The Passenger - Tumblr Posts
Pic by Johnny Abbate.
In front of this gasometer there's the metro station S1 Schöneberg that Iggy Pop and David Bowie were used to take to go to the lake Wannsee in Berlin. This was the inspiration for the song "The Passenger" (Lust for life, 1971). This is my blue/black version of the events.
i wonder what my favorite characters all have in common— oh.
Movie Recommendations for Zero Day (2003) fans!
*Movie descriptions are from Letterboxd.*
1. The Passenger (2023)
RIDE OR DIE. Randolph Bradley is perfectly content fading into the background, but when his coworker Benson snaps and goes on a violent killing spree, he's forced to face his fears and confront his troubled past in order to find a way to survive.
2. As You Are (2016)
Set in the early 1990s, "As You Are" is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenager as it traces the course of their friendship thorugh a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation.
3. Klass (2007)
THERE'S NOWHERE TO HIDE. An average guy of an Estonian high-school decide to defend his bullied classmate. This starts a war between him and the informal leader of the class.
4. Thoroughbreds (2017)
GOOD BREEDING GONE BAD. Lily and Amanda, two high school students living in suburban Connecticut, rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of drifting apart. Together, they devise a plan to kill Lily's abusive stepfather by hiring a lowlife drug dealer.
5. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)
In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a dark fantasy novel into a video game. A mind-bending tale with multiple endings.
6. Like Minds (2006)
FEAR AND EVIL MAKE DEADLY COMPANIONS. A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.
7. Chatroom (2010)
CONTROL. ALTER. DELETE. When strangers Jim, Eva, Emily, and Mo meet William online in his new "Chelsea Teens!" chatroom, they're completely seduced by his fast-talking, charismatic character. But beneath the surface lies a much darker ruth. William is a dangerous loner, channeling all his energies into cyberspace. He's become an analyser, a calculating manipulator who finds it almost impossible to interact normally with others in the real world, instead turning his hand to manipulating people online.
8. Elephant (2003)
AN ORDINARY HIGH SCHOOL DAY. EXCEPT THAT IT'S NOT. Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.
i love the idea of benson being somewhere between 30-40 years old.
he grunts when he gets out of his car and when he lays down in bed at night. he bought his shotgun when he was in his mid twenties and only uses it to hunt, but he can’t ever kill anything. he went to college at 18, dropped out in his junior year, and moved back in with his mom.
he’s worked odd jobs since then. his favorites have been repairing cars and a random construction job an old friend from school needed help on.
with age, he’s become a quieter person. he hates how randy gets bullied at work; it brings him back to his childhood. there’s something deep inside him that burns with guilt after he gets off work after a long day of watching the torment but never stepping in.
his hips have gotten worse, and his knees get weak after a while. he consistently asks hardy for jobs in the back like inventory or stocking the freezer because it means he can sit down and take breaks. when he takes his actual break during a shift, a shitty 30 minutes of sitting with customers while eating cold fries before going outside to smoke, it’s never enough. he’s always tired.
he’s had his eyes on randy for a while. he doesn’t get his hopes up that the boy might like him or even feel anything other than apathy for him. still, randy is something he can look forward to when he gets up in the morning. he’s far from his teenage years and his twenties, but something about randy brings him joy like a crush in elementary school.
since i’m starting to post hcs about the passenger, here’s a little intro to the characters!
the main character is randy bradley!! he’s a very quiet, neurotic, and scared man. he’s around 19-22 years old. he’s bullied by people at work and has an overprotective mother who doesn’t leave him alone. he has trauma from his past, especially from an incident in school, that shapes him into who he is. (a gif of him is underneath this)
the second main character is benson! he’s randy’s coworker at the restaurant ‘burgers burgers burgers.’ he’s somewhere between his mid-20s and late-30s (some people say he’s older, some say he’s younger.) he lives with his mom who he has a strained relationship with. he is quite an angry man due to his past and tries to gain some control back in life by taking out his feelings on others. he truly cares for randy but shows it in a very fucked up way. (a gif of him is underneath this)
this is the two of them together!!
starts gnawing at the bars of my enclosure
“we want elephant posts!” “we want more zero day posts!” “we want the passenger posts!” …and then they all flop…
operationandrephobic
randy’s love language has always been physical touch. when he was little, he used to get hugs and cuddles from his parents. after his dad left, his mom became overbearing and every hug he gets from her feels like she’s trying to suffocate him.
he avoids everyone’s touch. when someone passes by him and hits his shoulder, he feels like dying. when hardy slaps him on the back, trying to be supportive, randy feels like he’s gotten the wind knocked out of him. even when he’s working front of house and someone sneaks behind him, their slight touch makes him jump.
it changes when he runs away with benson, though. benson’s touchier than he’d like to admit. his hands are always cupping randy’s face, rustling his hair, and wrapping around his waist.
after a while, randy becomes comfortable with the contact. he doesn’t get goosebumps or back away from benson when his hands come near. when they’re laying in bed in some random worn down motel, randy wraps his arms around benson’s neck and lays his head on his breast, listening to benson’s heartbeat and feeling the rise of his chest. on days when they drive for hours, randy intertwines their fingers and traces patterns on benson’s skin.
it’s subtle, but randy’s in love with it. the touch makes him feel grounded, as if they aren’t escaping from the police.
randy constantly asks questions to the point that benson has to genuinely tell him to be quiet from time to time.
he used to do it when they worked with one another. he’d ask if he was doing things right, if he could have help with a task, if he could swap places with someone. now that him and benson are on the run together, it’s only gotten worse.
his memory is horrible, especially when he’s anxious, so he says the same things over and over, meaning that benson has to answer him over and over.
when they stop at motels, randy asks if they’ll call the police, if they have bed bugs, and if they’re safe. when they park at gas stations to sleep, he barely rests because he’s constantly wondering if they’ll get towed or get asked to leave. when they’re on the road and randy starts worrying about dumb things, benson just turns up the radio.
listen… he loves randy, he truly does, but he cannot deal with nonstop concern. one time he got mad and compared randy to randy’s mom with her constant honing and panicking. safe to say, they didn’t speak for the rest of the day until benson apologized.
on the count of three (2021) / the passenger (2023)