I’m really kind of intrigued/puzzled by the stereotype of music majors as antisocial head cases. I certainly am not one to be objective about this, but the music majors I knew were all total music nerds and/or serious party animals, with a considerable Venn diagram overlap.
I don’t think the stereotype discussed in this strip is “music majors are antisocial headcases”, but more “those guys at Read Hall are antisocial headcases AND they’re also music majors”.
Well, I’m intrigued/puzzled because nearly everyone in DoA is in Read Hall and the closest thing to “music majoring” we’ve seen is Dan punishing the ukelele.
Yeah, but they only ever go to class when it advances the plot, and that seems to be limited to required humanities courses, so there’s really no way of knowing what anyone is majoring it unless they make a point of mentioning it.
this is an old comment by now, but I can attest most music majors I know (seeing as I am one) are music nerds and/or serious party animals… considering IU has the MAC and the Jacobs SoM, though, they definitely attract a different breed.
It’s been, like, a month and these rumors have already started. Even though they have Sal and Amber, I still choose to believe that all the rumors are based around Joyce
In the last Tmonth of comic time, Joe’s sex rating list became campuswide news, Dina got shot at by Becky’s dad, Becky (who is probably presumed to be a student) got kidnapped, Billie got kicked out of the dorm, Roz’s senator sister got into a nationally covered sex scandal, a sex tape of Roz and Joe leaked, Dina captured and tied up Faz, and the RA physically assaulted several students, mostly Mary, before trying to kill herself and being immediately re-instated.
It’s a miracle they haven’t shut down the dorm yet.
Either she’s uncomfortable with the way that these people are gossipping about Read Hall (possibly because of previous experience with gossip, maybe connected to her face upon finding out Billie was a cheerleader) or she’s worried about how Billie will react to said gossip. Probably both.
Also, based on these expressions I’m starting to form a headcanon about Lucy that is much less fun than the one I formed about Nash & Co a month or so back.
I’m a bit worried for Lucy. In the Shortpacked! universe, she had her head on her shoulders and generally had everything together. She took on the AmaziGirl mantle not because she had something to prove, but just basically because it was given to her, and why not?
This Lucy… it’s like her cheerfulness is just a mask for bigger insecurities and fears. What on earth happened to you?
Joy
probably the same thing the shortpacked lucy recovered from already
Mr D
….Starfire getting turned into an airheaded sex-crazed bimbo in the comics?
My guess would be that she’s thinking, “Hey, please don’t tell my new roommate that everyone thinks that all of the people that she lived with and bonded with were crazy.” And yes, even though it’s in her head, she’s still saying please.
Maybe she’s actually uncomfortable with how much attention with Billie is getting? Either in a ‘everyone’s gonna ignore me’ way, or ‘back off, she’s MY roommate! My friend!’ way.
If I had to guess, I’d say she’s praying the answer isn’t “Because Lucy’s last roommate kind of treated her poorly.” These people are all really nice and open; I can see them rubbing Malaya entirely the wrong way and Malaya being intensely unpopular. And I can see Lucy being the kind of person who doesn’t want stories, however true, of “well Lucy’s last roommate was an anti-social jerk, even if she had an awesome iguana” getting spread.
geno
People rub Malays the wrong by existing. These girls exist and are nice. Malaya probably wants to lead a crusade against them.
thejeff
They seem a little overaggressively nice, which can be annoying. But mostly I expect you’re right. It is Malaya.
Deanatay
Malaya does love forming alliances against people. And fighting her way out of huge mistakes.
Music majors are never actually in the dorm. Their entire waking (and sleeping) days are taken up with practice, rehearsal and performance.
Tgape
When I was in college, I saw a music major in his dorm once. Not, of course, *his* dorm room, and he was only there to get an extra guitar pick someone had, because his last one broke. But for something like 5 minutes, he was *actually* within the confines of the building he was ostensibly living in during the school year. Sure, it’s an isolated event, probably never to repeat in the course of his college career, but it happened, so saying ‘never’ is a bit hyperbolic. Admittedly, that was at that *other* state university, rather than IU.
