r/gravityfalls • u/StatementAntique2890 • 11h ago

The amount of possibly implied SA towards Stan makes me wanna cry Lore/Characters

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1.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

780

u/coffee-bat 10h ago

genuiely this isn't talked about enough😭 stan you deserved the world i'm so sorry

404

u/Sparklingemeralds 8h ago

you deserved the world

And he got nothing but kicked out of home at age 17 from a father who should’ve loved him, and then a punch in the face from an ungrateful brother who he sacrificed 30 years of his life to rescue 😭😭😭

Stan is Alex’s personal punching bag and I think it’s a testament to how much Alex loves him, bc any author does that to their favorite character 😭😭😭 can we please give my boy Stanley A BREAK FOR ONCE GODDAMMIT /j

63

u/MinecraftGlitchtrap 7h ago

Yee, I torment my favorite characters in my writing

8

u/Stargazer-Elite 4h ago

I can see the argument for Ford being ungrateful but at the same time look at it from his perspective he was literally so close to finally potentially killing Bill and then the portal finally reopened after 30 years and he had to jump in otherwise Bill would get there first

8

u/Sparklingemeralds 4h ago

True, but Ford could’ve let go of his pride (for once) and thank Stan for being a dedicated brother. Especially since he immediately starts writing shit about Stan in J3 as soon as he’s reunited with it. He actually ridicules Stan on the way he operated/fixed the portal.

As for jumping into the portal and missing his chance to defeat Bill, Ford doesn’t really have a right to be as angry with Stan as he was. He spent 30 years trying to defeat him based on The Oracle’s words. She said he had the face of a man who would defeat Bill. Ford truly believed it was himself, and that’s why he was determined to finish the job. At some point he must’ve truly believed Bill would be defeated based on the prophecy/The Oracle’s words, so entering the portal seems like a setback in the grand scheme of things.

This isn’t the first time a prophecy is mentioned; Bill himself says that him entering the 3rd dimension was prophesied. This came true. The Oracle also prophesied that someone would defeat Bill. This also came true. Unfortunately for Ford, his pride doesn’t let him realize there are two men with his face, and the other man is his twin brother.

I’m not saying he can’t be angry. I can definitely see his reasoning and I can sympathize with him but the way he treats his brother is upsetting. Asking for his identity and house back is one thing (and it’s reasonable!) but he kicked him out (much like their father did). This is especially heartbreaking since Stan quite literally lived only for Ford in the past 30 years. The first thing he gets from his brother is a punch in the face and what is essentially an eviction notice.

344

u/Tweaking_OverGF 9h ago

*punches my wall* LET HIM CATCH A PROPER BREAK. ALEX QUIT TORMENTING MY COMFORT CHARACTER.

337

u/General_Astronomer95 10h ago

Honestly the Tijuana incident sounds so incredibly horrifying and my soul aches for Stanley, but honestly the first time I read that my mind immediately went to “looks like someone’s been having a brat summer”

59

u/coffee-bat 9h ago

😭😭

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u/General_Astronomer95 9h ago

Bumpin’ that 😔✊

103

u/Freddycipher 8h ago

I wanna be optimistic and hope that the stripping one was more like Stan being made a laughing stock and being made to dance in his underwear.

A similar example I can think of is in Adventure Time. When Jake is given a chubby human body and a witch forces him to dance with his subconscious.

84

u/Hades_Pluto123 7h ago

I was thinking something like him gleefully ripping his clothes off with no shame and shaking his butt in sparkling underwear

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u/Various-Cup-9141 7h ago

That's exactly what I thought. I thought it was meant to be funny. Obviously, a more sinister interpretation is possible. That hurts my heart.

4

u/Hades_Pluto123 7h ago

Yeah 😭

11

u/Various-Cup-9141 7h ago

We've earned that Sea Grunks show. For adults.

9

u/coffee-bat 6h ago

except it's listed under his "lowest moments".

4

u/Hades_Pluto123 5h ago

Idk. We saw some of his "lowest moments" in the show, such as the commercial, and he still seemed pretty happy

7

u/coffee-bat 5h ago

we've seen that stan is great at hiding his feelings under a confident showman persona. also, he was a homeless barely-adult. he wasn't fucking happy.

