The late Anthony Bourdain once said that his life is a struggle to not be the version of him who sits in his house all day, and I really didn’t resonate with that quote until I saw Gabriel Dropout and that’s because Gabriel dropouts lead cast are all versions of me that I don’t want to be.
But before I get into that I let’s talk about the show. It’s pretty good the facial expressions are varied and creative which gets a lot of good laughs and there is a lot of momentum in the show to compliment the humor. It’s a pretty high-quality production and the jokes got a lot of laughs out of me.
But let us talk about how each of the characters is literally me or at least different versions of who I would rather not be. while also doing this I hope to explain how the characters play off each other to influence the show’s comedy
Vignette
Vignette is the most functional out of the four but she does have her own quirks. the first is that her constant anxiety about how she is a demon who is constantly doing nice things for others. she is also a bit too enthusiastic about certain things like when she made a whole novel of an integral plan for a trip to the beach. But in all vinette is not a bad person to emulate so in this case she represents the best quality that someone should try to have, which works as an extreme contrast to the rest of the cast.
Vignette plays the important role of the straight man in the series the one who keeps everyone in line and the one who the audience can relate to. the straight man is the grounding that you need in a comedic show to give a sense of realism to the series as well as an entry point fo the viewer to enter into the setting. she, of course, has her own comedic moments but most of these are based on her breaking from her character like when she destroys Gaberial’s apartment to eliminate a cockroach.
Gabrial
The titular character of the show Gabriel is the type of person that I fear i will become. I can relate to her in certain ways the fact that she plays too many video games, is prone to staying inside and generally wants to skirt responsibilities. she is someone who is a twisted way I would I could be, someone who does not care about but of course, the better angels of my nature prevent me from becoming.
now if Gabrial was just a rude and lazy person she would not be that entertaining to watch. but it’s the way that she tries to get around her obligations that adds the comedy to here scenes like when she pretends to be foreign in order to avoid responsibility for getting an order wrong.
Raphiel
you ever have the urge to do something bad and your not sure where that urge came form. Freudian psychoanalysis reference to that at the id which is the part of your psyche where all the random impulses come from. this is probably where the more sadistic impulses originate. now obviously you wouldn’t want to follow these impulses unless you are Raphiel.
Raphael is the version of you that likes to enjoy seeing other people struggle and spends there time working to inconvenience everyone. this leads to some more comedic situations with a character that is more gullible than most and honestly I’m going to stop writing about everyone else and get the real main character of the show.
Satanichia
The meme queen the character that actually got people to watch this sow the biggest target for bullying. Satanichia.
Satanichia reminds me of my middle school self and a bit of high school. I mean I am a cringy nerd now but back then the clinginess was fully unleashed. Satanichia is the version of my self that lacks any self-awareness, Who thought it was the coolest person on the planet. It was a dark chapter in my history that I never want to return too.
Satanichia is kind of the lynchpin for a good portion of the show’s comedy through its character interactions. For Vinete Satania plays up the absurdity to contrast to Vinetes straight man act. Satanichia is constantly foiled in her attempts to outdo Gabrial and well whatever Satinia feels like challenging Gabrial at. and of course, she is also the target of most of Raphiel antics. in fact, it almost feels like Raphile wouldn’t have much to do outside of pranking Satiania, the very first scene with Raphiel is her misinforming Satiania on how to deal with a dog. Another source for a lot of comedy is how Satiania is constantly foiled in her attempts to outdo Gabrial.
Now onto the meat of the show. Gabrial Dropout is really about the ambiguity of good and evil.
If you need any other evidence look at the characters. Vinette despite being a demon is the nicest character in the show. Satanicha is too clumsy to be properly evil. The angles are closer to being demons than the actual daemons themselves. Gabrial has turned into the epitome of sloth and Raphiel enjoys toying with individuals. I think what the show is trying to get across is that people are just people regardless of there prescribed identities. this idea is kinda represented in the side character of Trapis.
When Trapis enters the series she has preconceived notations about how the world works. Mostly that it is dangerous and hostile. She also has ideas about how a demon and angel is supposed to be. these notions are of course shattered when she meets Gabrial and Vinette, where Vinette tries to help Trapis and Gabrial try to mooch snack money from Trapis. In fact, Trapis also reminds me of my own adolescent self. I grew up in a pretty conservative and religious environment where I was taught that the outside world was going to be hostile towards me and that people who didn’t share the same ideology as I were evil. These preconceptions were promptly shattered when I went off to college and the sudden realization that the world was a lot more complication and compassionate that I originally expected was both scary and a relief.
So who would have thought that this cute gag comedy show would have had something to say about the ambiguity of this world. It is definitely worth a watch.
The Trans-Feminine Gaze 