Why does everyone assume Dorothy, a workaholic who is incapable of not taking everything onto her own shoulders, is the “stable” one? She seems stable because she is desperate to *be* stable. Her particular brand of self-harm is just the brand that capitalism encourages, so we see her as “normal”.
Maybe it’s because I see ambition in a more innocent light then most normal people do, that in itself sounds bad though that much I realize that but still.
geno
The fact that Dorothy actually went to a therapist on her own volition rather than letting this blow up out of control shows she’s the stable one.
Indoor Cat
I like this point.
Very few people are 100% mentally healthy their entire life. By and large, the people I know irl whom I’d label as having the best “head on their shoulders” are people who at some point dealt with anxiety, depression, bipolar, or other internal personal challenges proactively– that is, early on, they realized they had a problem with their mood or personality, and decided to seek help and improve in a constructive way.
On the other hand, the people I know (and love!) who seem the least stable or most fragile either dealt with their internal issues in a destructive way (self-medicating with alcohol and drugs, deciding not to care about anything and “checking out” mentally, self-harm), or never dealt with them at all, and they ended up becoming agoraphobic and trapped in their own home or something similar.
Not everyone’s issues are equally severe, but I do think it’s good to see how to positively handle stress and mental health issues, especially since portraying destructive coping mechanisms seems much more common.
GoblinScribe
I’m not sure that she’s going to a therapist for her stress-related issues, though. She seems resigned to the idea that that stress is inescapable.
Interestingly enough, I lived in my campus’ equivalent of Read Hall – in that it was fully of music major antisocial headcases. Most of my roommates fit that description to a T.
Meanwhile, the real life parallels between me and Billie continue – I also fit that description, except I wasn’t a music major.
I know exactly one person who majors in music (classical), and who is a very nice, caring and empathic guy – he just can appear to be strange to outsiders as he has his own sense of humour (not stereotypical, that is). So – nothing antisocial there. But from what I heard about him applying for jobs, it seems that “anti-social” is pretty much a common trait in the music business, at least with the people he had to deal with (I’m sure there are more non-anti-social cases out there, but that’s just from my experience).
172 thoughts on “Stereotypically”
CandidCanid
Nash cares about clarity just as much as Carla does
Ana Chronistic
“yeah, there’s a CSCI girl… I hear”
Doctor_Who
Read Hall: The Lost Light
Forest Hall: The Vis Vitalis
StClair
I understood that reference!
Doctor_Who
I award you 50 internet bucks. They may be spent on the finest of memes.
Roborat
I didn’t, so I had to Google it, which initially wasn’t helpful, however I finally decided it was transformers related, and not the rock band.
KingMonster
Does that make Billie is Rodimus?
KingMonster
“Does that mean Billie is Rodimus?”
This is what happens when commenting while half asleep.
Kamino Neko
She’s more Megatron…the late-arriving co-Captain, making up for some horrible mistakes in her past.
adjudicus
I see her as Megatron in her more serious moments, though normally she’s trailcutter with his FIM chip activated
Reed
really hit the nail on the head there… mostly.
Marsh Maryrose
I’m really kind of intrigued/puzzled by the stereotype of music majors as antisocial head cases. I certainly am not one to be objective about this, but the music majors I knew were all total music nerds and/or serious party animals, with a considerable Venn diagram overlap.
Deadjolras
I don’t think the stereotype discussed in this strip is “music majors are antisocial headcases”, but more “those guys at Read Hall are antisocial headcases AND they’re also music majors”.
Arianod
Well, I’m intrigued/puzzled because nearly everyone in DoA is in Read Hall and the closest thing to “music majoring” we’ve seen is Dan punishing the ukelele.
BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
Yeah, but they only ever go to class when it advances the plot, and that seems to be limited to required humanities courses, so there’s really no way of knowing what anyone is majoring it unless they make a point of mentioning it.
jo
this is an old comment by now, but I can attest most music majors I know (seeing as I am one) are music nerds and/or serious party animals… considering IU has the MAC and the Jacobs SoM, though, they definitely attract a different breed.
One that I actually awkwardly wanna join. Anyhoo.
