I've long since abandoned trying to be cool, which is hopefully a good defense mechanism against being "cringe." Marvel, Star Wars, and now Forspoken have all now received criticism for crossing the line that separates wry humor and obnoxious self awareness. But what's really behind our negative reactions to these try hard characters? This week we use an article by Austin Walker to explore if maybe the audience-facing winks we see so often are actually a defense mechanism in which writers try to mock their own work before anyone else can beat them to it.