#anti intentionalism

[anghraine]

Do you have any favorite/interesting short essays? I'm in between semesters and not wanting to fall totally out of practice reading academic writing.

I do! It seems like you're specifically thinking of academic essays, which for me are generally specialized enough that it's a bit difficult to recommend them without knowing what topics someone is interested in.

That said, some academic essays worth reading, which are available on JSTOR:

Julia Prewitt Brown's 1990 review "The Feminist Depreciation of Jane Austen" articulated a lot of my frustration with feminist critics' often rather narrow readings of Austen (it's not anti-feminist, but rather pointing out the short-sighted form of feminism and bizarre hot takes in what was then the established feminist literature on Austen specifically). 11 pages long.

Elizabeth McGrath's 1992 article "The Black Andromeda" about the whitewashing of Andromeda (especially in reference to Ovid's Andromeda) in art and general discourse around her. 16 pages long.

Jacqueline Jones Royster's 1996 essay "When The First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own." I have a lot of gripes with composition studies, but this one's good. 11 pages long.

William K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley's 1946 "The Intentional Fallacy" is very dated, but also very worth reading in terms of the history of anti-intentionalism, especially given how important anti-intentionalism is to modern fandom (usually in reference to Barthes's "Death of the Author" but the basic concept long predates it). 19 pages long.

It belatedly occurred to me that you might be looking for shorter or more casual essays than these, or on less directly academic topics (though maybe not!). For instance, if you're more "here" for SF/F than my other interests, there are some great essays in Uncanny Magazine and Reactor among others (I find Reactor a bit hit and miss, but when it hits, it hits hard). For instance, I recently read and enjoyed "Seven of Nine is a Third-Culture Kid" by Dawn Xiana Moon and "On Learning to Read Generously" by Molly Templeton.

I could also give you some recommendations for essays more directly about history or psychology in some area that I find interesting, but that's likely to be less accessible and I assumed not what a follower of mine was likely looking for.

[comradekarin]

when i got on twitter and said if katara had killed yon rha, zuko’s opinion of katara’s core character wouldn’t have changed (we even see that the split second shot of him seeing her blood bend) but aang’s would have- THEY NAILED ME TO THE FUCKING STAKE YALL! they hated jesus because he told the truth!

[ayrennaranaaldmeri]

HELAENA WAS A BELOVED QUEEN IN F&B SO OF COURSE RYAN CONDOM HAS TO MAKE THE SMALLFOLK PRAISE THE PERSON WHO WAS BLOCKADING THEIR FOOD TO BEGIN WITH BC PROPAGANDA ONLY WORKS WHEN RHA EN YRA DOES IT AND THROW THE FOOD THEY WERE RIOTING OVER AT HELAENA. I CURSE HIM AND HIS UGLY WRITING.

[shaftking]

Super weird (read: telling) how radfems constantly talk about how aggressive they think men are but also are constantly trying to push men’s buttons in order to make them react. It’s almost like they are acting specifically in a way to confirm their bias about men being prone to violence and anger by intentionally provoking those normal human emotions to an extreme. Almost as if going out of your way to treat people like shit makes those people upset. They are literally using basic crybully techniques (read: methods of emotional abuse) to make people lash out and then frame themselves as the victim and the other person as evil when it happens.

[alacetor-the-duckies-deer]

It's so important to me that we all understand that hell and heaven in the Hellaverse aren't like two separate territories with equal power in a war that heaven happens to be winning.

Hell is a territory that Heaven rules.

Lucifer may be the king, but that is a position he was given by Heaven, because they have the power and authority to place people in charge of Hell,

And it's all well and good he WANTS to do better as a ruler. That he takes it seriously, or did at one point and/or is coming around to it again in the show, but its a possition with only as much power as Heaven wants to give it, and they want it to have less power than the General of Heaven's army, because Sera listens to Adam before she listens to Lucifer.

Lucifer, an Archangel, doesn't get to make demands of heaven. He doesn't even try. He gets to ask Sera to please stop the genocide of the people he was told to watch over. He gets to concede when they say no. Because heaven just gets to say no, because they get to decide what happens in hell without taking into account the opinions of Lucifer, or the seven sins, or the goetia or anyone in hell.

We all get that right?

That Charlie and the other's defending the hotel wasn't just the citizens of hell going up against an invading army. It only counts an an invading army ans not the occupying force because they don't actually stay there year round

Hell didn't just win their first battle in a war that's been raging for millennia. That was the first time hell organized to fight back against their theocratic dictatatorship- if not ever, than in millenia.

That was act of rebellion.

That was Hell declairing independence.

[wallflowers-in-the-wind]

You know Tamlin doesn’t get enough credit. He tried to change for the better now that he understood how he was unintentionally treating Feyre. He listened and even when it was tough gave her space. He didn’t even try to force her into being intimate when she was back at the manor.

And (the important part I swear to God) after everything Feyre did to him, after losing everything, when he saw Rhysand dead he brought him back to life and told Feyre he wished for her to be happy. I bet everything that if put in that same situation that Rhysand wouldn’t do the same.

