Big Frankie is a faithful friend
Faithful special-needs friend!
What we seem to have here is a true friend. He is also your faithful friend. You know that because you’ve seen how people pick on him—chase him, blame him for dead little girls, attack him with torches, crucify him, stone him, and burn him alive. Now he is your special friend and sleeps in your bedroom with you. He stands on your bookshelf or nightstand and waits for you to come home.
This captures the whole Monster Kids era for me. This should replace all Bible covers.
Faithful friend! You know he is faithful because he has been abused and traumatized. You know he won’t leave you because he’s an outcast. You have nothing to fear but devotion. He’s small and needs your help to get around. He is your dependent. And because you made him, he is your son.
Yeah. I bought the repop. Five freaking years ago. When I was still with Eunjin. The box is huge (USD bill for scale).
What a great experience for boys to have. I love imagining this seventh grader actually bringing his kid brother with him to school like this one day. His mom is busy so he has to take care of his kid brother. He treats it absolutely like a real friend. No hint of irony or trying to be weird. He really connects with it.
Original artwork by James Bama.
What would happen? The other kids would laugh and try to make him feel shame. Some might be scared. But over time, and if he was good looking enough, and the girls responded well, it would spread. And instead of having tiny stuffed otaku animals dangling from their backpacks, kids would have their own (individuated by paint job) kid brother to take care of.
Now imagine that everyone at Michael’s middle school did it. Everyone loved the loveless, helped the needy, befriended the friendless, honored the ugly with heartfelt sympathy. Imagine all the people loving and encouraging and spending time with those who need it most.
Big Frankie does that to people. Kids should feel the pain of others, especially the ones who feel the most pain, and yet are still so kind. Gentle, kind, eager to help, happy to make others happy.
I get this way bad around down syndrome kids and lonely elderly. How sad to be alone. Also—ugly people. Ugly people who are friendless and loverless because of their robot. And stupid people (the kind in care facilities) who smile when you smile, frown when you frown, are so keyed to others, so engaged with others just out of instinct, people who are really outside themselves in sympathetic connection, spontaneous and emotional, with others. The one who is most hated is the most grateful for love.
