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 Forum index » Chaotic Fiction » Marble Hornets
[SPEC] Jay's Income
Moderators: Giskard, JKatkina, Zarggg
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BardicFire
Boot

Joined: 09 Feb 2012
Posts: 11

[SPEC] Jay's Income
or, "How can Jay afford to stay in hotels every day for the past few years?"

New to unfiction, but just finished Marble Hornets entries so far. Biggest question I have is this: where is Jay getting his funds to continue the investigation. he's driving around, using gays, staying at hotels that look like they cost AT LEAST $50 a night, needs to eat, needs to buy tapes for the cameras, he's spending A LOT of money, and he's not working. Where is it coming from?

I'm pretty determined to bog his twitter with this question, because "in-universe" I find it highly suspect and "out-of-universe" I find it kinda of a big production error on their part. If anyone could help me with this investigation... please.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:28 am
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ReverendJ
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Joined: 04 Aug 2011
Posts: 558

Re: Jay's Income

BardicFire wrote:
...using gays...


Woah

BardicFire wrote:
I'm pretty determined to bog his twitter with this question...


Yeah spam it up, I'm sure he'll respond to you being an asshole with a wealth of information.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:42 am
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BardicFire
Boot

Joined: 09 Feb 2012
Posts: 11

OMG! I just posted that and yet I can't figure out what I was actually saying... OH I meant Gas... I have no idea why I said Gay... Freudian Slip FTW.

You're correct, it would be an asshole thing to do, so what would you suggest?

BTW, two theories on the TV Tropes Headscratchers page:
1. Prostitution (obviously a joke...)
2. Student Loans.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:55 am
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ReverendJ
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Joined: 04 Aug 2011
Posts: 558

BardicFire wrote:
OMG! I just posted that and yet I can't figure out what I was actually saying... OH I meant Gas... I have no idea why I said Gay... Freudian Slip FTW.

You're correct, it would be an asshole thing to do, so what would you suggest?

BTW, two theories on the TV Tropes Headscratchers page:
1. Prostitution (obviously a joke...)
2. Student Loans.
I think you've already figured it out, he's clearly using gays for money...or it's a production over site...or he's got a trust fund...or random odd jobs (ehhh that's a stretch in this economy still isn't it).

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:00 am
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BardicFire
Boot

Joined: 09 Feb 2012
Posts: 11

I think it's important to figure out, because it could mean several things:

1. It's a production error, and we alert them to the presence of it and they add it into the story
2. it's already a factor of the story, and we've hit on something big
2a. this happens by him not answering, which means he's avoiding the question, which means something.
2b. He answers the question, which then could be lead to 3 things itself
2bI. He lies... which we won't really know if he does, but it will probably come up in the series and thus gives us a clue
2bII. He answers, but it's a mundane thing, and doesn't really matter, but it at least answers a question, and he could possibly slip other information when he does answer.
2bIII. He answers, and it's something significant, which gives us quite a bit of information.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:17 am
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onetruepurple
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Joined: 07 Jan 2011
Posts: 570

Re: Jay's Income

BardicFire wrote:
using gays

what the christ hahahhaahaha

Serious reply: I like to think that after Jay graduated the film school he and Alex went to, he might have made some cheap money by filming people's weddings, or prom parties, or something similar. Not a very fulfilling job, but at least it wasn't retail, and it was enough to get a cheap looking apartment.

Either that or student loans.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:19 am
Last edited by onetruepurple on Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:27 am; edited 1 time in total
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BardicFire
Boot

Joined: 09 Feb 2012
Posts: 11

if I ask "is this going to be a meme now?" will it stop it from becoming a meme?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:23 am
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morscata12
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Joined: 03 Sep 2009
Posts: 351

BardicFire wrote:
2bII. He answers, but it's a mundane thing, and doesn't really matter..


This is probably what the answer to this question will be. Jay is using the MarbleHornets YouTube feed to document his investigation into Alex's strange dealings, not to document his own life. There's plenty Jay isn't telling us about because it isn't relevant. Even though Jay's been through some strange stuff, he's still sane (at this point in the story), so he knows how to function in society.

Any facts about Jay that don't affect the story are interchangeable anyway. Any combination of those facts don't generate any plot holes, since none of them affect the story. I think "where does Jay work" is one of those unrelated facts.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:40 pm
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Spritey
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Joined: 28 Jan 2010
Posts: 564
Location: San Marcos, California, USA

Credit cards exist.