Tamlin had every reason not to. To leave Rhysand and Feyre there or even kill her then and there. He had literally nothing to lose if attacked for his actions. But he didn’t. And this will always be my main reasons why I prefer Tamlin instead of Rhysand.

[aroaceleovaldez]

i keep forgetting to post this Piper which is a shame because this is one of the best Piper outfits i've ever drawn

[lizzybeeee]

DATV is overly reliant on Supplemental Media - especially if you are a returning player

TL;DR: Supplemental material should not be required reading in order to understand what's going on in the main game -> it's additional material that enhances what we were given. If what we were given is lacking and unable to coherently tell us a story, then the writers and those in charge did not prioritize what was important.

Not a take that's unique to Dragon Age, but one that is very relevant when talking about DATV. I've made a few posts about plot/story points that either make no sense or have been dropped entirely in the lead up from DAI to DATV. Every now and then I get a few comments or messages about how certain points I made were addressed in supplemental material released in the lead up to this games release.

This isn't a call out post, by the way! But it's frustrating, to me, that this games writing is so lacking that my understanding is being inhibited because I can't remember details from a book I read two years ago - not to mention various podcasts, comics, and short stories. My understanding of a video game in a video game series should not be reliant on additional/optional content.

DATV is a weird game in that it is absolutely a 'soft/scorched earth' reboot while also marketing itself as a continuation to what was set up in Inquisition and Trespasser. Personally, I think that if you are up to number 4 in a game series, one with a continuous story-line, it should be expected that new players won't be able to catch up to everything -> it's the game developers job to make the world and story intriguing enough that the new players will go back to previous games in the series and fill in the blanks themselves.

Veilguard, as a sequel, is overly reliant on content that comes from outside the games themselves (including DLC's) if you want to make sense of the world and story. Trespasser left us with an epilogue that set up some plot points for the next game: Solas & the Veil, the Elven Rebellion, and War with the Qun - plot points that have been built up since the time of Origins. But when we get into DATV two of these points have been dropped and resolved, off-screen.

There are more questions, but these are the ones that bothered me the most while playing the game:

What happened to the Agents of Fen'harel/ Elven Rebellion? -> answered in a cursed reddit AMA.

What happened to the Qunari following Trespasser -> addressed in Tevinter Nights, and a codex entry you can pick up (optional).

Why is Skyhold infested with demons? -> mentioned in Tevinter Nights.

How did the Dalish go from worshiping their own pantheon to knowing they are false gods? (specifically those we meet in the Veil Jumpers) -> mentioned in the Missing comic series.

What's up with Nevarra's Royals? -> Tevinter Nights addresses that there is a power struggle in the Pentaghast family and the role of the Mortalitasi in making it worse - though it does not address the whole 'mage puppeting a corpse' issue and all the implications it has.

This is a video game series -> the bulk of the information required for me to understand the story and its relation to previous entries needs to be included in the final game version. I am playing a video game and not attending a uni class - I should not need to have a required reading list in order to understand what the fuck is going on. I should definitely not need to go onto a reddit AMA to understand what happened in-game, either.

What makes this stand out the most is that DAI was very successful in tying in previous games, DLC's, movies, and books! Inquisition did a great job in getting you up to speed on the events of the previous games early on, providing personalization if you played those games, and giving the player the opportunity to inquire into these events.

Hiding away the answers in additional material or a codex entry that may be missed is not good game design or good writing. DAI didn't assume that you had bought and played the Legacy DLC -> it made certain you experienced the conversation with Varric and Hawke if you wanted to proceed in the game. It didn't hide away imperative information in codex entries - it had characters talk about it in scripted scenes and encourage the player to ask more. You would actively need to avoid interacting with characters for you to not experience this information in DAI.

Leliana talks about her role during the Blight, her calling by the Maker, and her relationship with Dorothea/Justinia -> DAO and Leliana's Song DLC.

Cullen talks about his time as a templar at Kinloch & Kirkwall -> DAO and DA2.

Cassandra speaks about her history, investigation into Hawke, and the Seekers -> Dawn of the Seeker movie, DA2, & Asunder novel.

Varric talks about Hawke, Kirkwall, and Corypheous -> DA2 and Legacy DLC.

Cole talks about how he discovered he was a 'demon' - it leads to further conversations about Rhys, Evangeline, and Lord-Seeker Lambert -> Asunder novel.

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts -> the game literally continues what the Masked Empire novel sets up, the Orlesian Civil War. The game does a decent job of telling us about the players (Celene, Gaspard, Briala etc...) and the reasoning behind the conflict through dialogue, the ability to explore the battlefields, quests, ambient dialogue, etc... The book is not required reading - though it greatly adds to the complexity of the characters, motivations, and political intrigue!

