Yes, definitely. You will be canceled in no time, and probably doxxed by some insane people as well.
And what people ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ write is pretty much almost impossible to define… but I understand what you are saying about using your common sense. But if you need to include a character outside of your own experiences, research definitely helps.
Yeah, it’s fun writing fanfic and exploring the world. And the fact that most people don’t care about the technicalities of writing helps a lot. But yes, people should write their first drafts as a way to get the idea out of their minds. But I agree, you need to write something interesting to hook people onto your story and leave a decent first impression, writing wise.
Yes it isn’t as enjoyable at times. I need to really immerse myself in the world and make my own sort of “fanfics” and alternate scenarios within the world I am making. And make playlists. It helps make it bearable.
Yes, definitely. I agree. Investing everything into something and all the time and effort for someone to be really harsh on it is annoying.
Yeah, you will NEVER please everyone, and I think that it’s a bit unfair to expect everyone to shoehorn all diversity into their current works, and not “offend” everyone. Nowadays, everyone has petty reasons to be offended, it seems. Or is offended on behalf of someone else coughwhite liberals, especially looking at youcough. Like, I was looking at some example of Speedy Gonzalez. All these liberals were being offended on Mexican people’s behalf, and most of them didn’t and don’t have an issue with him. People were trying to cancel Fluffy cause he was voicing him in a movie adaptation Like, how stupid is that? He is a damn cartoon character that brings people joy.
And yes, when people criticize things and they dunno what they’re talking about, it’s annoying. Like, Forspoken is a videogame. There might be some elements of real life NYC in it, but it also fictional. It’s not gonna be an exact reflection on reality, like you pointed out. She isn’t gonna have the exact same real life issues as a video game character that other people in the real world will/might have.
Yes, exactly. NYC is the base for the superhero stories, so there will always be some sort of degression from the real city to make it fit in with the narrative/setting of the story being told, in this case, Spiderman. It’s an altered NYC, kinda like how they made altered version of Baltimore for The Wire, Albaquerue for Breaking Bad, or Northern Ireland when they wanna tell stories set around the time of The Troubles like Derry Girls. People need to realize that. If they don’t then that’s on them.
Yes, when people start saying things like “X isn’t Y enough” they’re perpetuating the stereotypes that people try to break down, ironically and it sounds kinda racist like you said. No one HAS to come from X background because Y is popular for them to come from, for it to be authentic, or an experience. In America in particular, there are many rich black (or non-white) Businesspeople who are CEOs and worked hard to be where they are now, and made the right choices and it has paid off. “Richness” is not and should not just be limited to the concept of “whiteness” but that is a whole other topic for another day.
Yes, it is hard lol. I like having enough freedom to create pissy vampires, overweight gay men, sensible ladies with class and coffee obsessed accidental detectives without people trying to box those characters in over stupid reasoning or their own narrow-mindedness.
I thought I was the only one that did this. I started writing little scenes that probably won’t be in my novels, but it helps me understand my characters more.
My biggest beef with these kinds of situations is they’re not sincere. It’s not REAL change. Almost like a smokescreen. You’re being offended “on behalf” of a group, and yet, what does swapping out pancake syrup logos/re-designing cartoon characters/re-naming a street actually do for said group? Does it prevent gentrification/slum lords/rising rents? Does it raise their wages so they can have livable income? Does it decrease crime in bad neighborhoods? Does it better the education or medical access these groups have access to? Does it put a roof over their heads?
Nope. Nope. And nope. But they’re like “Look guys, we put you in a movie! Yay!”
I think this is because over the years, the education system has focused less on actual critical thinking and more on political stuff. It’s one thing to “brainwash/convert” someone versus teaching them histories from all perspectives and arming them with the education to develop empathy and make their own choices on how they feel about certain things. Telling someone what to think “or else,” is very different than teaching them to think for themselves in the first place. It’s kind of manipulative actually. Which, who knows, maybe that’s exactly what our (US) government/entertainment industry) wants.
I honestly like Nickelback, but like some ADHD I can’t listen to too much of the same thing over and over again. It’s even worse with higher pitch bands like 30S2M. I think the ratio of tolerance for me is more than 3 songs out of 10 for N, no more than 2 for AC/DC, and about 0.3 for 30S2M. But something like Breaking Benjamin or Acapella could do a whole 10 for hours and it becomes background noise.
While I completely agree with what you’re saying, I don’t really understand this part. Isn’t every piece of art inherently political? Every story whether intentionally or not is steeped in the author’s politics just by the fact that you’re writing from your perspective. And whilst I get not making something a broadcasting of your politics, isn’t it better to be purposeful about the way that that happens if it’s gonna be in there anyway?
I think perhaps that’s just the way that I think about things because of my theatre background, and also my experience being a woman of colour, but it just feels like you can’t escape politics so you might as well do something with it y’know?