Student loans are also a possibility, considering he probably isn't attending classes anymore

And we have nothing to suggest that he isn't currently employed somewhere, especially since he was undisturbed for nearly all of season 2. It also seems like during the 7-month gap, he was mostly sleeping in his car.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 2:44 pm
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Susil
Veteran


Joined: 01 Mar 2011
Posts: 117
Location: UK

morscata12 wrote:
BardicFire wrote:
2bII. He answers, but it's a mundane thing, and doesn't really matter..


This is probably what the answer to this question will be. Jay is using the MarbleHornets YouTube feed to document his investigation into Alex's strange dealings, not to document his own life. There's plenty Jay isn't telling us about because it isn't relevant. Even though Jay's been through some strange stuff, he's still sane (at this point in the story), so he knows how to function in society.

Any facts about Jay that don't affect the story are interchangeable anyway. Any combination of those facts don't generate any plot holes, since none of them affect the story. I think "where does Jay work" is one of those unrelated facts.



All good points.

I wonder if it might be a bit of a missed opportunity though. One of the great things about having a very normal bloke like Jay as the hero is that we get to see how all the crazy events impact his normal life. I think it'd be a really cool to see a few glimpses of the details of Jay's life being unraveled by all these event. Maybe (as was suggested) he'd made a living doing wedding videos - now he's too paranoid about busting out a camera. Imagine a tweet - "I can't do it, but how the hell do I explain to the bride I can't film in case this... thing comes back?"

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 2:45 pm
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Luno
Decorated

Joined: 20 Aug 2011
Posts: 154
Location: Behind the lens

Maybe he's living off the insurance after he torched his apartment after his apartment burned down.

There's a lot of things we don't know about Jay. Did he have a job? Was he still in college until he left town to find Alex? Doesn't he have parents? Siblings? Friends who aren't psychopaths?

I think most of this stuff is left out because it's not relevant to the plot, and would frankly be boring and unnecessary if included. Everything included in this series is used to either advance the plot, scare the viewer or to establish location/atmosphere, so I can see why the guys might decide to leave out everyday-life stuff because it would be too "normal". A scene in which the protagonist gets a phone call from his mother (probably) wouldn't be scary enough...

In game, I suppose you could justify the lack of personal-life detail because, despite it all, Jay still wants to protect his identity as much as he can. Hence his surname being "redacted" in that hotel entry where he speaks to Jessica for (what he thinks is) the first time.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:27 pm
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Spritey
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Joined: 28 Jan 2010
Posts: 564
Location: San Marcos, California, USA

Jay does have friends. In entry 25 he mentioned that a "friend" told him to turn the news on. I assume he doesn't tell friends and family about this fiasco because they'll just think he's insane. He probably told them all he's filming a documentary about hotels.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:39 pm
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onetruepurple
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Joined: 07 Jan 2011
Posts: 570

Spritey wrote:
I assume he doesn't tell friends and family about this fiasco because they'll just think he's insane. He probably told them all he's filming a documentary about hotels.
Perfect.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:43 pm
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Luno
Decorated

Joined: 20 Aug 2011
Posts: 154
Location: Behind the lens

No no no, the hotel film was last year's project. This year he's filming a documentary about antiques stores.

Good one on remembering the friend who made him watch his apartment burn down (some friend... Wink ). In all seriousness, though it's kinda reassuring that he knows people who aren't either missing, completely psychotic and/or out for his blood.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:57 pm
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BardicFire
Boot

Joined: 09 Feb 2012
Posts: 11

but he obviously doesn't have a regular job. and he's still been acting weird... I think mundane life matters because these are mundane people, therefore this is affecting their mundane lives. why hasn't this affected those other friends and families at all, and why hasn't Jay gotten a friend to come help him with all this? I personally think all of these things can possibly and probably should matter.

Edit: maybe this is just because I'm more genre savvy than Jay. I just feel like I'd get online, let people know about (like he's done) and then build myself a local team. I bet you Slendy, TTA, and Masky would be a lot less threatening when you travel with a pack of people. they'd also be able to help you with going through the tapes, AND it give him better cover for the documentary thing.... IDK... like I said... probably just too Genre Savvy. makes me want to make my own series like that though.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:16 pm
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