#comparing them can highlight aspects of the plot that otherwise might not be considered in this way

[craqueluring]

i want to talk about randall tier

hannibal draws a lot of inspiration from manhunter (1986), which was the first film adaptation of the hannibal books, and i want to talk specifically about the scene where randall crashes through will's window, because it derives from a scene in manhunter. i am going to compare these two scenes, and use this to further my discussion of hannibal, which will be the focus of this. (there is a TLDR at the end of this!)

in manhunter, at the end of the movie, will runs and crashes through dolarhyde's window, shattering it and directly jumping into a fight with him. now, there is a copious amount of imagery in manhunter depicting will talking to his reflection in glass, windows, etc as if his reflection is dolarhyde. we get the sense that dolarhyde is inside of will’s head, and they start to blur as will has to relate and empathize more and more with dolarhyde to catch him. 

will crashing through the window is him meeting the darkest parts of himself face-to-face – now, he and dolarhyde are on the same side of the glass. will kills dolarhyde, which represents will overcoming (or, at least, suppressing) his violent urges and the turmoil that comes with understanding killers so deeply.

so, will crashing through the glass to meet dolarhyde is him meeting the ‘bad’ part of himself, the part that understands killers and lets them inside of his head, and by killing dolarhyde, he defeats this darker part of himself. will graham, in typical 80s fashion, ends the movie stable in his morality and can return to his heterosexual family life and watch the sunset with his wife and child.

the scene in hannibal is a bit different. instead of the identity parallel being between will and dolarhyde, it is between will and randall tier. randall is (if i am not mistaken) the first patient of hannibal’s we meet that has undergone his “therapy” and is considered a success. this is when we fully start to grasp what it is that hannibal does with his “therapy.” and what will could Become if he accepted hannibal's guidance.

instead of solely will’s violent urges, like dolarhyde represented in manhunter, randall tier represents, in a way, what will could be: a 'balanced' person who embraces his violence and becomes one with it. randall tier has the same violent urges and the dissonance in his identity that will has, but he accepts it, embraces it, and revels in what he is. 

so, when randall crashing through will’s window, will not only comes face to face with himself, but the Higher Self that hannibal is guiding him to Become. this is why randall is depicted as the raven stag, and then the stag man: will is forced to come face to face with who hannibal is guiding him to be, hannibal's influence, and has to confront how to handle his violent urges once again by being forced to kill in self defense. however, his fight with randall does not represent him overcoming these violent urges, as was in manhunter. the fight does actually facilitate will’s Becoming. will throws his shotgun away and chooses to use his hands to kill randall, as hannibal suggested. through Will’s fight with and murder of randall tier, he actually becomes closer to his Higher Self and his Becoming.

this is furthered by will's choice to make randall tier into a tableau. will’s first tableau. in will’s pendulum conversation with randall, it is made even clearer: will says “you forced me to kill you” and randall replies “i didn’t force you to enjoy it.” !!!!!

TLDR: in manhunter, will crashes through the window to meet a man who represents the darkest parts of himself. by killing dolarhyde, will defeats this dark part of himself and fortifies his sense of morality. hannibal flips this completely around. in hannibal, randall crashes through will’s window. will comes face to face with him, who, in a sense, represents his Higher Self and who will could be if he accepted hannibal's guidance. his fight with randall marks the start of him beginning to embrace this intimate violence hannibal has been talking about. by killing and displaying randall in a tableau, will revels in his violent urges by killing him with his hands and enjoying it and becomes closer to his Higher Self and his Becoming. instead of will overcoming his violent urges through this fight between a him and a representation of his violence like in manhunter, will killing randall fuels these urges.

[simonspeculativeothering]

Critical Race Theory in the Dragon Ball Z Namek Saga

While the overall theme of the Namek Saga is that of colonialism and genocide against the Namekian people, episodes 44-48 seemed to possess dialogue and events that most pertains to ideas of critical race theory. While neither the protagonists nor the oppressors are composed of a homogeneous species, the populace of Namek is of a singular species that is being genocided and extorted by Frieza for their dragon balls. Though Frieza’s army is composed of many types of alien species, he practices the imperial methodology of arriving to planets and conquering them with the goal of exploiting the resources and species that exist on the planet.

