I reread Vineland and rewatched One battle for this. Modern /tv/ is too stupid for this, /film/ and /lit/ would find it boring or wouldn't get the discussion. You'll probably get more mileage here than any of them would have because this isn't so much about the plot structure or anything.
Although yes, One Battle After Another is the "blockbusterization" of the original novel. In the original Zoyd (Bob) is a side character to Prairie (Willa) and is actually third "protag" to Frensei(Perfidia) and Brock Vond(Lockjaw) mostly because he also doesn't look for her, he goes off screen because he is the one who sends away Prairie to go to DL(Deandra) from the start to split up so Vond can't get them together. Also because the book is 50% flashbacks, and that's probably because this is Pynchons attempt to put various short stories together into an over arching plot, but it means most of the book isn't action heavy. In fact any and all action is sort of kept to a flashbacks and single shot or hand to hand 1 on 1 combat.
This is because PTA doesn't understand the left or what Vineland had to say about it. Thanatoids are a big aspect of the original book. Thanatoids are debatable but are ultimately just Pynchons way of describing the average person becoming a treatlerite in first world nations due to immediate comfort and entertainment being granted to them, especially in the 80s, of which ones like Weed Atman, a leader of the 2nd major left wing org in the book, who was thought dead, is a part of. The entire thing is a massive critique on how quickly pacified the entire American left is, and PTA completely flushes it down the toilet for quick scenes of Mexicans fighting riot police.
In the actual book, whenever the army and cops get involved, the thanatoids don't do shit. DL (Deandra) and Takeshi (Sergio or at least close as possible to them in the book) take back Prairie with them to check out the situation at the same time the rest of her family go back to Vineland, and they note how scared everyone is and none of them do shit.
This is because the entire book this is just part of life too to a lesser measure, Americans are absolutely fine with fascist like regimes and PMCs strolling their streets as long as it doesn't affect them, it's only when Brock Vond starts to push it a little too hard that they get upset enough to be scared. Not act, just get scared.
-In fact earlier in the book during a flashback it's made clear during Weed Atman's day
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