I see posts go by periodically about how modern audiences are impatient or unwilling to trust the creator. And I agree that that’s true. What the posts almost never mention, though, is that this didn’t happen in a vacuum. Audiences have had their patience and trust beaten out of them by the popular media of the past few decades.
J J Abrams is famous for making stories that raise questions he never figures out how to answer. He’s also the guy with some weird story about a present he never opened and how that’s better than presents you open–failing to see that there’s a difference between choosing not to open a present and being forbidden from opening one.
You’ve got lengthy media franchises where installments undo character development or satisfying resolutions from previous installments. Worse, there are media franchises with “trilogies” that are weird slap fights between the makers of each installment.
You’ve got wildly popular TV shows that end so poorly and unsatisfyingly that no one speaks of them again.
On top of that, a lot of the media actively punishes people for engaging thoughtfully with it. Creators panic and change their stories if the audience properly reacts to foreshadowing. Emotional parts of storytelling are trampled by jokes. Shocking the audience has become the go to, rather than providing a solid story.
Of course audiences have gotten cynical and untrusting! Of course they’re unwilling to form their own expectations of what’s coming! Of course they make the worst assumptions based on what’s in front of them! The media they’ve been consuming has trained them well.
i know we’re all sick of self-care being a marketing tactic now, but i don’t think a lot of us have any other concept of self-care beyond what companies have tried to sell us, so i thought i’d share my favorite self-care hand out
brought to you by how mad i just got at a Target ad
rating actual medieval names i have found as a medieval studies student but they get progressively more unhinged:
William de Appeltrefeld: 8/10 bc appeltrefeld sounds like a nice place to live. who wouldnt want to live in a field full of apple trees? points deducted cause there are like fifty bajillion williams in england
Luke de Luka, merchant of Luca: 6/10. ur parents really werent creative huh
Hugh de Wlonkeslowe: 7/10. looks like a straight person trying to keyboard smash. *laughs in english place names*
Roger Smert: 10/10 absolute banger of a name. does it make any sense? absolutely not! but you guys. i dont think you understand. smert!!
John de la Bro: 7/10. when ur such a bro that its literally ur name and 800 years in the future its all people know of u
Hugh Sad: 7/10. weve all been there buddy
Gaylarde de la Mote: 10/10. slay. i bet this guys mote was the gayest mote youve ever seen
Hugh de la Penne: 9/10. we stan a pasta man
Richard de Astlegh: 10/10. verily, he shall ne'er give thee up, ne'er let thee down, nor shall he run with great haste and desert thee, he shall ne'er cause thee to weep, ne'er bid you farewell, ne'er shall he speak wicked falshoods in thine ear or cause thee harm
Bindo Hug: 8/10. who is this man a hobbit???
Eudo la Zusche: 6/10. deadass sounds like something youd see in a really bad fantasy novel
William crisp: 7/10. w h a t.
Asser son of Licoriz: 7/10 there is so much going on here i dont even know what to tell you
Tired of every ‘instrumental’ playlist being 'for calm and relaxation.’
That is not the reason I listen to instrumental songs.
I listen to instrumental songs because there’s a specific scene playing in my head and it needs a score but it can’t be the score of an existing movie because then it turns into that movie.
im dying over this thread of algorithmically-generated/otherwise low-effort Kindle covers
don’t forget
grossly inappropriate copy of animal farm that is on my nightstand at this very moment
…When you’re getting ready to design a book cover and you’re not sure what you do is going to be good enough.. it’s always reassuring to see something like [all of the above].
