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[bettsfic]

When analyzing work(television, novels, short stories, maybe even songs), do you have a system in how you do it?

generally you use some kind of lens (in the form of a specific literary theory) through which to view the media. so you could do, say, a marxist analysis of a tv show using marxist theory. the process can look something like:

step one: learn a theory.

step two: identify the fundamental aspects of that theory in some sort of media.

step three: ask yourself, "to what end?" as in, now that you've identified the key aspects of a theory in a text, why is it important?

step four: make a Point about it

for example, let's say you're doing a rhetorical analysis of a pet adoption commercial. you'd probably quickly identify pathos (an appeal to emotions) in the barrage of images of sad animals in cages. you can then make some assertion about why that particular appeal works, and then extend it outward to the idea that these PSAs are so effective that they've become iconic, particularly the one with "i will remember you" playing over it.

for another example, let's say you're writing a meta of a film you like. you may have some sort of pepe-silvia-wall Point to make about it, and maybe without consciously realizing it, you've viewed it through a theory, even if it's a theory you only know by osmosis from having read other metas or headcanons. when you go to make your Point, you usually lay out your evidence in support of it in the hope of convincing other people of your interpretation. and that's analysis, babey.

in short:

theory > identification > analysis > assertion

that is a very simple deconstruction of the analytical process, but hopefully it can help get you started!

[bettsfic]

if you're planning a marilyn monroe summer i have some marilyn-adjacent content to recommend! I haven't seen Some Like It Hot, but I have just stumbled upon the Broadway musical based on it that came out fairly recently, and I'm obsessed! it makes a lot of very up-to-date queer-friendly changes to the source material, and Jerry/Daphne is played by a nonbinary actor (who won a Tony for the role)! the cast album is on spotify (and youtube and wherever else) if you want to check it out :)

oooooh thanks for the rec! i definitely want to check that out. some like it hot is probably my favorite comedy film of all time, and it's the only marilyn movie i'd seen before starting marilyn monroe summer

a couple days ago i watched gentlemen prefer blondes. and i watched it again last night because it's such a fun, weird little movie

[bettsfic]

As someone who is also MASSIVELY icked out by any type of scenes like that where you can hear bones cracking/popping/etc., I will say that thankfully in challengers I feel like when it happens you can really anticipate it - so I was able to skip those few seconds very easily!! Esp. if you are streaming it and you can see the preview and just skip to when zendaya's character is on the ground.

that's so good to know, thank you! i'm very excited to watch it and i hope i'll get a chance to soon

[bettsfic]

Excited to hear you've fallen down the dropout rabbit hole!! Join the club 🙃

i love it! i finished all of make some noise and i'm working through um actually now

[bettsfic]

Would you consider writing another Claire/Six fanfiction?

yes! i'd need a good idea though, and i'm not sure i'll have any until gray man 2 comes out. i'm kind of assuming the russos are gonna pull a "wuh oh, we made this relationship Weird by giving these characters a leitmotif with the lyrics 'I know my baby's no baby, no more' and 'you'll remain my friend, my friend until you're mine' and so it's probably best we just sweep this whole thing under the rug before we get canceled." by which i mean, i'm thinking claire's presence is going to be totally offscreen. like she's in college or something. or dead?

but who knows! regardless of the direction of canon, i'm sure there's something i'll want to fix about it.

[bettsfic]

hi betts!! i love all your writing advice so much, and finally i have my own question! i’m wondering how you juggle multiple projects and switch between ideas without losing the thread on the others? i know you’ve written before that you’re the kind of person who has lots of WIPs, and i’m curious about it! i’ve always been the type of person to obsessively focus on one project until it’s complete before starting another — but recently, i’ve been working on a larger project that i know will probably take me much longer than anything i’ve written before, and i keep getting little shorter ideas for new things and jotting them down quickly but not committing to them since i’m still deep in my first project. i’m curious what your approach/advice would be in that situation! do i “save” the shorter projects as little rewards for finishing my big one? or do i set the larger one aside for a bit and work on the smaller ones while they feel fresh? love all your thoughts always so thought i’d come to you with this :)

for reallllly big projects, like whole-ass novels, i know that there will be lulls in my interest, times i get stuck, and periods where i'm waiting for people to read it and get their feedback. working on shorter things during those times can be really fruitful, even if i end up stepping away from the project for years. sometimes i even intentionally force myself away from a project because i'm so far into it that i've lost sight of what i'm trying to do and i've gotten stuck in the weeds of minutia.

