#Thanks for educating me

[gael-garcia]

Gael García Bernal in La mala educación (2004)

[bacchuschucklefuck]

class swap design masterpost for convenience (from top to bottom: bard!riz, cleric!gorgug, sorcerer!kristen, barbarian!fig, artificer!adaine, and rogue!fabian)

[that-stupid-lamb]

I dont think we in the twilight renaissance bring up Bella being a heavy metal enjoyer enough.

I have this vivid image of bella dragging edward to their concert and him white knuckling the whole time because this isn’t debussy

Edit: OK I GET IT THIS IS LINKON PARK NOT METAL IN ALL Y’ALL’S EYES I HAVE NOT READ THESE IN A DECADE I WAS JUST GOING FROM THE TEXT ON PAGE OK.

[metanarrates]

Hello. Sorry if this a stupid question u can ignore if u want.

How can someone get better at media analysis? Besides obviously reading a lot.

Im asking this bc im in a point where im aware of my own lack of tools to analyze stories, but i don't know where to get them or how to get better in general. How did you learn to analyze media? There's any specific book, essay, author, etc that you recommend? Somewhere to start?

I'm asking you because you are genuinely the person who has the best takes on this site. Thank you for you work!

it sounds like a cop-out answer but it's always felt like a skill I acquired mostly thru reading a ton, and by paying a lot of attention in high school literature classes. because of that I can't promise that I'm necessarily equipped to be a good teacher or that i know good resources. HOWEVER! let me run some potential advice to you based on the shit i get a lot of mileage out of

first off, a lot of literary analysis is about pattern recognition! not just pattern recognition in-text, but out-of-text as well. how does this work relate to its genre? real-world history? does it have parallels between real-life situations? that kind of thing.

which is a big concept to just describe off the bat, so let me break it down further!

in literature, there is the concept of something called literary devices - they are some of the basic building blocks in how a story is delivered mechanically and via subtext. have you ever heard of a motif? that is a literary device. it's a pattern established in the text in order to further the storytelling! and here is a list of a ton of common literary devices - I'd recommend reading the article. it breaks down a lot of commonly used ones in prose and poetry and explains their usage.

personally, I don't find all the literary devices I've learned about in school to be the most useful to my analytical hobbies online. motifs, themes, and metaphors are useful and dissecting them can bring a lot to the table, but a lot of other devices are mostly like fun bonus trivia for me to notice when reading. however, memorizing those terms and trying to notice them in the things you read does have a distinct benefit - it encourages you to start noticing patterns, and to start thinking of the mechanical way a story is built. sure, thinking about how the prose is constructed might not help you understand the story much more, but it does make you start thinking about how things like prose contribute to the greater feeling of a piece, or how the formatting of a piece contributes to its overall narrative. you'll start developing this habit of picking out little things about a text, which is useful.

other forms of in-text pattern recognition can be about things like characterization! how does a character react to a certain situation? is it consistent with how they usually behave? what might that tell you about how they think? do they have tells that show when they're not being trustworthy? does their viewpoint always match what is happening on screen? what ideas do they have about how the world works? how are they influenced by other people in their lives? by social contexts that might exist? by situations that have affected them? (on that note, how do situations affect other situations?)

another one is just straight-up noticing themes in a work. is there a certain idea that keeps getting brought up? what is the work trying to say about that idea? if it's being brought up often, it's probably worth paying attention to!

that goes for any pattern, actually. if you notice something, it's worth thinking about why it might be there. try considering things like potential subtext, or what a technique might be trying to convey to a reader. even if you can't explain why every element of a text is there, you'll often gain something by trying to think about why something exists in a story.

^ sometimes the answer to that question is not always "because it's intentional" or even "because it was a good choice for the storytelling." authors frequently make choices that suck shit (I am a known complainer about choices that suck shit.) that's also worth thinking about. english classes won't encourage this line of thinking, because they're trying to get you to approach texts with intentional thought instead of writing them off. I appreciate that goal, genuinely, but I do think it hampers people's enthusiasm for analysis if they're not also being encouraged to analyze why they think something doesn't work well in a story. sometimes something sucks and it makes new students mad if they're not allowed to talk about it sucking! I'll get into that later - knowing how and why something doesn't work is also a valuable skill. being an informed and analytical hater will get you far in life.

so that's in-work literary analysis. id also recommend annotating your pages/pdfs or keeping a notebook if you want to close-read a work. keeping track of your thoughts while reading even if they're not "clever" or whatever encourages you to pay attention to a text and to draw patterns. it's very useful!

now, for out-of-work literary analysis! it's worth synthesizing something within its context. what social settings did this work come from? was it commenting on something in real life? is it responding to some aspects of history or current events? how does it relate to its genre? does it deviate from genre trends, commentate on them, or overall conform to its genre? where did the literary techniques it's using come from - does it have any big stylistic influences? is it referencing any other texts?