Although Japan hasn’t been considered to be a part of the Third World, there is a cultural significance of colonialism translated into the show, given that Japan has the history of being both a colonizer and colonized nation. Largely, this section of the show seems to depict a mix of saviorist and anti-colonial ideas. The saviorist aspect of the plot involves the protagonist’s efforts to protect Namek while collecting the dragon balls. There seems to be a greater focus, though, on depicting Frieza’s tyrannical wrath, resembling Third World anti-colonialist filmmaking, having “attempted to counterpose the objectifying discourse of patriarchy and colonialism with a vision of themselves and their reality as seen ‘from within’”(Stam & Spence, 757). Though the show doesn’t make any explicit imitation of a historical imperial power, the actions of Frieza could be potentially compared to either Western colonizers or early 20th-century Imperial Japan. As a result of this alignment, the viewership can look critically at colonialism from the perspective of the oppressed, as the show supersedes and interacts with traditional colonial portrayals.

The first episode that we will be looking at is episode 44. This is the first moment in the Namek Saga where all of the major characters arrive on planet Namek. As a result, the episode more-so lays out the plot as opposed to solely depicting battle scenes or dialogue insignificant to the plotline. Two of the protagonists, Krillin & Gohan, express their first impression of Namek with a comparison between Piccolo's place of residence on earth and the terrain of Namek. This remark is interesting because it is a commentary on the issue of migration and assimilation. Though unrelated to the saga’s dynamic of colonialism and genocide, the mention of Piccolo’s choice to reside in a Namek-like location on earth indicates that the creators of the show are interested in approaching this saga with the topic of othering in the form of species, in this case. It also is an interesting remark because it shows that an explanation of the idea of non-homogenous society to the show’s Japanese audience is necessary, given that Japan is almost entirely homogeneous(Bridges, 779). While a non-Japanese audience might be familiarized with the dynamics of assimilation, Japan’s lack of immigration increases the necessity for the characters to address the Namekian Piccolo’s background as an anomaly.

The cultural significance of Japanese homogeneity is also important in that this saga’s focus on alienism is an approach that breaks a set of strict Japanese communal anchors, such as ethnicity, and culture, in a sense suspending disbelief by disassociating from traditional Japanese ideas or symbols(Bridges, 779). In such a dissociation, it seems now, more convenient for the show to approach a more abrasive concept like race or colonialism, which otherwise would remain a political discussion that only exists from the perspective of homogeneity. Vegeta’s arrival at Namek is another important moment which reiterates the saga’s theme of imperialism. Though Vegeta’s personality had previously been introduced, this moment highlights his newfound rebelliousness against his tyrannical emperor, though his rebelliousness bears no consideration for ethics.

Arguably the center of this saga’s anti colonialist plotline, Frieza and his army are introduced in Namek with a scene of them murdering a Namekian to gain possession of a dragon ball. In literal terms, his use of violence against a less militarily powerful group of people for the purpose of extracting resources bears a close resemblance to colonization or imperialism that has taken place worldwide. This depiction of Frieza aligns with anticolonialist films such as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which provides the depiction of “colonialism in Africa as ‘just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a grand scale’”(Stam & Spence, 755). Though Frieza’s actions aren’t driven strictly by racism, his actions fit a colonial characterization of carrying out mass acts of robbery and murder against a single group of people.

In episode 45, there are several other pieces of dialogue that contribute to the characterization of the Namek saga as being anticolonialist. Firstly, the protagonists encounter two of Frieza’s minions who offhandedly mention their job description of committing genocide. Since science fiction is often regarded as a representation of international politics, it is easy to see how this statement could be compared to an Eichmann style of justifying oppression, where low-level perpetrators see themselves as order followers within a code of imperial conduct(Dyson, 461). In essence, though, it becomes further affirmed that Frieza’s army is meant to be portrayed as an army commiting genocide.

Vegeta’s juxtaposition within the colonial theme is also elaborated in this episode, with his remark that he wants to become a Saiyan emperor of the universe and overthrow Frieza. Vegeta’s case further indicates the shows’ adherence to anti-colonialist filmmaking, aligning with the idea that “In many consciously anticolonialist films, a kind of textual uneven development makes the film politically progressive in some of its codes but regressive in others”(Stam & Spence, 764). To elaborate, rather than depicting all of Frieza's rebels as being benevolent, the distinction is made that these oppressed people are just as capable of expressing selfishness. Mentioning his race explicitly, his motives despite being an “ally” of sorts against Frieza, remain non-egalitarian and racist in his goal of perpetuating Saiyan supremacy.

In episode 47, Frieza’s dialogue introduces the element of language into the saga’s broader colonialist theme: “Speak to us in a language that we can all understand”. This quote from Frieza aligns closely with a characterization of Namekians as being Third World, with his expectation of the Namekians to speak his language on their planet. This remark seems like an imitation of Western depictions of colonialism, where “The languages spoken by Third World peoples are often reduced to an incomprehensible jumble of background murmurs, while major ‘native’ characters are consistently obliged to meet the coloniser on the coloniser’s linguistic turn”(Stam & Spence, 756). Though the show employs Namekian language in such a way, it is done in an anticolonialist fashion where the antagonist of the plot is made to fit this characterization, as opposed to the protagonists.