i'm usually pretty excited to go back to projects i've set down. i try to be organized with my notes but i'm just not, and so my first task is never "pick up where i left off" but "gather together and organize my notes to remind myself where the hell i was going with this." that usually involves scanning a lot of handwritten notes as PDFs and transcribing them, which i don't need to do but it's a good task to refresh my memory.

so i would save the smaller ideas for the natural pauses in the bigger project, especially if you're veering toward burnout but don't want to lose the momentum of daily/frequent writing. the exception is if you get a small idea that hits you so intensely that forcing yourself to work on the big project feels like a chore. it's better to engage the smaller idea burning a hole in you because it probably came to you for a reason, and whatever it ends up being will help inform the bigger project.

[bettsfic]

Hi betts! Have you watched challengers? I didn't go into it expecting to like it as much as I did.. but there are some super tasty relationship dynamics at play there

not yet! i was waiting for it to come to streaming because the leg-breaking scene in the trailer really freaked me out and i want to be able to fast forward through that. hopefully the rental price comes down soon. i am fully prepared to be not normal about it

[bettsfic]

hi, betts! i just wanted to drop a film rec bc i saw this in theatres recently and thought it might appeal to you! it's called Hit Man (2023) starring Glen Powell and Adria Arjona, who have IMPECCABLE chemistry. Glen Powell plays this dorky philosophy prof who works part-time with an undercover department, helping arrest ppl trying to hire a hit man until he has to *be* the fake hit man himself and soon falls for a lovely woman who wants to kill her husband. i was really surprised by how much this movie worked on me, how compelling and sweet the romance was, and how Glen was the perfect lead. he reminded me a lot of Ryan Gosling in The Fall Guy, so i think u might like it! :) have a wonderful day.

okay i am desperate to watch this film. i don't think it's streaming anywhere though?? WAIT it'll be on netflix june 7th. i'll watch it then!

[bettsfic]

sometimes it's hard to go from arguing to questioning, and sometimes people say things so wrong and/or abhorrent you have no desire even to understand where they're coming from. so here's an easy script you can follow that has always worked for me.

person: [tries to convince me of something flat-out wrong]

me: hmm, that's going to be a hard sell for me.

meaning i'm acknowledging that they're trying to pick a fight and/or persuade me of something, and i am simply not entertaining their perspective as a possibility.

person: [digs in and provides more "evidence" or starts repeating themselves]

me: i don't know, i'm still not buying it.

at this point well-meaning people often run out of steam. not-well-meaning people may begin to show frustration and try to make demands of your engagement.

person: [more bullshit]

me: i don't know what to tell you, you're not going to sell me on this.

if someone continues past this, i just say "okay" with an increasing degree of boredom until they give up. i try not to use this tactic a lot because

i learned it from my father who was about an inch away from being a straight-up sociopath and this is the method he used when he took me with him to buy a car once (he'd been a car salesman for a long time). i remember how deeply uncomfortable it was watching him sit there stone-faced, arms across his chest, more or less just saying the word "no" until he worked the salesman into a panicked state and we bought the car for basically nothing. later he told me, "you can get anything you want if you're always willing to walk away."

it's a blatant power move that i think can hurt people who are earnestly trying to engage but struggling to communicate their opinion, and those people need patient discussion, not condescension, especially if you're already in a position of power or authority over them. but for the people who aren't speaking in good faith, this script basically asserts, "i know so much more about this subject than you do that you sound like a child to me, and i will listen to your perspective but you are offering me no reason to entertain it."

one of the best decisions i've ever made was to stop arguing.

i'd always been an arguer. i was defensive about everything and mindlessly contrary. it wasn't all my fault; i was (and still am) talked down to and patronized a lot, and when you live your life that way, you become kind of a raw nerve and dedicate a lot of energy to trying to prove yourself. someone even told me once, "it's just fun messing with you. you get so upset."

at 23, i was working in an environment where about a half dozen middle aged conservative men were always telling me what to do and explaining things to me. i either argued with them when they said heinous things or stewed about it for hours or even days. and so my new year's resolution one year was simply: no arguing.

it felt a little like defeat at first, like i was no longer standing up for what i believed in, even though no matter how right i was or how much proof i had for my claims, no one had ever been swayed by anything i told them. part of that was because they had no respect for me and didn't take me seriously; the other part was the simple truth that arguments are almost never productive. when someone says something and you immediately reply with, "you're wrong and here's why," a wall goes up and nothing can go over it.