I never once, playing DA2 or DAI, felt penalized or like my experience was lacking because I had not engaged with supplemental material or DLC's. I got into Dragon Age when I was in high school, it wasn't until I graduated and began working after that I had the disposable income available for experiencing the extra material. I cannot say that for DATV - If you have played Inquisition and go into DATV straight from that you will, absolutely, be confused about how we got from A to B.

Which is especially strange to me!? Why is it that new players will be less confused than those that are returning players? It's like the game is actively punishing you for playing and caring about previous games in the series.

Supplemental media is bought because the main product has earned your investment, love, or interest. Not everyone has the income available to buy it with their own money - especially if you live outside the US and have to pay additional shipping costs. Not everyone has the ability to buy or 'obtain' the digital versions either. My understanding of the main story of a video game in a video game series should not require additional monetary investment into other mediums.

The game itself should be enough and DATV is not enough.

[overtake]

You will never hear any of that pathetic ass “I’m a Max fan but I’m tired of him winning too” shit over here. I want him to win every weekend. I want every record. I want the sport to be renamed after him. I want the Dutch national anthem to be censored on the Sky Sports broadcast because it triggers them so badly. I want other drivers to cease procreating because they can’t fathom bringing a child into this world only to have them watch their parent be ruthlessly embarrassed every Sunday. I want hoards of hopeless drivers to show up and kneel down each week before a grey, elderly Max as he claims his 900th race win in a row. Maybe sometimes he feels like being a kind, benevolent monarch and lets someone else have a day, but I’m certainly not going to be the disloyal subject begging for it to happen!

[fromtheseventhhell]

Referring to Arya's development in Braavos as "brief descriptions" when her AFfC/ADwD chapters are almost entirely dedicated to showing us her training is...certainly a choice. Doing so to claim that Sansa has the more detailed learning arc? Pure clownery. You'd never guess from this response that the original post was about detailing Arya's training with the FM (using quotes from the book!) and makes no mention of Sansa anywhere. Notably this response provides no evidence from the books and makes objectively false claims; nowhere across five books is Sansa mentioned to have a grasp of High Valyrian but, of course, Sansa has to be handed every skill that Arya has without any page space dedicated to learning it. I know this is a wild concept, but Arya exists as her own character and not everything about her story can be applied to Sansa.

[anghraine]

I'm always ready to point out that death of the author is not the one literary theory to rule them all, and not the only valid approach to literary criticism.

That said, occasionally hardcore intentionalists show up and are like ... here's what the author said about their intention, how could you possibly interpret their work in any way that differs from that, authors never misrepresent their intentions, or fail to achieve them, or end up doing something different, or are ambiguous, or or or, and how dare you suggest otherwise?! Work belongs solely to the author and the word of the author on their work therefore should never be challenged. If you don't agree with them about their work you better go interpret something else.

And, um, wow.

[kaiserouo]

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yay i gave him a name

[kelocitta]

There is currently a rather large discussion ongoing about the RW fandom behavior, drama, etc. I am not going to talk about the specifics of whats happened for a number of reasons. But what I do want to say is that if at any point you've harassed people over it, whether that be through anon asks or public posts- you did nothing but damage the ability for people to correctly process what is happening. You contributed nothing but harm to an already delicate situation. It does not matter what "side" you were on and I will not tolerate further interaction with me or my work if I found out you did such. If you let your personal hate for anyone boil over into threats, wishes for long term harm and petty comments meant to contribute nothing but slander or mental distress for the individuals involved who were already distressed (or acting irrationally) you did nothing but make it harder for people to process their emotions, thoughts and behaviors constructively. Regardless of who you think was in the right, who fucked up, whatever. It doesn't matter if they deserved it, or earned it, or if its an eye for an eye. Its difficult enough as it is to think clearly when presented with any kind of stressful situation and heckling people does nothing but make it worse and harder for them to explain themself in any capacity. I don't want you anywhere near me if you think that is an acceptable way to act.

[sapphic-agent]

Why does the ATLA subreddit act like they don't tear Katara apart on a daily just for breathing? If Sokka or Aang had said this no one would have bat an eye I hate it here

[watcherintheweyr]

Eris and Azriel are the Perfect enemies to lovers but only if and when Azriel realizes that compared to Eris, Rhys is a terrible high lord and the IC has been complicit and must do better, and only if Eris makes no excuses and is still unapologetically, strategically, a sharp-tongued, acerbic, too smart for his own good brat.

Also only if Azriel is allowed within the text to grow and embrace himself in a way I doubt SJmess will ever explore.

I just love them.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Thinking how in S4 vol 2 we have a wheeler whose friends have been kinda pushing her towards a love interest she has no interest in, and same for steve, and then we have another wheeler whose friends have been kinda pushing him towards a love interest that... he actually loves? Apparently.

And even tho they'd been together for like a year or so he still needs pushing from his (gay) friend (just like robin (lesbian) pushes nancy a bit, or eddie (queercoded) pushes steve). Anyway I'm just saying that the random stancy scenes are the worst, but have some similarities with vol 2 mileven.

Nancy and Mike parallels keep continuing. Siblings of all time.