In episode 48, there is one clear scene that elaborates the saga’s theme of colonialism and imperialism. In this scene, Frieza’s henchmen start slaughtering the village, but Gohan steps in and saves a child, who is the final surviving Namekian in the village. While this scene further justifies Frieza’s comparison to a real-world colonial or imperial force, Gohan’s character employs geopolitical realist ideology that takes oppressed groups into account. To elaborate, this scene aligns closely with ideas of progressive realism that are promoted by many oppressed groups or Third World filmmakers(Stam & Spence, 757). Though the goal of the protagonists is the realist goal of collecting all of the dragon balls before Frieza or Vegeta, it seems that there is a revelation on the part of the protagonists that they must become the protector of the Namekian people, in an effort to combat Frieza’s hegemonic threat. On some level, Gohan’s actions could be interpreted as being saviorist, in the sense that he justifies his own attempted exploitation of Namek’s resources with his efforts to prevent Namekian genocide. At the very least, though, this scene paints Gohan as an ally who considers humanitarian ideals as being fundamental in accomplishing his largely realist and selfish objective.

To summarize the point of this video, it appears that Dragon Ball Z’s Namek saga purposefully attempts to imitate the dynamics of colonialism though Frieza and his army’s genocide of planet Namek. Consequently, other parties in the show such as the protagonists, Vegeta, or the Namekians expand on this dynamic through their responses to Frieza’s actions and speech. By placing an antagonistic imperial power, the show demonstrates an anticolonialist interpretation of history, and allows viewers to experience the issue from the perspective of the oppressed. Given the context of Japanese homogeneity, the alienist focus of the show disassociates its Japanese audience from real-world cultural boundaries, therefore suspending their disbelief further. Gohan and Krillen exhibit their progressive realist ideals, as they interfere in the slaughter of a village and save the last surviving child. The saga’s anticolonialist perspective is thoughtfully, yet prominently shown in these introductory episodes of the saga. Though this plotline isn’t directly translatable to any specific piece of colonial history, it certainly involves a variety of scenes that are comparable to both Western and Third World depictions of colonization.

[anime-grimmy-art]

Told you guys I’d ramble in due time.

I absolutely adore Bravely Default 2. It came at a really bad time cos I can’t waste 70 hours on a jrpg, but well, it’s too late to be concerned about that now. And as is tradition with me obsessing over a new game / show / whatever, you’ll basically find a fullblown review disguised as ramblings right under the cut. Be aware that I’m gonna talk about EVERYTHING, so spoilers are a given. Some maybe even for the previous Bravely Default games.

Also, if you wanna talk about this game in any capacity, hit me up, I’m DESPERATE to talk more about it.

Just for reference on how long this is gonna be, I made a voice recording while driving to remember all the points I wanna make, and that recording is almost 2 hours long. I did cut it down but still, this is gonna be a lot.

I’ll start off with the things that actually bugged me about the game, since there are only 3 things that really bothered me. First of, I really don’t like that you can name Seth. He has too much personality to be a self insert and player integration is not that big of a part in the game that this decision can be justified. It wouldn’t bother me that much if it didn’t leave a bad mark on the ending. First of all, we were robbed of Gloria desperately shouting for Seth, which makes the impact work less, and it’s just so prevalent that the name can’t be said because you have all the normal sound design going. If they’d just let the credits still play I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but because every other sound comes in it’s so obvious they’re just silently shouting in this scene, which makes it look silly. Like I said, this decision is more a detriment than an addition, and it’s a shame it casts a shadow on an otherwise heartfelt ending.

Speaking about lost potential, the other thing that really bothers me is the lost potential in certain plot points and character conclusions. I mainly mean Adam and Edna here. Both of them have been built up to be these formidable foes but they just, die. If it was just Adam I’d be fine with it, since you expect Edna to backstab him and be the actual big bad of the story, but I cannot fathom why they dropped Edna this HARD. If not Edna herself, I don’t understand why we don’t get more of a reaction from the Fairies and especially Adelle. I mean, Edna was her sole reason she left for her journey in the first place, then Edna dies and that’s it? No part where she grieves for a second? No concern from the others about Adelle? Mind you, I haven’t finished all the Sidequests, so maybe there actually is one in which this is addressed, but I think even just a Party Chat after Bad End 1 would have been sufficient to show how Adelle suddenly feels about the loss of Edna. It would have made Bad End 2 / The Secret Ending even more impactful, because, yeah, of course, you kinda know Adelle isn’t going to turn her back on fairy kind, but one of the reasons she doesn’t leave is because if Enda didn’t get a happy ending, then she shouldn’t either. It would have been amazing foreshadowing if she showed this sentiment before this scene happened. Other than that, it’s a shame that we know so little about Edna, or rather, how she became “bad”. I get she’s supposed to be corrupted by the Night’s Nexus, but how did it even come to this? It can’t have been a gradual thing, after all, Adelle says Edna was always good natured and then just disappeared one day. Really would have loved seeing more of that plot point.

