#literary essays

[fugamalefica]

For some reason, I only read about Tolkien's Secondary Belief concept a few days ago, and it is completely in alignment with how I have always enjoyed fiction and still do. Suspension of disbelief, on the other hand, has always seemed counterproductive and overly empiricist to me. How are you going to enjoy art to the fullest when you begin with suspension, which is negation, something that takes away rather than add, something temporary, unnatural, and hence, fickle? Why insert the non-fictional world where it does not belong?

Children are capable, of course, of literary belief, when the story-maker's art is good enough to produce it. That state of mind has been called “willing suspension of disbelief.” But this does not seem to me a good description of what happens. What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful “sub-creator.” He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is “true”: it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside. If you are obliged, by kindliness or circumstance, to stay, then disbelief must be suspended (or stifled), otherwise listening and looking would become intolerable. But this suspension of disbelief is a substitute for the genuine thing, a subterfuge we use when condescending to games or make-believe, or when trying (more or less willingly) to find what virtue we can in the work of an art that has for us failed.

A real enthusiast for cricket is in the enchanted state: Secondary Belief. I, when I watch a match, am on the lower level. I can achieve (more or less) willing suspension of disbelief, when I am held there and supported by some other motive that will keep away boredom: for instance, a wild, heraldic, preference for dark blue rather than light. This suspension of disbelief may thus be a somewhat tired, shabby, or sentimental state of mind, and so lean to the “adult.” I fancy it is often the state of adults in the presence of a fairy-story. They are held there and supported by sentiment (memories of childhood, or notions of what childhood ought to be like); they think they ought to like the tale. But if they really liked it, for itself, they would not have to suspend disbelief: they would believe—in this sense.

- On Fairy-Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien

I need to read more of his essays.

#fiction #j.r.r. tolkien #Tolkien #on fairy stories #literature #literary essays #lord of the rings #lotr #secondary belief

[kristipetersenschoonover]

New story and essay, novel excerpt AVAILABLE NOW in FREE SIRENS CALL EZINE ISSUE 60!

New story and essay, novel excerpt AVAILABLE NOW in FREE SIRENS CALL EZINE ISSUE 60!

BIG NEWS!! I’m ecstatic to announce that Sirens Call eZine Issue #60—FREE to download—not only contains my story, “What the Ocean Knows,” but, because they honored me with being featured author, also contains an essay, “Whispers Beneath the Lines: Dark Fiction’s Power to Heal” and a longer excerpt from my novel, Bad Apple! This giant issue also features Continue reading Untitled

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#” “The Murmuring” #Bad Apple by Kristi Petersen Schoonover #Derek Austin Johnson #episode 8 of Cabinet of Curiosities #essays about dark fiction #free horror fiction #free novel samples #ghost stories set by the sea #Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities #horror anthology TV series #horror series on Netflix #horror short films #Horror Stories #literary essays #Naching T. Kassa #Nina D&039;Arcangela #Robert Mayette #short stories set on Cape Cod #Sirens Call eZine #Strong Women Strange Worlds #virtual reading series

[betterbooktitles]

"I’m certain I’m not the only millennial who feels we as a nation have taken a dizzying turn when it comes to drugs. I remember a uniformed police officer showing up once a week in 5th Grade (a year before Sex Ed) to explain how to avoid buying and taking drugs. Luckily, I already knew the dangers of the drug trade because I had seen The Usual Suspects. I knew cocaine was a bad thing to buy, sell, or steal, especially from a drug kingpin. The D.A.R.E. program, however, let me know how important it was to say no to anything fun, including alcohol. At least until I understood a little algebra first. We did role-playing exercises where we walked one by one toward the portly police officer and he casually asked if we wanted to hit a mimed joint with him. All we had to do was say “no” and walk to the other side of the room, defying the only rule I knew about improv. We wrote essays about how important it was to preserve our pristine bodies and minds, obviously unsullied since we had yet to take the class teaching us how puberty was going to defile them both. I’m still mad that my friend Nicole’s essay beat mine in a contest, and she got to read hers in front of the whole school all because she had the benefit of an older brother who took too much acid and sat in her room all night talking about why the existence of light proved God was real. My essay about a time I saw my friend’s dad drink a beer and then drive his truck somewhere was also good! We signed pledges to enter the new millennium drug-free. We took the red pencils that said “Friends Don’t Let Friends Do Drugs” and sharpened all of them down to say “Let Friends Do Drugs,” “Friends Do Drugs,” “Do Drugs,” and simply “Drugs.” Despite that little rebellious act, my friends and I spent a solid six months swearing we’d never put any harmful substance into our bodies besides every form of candy available.

