I enjoyed your very good writing on writing (screen and novelistic). This is also one of my pet peeves; being forced along on a hollow ride through emotion without the benefit of a worthy story arc, world-building or character development. Thanks also for clarifying what it is I enjoy so much about Metanoia, the novel.
I felt that artificiality of emotion when watching White Lotus with my family. It didn't feel like it earned the stress it caused while watching, it felt like it was designed in a lab for that reaction, using the music and camera to elicit feelings the narrative did not earn. I came away feeling more like I saw a skilled but obnoxious stage magician with some strong opinions than a story. It's not the only example and I hate it, that's why my TV viewing tends to be older, animated, or British.
For me a lot of 'nostalgic' media in established franchises is clearly meant for a different generation, so it basically sends a message that those fans are considered more important than me. Pokémon has been very unsubtle about how the 90s kid nostalgia matters more than anything else to the developers now and I can go fuck myself for daring to be too young to grow up with the first generation.
I try to do my best to ignore a lot of the storytelling formulas and dogma that people are always eager to suggest to writers, like save the cat or minimalism. Reducing a story to only what's 'necessary' feels inherently opposed to wonder.
Your bit on Pokémon cracked me up 😂. That's exactly what is done most of the time, a lot of it seems excessively inflammatory and it is mostly to exploit the emotions of the viewer. I think it's lazy, and can even be harmful, since violence especially take a toll on us.
I definitely have a lower tolerance for violence than what a lot of media is made for, but I haven't had any real issue with it. Except I have heard that the recent Mortal Kombat games, which have always made gruesome gore part of its identity so I've never touched them, have escalated to the point of giving developers PTSD.
That is awful. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the whole horror genre for this reason. I call it fear porn lol. I’m like is waking up on Earth every day not enough for you? Please stop feeding the fears, it drains your power and keeps the terror merry go round spinning. Of course, this is just my opinion. Art is art. I don’t have a monopoly on truth.
My favorite movie is Cloud Atlas, which has a lot of violence in it. But it has a purpose, and the characters are evolving/working through it. It’s the good fight. I believe in that.
I was one of the original Trekkies in the 60s and in many ways the original Star Trek series epitomized the Enterprise's mission. So many social questions were raised and explored, and viewers were not only entertained but, I think, made to question a lot of things they may have taken for granted. Remember the episode where there were only 2 survivors of a planet that had 2 races on it that wiped each other out? They were both half black and half white, vertically, and when Kirk couldn't see any difference between them, one pointed out "He's black on the left and I'm black on the right" thus he was superior. Or the one where the planet was so crowded there was literally standing room only, but they revered life too much to let anyone die. Michelle Nichols, as Uhuru, was given a real multi-faceted role, possibly the first Black woman to do so in a series.
This tradition to some extent carried on through later incarnations of the Star Trek universe, such as DS9. Sure, there was drama and excitement, but there was a spiritual quest and question as a unifying theme.
I don't think Picard followed this pattern at all and it was unsatisfying, though entertaining in its way.
Yes that's exactly what I was trying to get at in this post. Thank you for taking the time to provide those pertinent examples. Sometimes I feel like they incorporated a lot of Star Wars elements in the last 20 years, and now it is this strange new star trek/star wars hybrid creation with a lot of oooooo and aaaahhhhh but is not fully grounded in anything deeply significant underneath it all.
Yep, I don’t particularly trust many public officials on the UFO / alien topic given the political associations with alot of the stories that come out (I.e this just distracting from an unpopular policy)? But I’m fascinated by ‘what if?’ scenarios and the like. as well as unexplained experiences, I think the reflection of the person experiencing them is just as important as what actually happened. If you’d be comfortable sharing later down the line, and when you’ve read my work, let me know. I’m collecting a mass of experiences from a wide range of people to analyse and write content on 👽 I look forward to reading more on your story!
Great post. I felt this feeling when watching Dexter after the first few seasons. Big bad serial killer gets taken down by Dexter - rinse / repeat.
Breaking bad and Better call Saul up there for me in blending drama (albeit there are ‘bad guys’) and insane character arcs, especially knowing how breaking bad starts, and the viewer having to try piece together how Jimmy becomes Saul by the time the BB timeline happens. Also the way time is shown across different eras to keep me on my toes!
