Pt 3)

Let's rewind a bit to when a young, 19-year old Joey Drew lived in Greenwich Village.

According to the Library of Congress,

"Greenwich Village was a refuge for undiscovered artists and free thinkers. The cheap quarters of the village allowed these bohemians to escape the dreary, industrial world and live a penniless, enlightened lifestyle."

It was also famously home to a lot of queer people.

This brings us to Detective Sinclair.

Sinclair shows up to Joey's place of residence out of the blue. They get to talking- he's investigating the murder of Walter Richmond, and Joey notes that Sinclair is taking inventory of the apartment. He suddenly becomes a shade more self-conscious, and after Sinclair later makes a dry comment about its barren appearance, Joey is noticeably very irked. He seems to care a lot about what this detective thinks of him already.

Cut to later on: Joey has now been tailing the detective for a while (per his own personal request.) We're supposed to infer that he's following Sinclair because he doesn't want to be unimportant to the detective's "story" (he even says as much.) But I'm going to be real, you're a 19 year old from Greenwich galavanting around with Detective Looker, this is not a straight endeavor.

Later on, Sinclair invites him to dinner on business terms.

It becomes increasingly obvious that Joey wants Sinclair to notice and appreciate the way he dresses. He not only fixates on this, but gets irritated with him when he doesn't seem to care.

When they arrive, the butler comments that dinner has just finished. Joey's reaction?

You could boil this all down to Joey being an attention whore, which I won't argue with. But he's an attention whore we see making a valiant effort to present himself in the best possible light to this detective that won't remember him by Saturday, specifically wanting him to notice and appreciate the way he dresses, AND he gets huffy when he's not actually going to dinner with him.

However, Sinclair is only our second stop. Let's jump forward in time to a freshly 30 year old Joey, who seems to have his affections directed towards...a more familiar face.

PART 4>>

Literally the girl cootie police

joey did you happen to explore kyle's body...perchance

So anyway I wasn't kidding

The fact that right after the "birth of Bendy" (Bendy's first design on paper) happened, not only was Joey pretty breathtaken but Henry was like "i want to be your partner" and Joey was like "ok" and then he got nervous to shake Henry's hand

You know what I think Joey's love language is? being fucking loud about it. because how are you going to self report your own divorce that you haven't gotten over by telling everyone your ex lives in your head rent free

Link that doesn't lead to the Bendy books as PDF's

🖤💛🖤💛

Normal link that DOESN'T lead to all the Bendy books as PDF's for free. You CANNOT download them or look at them.

🖤💛🖤💛