Imagine how I feel now as a D.A.R.E. graduate becoming my dad’s drug dealer. It’s less thrilling than I thought it would be. Between my father’s warning not to hang around one specific neighborhood in Cleveland as a kid and nearly every TV show about drugs, I thought I’d always be buying marijuana from an intimidating dude who definitely had a gun and would use it immediately if he thought I was wearing a wire. Instead, I now buy marijuana from a well-lit storefront that looks like the Apple Store. I’ve even gone to a place where a guy with an iPad explained what each available strain would do to me. I buy what sounds good with all the confidence of a man pointing at items on a menu written in a language he can’t read. I put it all in a cardboard box. I place a book on top. I mail the box to my dad from my local post office. I tell myself the book is to hide the contraband crossing state lines, but in truth, the book is what clears my conscience. I want to send my dad something edifying while also sending him the drug that all of America worried would make me unable to read if I tried it once. The unrequested book is a red herring to distract from the vice, like when you were young and didn’t want to buy condoms outright at the store so you cushioned them between a pack of peanut M&Ms and a magazine. Hmm, what else did I need, — right, while I’m here — might as well pick up a few condoms.

Right as marijuana becomes legal in most states, I’m about done with the drug. I’ve had three good times on edibles, and one of them was when I felt nothing and fell asleep at 9:30 PM. I’m flabbergasted that my dad likes edibles. He seems to be a man free of anxiety. Case in point, I once brought him some THC lozenges to our summer holiday in Chautauqua, and around dinner time I told him “You might want to only take half of what I gave you” to which he replied, “I took it hours ago.” He was stoned and no one noticed.

While I’m stuck in my head, stoned or sober, wondering why I didn’t take some acting gig 15 years ago, wondering if I’ll ever make enough money, worrying I’m doing everything wrong including in this moment as I write this sentence, my dad is enjoying himself.

Judith Grisel, the author of Never Enough: The Neuroscience And Experience of Addiction, describes using marijuana as throwing “a bucket of red paint” on your brain. She was approaching the stimulant clinically in terms of how it differed from the laser focus of other drugs (THC reacts with many receptors in the brain, cocaine focuses on one), but now every time I smoke, I think of the red paint metaphor. While other people seem able to crank an entire joint and do insanely complicated stuff like function at their jobs, I am reduced to a gelatinous blob, on top of which my eyes and brain are navigating a dream state that, like many dreams, isn’t all that interesting the next day. Mostly, I get high and can’t decide what I want to watch on TV or what video game I want to play, I realize how hungry I am, and then I fall asleep with cereal still stuck to my teeth. Pot, for me, is like the squid ink hitting the screen in Mario Kart: I can still see where I’m going, but everything gets a little harder to do, and the panicked half-blindness makes everything slightly more chaotically fun."

Consider subscribing to the Screen Time newsletter.

Other articles include:

An essay on Claire Dederer's book Monsters and movies made by monsters.

Writing inside a Toyota Service Center.

Writing mistresses.

#writing #essay #essays #lit #literary #funny #lol #drugs #books #humor #reading #better book titles #dan wilbur #bibliophile #pot #d.a.r.e #just say no #comedy

[nekropsii]

Let this be a living example that knowing the beliefs of any individual who wrote any piece of text- be it literature, articles, or posts- can and should drastically alter your perception on what the text is actually communicating, even if that knowledge has, on its face, changed none of the actual printed words. This is how application of real-world context works, and this is how it applies to any recorded medium.

