#because you are human

[danmeichael]

What's the line between analysing canon text and personal interpretation of the narrative?

jesus this is a really good question.

i think the short answer is there isn't one that universally holds true. for me it comes down, partially, to intent and methodology.

looong post ahead

i'd classify critical analysis as inspecting authorial intent (this is what i think the author was trying to say, this is what the author ended up saying whether they wanted to or not, this is what the author ended up saying despite it seeming like they wanted to say something else) or mechanical analysis of the story (why does (or doesn't) this facet of the story work? what makes it feel so well-executed?) and personal interpretation tends to be a lot more... soft-science, what it *feels* like rather than what you have evidence for.

the sticking point is that it's impossible to truly analyze anything in a vacuum. your personal opinions will always influence your outcome, and will also influence what you believe to be critical analysis vs. personal interpretation.

the clearest example for me is madk. i analyze the canon text to be using cannibalism as an allegory for queerness, but my personal interpretation of the narrative is that the protagonist (in addition to some other characters) is transgender.

i can outline very clearly scenes that make it clear that that cannibalism-as-queerness is the intended subtextual reading (the general theme of being othered for desires you can't help, which people internally criminalize you for despite the fact that you don't actually want to harm anyone. the scene where the character's father berates him for dying in such a debauched, disgraceful manner in a way that bleeds over into outright homophobia) so i think that's pretty clearly analysis.

but someone who isn't queer or friends with queer people might not draw that analysis, and might take the same information and analyze it as something entirely different. that's still critically analyzing the text. there is no singular correct result you can end up at that defines something as critical analysis rather than personal interpretation.

and on the other end of the spectrum: why do i think the transgender allegory is personal interpretation rather than critical analysis?

i've already stated that i think the series is about queerness, the story has themes of body modification and altering one's self to become what you really are, there are even characters in the story who don't fit neatly into cis standards of gender and who play a pretty prominent role in the story. what does it say about me that this is where i draw the line of intended interpretation? what does it say i'm assuming about the author? why do i think this interpretation is different? maybe you can critically analyze that, or maybe come up with a personal interpretation.

your question was so interesting to me and i wanted to give you a good answer, so i asked fish to give his input and we both kind of independently came to similar conclusions. i think he's more concise than me, and brings up a good stuff about the practical differences vs. me focusing more on the personal differences.

Kinda rambley but: So the real answer is that there is no clear dividing line; even when trying to be objective, we can only view a text through our own lens, and will inherently color any interpretation with our own biases. However, I think the biggest distinction between these two is the amount and kind of evidence. For textual analysis, you must bring evidence from the text. For a personal interpretation, your own feelings/ how you relate to the text can be enough. A textual interpretation would be "Shen Yuan is a gamer", supported by multiple quotes of the novel where he references video games. A personal interpretation would be "Shen Yuan is a gamer", supported by the fact that he reminds you of someone in your real life who is one. I think the most critical difference between the two is that while everyone's personal interpretation is valid, it is not evidence in discussions with other people about the text. Different people will relate to the same character differently and come away with contradictory personal interpretations, but the text itself is universal. Analyzing canon aims to highlight universally experienceable elements of the source material, while personal interpretations creates a more intimate relationship between one person and the text.

and before i go, i want to emphasize something very important:

personal interpretation is not less important or less valuable than critical analysis.

it's just another form of analysis that brings things to the table that sometimes can't be found in just a critical analysis. it's good. keep bringing your personal interpretation to the table.

just know it's personal interpretation, so you aren't bringing a scalpel (personal interpretation) to the cooking class (discourse about the canon text)

[lgbtlunaverse]

The world exists in such a baffling state of simultaneous sex-aversion and sex-hegemony. Every social platform on the internet is trying to banish sex workers to the shadow realm but I can't post a tweet without at least two bots replying P U S S Y I N B I O. People are self-censoring sex to seggs and $3× but every other ad you see is still filled with half-naked women. Rightwingers want queer people arrested for so much as existing in the same postal code as a child and are also drumming up a moral panic about how teenage boys aren't getting laid enough. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

[problemnyatic]

the steven universe hate is insane bc people are (or at least were) more upset that fictional war criminals got fictional hugs than they recognize that it singlehandedly advanced queer rep in children's media by lightyears and then straight up ate heavy retaliation for the nerve.