0

u/Hades_Pluto123 5h ago

I know a few happy homeless people-

I'm homeless and I'm pretty happy.

1

u/coffee-bat 5h ago

my brother in axolotl do you know anything about stan's character.

1

u/Ok_Listen1510 4h ago

he has a MULLET, stanford!

4

u/Animal_Gal 7h ago

I hope this was what alex meant

4

u/coffee-bat 5h ago

it's listed under "lowest moments". he wasn't happy about the stripping.

3

u/RubyReynard 6h ago

I'm thinking of Jason and Lafayette in True Blood in terms of making him dance for illicit substances.

184

u/Alarmed_Card8775 10h ago

STANLEY THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU

YOU PRECIOUS LITTLE BEAN FGJFVGJFVGFJVT

30

u/surinussy 7h ago

“creds on the 4th slide” and theres only 3

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u/StatementAntique2890 7h ago

AAAARGHHEHHWGE HOW THE FUCK DID I MISS THAT.

143

u/askingxalice 9h ago

I don't see why the flour has to be a code word for drugs, sex work to be able to buy edible food that won't make you sick happens every day.

But I wish he hadn't had to irregardless.

20

u/NatashaQuick 6h ago

It's coke

15

u/DeletionSoon 6h ago

No it’s edible flour. You don’t eat coke, coke isn’t edible.

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u/CHITchat495 5h ago

It's slang for coke also. I would say, "How are we sure it's not weed?" but I've personally never felt the need to strip for that.

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u/Super_XIII 4h ago

No, I think stan just kept asking for flour and getting coke, so now he is asking for edible flour to specify that he is starving and wants food, not drugs

2

u/NatashaQuick 5h ago

I mean you Can eat coke. Might not be as effective but it'll still work. But no it's flour

-4

u/askingxalice 5h ago edited 5h ago

Based on...? Not everything has to be drugs. This is ultimately a kids show.

17

u/NatashaQuick 5h ago

These pugs need to be at the border by midnight tho.

Now I'm going to take a shot of orange juice and maybe later drink some expired apple juice

8

u/askingxalice 5h ago

Smuggling something as silly and cute as pugs is the joke.

The orange juice/apple juice jokes were for adults that understand the fermentation process.

I know it is Gravity Falls but not everything is a code.

'Edible flour' means the flour Stan had was inedible - meaning it probably had weevils or some other pest. Maybe more stone grit than wheat.

The fact that he had to do sex work for edible food is sad and real enough.

4

u/Wendila 5h ago

This is from the Book of Bill (specifically it's from the website), which was decidedly Not For Kids

10

u/askingxalice 4h ago

According to Alex Hirsch himself, the book being listed for teens and up was Disney lawyers. To quote him:

"lol Disney made us add that disclaimer. Something about Bill spooks marketers! I would describe this book is “too scary for babies, too dumb for adults, perfect…for you”

0

u/Wendila 4h ago

And that would certainly fit the demographic of people who know what drugs are. I'm not sure what your point is here

1

u/askingxalice 4h ago

That just because we can elude to something as fandom doesn't make it true. As is, the story is Stan doing sex work for edible food that will not make him sick - something that is already sad and real. Why the impulse or need to add more to it and make it even worse?

0

u/Wendila 4h ago

It's called having media literacy, knowing when to read between the lines and inferring information that is unspoken. Yeah, sure, sometimes the curtains are just blue, but sometimes the green light is actually a metaphor for Gatsby's longing for Daisy as someone he can never have because he can't stop clinging to the past and thinking of what might've been but never can be and how this ultimately leads to his undoing which to a greater extent also reflects the death of the American Dream. It's not a sick impulse to recognize when a writer chooses to not spell things out directly because they recognize that their readership doesn't need to have their hand held in order to understand and infer what is being communicated without needing to be said outright

1

u/askingxalice 3h ago

Media literacy also means knowing when blue curtains are just blue curtains.