It reminds me heavily of a quote from video essayist Jacob Geller, regarding the 1938 film Olympia- "It's different when Nazis do it". Olympia is a film that, on its face, simply depicts an artistic documentation of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But within the context of its production taking place during the Nazi regime, with its director being a well known Nazi propagandist... The way the movie fixates on the power and elegance of the human form and Ancient Greek statues quickly shifts from being completely innocuous appreciation to the worship of what is perceived as the ideal forms of the "Aryan race". Suddenly, you understand the movie not to be a pretty inoffensive documentation of a historical event, but a propaganda piece.

Understanding the time period in which something was made, as well as the setting it was produced in/for, and whatever ideologies an artist may hold and experiences they've had is absolutely critical to getting a full understanding of anyone's work. There are some things that are near completely anodyne on their face, but the revelation of what the author thinks and feels about other people and the world around them totally redefines every word on the page.

This image is such a prime example of why context matters. This opinion, laid bare, stripped of context, is both inoffensive and nonsensical. No one's ever thought it to be lame to create your own nickname... But on its own, that's a harmless kind of wrong. ... But with the addition of them being marked as Anti-Trans (red) on Shinigami Eyes, a browser extension dedicated to crowdsourcing keeping track of Trans Friendly and Transphobic creators... Suddenly, "Nicknames" doesn't mean "Nicknames" anymore. Suddenly, you realize that "Nicknames" is code for "Chosen Names of Trans People". Suddenly this isn't about thinking choosing your own nickname is lame, this is about thinking that trans people shouldn't have the right to name themselves. Suddenly it's about invalidating identities, thinking they're worth mocking. Thinking that people who identify as trans are "just trying to be cool", and that they're not actually what they say they are, because you don't get to choose your gender nickname, that's something already decided for you.

Suddenly, you realize, it's not about "being lame".

It's about Transphobic Violence.

This is why you cannot ignore when an artist, author, essayist, developer, musician- so on and so forth- is bigoted. This is why you can't ignore the context behind their upbringing. This is why you can't ignore the context behind their lived experience, their ideals, their goals, their message. Yes, it may appear innocent on its face. Yes, it may look fine stripped from the context of it being written by an inevitably flawed human being. But what's really being said here? What do those words mean... To the one who wrote them?

Context redefines Text.

Even if the words didn't change.

#this post is a bit random. not apologizing. it was just such a perfect encapsulation #i am still tagging this as homestuck because this is ultimately EXACTLY how i feel about hussie + their works. you must understand this. #its so applicable to hussie + homestuck + analysis of homestuck that it is fucking painful. PLEASE understand this. PLEASEEEE #homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #andrew hussie #context #literary analysis #essay writing #cw nazi #cw transphobia #nekro.pdf #nekro.txt

[philosophybits]

Weakness, fear, melancholy, together with ignorance, are the true sources of superstition.

David Hume, Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

#philosophy #quotes #David Hume #Essays Moral Political and Literary #fear #ignorance #superstitions #beliefs

[soracities]

"The ghost of Plath is the godmother of the afflicted woman trope, haunting us from the poems written before her suicide: “Dying / is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well … I guess you could say I’ve a call.” [...]

I built my own career on a collection of essays that simultaneously interrogated the trope of the afflicted woman and enacted it, presenting a narrator who drank too much and starved herself, got heart surgery, got an abortion, got hit in the street. The book seemed to strike a chord. You really made yourself vulnerable, people would tell me. I admire that. Yet there was also a critic who wrote that the book “portrayed women as inherently vulnerable,” and that this made her so angry she ended up shouting, “Oh go [expletive] yourself, lady!” into her empty apartment. She went on, “I worry about making pain a ticket to gain entry into the women’s club.” Her ire tapped into my deepening anxiety that calling a woman “vulnerable” in relation to her writing was a way of praising her not for her artistry but for her exposure — for her willingness to make her fragility a public commodity."