Thanks for the sub btw :) will be releasing some alien / UFO themed content v shortly
Thank you Jordan! Yes there are so many examples of it, I don't think the general public is even aware of it now, like this is just the standard.
I'm not usually into shows like Breaking Bad but the writing was so good I watched all of it. I liked the soundtrack too which is a bonus.
I'm looking forward to it! I've been following Dr. Steven Greer's work since 2013 when that Sirius documentary came out. I've followed the topic closely since, he's the only public figure I've trusted so far. I've had quite a few unexplainable experiences. Also, the story I'm sharing here takes place on other worlds and civilizations 👽🖖
I agree with what you said. I think there is one other problem which is not often talked about.
I've been working on a short story. This is going to be the first short story that I've ever written. It's about a depressed boy who is never fully understood by anyone, and a toxic voice inside him is telling him to quit. The story is narrated by that toxic voice.
But, after writing a couple of paragraphs when the story developed, I ran into a problem. I was able to visualize the ending until this point. And now, the ending should have been clearer, but I realized that it couldn't end the way I imagined it to. It was not how real life works.
The plan was: the narrator says to the reader that he is the toxic voice and he starts talking to the boy directly, there is some conversation between them, the boy makes the voice go away, and the story ends happily.
The problem is that life doesn't end like this. There's no happy ending in life, at least not how most stories show them to be. The only real ending is death, and whether it's happy or not can only be determined by the dead.
I know by the "end", stories mean that it's the end of the phase of life that it was dealing with. But that's not how it's perceived. Stories like this make us feel that it is the only problem in life and everything sorts out itself after this.
With the story that I was writing, I got stuck in a position where I was trying to write something that I didn't know the ending of.
I know, I was probably not that clear with what I was trying to say. I am writing an article about this which includes the part of the story that I've completed. I'm trying to get my thoughts together.
I wish you luck on your synthesis of this. My advice is to take a break, ponder the character and the circumstance, and let them tell you how it ends. I'm a supporter of endings that are neither good or bad, or are perhaps both. Ask yourself why you're writing the story you're writing. What do you want the reader to leave with? Regardless, thank you for taking the time to read my post, and welcome to Metanoia!
I enjoyed your very good writing on writing (screen and novelistic). This is also one of my pet peeves; being forced along on a hollow ride through emotion without the benefit of a worthy story arc, world-building or character development. Thanks also for clarifying what it is I enjoy so much about Metanoia, the novel.
I felt that artificiality of emotion when watching White Lotus with my family. It didn't feel like it earned the stress it caused while watching, it felt like it was designed in a lab for that reaction, using the music and camera to elicit feelings the narrative did not earn. I came away feeling more like I saw a skilled but obnoxious stage magician with some strong opinions than a story. It's not the only example and I hate it, that's why my TV viewing tends to be older, animated, or British.
For me a lot of 'nostalgic' media in established franchises is clearly meant for a different generation, so it basically sends a message that those fans are considered more important than me. Pokémon has been very unsubtle about how the 90s kid nostalgia matters more than anything else to the developers now and I can go fuck myself for daring to be too young to grow up with the first generation.
I try to do my best to ignore a lot of the storytelling formulas and dogma that people are always eager to suggest to writers, like save the cat or minimalism. Reducing a story to only what's 'necessary' feels inherently opposed to wonder.
Your bit on Pokémon cracked me up 😂. That's exactly what is done most of the time, a lot of it seems excessively inflammatory and it is mostly to exploit the emotions of the viewer. I think it's lazy, and can even be harmful, since violence especially take a toll on us.
I definitely have a lower tolerance for violence than what a lot of media is made for, but I haven't had any real issue with it. Except I have heard that the recent Mortal Kombat games, which have always made gruesome gore part of its identity so I've never touched them, have escalated to the point of giving developers PTSD.
That is awful. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the whole horror genre for this reason. I call it fear porn lol. I’m like is waking up on Earth every day not enough for you? Please stop feeding the fears, it drains your power and keeps the terror merry go round spinning. Of course, this is just my opinion. Art is art. I don’t have a monopoly on truth.
My favorite movie is Cloud Atlas, which has a lot of violence in it. But it has a purpose, and the characters are evolving/working through it. It’s the good fight. I believe in that.
