I remember back when as a child, when I had strong impulses to write but not as much practical knowledge or exercise of the craft, I first noted that some people seemed to often come back to the same ideas or even tropes in their stories again and again, particularly as their bodies of work... Continue Reading →
“Relating” versus “connecting” to a story
Something I find myself dealing with a lot when examining how people are affected by storytelling, and what powers that storytelling has to affect us, the concept of "relating" to something comes up a lot. Note that by "relating" I specifically mean that identification process-- NOT just what I would call the process of "connection,"... Continue Reading →
Choices of the Author, Death of the Author, and Something in between…
When it comes to literary interpretation, I have a few concepts I use as guides for understanding the meaning of a work. Since I got into some discussions where people didn't necessarily see the delineations I did, I thought I'd talk about some of the concepts I use to make it clear how I approach... Continue Reading →
Apparently only dudes in Westworld are complex enough to have darkness
I've been watching Westworld on HBO, and I intend to watch it through to the end, but I'm not very satisfied with it. I mean, besides the fact that I've always had a huge mental block against sympathizing with robots as characters, as I still basically think they're always going to just be things, it's... Continue Reading →
Roberts’s theory of lit crit
In teaching literature classes, I can't help but approach my lesson planning from my personal theory of how to analyze literature. I go by a few guiding principles, which I will try to articulate here: 1. Intent is not everything Generally, I believe in the theory of Death of the Author. This is the idea... Continue Reading →
That je ne sais quoi
In Mad Men, a television show that I would not say I like but still totally fascinates me, a recurring theme is the idea that things either ARE, or they AREN’T, the notion that some stuff just doesn't have that je ne sais quoi to make it what it is supposed to be. An example... Continue Reading →
How Bojack Horseman is revolutionizing the Unlikeable Tortured Protagonist
You may have heard me talk of a weird little Netflix show about anthropomorphic animals that’s been getting a bit of press lately by the name of “Bojack Horseman.” More than once I’ve heard people express bewilderment at the appeal of an odd little work like this cartoon, and I confess I was there myself... Continue Reading →
On art snobbery
I like to say I try not to be an art snob. I'm sure people have laughed at me for that, as unfortunately I have a problem with coming off as snobby in life in general. But what I mean by that is that I try to judge art by its own merits, rather than... Continue Reading →
The proper application of the literary critique “fridging”
As I mentioned yesterday, I've decided to take a break from Tumblr. The negativity has started to actively stress me out, and it troubles me how hard it is to talk about anything nuanced on there. The phenomenon of backlash exists in response to actual problems in additions to attempts to deal with those problems.... Continue Reading →