Leslie Jamison, from "Cult of the Literary Sad Woman", pub. New York Times

#q #lit #quotes #leslie jamison #cult of the literary sad woman #ny times #essays and articles #m #x

[cemeterything]

how do I become good at analyzing media and the characters from it like you?

idk if i'm even that good at it tbh but you just need to 1. read and/or watch a lot, and make an effort to engage with it - see if you can notice patterns, connections, themes, etc., analyze and try to interpret what you're seeing, how it makes you feel, how that effect is being achieved, take notes if you want 2. seek out other people's opinions and analysis, listen/read carefully, and think critically about what they're saying - do you agree? disagree? why? how do you think they came to the conclusion they did? did you notice something they didn't? and 3. be extremely curious and obsessive about details. treat every piece of media, character, plotline and scene like a room to be explored.

#reading essays or watching video essays and looking up terminology they use that youre unfamiliar with #can help to unlock greater understanding of literary analysis ive found #but ultimately nothing beats Reading Books

[andrewwtca]

Maybe I'm just looking way too deep into this, but I think the reason that BBS uses a command system instead of letting you freely use skills and magic because Masterhood requires you to discipline yourself and do things 'by the book'

And that's why in both BBS and DDD a command system is used, because the primary goals is to become a Master. You want to do things 'correctly' so that you can prove that you really understand how a Keyblade works.

(and also, funnily enough, the ones who seem to have the most freedom in this rigid system is Ven and Sora, who only want to be Masters by association of their friends)

And then in KH3, even though Sora was technically trying to be a Keyblade Master alongside Riku, he goes back to the normal action commands menu, because Sora never truly cared for being a master. But.... even then...

The game lets you play as Riku and Aqua, who have become Keyblade Masters, and the combat system doesn't change (and don't you dare stop me here and say, 'Andrew that's because it would be silly to change a combat system for two briefly playable characters' BECAUSE THAT'S NOT THE POINT). They've grown from the games where they achieved Masterhood and they realized the limitations of their teachers and of Mastery itself.

Aqua realized how fragile the balance truly is and Riku, time and time again, learned that doing things 'by the book' entails completely denying the darkness. Both of their struggles stem from darkness - Aqua rejecting it and Riku being unable to reject it. And they learn that the books were wrong: darkness can't be eliminated. They realize how their teachers have failed them, to an extent, and don't hold themselves to their exact teachings.

But, this is only a small example of breaking the toxic cycle their Masters taught them and RIKU IS STILL THE PRIMARY ONE TO LEAD THE CHANGE TO TRULY ACCEPTING BOTH LIGHT AND DARK (ROAD TO DAWN), AND OF COURSE, RIKU ONLY FINDS THE LIGHT BECAUSE OF SORA AND SORA ALSO HAS DARKNESS HE NEEDS TO ACCEPT, SO THEY'RE BOTH THE ONES TO LEAD THE CHANGE, SO THE COMMAND SYSTEM ACTUALLY PROVES SORIKU ENDGAME ANDliterary analysis is my special interest

#stuff from twitter #kingdom hearts #kh meta #soriku #soriku endgame actually #birth by sleep #dream drop distance #kh3 #that last part was literally just that essay I wrote LMFAO #it goes to show how endgame soriku is #literary analysis is my special interest

[sentiniel]

hbomb's blast of james somerton really makes me think back to other older youtubers who have been doing their good work, performing critical research and analyses into niche fields who then had their work plagiarized from their videos and henceforth wanted to stop making content.

yeah and also they got pushback from the internet saying the degree of plagiarism they'd experienced is a made up problem.

this is a sideways post.

#THIS IS A SIDEWAYS POST #hbomberguy #james somerton #sideways440 #plagiarism #academia #youtube drama #SO IF YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW SIDEWAYS440 #HE DOES VIDEO ESSAYS OF MUSIC ANALYSES FROM GENRES TO SPECIFIC SONGS TO EVEN DISNEY MUSICALS #AND I HAVE BEEN PISSED EVER SINCE I FOUND OUT WHY HE STOPPED MAKING VIDEOS #BECAUSE HE IS ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO I ENJOY VIDEO ESSAYS FROM GRAVELY #LIKE IDW NO SHADE BUT I COULD NOT RIGHT NOW WITH THE BREADTUBE CLIMATE #I NEED SUBSTANCE ABOUT NON SOCIAL ISSUES I NEED LITERARY ANALYSES ABOUT NOT-BOOKS DESPERATELY #AND NOT-GAMES AND NOT-MOVIES I AM THAT PICKY

[muscatos]

The symbolism of numbers in All For The Game

Although numbers generally play a large role in the progression of AFTG, such as the importance of dates or Neil's countdown to his kidnapping in Baltimore, there are a few standout instances, rich with symbolism, that tend to go unnoticed.

