I love it when people discover TS

[zelempa]

alex51324: The Loft is weird
alex: I can't imagine what Blair's bedroom is supposed to be. There's no good reason for it to have windows looking out on the rest of the apartment
alex: Although the Complete Lack of Privacy does have interesting implications
me: yeah, it's like a weird office or storage area or something
me: he doesn't even have a door
alex: what effect did the set designers hope to create by having Blair's room be a fishbowl?
me: i think part of it is just to imply that it's not really supposed to be a bedroom
alex: I guess that sort of makes sense--if it is actually a loft conversion, rather than a purpose-built loft, then Blair's room could have been the foreman's office or something, and it would make sense for there to be windows so he could see what was going on on the floor
alex: but why leave them in when the conversion was done?
me: jim's room isn't exactly private either
me: it's upstairs with no walls
alex: it's this obviously jury-rigged arrangement that somehow kept going for three/four years for no apparent reason
me: right, they never go to any effort to make it any better because it's never supposed to be permanent
alex: although apparently blair gets doors at some point
alex: I haven't seen them, but the link you sent me says they are there french doors, with glass in them
me: come to think of it, yah
me: that's even funnier
me: they go to the effort of giving blair a door...
me: what kind of door do you want blair? A TRANSPARENT ONE
alex: Yeah, both in-show and on a set-design level, they made a conscious choice to put in a type of door that woud provide the absolute minimum of increased privacy
alex: I mean, I suppose with the sentinel thing, there isn't much privacy anyway
me: maybe they wanted to emphasize that? but yeah, even with the sentinel thing, plausible deniability is key. a real door being closed at least symbolically says "I don't want to be disturbed / disturb you"
alex: whereas the curtain and french door suggest, "We have absolutely no sense of boundaries."
alex: it just seems odd to me that the showrunners would want to play that up
alex: although I suppose that they intended it to be exactly as slashy as it is is really the more parsimonious explanation.
me: ha. ha.

Comments

[magician114.livejournal.com]

Well, I've always loved the way they don't explain things. It allows my imagination full license. The loft is indeed weird if you look at the floor plan. It's been a while for me, but I seem to remember a door to the outside from Jim's bedroom. Why would it be there? Also, Blair's room has a door to the outside that seems to be to a fire escape? It definitely is like no other room I'm familiar with, but then I don't know anything about conversions.

I like to think that the French doors weren't something that Jim actually bought. Probably they were part of the room originally but had been taken down at some point, perhaps because it interfered with the otherwise openness of the loft. After all, there aren't any other doors except (presumably) the bathroom. So, perhaps they were in a storage area and when it looked like Blair was staying a little longer, Jim put them up.

As mentioned, there's really no privacy when you're living with a sentinel, although I expect a door is a nice barrier when you have guests. Less likely for someone to accidentally brush by the curtains and have them flutter open.

Of course, after Blair moved upstairs, the type of door became moot! ^_^

[alex51324.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is a good logical explanation for the French doors, that Jim already had them somewhere, and they fit the doorway, so it didn't make sense (sort of) to go find actual, solid doors that would provide real privacy.

I actually find it sort of adorable that Blair is tucked into this privacy-less cubbyhole right under Jim's room, but it's nice to have a semi-reasonable explanation for it.

[zelempa.livejournal.com]

According to the floorplan, both of them have doors to the outside in their bedrooms? What the hell? Isn't Jim's room on the second floor? Hey, isn't the whole apartment on the third floor? Maybe they're both fire escapes. Aren't those usually windows, though? Weird.

Yeah, that door explanation makes sense. Canon for me now. Thanks!

[mab-browne.livejournal.com]

From recollection I think that they rearranged the set at some point, so that also confuses the situation. Also, if you ever get the chance to watch The Flash as done by Bilson and De Meo (it's the spouse's fault, truly! Although RB's episode is a hoot) they clearly reused their sets later in TS, and Barry Allen's apartment, although quite different, has disconcertingly loft-like bits.