Ok, last gripe I have, some choices in the soundtrack and sound design. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the OST, and I will get to that, but damn, whatever Revo used for the lead instrument in Wiswald hurts my ears. It’s a really good track, but I always have to turn down my volume because these high pitched sounds physically hurt. And for sound design. Dude, the Night’s Nexus is the least threatening, nightmare fueled abomination that ever existed. I get that its growl is kinda supposed to be layered with Edna’s or sth, but it, it just sounds silly. If they went the route of just swinging between different voices or began distorting it from phase to phase, it would have been fine. But the choice they made really made an otherwise creepy design just absolutely silly.

Ok, enough jammering, on to the good stuff. Like I said, there’s going to be a lot, so I’ll try to be brief in each aspect.

Gameplay

I honestly like the new battle mechanics more than the old ones. This individual, turn based system feels way more dynamic and it’s easier to strategies in battles. Because nothing made me more angry than setting up for a heal and the enemy suddenly being faster than me and killing my healer. Now it’s easier to plan ahead a bit.

I also found myself experimenting more with the jobs. Not sure what it really is, but none of the party members leaning more towards certain types of jobs and the job leveling being way faster probably helped.

And I know some people get up in arms because the boss sometimes can be a real pain in the ass (looking at you pope dude), I still found it very interesting getting around counters or even using these counters as a benefit. As an example, I made Adelle my main physical fighter and gave her lots of counter abilities to help her profit from being countered by enemies themselves. Now, she can attack enemies, get countered, automatically evade that counter and earn a BP at the same time. Made a lot of boss fights way easier and fun to exploit.

Music

Ok, I will try my best to be really, really brief, because in my recording this part takes up almost 40 minutes. Anyways, Revo might have just become one of my absolute favorite composers ever. I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but I initially wasn’t that impressed with the OST, but every time I listened to it, I just fell in love harder and harder. Before getting into specifics, I wanna highlight the two things that made me love this OST overall. First of all, this soundtrack almost seems like a refinement of BD’s. While losing some of that fairytale vibe, it sounds even more fantasy now. And in contrast to the original, this almost sounds more balanced? Like, BD’s OST felt high energy throughout, BD2’s on the other hand manages to find a good balance between high and low energy pieces. Like, the character themes or battle themes are absolute hype, but the overworld themes are a lot calmer and easier to listen to while exploring. Second big point that makes this soundtrack amazing is that Revo is an absolute god at using emotional progression/storytelling and leitmotifs in his songs. And heck, do I love myself my leitmotifs. You’ve got some obvious ones, like the final battle theme in which all the character themes and other leitmotifs are integrated. Then you got some maybe more subtle once, just like how the overworld themes are just the main theme, just a lot calmer and using the lead instruments of the towns of the areas.

But my absolute favourites gotta be the character themes and the main theme. I love how fitting the themes for the characters are and in general, each of them is such a bop. At first I prefered Elvis’, because I sure am a sucker for jazzy vibes, but over time Adelle’s became my fav. It’s just something about the trumpets, and how the theme almost sounds a bit melancholic and bittersweet, that drew me in. And considering her story, mostly her bad end, that the bittersweet tone really fits.

Then there’s the main theme. Just like BD’s it shouts “triumphant anthem” and it definitely gives you a very familiar vibe, but I’d argue it has even better emotional progression. Heck, the first time I heard the music start up in the reveal trailer, I didn’t have to look at the screen to know this is gonna be a BD game. Also, the credit song version had me weeping at the true end. I’m someone who’s very easily affected by music (if me shouting about soundtracks on this blog wasn’t proof enough) and just hearing that ending song, getting the after credits scene, just for the second credits to start as a freaking duet. Dude, at that point I just started sobbing, I’m not gonna lie. Just this little part showed how much Revo knows how to put emotion in a song and also write it in such a way that he can elicit strong, emotional reactions from you too. 