4: The number four is deemed unlucky in japan, so much so that it’s often skipped when creating hospital rooms due to the intense negative stigma, this is because the number quite literally translates to death; a fact that definitely wouldn’t go unnoticed by Riko. The idea that Neil was quite literally branded with death and his life only officially beginning as Neil Josten once the 4 was removed after Baltimore therefore signifying his freedom. This number being removed by the thing supposed to kill him no-less is a twisted form of irony, leaving scarring to forever remind him of this near-death experience and the final run-in with his father, A man being the literal personification of Death in Neil’s eyes.

13: thirteen is presented as Andrew lucky number, with Betsy being Andrew 13th therapist, finally leaving the Spear household at 13 as well as moving in with Aaron being his 13th and final household. Andrew and Neil’s jersey numbers add up to 13 also, suggesting the idea of the two are inherently parallels of one another, destined to meet. This plays on 13 inherently being an unlucky number, creating a contrast to defy expectations; as per the norm with Andrews character of whom revolves around defying boundaries and breaking stereotypes.

3: Andrew's jersey number, three, is deemed as lucky in Japanese culture along with 4, representing culture, time (past, present, future) and the three elements of the mind, body, and spirit being connected. This idea accurately represents both Andrew and Jean through the number; both of which seeming to be the most effected by lost time and have the most growth by the last books in this respect, with Andrew and Jean having more security in their futures and a willingness to discuss it, (a particular struggle to both as their futures were deemed uncertain, with Jean committing suicide in all drafts of the books but the final one, and Andrew refusing to discuss the future or 'live' for himself.) along with finally having a connection between their mind and body, both of whom have historically been known to have their bodies not belong to themselves, manipulated and forced to stay in such a situation for the benefit of others (jean in the nest, Andrew in the spears,) the escape of this toxic cycle, both the mental scars in Andrew case and physical ones in Jeans, represent the lucky nature of the number and their future.

#to be added on #all for the analysis #all for the game #aftg #the foxhole court #tfc #aftg analysis #literary analysis #discourse #context #neil josten #andrew minyard #andreil #essay #jean moreau #analysis

[tea-ink-pages]

reading the book isn't enough, i need to also write a 5-page literary analysis about it

#sometimes i read a book and want to write an entire critical essay on everything about it...like im back at uni #dark academia #fantasy books #ao3 #booktok #six of crows #literary analysis #ya books #books and reading #bookblr #tea ink pages #books #literature

[cookie-nom-nom]

Reading Barrayar I felt trapped in Cordelia’s head. It’s incredibly effective for the dread of war as a civilian. Plans and machinations happening beyond you, with no input. Hearing of things happening that seem far off and like yeah that’s awful but then suddenly it dominoes in a way that destroy your life and it’s not your fault and you could've done nothing at all to prevent it. Especially the tension of being hunted in the Dendarii mountains with no idea how the war is going, if they’ve already lost, if it is already too late. Cordelia is doing actively important things in service of the war by sheltering Gregor, yet there's this pervasive feeling of helpless lack of control. She spends most of the book with this dread of not knowing when the next threat to their family will come, and I don’t think it could’ve been done so effectively if we had access to the information Aral had. I found it frustrating at times, since it felt like Cordelia was swept up in events with little agency (at first; obviously our dear captain didn’t remain there). I wanted so badly to be with Aral seeing and knowing and making the decisions.