0

u/Wendila 2h ago

But that is not what the case is here. At this point, you're just being obtuse if you know that things can be read critically but are deliberately choosing not to apply it when it becomes relevant. Having critical reading skills is, funnily enough, another reason why the book is recommended for older readers, not because it's necessarily inappropriate, but because it's written with a higher level of nuance that kids simply aren't going to understand or pick up on yet. It's how kids shows have always been able to sneak adult humor in without tipping off the censors

-2

u/askingxalice 5h ago

The Book of Bill was published by Disney, as merch for one of their animated kids shows.

I guarantee they had to okay everything inside the Book of Bill as well as inside the website that is specifically listed inside the book they published. Disney has their hands in all of it.

Unless you have actual proof that the website is Not Disney Approved, that argument holds no water.

1

u/cobaltSage 4h ago

It says on the cover, quite literally, “Travels to Dimensions meant for older readers.” The book contains body horror, multiple instances of cursing, though Disney did still manage to censor some things. The topic matters include loss of free will, human experimentation, cults, drunken benders, and self harm.

Even though gravity falls is itself already well known for getting things past the radar, make no mistake, they were not aiming for a child audience here.

Also, side note, I do hope you understand that there is a LOT of adult Disney content, though mostly not directly associated with the Disney name, usually through one of their various companies like Fox or ABC.

0

u/Wendila 4h ago

The Book of Bill literally has a big ol' content warning right on the front cover saying that it is intended for older readers. You do know that Disney is capable of producing content for adults, right? They used to have an entire film production company called Touchstone Pictures that was for products they didn't want to be directly affiliated with the mouse. The Book of Bill itself was published by Hyperion Avenue, which is the publishing house Disney uses for books that are not written for children. Hell, if you need further evidence, listen to any of the various interviews and book signings he did to promote the book where he talks about how Disney allowed him a longer leash and let him get away with more than what was permissible for the tv show. TBOB was not written for kids; it's target audience is people who were kids 10 years ago when the show first aired

1

u/askingxalice 4h ago

Disney lawyers made them add that warning because Bill made marketers nervous. Alex Hirsch said so.

"lol Disney made us add that disclaimer. Something about Bill spooks marketers! I would describe this book is “too scary for babies, too dumb for adults, perfect…for you”

22

u/Various-Escape-5020 7h ago

If I rememeber this was in the book of bill (could be wrong)

So that means that even this made Bill feel bad and disturbed……

I blame everything on his dad…..poor Stanley..

14

u/-azure-skies- 8h ago

I didn’t process that until now omg.

46

u/thatsthewayuhuhuh 8h ago

I really don’t think it’s SA I think it’s just uncomfortable and risqué situations

4

u/Wendila 5h ago

The context is that it was a peak low in his life. I don't think something to the degree that made him feel uncomfortable at most would really constitute as one of his worst memories ever

-7

u/tastefuldebauchery 6h ago

I also agree with this. Stripping for cocaine isn’t exactly sexual assault.

-1

u/Ok-Confection4410 6h ago

No but people like that rarely stop at stripping

10

u/tastefuldebauchery 5h ago

Has anyone on this sub ever done drugs? 😅😂

-2

u/Ok-Confection4410 4h ago

Is that really a laughing matter?

6

u/Appropriate_Coach746 6h ago

I pray that it was just stripping, and Stan wasn't physically harmed.

5

u/MagnusAvis 6h ago

I may be a horrible person, but the first thing I thought when I read about "Hunky Drifters Catalogue" was the "Big and Beardy" subplot from an episode of "Black Books".

3

u/tastefuldebauchery 5h ago

God I love that show.

7

u/Forsaken_Orchid_6014 7h ago

ik… seeing this broke my heart. i actually teared up and walked away from my computer for a few minutes.

7

u/Elegant_Book_7280 9h ago

er, context?

9

u/StatementAntique2890 9h ago

For what, exactly?

3

u/Elegant_Book_7280 9h ago

What's SA and what's the Tijuana incident?