It does have real flaws that are worth discussing, but it also put their male protagonist in dresses and skirts and played it straight and even empowering, they aired a lesbian wedding on television, it was a genuinely queer, genuinely diverse piece of media through and through. It did a lot of real good for the real world.

But also the fictional characters caused fictional harm to other fictional characters, and didn't get an onscreen firing squad sentence. So, you know, it's basically ontologically evil in real life.

[alanaisalive]

Now that Eurovision is over, I want you all, especially the Americans, to take a good hard look at how the voting results turned out when people boycotted the event.

In the UK, the viewing figures were down about 2 million people compared to last year. Up to 2 million people made the conscious decision to not watch and not vote because of Israel's inclusion.

The final results of the public vote, Israel came in first place in the UK and got 12 points. Because the only people watching and voting were people who backed Israel or at least didn’t care one way or another.

This doesn't matter. It's a music contest. The boycott was still the right thing to do because it is just a show at the end of the day, and the viewing figures have more impact than the results.

But it is also a good object lesson to show you what happens if you boycott a vote over something that does matter. Choosing not to vote in, let's say, a presidential election will have similar results.

[roninkairi]

You can only reblog this today.*

*PLEASE READ THE TAGS

[embraceyourdestiny]

to any americans who feel "paralyzed" and "dont know what to do" to help with gaza:

reading a fucking book. i beg of you.

in a time of knowledge suppression is it your duty to arm yourself with knowledge.

read about americas occupations in the middle east.

read about 9/11 from outside of america and see how they inflicted senseless harm and violence to countless amounts of people and have been suppressing your rights for the past 2 fucking decades.

read about any of the countless wars from the past 30 years. especially from a civilian's. and the victims and survivors' perspective. listen to the horror stories and do not plug your fucking ears as to what your country is doing.

and read about fucking gaza and palestine and keep up with what is happening no matter how "sad" or "uncountable" you might get.

dont look away from this.

you dont have the right to be comfortable during countless active genocides.

if you're knowledgeable, you're powerful, and our current state doesnt fucking want that.

you have the power to change things if you open your eyes and scream to the world.

wake the fuck up.

Edit: please check the reblogs there are readings and ways to help

[theshadowrealmitself]

I like to think that Vulcans who come to understand that Humans just can’t try to process emotions the same way as them, it’s just healthiest to let it out in harmless ways, decide that venting and stuff should be taken just as seriously as Vulcan’s meditation time, and will encourage the Humans around them to complain about what’s upsetting them

People who are used to aloof Vulcans who avoid Humans at all cost running into one comforting a Human

“-and then they said my cheesecake was subpar, and they didn’t even bring a dish!!!”

“The purpose of this event was that every participant brings a food item of sorts, correct?”

“Yeah!!”

“And they did not follow this rule while insulting dishes that were brought?”

“Mostly just my dish but yeah >:(“

“How illogical”

“That’s what I’m saying!!!”

[flagellant]

yeah we might be brothers in christ but so were cain and abel so shut the fuck up before i decide to find a rock about it

[callisteios]

Hi, feel free to take my new uquiz to discover what kind of vampire you are!

[keferon]

Don’t mind me I just like to see him go bananas about cartoonish Autobot rules

Maaan…..if Prowl was in tfp he would spontaneously combust at least once a day

[apollos-olives]

before october 7th this blog was a meme page btw.

[ckret2]

Not "Bill's in denial about his feelings for Ford" nor "Ford's oblivious about Bill's feelings" but a secret third thing (they're both oblivious)

[thechekhov]

ah, childhood.

[akanemnon]

We didn't even get an answer, and we never will (at least it's not determination)

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[aspectacularswathofswarmingbees]

You know that funny feeling when- when- when-

When you've lived your entire listening to people who believe that the human experience can be boiled down to one static point of view and spend all their time telling you that everything you do is weird because it doesn't fit their own opinions on what people should be and so you slowly start to feel less and less like person and more like some off-key unexplainable blob that can't be properly understood by anyone anymore and has no place among people and then you find the cryptid fandom and you are immediately drawn in because you too are are unable to be truly precived for what you are and feel both more than human and less than human and other than human despite the unavoidable fact that you are invariably inevitably completely human?

[zeropro]

Now we just need Starscream with some kitties to complete the trio of goobers and their pets :D

pspspspsps