History Fridge / AmericanArcadia

** In hindsight, Gus asking Trevor about his career and social life isn't just casual conversation - [[spoiler:he's prompting Trevor to do something interesting for the audience. Ten bucks says it was Gus who nominated him for the Escape pilot.]]

** In hindsight, Gus asking Trevor about his career and social life isn't just casual conversation - he's prompting Trevor to do something interesting for the audience. Ten bucks says it was Gus who nominated him for the Escape pilot.

* With all of Arcadia's residents' lives on livestream 24/7, what happens if somebody dies?

* A secret room near the game's end reveals Gus [[spoiler:was an NPC all along]]. This gives entirely context to him winning the grant and disappearing. [[spoiler:Gus likely featured most prominently in Trevor's feed, and with it shutting down he was no longer needed. So they retired him first in order to get Trevor ready for his starring role]].

* Trevor's [[spoiler: BerserkButton isn't just an overreaction to an EarWorm. Every time it plays in-game, it's a reminder that he's not actually in charge of his life at the moment. Other people are watching him, telling him what to do and where to go, and the Anti-Jingle amplifies his dislike of it. \\
Vivian at the end is simply the final straw: no amount of money is going to stop him from getting his life back to normal.]]

* During his playable sections, Trevor moves on a 2D plane, in contrast to Angela who moves freely in a 3D environment. This may represent his whole existence being on metaphorical rails as a TV character. Significantly, once he [[spoiler: removes the Jingle conditioning,']] he ends the chapter by moving ''towards the background'' on a different axis than the one he has always been on to mark his newfound freedom.

Vivian's final statement at the end is simply the final straw: no amount of money is going to stop him from getting his life back to normal.]]

* Trevor's [[spoiler: BerserkButton isn't just an overreaction to an EarWorm. Every time it plays in-game, it's a reminder that he's not actually in charge of his life at the moment: other people are watching him, telling him what to do and where to go, and the Anti-Jingle amplifies his dislike of it. Vivian's final statement at the end is simply the final straw: no amount of money is going to stop him from getting his life back to normal.]]

* During his playable sections, Trevor moves on a 2D plane, in contrast to Angela who moves freely in a 3D environment. This may represent his whole existence being on metaphorical rails as a TV character. Significantly, once he removes the Jingle conditioning, he ends the chapter by moving ''towards the background'' on a different axis than the one he has always been on to mark his newfound freedom.

* As the one who created the Anti-Jingle (and who's been guiding Trevor for most of the game), one would expect Angela to be the main subject of the dream sequence, or at least Number 6 who's temporarily taken over her role. Instead, it's Vivian, which ''would'' be strange... if she weren't secretly Number 6 and responsible for creating the Anti-Jingle in the first place.

* Of the Arcadia residents with low view rates, [[spoiler: why was Trevor chosen to be the first star of ''Escape from Arcadia'' instead of just being sent to the Edge ([[AmbiguousSituation assuming that's where they really ended up]])? Looking at those already "retired", two were women, two were men of color, and one has a surname that is generally associated with Hispanic origin (Castro). The ''American Arcadia'' executives picking the fit-looking white guy as the star may be a commentary on racism and sexism in television overall, which was counteracted by the game developers by including Latina Angela Solano as co-star.]]

!! Unmarked Spoilers Below

* Of the Arcadia residents with low view rates, why was Trevor chosen to be

** Despite this, Trevor keeps moving on 2D for the rest of the game after that. While it may be GameplayAndStorySegregation, it may also hint at the fact that [[spoiler:his role as Walton Media's TV star is not done yet.]]