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I used to work for a trade book reviewer where I got payed to review people's books, and one of the rules of that review company is one that I think is just super useful to media analysis as a whole, and that is, we were told never to critique media for what it didn't do but only for what it did.

So, for instance, I couldn't say "this book didn't give its characters strong agency or goals". I instead had to say, "the characters in this book acted in ways that often felt misaligned with their characterization as if they were being pulled by the plot."

I think this is really important because a lot of "critiques" people give, if subverted to address what the book does instead of what it doesn't do, actually read pretty nonsensical. For instance, "none of the characters were unique" becomes "all of the characters read like other characters that exist in other media", which like... okay? That's not really a critique. It's just how fiction works. Or "none of the characters were likeable" becomes "all of the characters, at some point or another, did things that I found disagreeable or annoying" which is literally how every book works?

It also keeps you from holding a book to a standard it never sought to meet. "The world building in this book simply wasn't complex enough" becomes "The world building in this book was very simple", which, yes, good, that can actually be a good thing. Many books aspire to this. It's not actually a negative critique. Or "The stakes weren't very high and the climax didn't really offer any major plot twists or turns" becomes "The stakes were low and and the ending was quite predictable", which, if this is a cute romcom is exactly what I'm looking for.

Not to mention, I think this really helps to deconstruct a lot of the biases we carry into fiction. Characters not having strong agency isn't inherently bad. Characters who react to their surroundings can make a good story, so saying "the characters didn't have enough agency" is kind of weak, but when you flip it to say "the characters acted misaligned from their characterization" we can now see that the *real* problem here isn't that they lacked agency but that this lack of agency is inconsistent with the type of character that they are. a character this strong-willed *should* have more agency even if a weak-willed character might not.

So it's just a really simple way of framing the way I critique books that I think has really helped to show the difference between "this book is bad" and "this book didn't meet my personal preferences", but also, as someone talking about books, I think it helps give other people a clearer idea of what the book actually looks like so they can decide for themselves if it's worth their time.

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Omg he’s literally me

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I think we as a website are sleeping on the potential of Microsoft teams default memes

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good news!

why is this so fucking comical

yeah you must fucken .... you stress out the toad and then give it a rinse, voilah

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Went outside my fandom bubble and saw people being cancelled for shipping two characters who tried to kill each other once damn is this the limit nowadays

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When I get a follower named some shit like “trinityhyett202“ and it’s a woman in a bikini

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Can’t stop thinking about an au where Zuko turns traitor in the first month of his banishment. Except, he’s gotten very good at acting to maintain the ‘royal image’. As such, Uncle Iroh believes him to be a lost cause and joins him in the hopes to negate the damage Zuko is ‘causing’. Iroh is also pretending to be loyal to the Firelord while helping the white lotus in secret. A very interesting vigilante has emerged acting as a spy on the fire nation, mute, swords, and a mask. The Blue Spirit is notorious for being difficult to track down, but it’s the goal of the White Lotus to recruit them. Cue 3 years of shenanigans with Zuko desperately pretending to be a spoiled angry prince dedicated to Ozai and Iroh taking on his General Iroh persona while both of them are committing treason behind each other’s backs knowing that they can’t slip up in front of each other. Finally, after years of searching the White Lotus is able to get a meeting with the Blue Spirit. Trust is a two way street so Iroh reveals himself as the Grand Lotus.

“UNCLE?!!!”

“NEPHEW?!?!”

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deep goomba breath is gonna be my new favourite thing to say

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I hate being a customer I hate doing that to someone

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Hero of the Wild, A Goose - Drawing the Master Sword

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objectifying men in armor will literally never get old. like, work it shiny boy. hit ‘em with that old razzle dazzle you fuckin trash can. hottie! (tucks $5 into your cuirass) 

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*missing the charging port on my phone* don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it

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woman yelling at cat meme but make it ancient greek red figure pottery

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