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In my musical film genre course in college where we watched a lot of movie musicals and read about the history and conventions of the genre, I learned about what the word "semantic" really means and how it cannot coexist without another word, "syntax". https://twitter.com/MajoYuushaGeah/status/1386098653438300164
I often say I'm not really interested in semantic arguments about things I discuss with people, primarily when it boils down to categorizing something into a certain genre or type of storytelling based on its aesthetics and tropes.
But those are exactly the types of arguments
But those are exactly the types of arguments
that I keep having with people anyway, willingly at that. I'm just approaching it from a completely different lens.
There are many stories that based on their genre aesthetics, settings, archetypes, plot beats, you can easily predict the trajectory of their narrative.
There are many stories that based on their genre aesthetics, settings, archetypes, plot beats, you can easily predict the trajectory of their narrative.
Because based on those surface level elements, people feel that the mechanics and direction a story goes in (the narrative syntax) is predetermined.
If it does or looks like/behaves like this, then it has to play out this way. That's a general assumption that I see.
If it does or looks like/behaves like this, then it has to play out this way. That's a general assumption that I see.
While this is often the case, I can name a very large quantity of works I've been invested in that that betray this idea.
With completely different semantics, the syntax can be identical. But people who don't experience it themselves will never realize that.
With completely different semantics, the syntax can be identical. But people who don't experience it themselves will never realize that.
For example, on many occasions I've pointed out the similarities between Re:Zero and other timelooping narratives about self-improvement, like Higurashi and even a bunch of magical girl series. And I've even compared Higurashi to mahou shoujo.
Sometimes, I've even compared TypeMoon to When They Cry, but rather as a way to put both on a pedestal, I feel like I've been a culprit in manufacturing a conflict of competition between the two that results in me punching up about one over the other.
What has resulted from this is me ultimately assuming that people won't get into more things I like unless I push harder on making them understand their similarities, or feel compelled to dispel some kind of misconception that I assume they've grasped from discourse-
or cultural osmosis. I see people being picky about the media they engage in solely based on aesthetics or what they believe they know about it from hearsay and have ultimately decided they don't need nor want to experience it themselves.
And I haven't been empathetic to that.
And I haven't been empathetic to that.
I thought I had done a really good job in the past almost decade of my life getting out of that mindset, yet I still judge people or make assumptions about them based on not feeling I have the opportunity to connect w/ them about certain works over others.
I kinda like just about almost every possible aesthetic nowadays and that's solely because I've been attached to the type of narratives with syntax that have implemented them, which I guess is where these works subvert expectations or preconceptions.
So when I gush about works like that which people don't know or understand very well they really don't get it because that work doesn't interest them enough (or I assume this), I've only now started to realize I'm doing exactly the thing they hate or I say I hate.
I don't blame someone for having preferred aesthetics because I certainly do (in spite of what I said above), and I clearly don't always respect the fact that they're invested in too many niches so I can't be upset if they don't get into one more on my behalf. It's not fair.
Especially when I struggle to finish a lot of stuff I've gotten into, or actually experience it personally rather than just talking about it based on everything from or about it I've read out of context or heard from other people.
I'm so self-righteously hyperzealous about what I love that I feel it's absolutely necessary for me to correct any misconceptions people have about it even if said misconceptions boil down to what I said above.
And this is something that I don't even realize until it's too late.
And this is something that I don't even realize until it's too late.
Until someone flat out calls me out and tells me I'm being weird, I'm being obsessive and too pushy and insistent, and I'm making other people uncomfortable.
And up until recently...I haven't known many people in my life actually willing to do that at all.
And up until recently...I haven't known many people in my life actually willing to do that at all.
But even when they did, sometimes I was dishonest when I said I understood what I had done wrong and would try to improve. Sometimes I not only didn't actually understand at all, but I also didn't even REALIZE I was behaving in all the ways that I've complained about.
In this thread, in other threads I've posted, in other threads people I follow or interact have written. I haven't fucking absorbed any of it. I lied through my teeth, I talked out of my ass...and it took me this long to consciously realize it in the most roundabout way.
And here's one other thing I fucking lied about or mentioned in passing thinking maybe someone would understand and try to converse with me deeper about it yet ultimately not really expecting nor thinking I actually wanted that, because I didn't want to dwell on this stuff.