AnvilPro
It’s been, like, a month and these rumors have already started. Even though they have Sal and Amber, I still choose to believe that all the rumors are based around Joyce
AnvilPro
Well, maybe not her being anti-social
CandidCanid
It’s actually a real life stereotype which has circulated around IU for years.
Dean
Pfft, Joyce isn’t a music major!
Reltzik
Are ANY of the cast music majors?
MatthewTheLucky
New Danny is! Just listen to his well-honed Ukelele Chords!
Enkai
Not main cast, but I believe Sayid is. Not sure about anybody else.
ESM
In the last Tmonth of comic time, Joe’s sex rating list became campuswide news, Dina got shot at by Becky’s dad, Becky (who is probably presumed to be a student) got kidnapped, Billie got kicked out of the dorm, Roz’s senator sister got into a nationally covered sex scandal, a sex tape of Roz and Joe leaked, Dina captured and tied up Faz, and the RA physically assaulted several students, mostly Mary, before trying to kill herself and being immediately re-instated.
It’s a miracle they haven’t shut down the dorm yet.
Chronos
Geez, when you put it that way, you’d think last month was a little out of control
Soramke
It’s been more than a month… also, Ruth never physically assaulted Mary (that I can remember) and also didn’t try to kill herself.
egg
She slapped a sharpie dick onto Mary’s face and maybe some other thing I’m forgetting
geno
Ruth put herself in a situation where she would have died without intervention. You are splitting the tiniest of hairs.
thejeff
Well, they were going to shut it down, but the news got out about Dina capturing Faz and the world wide outpouring of gratitude kept it open.
Wright
What’s with Lucy’s reaction in panel 2? This is seriously bothering her, but why?
BBCC
Thinking of her last roommate maybe? Or whatever her beef is with cheerleaders?
Pablo360
Either she’s uncomfortable with the way that these people are gossipping about Read Hall (possibly because of previous experience with gossip, maybe connected to her face upon finding out Billie was a cheerleader) or she’s worried about how Billie will react to said gossip. Probably both.
Also, based on these expressions I’m starting to form a headcanon about Lucy that is much less fun than the one I formed about Nash & Co a month or so back.
Wright
I’m a bit worried for Lucy. In the Shortpacked! universe, she had her head on her shoulders and generally had everything together. She took on the AmaziGirl mantle not because she had something to prove, but just basically because it was given to her, and why not?
This Lucy… it’s like her cheerfulness is just a mask for bigger insecurities and fears. What on earth happened to you?
Joy
probably the same thing the shortpacked lucy recovered from already
Mr D
….Starfire getting turned into an airheaded sex-crazed bimbo in the comics?
Reltzik
We already knew that Nash was the one most likely to blurt out something offensive and/or inappropriate at the earliest allowable opportunity.
missilentmurmur
I think she’s having a Malaya flashback
CandidCanid
Most likely Lucy is just holding back her internal response, which is, of course, not what Nash is doing
Jed!
My guess would be that she’s thinking, “Hey, please don’t tell my new roommate that everyone thinks that all of the people that she lived with and bonded with were crazy.” And yes, even though it’s in her head, she’s still saying please.
Nono
Maybe she’s actually uncomfortable with how much attention with Billie is getting? Either in a ‘everyone’s gonna ignore me’ way, or ‘back off, she’s MY roommate! My friend!’ way.
FractalDawn
If I had to guess, I’d say she’s praying the answer isn’t “Because Lucy’s last roommate kind of treated her poorly.” These people are all really nice and open; I can see them rubbing Malaya entirely the wrong way and Malaya being intensely unpopular. And I can see Lucy being the kind of person who doesn’t want stories, however true, of “well Lucy’s last roommate was an anti-social jerk, even if she had an awesome iguana” getting spread.
geno
People rub Malays the wrong by existing. These girls exist and are nice. Malaya probably wants to lead a crusade against them.
thejeff
They seem a little overaggressively nice, which can be annoying. But mostly I expect you’re right. It is Malaya.
Deanatay
Malaya does love forming alliances against people. And fighting her way out of huge mistakes.
brasca1
Well there’s plenty of anti-social headcases, but who are the music majors?
Cholma
I’m not sure we’ve met any? We know about Computer Science, Communications, Education, Math(?), uh… I’m sure there’s more, but I’m blanking.