I would personally disagree with this. I think censorship is one response to realising that politics is ingrained in our work, it’s not the be all and end all. To me the most logical conclusion with my suggestion leads me to believe that Censorship is not useful in any way.
I think we should think critically about the things that we consume. There has noticeably been a decline in general with people’s media literacy over the last couple of years, especially on social media, and it’s because we aren’t really encouraged to think about or analyse what we’re consuming.
I think all forms of marketing have some sort of ‘angle’ to them, the point of an advert is to convince the viewer that they should/need to buy something. I suppose political might not necessarily be the right word, but it is trying to persuade you in some way.
There was a literary/artistic movement of ‘art for arts sake’ because of exactly OP’s point in the 19th century. But that in itself was kind of a political move because it was in response to the fact that people were using art to comment on society/ so even trying to detract art from any sort of activism is in itself a form of activism.
The problem I have with this argument is the use of the word “political” when it isn’t even the right word, as you say.
The people who complain about work being political are the people who are tired of current year issues being put in places where they don’t make sense and are not handled well.
But is it not still political? Adverts, for example, about beauty products geared towards women, often have sexist undertones. People up in arms over diverse casting in books/ tv shows/ movies etc see it as ‘woke pandering,’ because for some reason that’s non-white/cis-het identities are political. Writing tropes that play off our societal values and norms, is that not already a comment on the world we live in and the way we think?
It’s fine to read something for just wanting to enjoy a story. Or to not want to read read deeply into things, and the same with writing, but it’s hard to argue something is not political when everything links back to our perception of the world/ our beliefs/ our experiences/ our values/ our politics etc. All of that is an inherent part of being human, and by extension being an artist in whatever medium that takes on. I think it’s what sets a part human artists from say, AI art.
But like I said, I have a very Brechtian approach when it comes to art. I very much to see art as having a symbiotic relationship with society, and the way that I approach my art-ventures often reflects his saying: “Art is not a mirror held up to society but a hammer in which to shape it.” I think this is semantics though, because I think even our perception of what ‘political’ means will influence our thoughts/discussion
I see politics entirely differently because nobody I have ever spoken to has given a useful and interesting answer to what the political angle of the story of Anansi beating a dwarf to death and getting away with it is.
I think too much. Not going with the usual jokes about how smart or dumb I am for it, but getting into getting into how I work out characters: the base parameters (paradigms) determine whether or not a given political leaning will be expressed.
Easy one to do is abortion. If you’re told every learning moment of your life that you are a random biological effect of random choices (cause) made, then the idea of “conception is sacred and you are special because you were appointed to be here” holds no meaning, whatsoever. There are people raised very religiously that were taught this way about their origin–they mostly wind up Pro-Choice. Conversely, if you were taught from your foundation that you were appointed to be here, you’re going to mostly wind up Pro-Life. So, when I write characters that come from either base and write true to what they experience, they will come out with different political messages, and they won’t be mine at all. I do have a political leaning on this, and it’s not all or nothing though it very much leans counter-culture. So, characters stuck back on this either/or aren’t even up to where I’m at.
And it’s this way with a lot of my writing.
Like Wolf & X Bunny: it’s a story that will cover a sexless being’s life, and I gave fair warning that it has nothing to do with gender identity. I’m expecting people to make some really bad assumptions about this thing because “it must be political”.
That’s what I’ve always thought of. Whether you don’t intend to make it political or do, the majority of stories out there are, indeed, political. Some moreso than others. Like, I’m reading the Red Queen series (currently on King Cage, the third book) and in her TikTok videos, Victoria herself has expressed that she’s gotten comments from people saying they don’t like the politics in the story. The entire plot is political considering it’s about an unjust system with a corrupted government (royals) and how the royals think they’re better than everyone else just because of the power they possess. This is real life, too. Most, if not, all government peoples—in a democracy or monarchy or not—believe they’re better than those below them just because of their power, their money, their titles. You cannot deny how unjust the system is unless you’re ignorant and refuse to acknowledge it. Just like people believe there’s no such thing as racism, how people believe laws should be made by their personal beliefs because it’s not “morally right” or “naturally right” to do so.
Personally, I don’t even like reading books about politics alone—but those are mostly non-fictional works about presidents or people in the government. But I don’t mind fictional books that have a focus, strong or light, on politics, both within similar or different views from me. If the story has characters with different views and paints them in a way that you can contrast it to see why that character believes they’re doing the right thing, then it’s an interesting way to write it and can definitely be unique to read through. You learn something about it and it may open your eyes, your mind.
The problem is that you can try and force a reading onto anything, no matter how stupid, which is how everyone came to the conclusion that Squid Game was anti-capitalist. All this sort of discussion does is make people extra worried about their writing being grossly misinterpreted and makes them less willing to create. Ergo, this whole argument is ridiculous to me.
Art for the sake of art vs art for the sake of goals, and how should we art, why should we art… is a lively debate that was all the rage in the XIX-th century.
Like, how stupid is that? He is a damn cartoon character that brings people joy.
