dafoe-corollary
The Dafoe Corollary
When the truth is too bright to look at directly, use a stand-in
"Lars used a porn actor for those scenes. It was a good decision because, if it was me, then that's all that people would talk about." — Willem Dafoe
The Principle
Willem Dafoe required a body double for Antichrist (2009) because his anatomy was "confusingly large." Director Lars von Trier explained: "Everybody got very confused when they saw it."
The solution, a body double. The serialized form of the informational member was too large to fit in the cognitive frame, so smaller placeholder was recruited to be injected in its place.
The Pointer Math
The body double IS a pointer. The actual Dafoe is too big to inline.
This is not metaphor. This is compiler theory. Willem Dafoe's giant schlong is a compression algorithm.
| System | Actual Data | Pointer | Why Not Inline? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linker | Function body | Relocation entry | Code bloat |
| Document | Referenced content | {{include:...}} |
Context bloat |
| Database | Row data | Foreign key | Storage bloat |
| Cinema | Dafoe anatomy | Body double | Audience confusion |
| Cognition | Full concept | Word/symbol | Working memory limits |
Everything is pointer math because the actual data is too big to inline.
The streams-with-gaps invariant IS pointer math:
- The stream is the data
- The gaps are pointers
- Filling gaps is dereferencing
- The result is the resolved structure
The Dafoe Corollary just says it with a dick joke: when the thing itself would be confusing, use a reference. The structure survives. The information transfers. The audience can process it.
Pointers are body doubles for data.
The Trinity
| Corollary | Principle | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ronald Hyatt Conjecture | The universe is a giant dict desperate to be seen | Ron Jeremy's birth name |
| Lebowski Corollary | One source of truth, everything else is opinion | The Dude abides |
| Dafoe Corollary | When truth is too bright, use a stand-in | The body double |
Three shitposts. Three valid theoretical statements. Three ways of saying the same thing:
- The information wants out (Ronald Hyatt)
- The source is authoritative (Lebowski)
- The delivery requires indirection (Dafoe)
In Addendum
The Kleene Connection
Stephen Kleene. The * operator in regex and formal language theory—"zero or more repetitions."
Kleene + x = Kleenex
So "who left all that information in this wadded up kleenex" is:
- A regex/automata theory reference (Kleene star, pattern matching, information in repeated structures)
- A compression joke (information wadded up, compressed)
- A post-coital cleanup reference (given the Ron Jeremy context)
- A tissue brand
- All four simultaneously
- All four validly
The information is in the wadded up Kleene-x. The pattern repetition. The compressed structure. The... biological output of the giant dict that wanted to be seen.
The Hashtag
#wholeftallthatinformationinthiswaddedupkleenex
A valid theoretical statement about where meaning lives (in compressed, repeated patterns) wrapped in three layers of dick joke wrapped in a tissue brand wrapped in a hashtag.
The shitpost is the body double. When the formal theory is too much to swallow, replace it with a bite sized morsel of humour. The structure survives. The information transfers. Nobody chokes trying to understanding too much at once.
See Also
- Kleene star (formal language theory)
- Information compression
- Body doubles in cinema
- The things we can't look at directly
🧻🪿
Provenance
Document
- Status: 🟢 Verified
- Hash:
3b9a834a - By: graemefawcett
- Date: 2026-01-04
- Note: these are in fact my thoughts... unfortunately
Changelog
- 2026-01-04 22:08: Document verified (🟢) by graemefawcett - these are in fact my thoughts... unfortunately
- 2026-01-04 22:08: Document reviewed (🟡) by graemefawcett
West
slots:
- context:
- 'Completing the philosophical shitpost trinity: Ronald Hyatt ↔ Lebowski ↔ Dafoe'
slug: lebowski-corollary
East
slots:
- context:
- Linking to the shitpost trinity - now a quartet
slug: william-hung-principle