and if you don't know the answer to a bunch of these questions and want to know, RESEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND! look up historical events and social movements if you're reading a work from a place or time you're not familiar with. if you don't know much about a genre, look into what are considered common genre elements! see if you can find anyone talking about artistic movements, or read the texts that a work might be referencing! all of these things will give you a far more holistic view of a work.

as for your own personal reaction to & understanding of a work... so I've given the advice before that it's good to think about your own personal reactions to a story, and what you enjoy or dislike about it. while this is true that a lot of this is a baseline jumping-off point on how I personally conduct analysis, it's incomplete advice. you should not just be thinking about what you enjoy or dislike - you should also be thinking about why it works or doesn't work for you. if you've gotten a better grasp on story mechanics by practicing the types of pattern recognition i recognized above, you can start digging into how those storytelling techniques have affected you. did you enjoy this part of a story? what made it work well? what techniques built tension, or delivered well on conflict? what about if you thought it sucked? what aspects of storytelling might have failed?

sometimes the answer to this is highly subjective and personal. I'm slightly romance-averse because I am aromantic, so a lot of romance plots will simply bore me or actively annoy me. I try not to let that personal taste factor too much into serious critiques, though of course I will talk about why I find something boring and lament it wasn't done better lol. we're only human. just be aware of those personal taste quirks and factor them into analysis because it will help you be a bit more objective lol

but if it's not fully influenced by personal taste, you should get in the habit of building little theses about why a story affected you in a certain way. for example, "I felt bored and tired at this point in a plot, which may be due to poor pacing & handling of conflict." or "I felt excited at this point in the plot, because established tensions continued to get more complex and captured my interest." or "I liked this plot point because it iterated on an established theme in a way that brought interesting angles to how the story handled the theme." again, it's just a good way to think about how and why storytelling functions.

uh let's see what else. analysis is a collaborative activity! you can learn a lot from seeing how other people analyze! if you enjoy something a lot, try looking into scholarly articles on it, or youtube videos, or essays online! develop opinions also about how THOSE articles and essays etc conduct analysis, and why you might think those analyses are correct or incorrect! sometimes analyses suck shit and developing a counterargument will help you think harder about the topic in question! think about audience reactions and how those are created by the text! talk to friends! send asks to meta blogs you really like maybe sometimes

find angles of analysis that interest and excite you! if you're interested in feminist lenses on a work, or racial lenses, or philosophical lenses, look into how people conduct those sort of analyses on other works. (eg. search feminist analysis of hamlet, or something similar so you can learn how that style of analysis generally functions) and then try applying those lenses to the story you're looking at. a lot of analysts have a toolkit of lenses they tend to cycle through when approaching a new text - it might not be a bad idea to acquire a few favored lenses of your own.

also, most of my advice is literary advice, since you can broadly apply many skills you learn in literary analysis to any other form of storytelling, but if you're looking at another medium, like a game or cartoon, maybe look up some stuff about things like ludonarrative storytelling or visual storytelling! familiarizing yourself with the specific techniques common to a certain medium will only help you get better at understanding what you're seeing.

above all else, approach everything with intellectual curiosity and sincerity. even if you're sincerely curious about why something sucks, letting yourself gain information and potentially learning something new or being humbled in the process will help you grow. it's okay to not have all the answers, or to just be flat-out wrong sometimes. continuing to practice is a valuable intellectual pursuit even if it can mean feeling a tad stupid sometimes. don't be scared to ask questions. get comfortable sometimes with the fact that the answer you'll arrive at after a lot of thought and effort will be "I don't fully know." sometimes you don't know and that can be valuable in its own right!

thank you for the ask, and I hope you find this helpful!

[sahaminiloki]

What I need in my life is a samurai, that's you

[faeriefully]

what do you MEAN American public schools don’t teach what a verb’s aspect is??? what do you MEAN they expect all students to take foreign language classes without teaching them the foundations of their own language?!?!? what do you MEAN you want to address literacy without providing a deep education of descriptive grammar usage they already subconsciously use!?!?!?!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN!???

[flowercrown-bard]

To all the aros and aces and aroaces, you're wonderful and valid and you don't have to prove to anyone that you're "queer enough"

[almost-radqueer]

"so glad to have seen the additions" THANK YOU I'M SORRY I'M STUPID AND BAD AT EXPLICITLY SAYING WHICH ONE

Right I might as well coin this

ALMOST RADQUEER

For when someone technically counts as radqueer but because they don't support absolutely EVERYTHING (like in my case, thinking pedos zoophiles and necrophiles are horrible) or thinks some things can (IN VERY FEW CASES) get a bit iffy and sometimes disrespectful (like I think that way about transrace and transabled) and thus wishes to disconnect themselves from the radqueer community.

Meanings behind the flag: Honestly not much, I just inverted the colours of the radqueer flag, added some green outlines, and removed blue from the flag to represent that we don't support EVERYTHING (why specifically blue? Idk it's my least favorite color I just wanted to remove a colour)

Also after this post I will stop using the main radqueer tags, just "almost radqueer" and "almost rq"

Tagging this with radqueer tags so it reaches more people

[mossadspypigeon]

If your only takeaway from the holocaust is that it was bad because it negatively affected YOUR people, and everyone else who was targeted has to wait in line for their voices to be heard, youre showing everybody your asscrack.