But that’s the point! Most people have absolutely zero agency in those situations and little information and it’s terrifying. Barrayar captures the feeling of being a civilian in war where so many narratives narrow in upon the heroes and 'men of history' that control conflicts. That's what readers expect. I think that’s why I loved the ending so much. After so long trapped with Cordelia, just trying to survive the larger machinations of Barrayar’s bloody politics, it felt so, so good to finally be on the offensive, to have information the opponents don’t, to finally have power and the means to control what happens. It's a relief to the constant tension of having no agency in a giant conflict that frankly Cordelia had no business being affect by, yet was swept up in because of her love of Aral.

Which is the second thing I deeply enjoyed in Barrayar. I love how the war is made so human. A messy tangle of human relationships control it. I can’t stop thinking about the hostages. There are just so many children being used because the war holds the future hostage. Tiny precious Miles utterly incapable of comprehending how large a pawn he is. Young grieving Gregor vital to the plans of both sides whether dead or alive. Elena, who should be of no importance but she is because that's the kid of an unimportant soldier, just like every other hostage is another piece in the web of the war. I keep thinking about the relatives of Aral’s men caught in the capital. The hostages that Aral refuses to take. Everyone just trying to take care of those they love, and the points where they must put other priorities over their relationships are heart wrenching.

Barrayar looks dead on at how little people try to survive a civil war. From the mountains where the fighting seems so far, and information is slowed to a trickle of the singular mailman. The invasion of forces that disrupts people who may not even know there’s a war yet. The scientists and the genius lost in a single blast that goes unnoticed. The urban populations trying to sneak in food and people and keep their heads down. Random citizens debating who to sell out, weighing risks and bounties, if it will get them the favor with the occupiers that will help them survive. All so small in the grand scheme of things, and yet they are who Barrayar concerns itself with.

Cordelia’s uncertainty and fear would’ve been undermined if we were allowed to see in the heads of people driving the conflict, because Barrayar isn’t about those people. It is the desperation of two mothers, powerless and kept in the dark, that topples the regime.

Addendum: Cordelia’s relationship to Aral firmly places her in an upper class position that is important to note when discussing the role of civilians/‘little people’ within this analysis. But as a woman on Barrayar she is extremely limited in the power she is allocated, especially compared to someone like Aral, which would be the military leadership POV that novels more focused on the grander scope of war would utilize. Again not to say Cordelia has no agency or power, but it is not to the degree of the people in charge. Thus I place her alongside the average people swept up in a war outside their control. Still, her position as a Vor Lady gives her some access knowledge and connections that she turns into power, which while limited are far more than the average citizen. Her significance to Vordarrian is exclusively viewed as yet another hostage, an underestimation that Cordelia readily exploits, but still afforded only due to her status. Cordelia occupies a position of importance but not power beyond the scope of the people she’s formed direct relationships with, which only further ties into the essay's thesis.

#I found it so so frustrating at first to be trapped with Cordelia until I realized. That's the point. She's trapped too. #Also probably a symptom of me being an omniscient 3rd person writer. I want to explore everyone and feel trapped in just 1 head #anyway probably mispelled so many character names plz have mercy I'm an audio book boi #y'all I meant this to be a very brief couple of sentence about a nitpick but then i just had to unpack author intentions. Sigh. #kinda miss writing english essays ngl. #vorkosigan saga #cordelia naismith vorkosigan #aral vorkosigan #vorkosigan analysis #barrayar #literary analysis #cordelia vorkosigan #something to nom on

[americankimchi]

i am at any given point this 🤏 close to waxing poetic about the jedi code

#personal #i think about their philosophies and start chewing on walls <3 #where was this energy in college i ask of you #me when being forced to contemplate the themes and motifs of extremely lauded literary classics: eugh #me when nobody is asking me to talk about fictional space samurai wizards and their code of ethics/conduct/religion that was never #actually really codified in the movies they come from and most of the information we have on them comes from ancillary content that was #never given the Canon Stamp Of Approval but have been so widely accepted by the audience/writers of that ancillary content that they might #as well be: IN THIS ESSAY I WILL—

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

Concept: A comedy play set in the late Roman republic with the audience playing the role of the Roman people. The characters prompt the audience to 'vote' in elections (shouting "yay" or "boo"), to harass other characters making speeches, to join Caesar or Pompey as their "legionaries" in the civil war, and to revolt while the armies are fighting overseas.