Marsh Maryrose
None of the cast whose majors we know, are music majors. Where is Willis hiding my peeps?
StoneyB
Music majors are never actually in the dorm. Their entire waking (and sleeping) days are taken up with practice, rehearsal and performance.
Tgape
When I was in college, I saw a music major in his dorm once. Not, of course, *his* dorm room, and he was only there to get an extra guitar pick someone had, because his last one broke. But for something like 5 minutes, he was *actually* within the confines of the building he was ostensibly living in during the school year. Sure, it’s an isolated event, probably never to repeat in the course of his college career, but it happened, so saying ‘never’ is a bit hyperbolic. Admittedly, that was at that *other* state university, rather than IU.
Stephen Bierce
*plays Foreigner’s “Head Games” on the hacked Muzak*
Keulen
“Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell seems to fit this strip pretty well too.
Shiro
Noooo why is Lucy distressed D: Apply hugs until smiling pls
newllend(henryvolt)
Think Dorothy might be a exception, everyone else eeeeeh.
missilentmurmur
What’s your problem with Sierra?
Reltzik
She’s pretty darn callous. (At least, her feet are probably calloused.)
GoblinScribe
Why does everyone assume Dorothy, a workaholic who is incapable of not taking everything onto her own shoulders, is the “stable” one? She seems stable because she is desperate to *be* stable. Her particular brand of self-harm is just the brand that capitalism encourages, so we see her as “normal”.
newllend(henryvolt)
Maybe it’s because I see ambition in a more innocent light then most normal people do, that in itself sounds bad though that much I realize that but still.
geno
The fact that Dorothy actually went to a therapist on her own volition rather than letting this blow up out of control shows she’s the stable one.
Indoor Cat
I like this point.
Very few people are 100% mentally healthy their entire life. By and large, the people I know irl whom I’d label as having the best “head on their shoulders” are people who at some point dealt with anxiety, depression, bipolar, or other internal personal challenges proactively– that is, early on, they realized they had a problem with their mood or personality, and decided to seek help and improve in a constructive way.
On the other hand, the people I know (and love!) who seem the least stable or most fragile either dealt with their internal issues in a destructive way (self-medicating with alcohol and drugs, deciding not to care about anything and “checking out” mentally, self-harm), or never dealt with them at all, and they ended up becoming agoraphobic and trapped in their own home or something similar.
Not everyone’s issues are equally severe, but I do think it’s good to see how to positively handle stress and mental health issues, especially since portraying destructive coping mechanisms seems much more common.
GoblinScribe
I’m not sure that she’s going to a therapist for her stress-related issues, though. She seems resigned to the idea that that stress is inescapable.
Keulen
I don’t think we even know the majors of most of the people in Read Hall. They can’t all be music majors.
thejeff
To be fair, we know the majors of most of the people on one floor of one wing of Read Hall. There are apparently 4 wings and 5 floors.
Passchendaele
*face of ruth appears in the second-to-last panel*
Passchendaele
We haven’t seen ruth in a while, I hope she’s alright.
Reltzik
We saw her pretty recently, with Carla coming in to gloat about Malaya being here. She made the Face Hall of Fame.
Passchendaele
Oh yeah, I totally forgot. My memory is swiss cheese sometimes. XD
(still, I worry about her, especially because billie isn’t around for her)
Inahc
yeah, I’m a little annoyed that Billie isn’t over there having a different kind of fun. 😛
LeslieBean4Shizzle
Interestingly enough, I lived in my campus’ equivalent of Read Hall – in that it was fully of music major antisocial headcases. Most of my roommates fit that description to a T.
Meanwhile, the real life parallels between me and Billie continue – I also fit that description, except I wasn’t a music major.
CoMa
I know exactly one person who majors in music (classical), and who is a very nice, caring and empathic guy – he just can appear to be strange to outsiders as he has his own sense of humour (not stereotypical, that is). So – nothing antisocial there. But from what I heard about him applying for jobs, it seems that “anti-social” is pretty much a common trait in the music business, at least with the people he had to deal with (I’m sure there are more non-anti-social cases out there, but that’s just from my experience).
Griffin Raynor