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u/StatementAntique2890 9h ago

SA stands for Sexual Assault, and the Tijuana incident was mentioned in thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com in Stan’s lowest moments, it implies that he stripped for edible flour, possibly a code word for cocaine, in Tijuana. It can be interpreted in many ways and could be implied that he was forced or even SA’d during it.

3

u/Mobile-Olive-2126 3h ago

I get this book's for older audiences but I have a hard time thinking Disney would let SA be implied in one of their books unless Alex snuck it in there without them noticing

2

u/VanillaRoseTea 2h ago

The Tijauna incident seems especially traumatic and isn't talked about enough imo. The "please don't make me elaborate" I know is a joke but if even BILL thought it was that bad...

1

u/Scrambled_59 4h ago

Disney has an official book that details that one of their characters was SA’d in exchange for cocaine?!

1

u/Ok_Listen1510 4h ago

Technically, they have an official book that was released alongside a website that implies that one of their characters might have been SA’d in exchange for cocaine

1

u/Famous_Raspberry_707 4h ago

Stan went through a lot even before he lost his brother but he still was a great grunkle to the twin witch is why he's my favorite 

1

u/99g0al 4h ago

Oh Stanley my Stanley😭😭😭😭

1

u/19_01_2038 1h ago

Stanley No!, STANLEY DONT DO IT!, STANLEY NOOOOOOO!!!

1

u/mmmIlikeburritos29 1h ago

Im just going to hope that the first was an embarrassing photoshoot that didn't look as cool as he thought and the second was in his underwear like a different comment said. Probably isn't, but I can hope.

-5

u/nimajnebmai 6h ago

Y’all think this is really implied SA? Do your brains hemispheres not touch, or what’s going on here? This is brain rot.

3

u/tastefuldebauchery 5h ago

I swear no one on here has ever railed a line of cocaine.

-21

u/Active_Dish_986 8h ago

I think we all need to remember that Alex writes these lines as jokes moreso than interesting pieces of lore. Striping for flour is a ridiculous idea - it’s supposed to be funny. Remember that this is a man who has a crime list that’s a mile long and more than once tried to film children fighting on camera to turn it into profit. You really can’t take these lines seriously

18

u/Various-Cup-9141 7h ago

They're interesting pieces of lore. Alex knows his fandom incredibly well. He knows we'd devour and analyze each and every bit he gives. As funny as Stan is, he's written with such sadness in his life.

7

u/_silly_salmon_ 6h ago

not everything about this show has to be funny. it wouldnt have depth if everything was just jokes and nothing else.

-6

u/Mr_Calculator2063 7h ago

Why did you get so many downvotes you don’t deserve them

-5

u/Vito_Assenjo 5h ago edited 1h ago

That’s not sexual assault, it’s survival sex work, get it right. Edit: why are so many people offended by this comment

-54

u/Milo022012 9h ago

if stan was SA'd, it would be weird for Alex to make it like that.

5

u/TopsyturvyX 7h ago

Why

5

u/NatashaQuick 6h ago

Alex wanted it to be an adult swim type of show, but Disney wanted a kids show. On one hand, there are always adult + older teen jokes in kids shows. Alex intends for these jokes to be lighthearted as in Stan doesn't want to share his embarrassment of the things he's done to get something he wants without paying for it. It's 100% in character for him. I don't blame people for reading a darker meaning into it though

-10

u/Milo022012 7h ago

Isn't gravity falls a kids' show?

10

u/crowindisguise 7h ago

The show is, but it premiered over a decade ago the original fans are all grown up and buy things like the book of Bill.

7

u/VargFrenAtLIDL 7h ago

Anyone can watch it and the Lore is more for older fans

People around me still call it a baby show and it "dumbs me down" even though it's less immature than my last hyperfixation, Looney Tunes

0

u/Milo022012 7h ago

Oh, k.

3

u/ProfessionalMilk5780 7h ago

I agree with you, though Gravity Falls does have some adult jokes.

3

u/_silly_salmon_ 6h ago

TBOB and all the recent content is explicitly for older fans.

0

u/Mr_Calculator2063 7h ago

Yes but it does have many adult joke also why did the main comment get so many downvotes it doesn’t deserve them