Quote:
Originally Posted by ticos_stick
Most of Jon and Richie's on stage counteractions are choreographed. I don't see how Jon putting his arm over Richie during Bad Name every night constitutes some kind of brotherly love.
They have a bond for sure but I doubt they would bother with each other outside of band activity.
Jon can't fake it every night though. There have been numerous shows in which he ignored Richie or gave him dirty looks. The BBC show recently springs to mind.
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I've seen the dirty looks at times, and also a lot of examples of more spontaneous, even tenderhearted moments between them. When he and Richie are in a good place, Jon's whole expression softens when he looks at Richie in a way it doesn't with the other band members. As to their friendship, Jon has been quoted often enough describing it in ways that seem more personal than the way he describes the band as "a gang" or "brothers" in the broadest sense of the term.
I've often wondered if the Jon/Richie relationship is unhealthily co-dependent. I heard Richie's comment on 'WWWB' that his job in the band is to "make Jon happy" and alarm bells went off in my head (I've been the "passive" one in a co-dependent relationship before). To me, his comment suggests that, for many years, Richie has had to be the one to absorb Jon's moods, to be the soother, the 'rock', the shelter. I would think Jon loves the adoration and attention; who wouldn't? But what does Richie get out of it?
Maybe my feeling that the heart of this latest conflict between them has to do with 'respect' (in the broadest sense) comes from that--the "people-pleaser" (Richie) takes a stand, defies the "natural order of things" and Jon's blindsided, or angry, or feels betrayed. Then the childish, passive-aggressive stuff starts.
Just another theory.
