MaidOfKandar said:
(Also the number of beer bottles in there was kinda WTF-worthy. If his parents were hard-asses how the hell did he get away with that much boozing in...what, three years if he's 21? Would his parents let him drink underage?).
Looping around to answer everyone.
Also the straight-up maybe-porn on his wall.
Based on the person Brock
seems to be, maybe he wouldn't care. Maybe he'd even
buy Ash the beer, philosophizing that drinking is what
real men do. I'd be willing to bet that Mrs. Williams died when Ash/Cheryl were young.
I'm a novelist and I'm actually tinkering with writing novelizations of the film trilogy (in between my original projects), I've done some preliminary work on the first film's book, giving thought to how to convey Ash's evolution, beyond the real-world issue of throwing continuity to-the-wind as Sam/Bruce did.
How I'd rationalize the character over the course of the trilogy/show is this:
*Mrs. Williams died when Ash and Cheryl were young. She was the sensitive parent.
*Ash was expected to be a girl maybe, hence the name "Ashley."
*Brock is a drinking, meat-headed misogynist.
*Ash is a quiet, studious, thoughtful fellow with dreams of a career in engineering (Also, he apparently was learning to play the cello).
*Brock browbeats Ash for not being more "manly."
*Cheryl is the older sister who sometimes 'authoritates' all over Ash like she's their mother (I think you could
almost read that into her performance in ED), hence why she's the only one to call him "Ashley" (I think).
*The cabin weekend happens, and Ash naturally 'mans up,' perhaps hitching himself to his father's image as a coping mechanism, as Ash was brought up to believe that being the way his father is would make him strong.
*30 years later, Ash never realized the inevitable conclusion to that coping mechanism--he's become a loser.
I dunno. I hate to keep talking about it (sorta, haha), but the characterization of Ash on the show really bugs me. It's a missed opportunity to do some of the best character studying in television and they're botching it for cheap laughs. They've teased us with character depth for Ash in the first season and the second season promos. I hope it translates to the actual episodes from here on out.