i couldn't just let these men talk at me though, so i started asking questions. not leading questions, not with an intention to prove a point or walk them into a corner. i genuinely wanted to understand how they came to shape the opinions they held. i realized that understanding and agreeing are two different things, and just because i seek to understand doesn't mean i condone.

a truly fascinating thing happened: these men walked into corners all by themselves. it turns out nobody had ever actually tasked them with speaking their opinions aloud to a neutral audience. no one had ever been sincerely curious about them and their views. sure, their loved ones probably asked, "how are you doing?" all the time as a show of affection, but that's much different than, "what do you think?"

knowing what i know now, i think that's true of everyone. how many people ask you for your opinion and listen to what you have to say without speaking their opinion back to you? without judging you? how many people actively and intentionally try to understand you?

it's been over ten years since my resolution and i think i can count the arguments i've gotten into on one hand. one finger, even. it's amazing what happens when someone tries to rile you up, pick a fight with you, and your only response is, "can you elaborate on that?"

you can work someone into a very open and vulnerable state when you ask questions. they eventually run out of their usual talking points and move into the personal. when i do this, it's not like therapy; i'm not trying to help anyone. and it's not like teaching; i'm not trying to educate anyone. i just want to understand how people reach the conclusions they've come to. even after all these years of asking questions and not arguing, it still amazes me how few people in this world feel understood, and how easy it is to get them to open up when you say, "i want to know what you think."

[bettsfic]

thank you for putting this together! the first sam says episode had me laughing so hard my voice was hoarse the next day. i'm almost done with game changer and make some noise, and after that i'll dive into total forgiveness. i've been putting dimension 20 on in the background sometimes but haven't really committed any time to it yet. i'm very interested in the idea of there being an overarching narrative based on the escape room lore; i'm not sure i would buy into it but i'm fascinated by the speculation.

saw you were getting into dropout and i wrote a cheat sheet of 10ish gane changer episodes that hit on a lot of the major lore/tumblr-favorite moments if you’re interested? i’ll tumblr format it when i get home bc mobile is a pain

i'd love that!!

[bettsfic]

[unexpected kindness]

or, it looks like i've become a harry potter fan (well, really more of a draco malfoy fan) at my ripe old age. fic sold this to me, btw, not the movies (which i've seen half a dozen times but they never kept my interest past the end) or the books (which i'm reading for the first time right now). in order of discovery:

Albus Potter and the Elixir of Erised by @bettsfic (who i have been eagerly following a while, and very much trust and admire - but have not read any of her fic before this, and i was mind-blown)

Then Comes a Mist and a Weeping Rain by faithwood (which i found in betts' bookmarks and picked because 1) the title and summary charmed the fuck out of me? and 2) i wanted to see what's all the fuss about draco/harry)

i proceeded to read half a dozen other draco/harry fics by faithwood. at this point it was still just harmless fun. but then faithwood returned after a ten-year hiatus just as i was starting to develop a hunger, with

Beholden (which happens to deal with chronic leg pain, just like me!)

the hunger became real. i could not go a full week between chapters of Beholden without feeding it. so i went into faithwood's bookmarks, and found

Right Hand Red (which rendered me unresponsive for two days)

and now... i'm thinking about writing fic of my own? and reading the books for research? and i absolutely fell in love with my own doe-eyed drawing of draco, lol

good luck, my other interests. you'll need it.

[bettsfic]

Beth is BACK to help G and Shannon read about one of the most homoerotic plane trips of all time in Chapter 19 of New Moon! Also discussed: totally relevant tentacles, how NOT to write exposition, the rich inner life of Business Man #1, and Grand Theft Auto (again.) It’s time to settle the question once and for all: Bella’s death wish vs Bella’s biting kink—who will win?

Guess who's back and better than ever for the third time! Thanks again @bettsfic! ❤🐙📈

Spotify Apple Podcasts Linktree

[bettsfic]

RYAN GOSLING in The Fall Guy (2024)

[bettsfic]

RYAN GOSLING in THE FALL GUY (2024)

[bettsfic]

@giftober 2023 | Day 4: Eyes ↳ Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021–)

[bettsfic]

A wip ill probably never finish

Tech and Hunter get the actual shopping done while these three mess around in the store.

[bettsfic]

Crosshair and Hunter in The Bad Batch 3.06 & 3.07