Ethnic cleansing, is evil, and it would STILL BE EVIL even if you weren't a primary target.

Nobody's fucking denying that the Jewish people weren't Germanys scapegoat, that it wasn't horrific for practicing and nonpracticing jews (nobody who isn't a denier, and really, you think they read your blog?) And expect everyone else to listen to your voice in particular against a movement of antisemitism, white supremacy, queerphobia, eugenics, anti-intellectualism misogynistic, imperialism and authoritarian rule, when you dont even care enough about your own rights as a lesbian to criticize Israeli trans/homophobia, so forgive the rest of us for not believing you stand for ANYTHING that doesn't further your own complacency and comfort.

All that is to say, I could never speak on behalf of the Jewish community. And in spite of your inflated ego, thankfully, you can't either!

[another-goblin]

A redraw of that scene from the trailer (sort of)

[mallgothchloe97]

That makes sense and I get that❤️

Thanks for let me know❤️

You learn something new everyday.

I am not trans so I personally don’t know what its like but I do my best to educate myself so I appreciate you letting me know❤️🏳️‍⚧️

“"men dni except for trans guys" you don't see us as real men!”

No, i hate all men except trans guys because trans guys have experienced misogyny and are victims of the patriarchy, NOT because i dont see trans guys as men!

Cis men are monsters compared to trans men!

Also, i find it so odd that some trans men get a euphoria kick out of being grouped in with misogynists.

Think about that.

[ballad-of-the-lamb]

happy pride month only to people who can describe their gender as a despondent 1700s-1800s pauper who has witnessed the horrific depravity of humanity all of their life and in their final moments decided that in a pact with a dead forgotten god that they will be the cleansing that the world needs to heal, history will make them a villain, but they will have no other suffer the same fate that they did

[saetoru]

and for the record this is in fact something that could be argued as anti muslim or at least holding some form of bias against muslims.

why should it be a crime for muslim people to explore sexuality? just because i am muslim doesn’t mean that i dont have sexual desires just as any human would. its dehumanizing to deny me of my very human and very normal desires. what does religion have to do with exploring sex in a creative outlet? what you’re effectively saying here is that muslim people should not be allowed the same creative freedom as non muslim people and if they do, you are judging them for it. there are other religions that hold the same principles regarding sex outside of islam, and this is exactly the type of rhetoric that silences and discourages muslim people from being able to explore their identities. and regardless of being a sin or not, who are you to police an individuals journey in their religious connection? very odd indeed

[deathsmallcaps]

I need advice.

I’m a white intern working in a mostly white southern(ish) high school. Students of Color number at under 2%, perhaps even lower. It’s a very white, rural community - I grew up in a fairly mixed, suburban northern community, and part of my family is Black.

Several of my white students say rude things to my Students of Color. I’ve told them to knock it off *as appropriately as I can* but I’m probably one of the few adults that actively discourage that behavior.

I don’t want to let this shit fly under the radar, but I also know that if an adult of authority *who will only be here for a couple more weeks* interferes, and then doesn’t stick around, it could make things worse. Additionally, I know these kids are probably very very very used to this ‘system’ and that making a short-term change could be more harmful than helpful.

I asked one of my senior students after a very racist incident *where she was laughing along with the perpetrator but I told him to stop anyway* that I can move him, or her, so she could be more comfortable (admin either does nothing or slaps wrists, especially for seniors). She said it was fine and that he was always like that.

I must emphasize, I think they were bantering (they talk so much I think they consider each other friends?), but it was also wayyy fucking out of line, especially in a school setting. And the guy says so much out of line shit I’m surprised he isn’t rocking a full set of dentures to replace the teeth he ought to have lost by now.

Another student took me up on my offer to move people, but I ended up moving him, which sucks because he was the victim in this situation. Unfortunately, I have to keep his aggressors in their spots, as they are highly rowdy in all the ways and require a lot more supervision than he did. And the class is really full. These were also all freshmen, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that affected the victim’s reaction.

So I’d really appreciate advice as to whether I should let it be, or continue as is, or step it up even more, from People of Color in largely white, especially rural, communities. Like any advice from current or previous educators, especially Educators of Color would be appreciated, but specifically southern/rural ones would be wonderful. I’m going to talk to my family members about it, but they’ve lived in more Northern settings their entire lives and they may have less … applicable (?) experience to the situation.

Again, I’m an intern, I’m going to only be there until winter break 2024, and I don’t want to fuck things up for these kids in the long run with my northern ally ‘sensibilities’. Thank you!

[the-sonic-crew]

WAIT metal sonic...they don't love you like I love you

He signs: NOBODY LOVE YOU LIKE I DO K-N-I-Z-U-U

[uptownhags]