So, I have a theory (spoilers for season 5 of TWD included)
Since the initial broadcasts I've heard some grumbling about the character of Dawn Lerner. Specifically, an Atlanta police Lt using the teacup grip when drawing her pistol.
(*Disclaimer: I haven't worked on TWD, nor have I talked with anyone present at the time about the scenes in question. This is pure speculation on my part.)
As an actor, I like options. That's why when teaching pistol grips to actors, I go from single-hand to teacup to weaver and isosceles. In historical order. I might add in more, depending on time, but those four always get brought up.
((That gasping noise you heard was the sound of other firearms instructors hearing that I teach teacupping.))
Yes, I do teach it, for a solid reason. It was a standard two-handed grip from the 1800's well into the 1960's when those wacky guys at bear lake started experimenting.
Even in modern pieces I like using it for inexperienced shooter characters, because it's a natural human response. Guns are heavy. Holding them out makes them feel heavier. A natural response is to lift under to compensate for holding some of the weight. Yes, it's less efficient than more modern grips. But it's a natural one to make.
So my question is, what if Dawn's grip was a conscious character choice, illustrating the fact that Dawn is not only a bad cop, but a shitty cop?
Look at her character arc and you can see how shitty a leader she is. This is especially true when we've already spent four seasons and change following Rick, another a former LEO in a leadership position. Dawn refuses to adapt to reality that she's not a cop anymore, that there's no judiciary or legislature backing up what authority she had before the world ended. She keeps a rapist like Gorman and a bully like O'Donnel on her force rather than disciplining, exiling, or executing them. She plays shitty political head games that only work as long as she controls the playing field.
In other words, she's an operator's nightmare. If military, she'd be a staff officer that had no leadership talent whatsoever, who winds up in charge with no higher-ups to answer to but a billet she desperately hangs onto because it's all she has.
Who's to say such a character wouldn't be a shitty shooter who showed up to qual and never went to the range on her own time? Who's to say she wouldn't revert to the more "instinctual" grip under her range of stress?
I'm not saying it's an only choice, but I am saying it's a valid decision to make.
Since the initial broadcasts I've heard some grumbling about the character of Dawn Lerner. Specifically, an Atlanta police Lt using the teacup grip when drawing her pistol.
(*Disclaimer: I haven't worked on TWD, nor have I talked with anyone present at the time about the scenes in question. This is pure speculation on my part.)
As an actor, I like options. That's why when teaching pistol grips to actors, I go from single-hand to teacup to weaver and isosceles. In historical order. I might add in more, depending on time, but those four always get brought up.
((That gasping noise you heard was the sound of other firearms instructors hearing that I teach teacupping.))
Yes, I do teach it, for a solid reason. It was a standard two-handed grip from the 1800's well into the 1960's when those wacky guys at bear lake started experimenting.
Even in modern pieces I like using it for inexperienced shooter characters, because it's a natural human response. Guns are heavy. Holding them out makes them feel heavier. A natural response is to lift under to compensate for holding some of the weight. Yes, it's less efficient than more modern grips. But it's a natural one to make.
So my question is, what if Dawn's grip was a conscious character choice, illustrating the fact that Dawn is not only a bad cop, but a shitty cop?
Look at her character arc and you can see how shitty a leader she is. This is especially true when we've already spent four seasons and change following Rick, another a former LEO in a leadership position. Dawn refuses to adapt to reality that she's not a cop anymore, that there's no judiciary or legislature backing up what authority she had before the world ended. She keeps a rapist like Gorman and a bully like O'Donnel on her force rather than disciplining, exiling, or executing them. She plays shitty political head games that only work as long as she controls the playing field.
In other words, she's an operator's nightmare. If military, she'd be a staff officer that had no leadership talent whatsoever, who winds up in charge with no higher-ups to answer to but a billet she desperately hangs onto because it's all she has.
Who's to say such a character wouldn't be a shitty shooter who showed up to qual and never went to the range on her own time? Who's to say she wouldn't revert to the more "instinctual" grip under her range of stress?
I'm not saying it's an only choice, but I am saying it's a valid decision to make.
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