Then Caesar comes back from the war, victorious. And he doesn't prompt the audience anymore, he tells them what is going to happen next. Including having the set redesigned, changing the genre of the story, and critiquing the theater the play is happening in. When theater managers (planted actors) step in and remind him he can't do that, Caesar has them dragged out of the building. The voice of the people has been silenced, and the rule of law is suspended, just like it was in real life.

The audience is never again prompted for input. Both the conspirators who kill Caesar and the mob that runs them out of Rome are entirely actors, acting on their own initiative. We hop briefly over the war of Mutina, then to the formation of the second triumvirate, and the final scene of the play is Antony, Octavian and Lepidus having audience members killed (more planted actors). Even the curtain call is framed as if the audience is reduced to giving a rubber-stamp approval to a three-headed dictatorship.

Sweet dreams, everyone!

#(and be very suspicious of anybody trying to restrict people's right to vote or protest in real life...) #theater #writing ideas #jlrrt speaks #caesar's civil war #i love thinking of the end of the republic as a tragedy. in like a literary way. it's awful and ugly and i want to dissect it like a frog #jlrrt essays

[jambam03]

i LOVE it when comedy/horror films build up tension just to destroy it dramatically, intentionally confusing the audience with many different tones; even though they aren't alike at all, i think nerdy prudes must die (NPMD) and many radio tv solutions (RTVS) streams/bits are masterclasses at this sort of form!!!

in NPMD, i mostly see richie's 'arc' as being the center point of the tension. he announces to the audience that he's dead, but this idea is quickly eclipsed as the show goes on. richie finds friends and his place once jagerman is 'gone', and the tone begins to feel eerily comfortable. when he says he loves being alive, all this anxious positivity bursts as the audience remembers his fate, and this creates a really unique atmosphere of both comedy and despair.

i could cite many RTVS bits here, but i'll just talk about breaking bad vr (BBVRAI) since it was so recent. everything RTVS does online, on and off stream, is part of their performance (duh). all of the producers/contributors of BBVRAI pushed a very obscured narrative about what the stream would be up to and on the day of the stream. in building this hype and attracting this attention, they equally built tension, and even when the stream started, they continued to build this heightened emotion until the stream title rolled. the title screen, for lack of a better term, "popped" the tension, eliciting mixed tones of comedy, disappointment/excitement, confusion, etc.

this is an interesting choice by the production teams of both NPMD and BBVRAI in that it achieves generally the same result; the audience's emotions are built to be disrupted. this disruption is intentional, and it is meant to confuse/shock/hurt/surprise/etc. it works SO WELL in horror and comedy because those emotions i listed are critical to the genres.

if you read this far, thanks :) my tumblr is kind of turning into my springboard for all the drafty analytical thoughts my little english major brain has :)

#literary analysis #literary criticism #lit crit #short essay #writing #nerdy prudes must die #npmd #starkid #starkid npmd #starkid nerdy prudes must die #radio tv solutions #rtvs #bbvrai #breaking bad vr but the ai is self aware #richie lipschitz #long post #wayneradiotv

[motivationisdead]

Interesting that the first case we see Xie Lian solve is basically about how love and devotion can go wrong.

Xuan Ji loves and worships Pei Ming to the point of obsession but it’s a selfish love. She doesn’t really care about how Pei Ming feels or what he wants—only about forcing her own feelings onto him. Even to the point of hurting herself in order to try and force Pei Ming to stay with her.

It’s a great contrast to how Hua Cheng handles his own love and devotion to Xie Lian. Hua Cheng’s love is one without expectations or demands. He’s never needed Xie Lian to return his feelings or even know of them because to him respecting Xie Lian’s autonomy and choices has always been more important.

Where Xuan Ji’s love is selfish Hua Cheng’s is selfless.

#tgcf #hua cheng #xuan ji #xie lian #literary foils #character contrasts #i love hua cheng so much #like how mxtx is like: alright here are all the pitfalls of this trope #now let me dismantle all of them one by one in this essay of love and devotion done right