PS I remember hearing that if u want to read a story and cannot find it, it is now your responsibility to write it. I do believe you are doing that
I was one of the original Trekkies in the 60s and in many ways the original Star Trek series epitomized the Enterprise's mission. So many social questions were raised and explored, and viewers were not only entertained but, I think, made to question a lot of things they may have taken for granted. Remember the episode where there were only 2 survivors of a planet that had 2 races on it that wiped each other out? They were both half black and half white, vertically, and when Kirk couldn't see any difference between them, one pointed out "He's black on the left and I'm black on the right" thus he was superior. Or the one where the planet was so crowded there was literally standing room only, but they revered life too much to let anyone die. Michelle Nichols, as Uhuru, was given a real multi-faceted role, possibly the first Black woman to do so in a series.
This tradition to some extent carried on through later incarnations of the Star Trek universe, such as DS9. Sure, there was drama and excitement, but there was a spiritual quest and question as a unifying theme.
I don't think Picard followed this pattern at all and it was unsatisfying, though entertaining in its way.
Yes that's exactly what I was trying to get at in this post. Thank you for taking the time to provide those pertinent examples. Sometimes I feel like they incorporated a lot of Star Wars elements in the last 20 years, and now it is this strange new star trek/star wars hybrid creation with a lot of oooooo and aaaahhhhh but is not fully grounded in anything deeply significant underneath it all.
Yep, I don’t particularly trust many public officials on the UFO / alien topic given the political associations with alot of the stories that come out (I.e this just distracting from an unpopular policy)? But I’m fascinated by ‘what if?’ scenarios and the like. as well as unexplained experiences, I think the reflection of the person experiencing them is just as important as what actually happened. If you’d be comfortable sharing later down the line, and when you’ve read my work, let me know. I’m collecting a mass of experiences from a wide range of people to analyse and write content on 👽 I look forward to reading more on your story!
Great post. I felt this feeling when watching Dexter after the first few seasons. Big bad serial killer gets taken down by Dexter - rinse / repeat.
Breaking bad and Better call Saul up there for me in blending drama (albeit there are ‘bad guys’) and insane character arcs, especially knowing how breaking bad starts, and the viewer having to try piece together how Jimmy becomes Saul by the time the BB timeline happens. Also the way time is shown across different eras to keep me on my toes!
Thanks for the sub btw :) will be releasing some alien / UFO themed content v shortly
Thank you Jordan! Yes there are so many examples of it, I don't think the general public is even aware of it now, like this is just the standard.
I'm not usually into shows like Breaking Bad but the writing was so good I watched all of it. I liked the soundtrack too which is a bonus.
I'm looking forward to it! I've been following Dr. Steven Greer's work since 2013 when that Sirius documentary came out. I've followed the topic closely since, he's the only public figure I've trusted so far. I've had quite a few unexplainable experiences. Also, the story I'm sharing here takes place on other worlds and civilizations 👽🖖
I agree with what you said. I think there is one other problem which is not often talked about.
I've been working on a short story. This is going to be the first short story that I've ever written. It's about a depressed boy who is never fully understood by anyone, and a toxic voice inside him is telling him to quit. The story is narrated by that toxic voice.
But, after writing a couple of paragraphs when the story developed, I ran into a problem. I was able to visualize the ending until this point. And now, the ending should have been clearer, but I realized that it couldn't end the way I imagined it to. It was not how real life works.
The plan was: the narrator says to the reader that he is the toxic voice and he starts talking to the boy directly, there is some conversation between them, the boy makes the voice go away, and the story ends happily.
The problem is that life doesn't end like this. There's no happy ending in life, at least not how most stories show them to be. The only real ending is death, and whether it's happy or not can only be determined by the dead.
I know by the "end", stories mean that it's the end of the phase of life that it was dealing with. But that's not how it's perceived. Stories like this make us feel that it is the only problem in life and everything sorts out itself after this.
With the story that I was writing, I got stuck in a position where I was trying to write something that I didn't know the ending of.
I know, I was probably not that clear with what I was trying to say. I am writing an article about this which includes the part of the story that I've completed. I'm trying to get my thoughts together.
I wish you luck on your synthesis of this. My advice is to take a break, ponder the character and the circumstance, and let them tell you how it ends. I'm a supporter of endings that are neither good or bad, or are perhaps both. Ask yourself why you're writing the story you're writing. What do you want the reader to leave with? Regardless, thank you for taking the time to read my post, and welcome to Metanoia!