Story

People have been complaining how the story is too boring and kinda disappointing in comparison to the last one, but I just think the games tried to accomplish different things here. Since the BD series is a celebration of old, classic jrpgs, “cliche” storytelling is a given. Though, BD did throw a lot of meta stuff in there too. BD2 in contrast just feels like a direct execution of that initial idea. It feels familiar, it feels comfy and it feels safe. Except for the little things with the endings and then overwriting the Nexus’ “save file”, BD2 doesn’t really get that meta, which is totally fine. It doesn’t try to reinvent or innovate anything, it just wants to be a fantasy story, that might be cliche, but still fun and enjoyable in its own right.

I’d also argue that the pacing is a lot better than the old game, because with BD I sometimes found myself skipping through scenes to get on with the story. Not that this game didn’t have me rushing through stuff as well, but I found it kept my intrigue way better than the original.

Characters

Next to the music, this is the part that I absolutely love the most. While, yes, they did lose a lot of potential with some characters, mostly with the villains, the main cast is just so much fun. I love these 4 dorks so, so much.

I honestly can’t stand how much people compare them to the original cast. Yes, ofc, I’ve been doing my fair share of comparisons too, but calling these four a more boring version of BD’s party physically hurts me. Because except for some initial impressions, the Heroes of Light are completely different from our beloved Warriors of Light.

While yes, Seth and Gloria give off strong Tiz and Agnes vibes at first, they both grow into such different characters that they’re not really comparable. I think this shows with Adelle and Elvis even more. I do understand how people could compare Adelle and Edea, since they’re both the feisty girl type, but I can’t understand how people can see Ringabel and Elvis as the same character type. While those two are the “suave” party members, they act so differently from another. And that’s honestly apparent the first time you meet them. 

Anyways, I love these 4 so much.

We technically don’t know a lot about Seth at all, but they manage to pull so much out of just the fact that he’s a sailor, that it makes him really endearing, really fast.

I was kinda disinterested with Gloria at first, because again, the initial impression was Agnés2.0, but she grew on me a lot. Gloria is way more hard headed and honestly sassy in comparison to Agnés and I absolutely adore it.

Elvis. Elvis, my man. I love this fantasy scottosh wizard so, so much. He’s such a ridiculous character but so endearing at the same time. You got all this dorkiness, with him setting himself on fire as a student, him doing god knows what for a good drink or just laughing danger and prejudice in the face. But then you got his super empathetic and caring side. Mind you, most of his wise moments come from quoting Lady Emma, but still, as much as he’s hopeless with certain social situations, he’s actually still really good at reading the room and playing things smart. He’s a smart and powerful idiot, which makes him a danger to everyone and himself, and I love him for it. (I also can’t believe they called him Lesley I MEAN COME ON)

And then there’s Adelle. I liked her from the start, but I didn’t think she would stick out to me. I think now she’s my favourite character. Not even talking about all the stuff that happens in chapter 3 and onward, because these story threads are awesome in their own right, but there’s just something about her personality that’s interesting and appealing to me. Like I said, I’m not surprised people compare her to Edea, I did too at first, but while Edea walks very close to the line of a Tsundere, I was really surprised that Adelle is, well, not a Tsundere at all. Yeah, of course she’s putting Elvis down a lot, but that stems more from her preventing his ego from going to his head than her being all embarrassed. No, Adelle is actually really well adjusted when it comes to communication. While it’s hilarious that she and Elvis met with her chucking her shoes at him, the two just got along well right from the start. Adelle in general has this really open and helpful personality, but also doesn’t shy away from putting her foot down, even if that sometimes comes out as an embarrassed sputter. She’s also the mother hen of the group. She looks out for the other three and gets concerned about them real fast. 

I dunno, Adelle just really grew on me over the course of this game, and then her kinda being paired with Elvis too, as partners and as partners, makes me like her even more. Because as much as I like their personalities individually, I like their character dynamic even more. I honestly love the relationships between all four of them a lot. You really feel them grow closer as friends and all the little character sidequests just always made me really happy.

Conclusion

You might not believe me, but I really held back there. This could probably have been 3 times its length. As much as I love this game, it’s of course not perfect. It struggles and flails in some parts a lot and it certainly has some aspects that might turn people off. But for me, it was just a very familiar and comfy game that didn’t necessarily deliver anything new, but that told its story in such a way that it still got me excited to keep going. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and the conclusion of the story actually got me to cry. While not groundbreaking, this game is highly enjoyable and leaves you absolutely satisfied at the end.

Also, I would like to iterate that I am desperate to get more content about this game, so if you wanna chat about it, hit me up.

Anyways, anyone else felt like having a fever dream when everybody in chapter 2 started talking fantasy scottish? Cos I sure did.

[princehcmlet]

Hello and good day to you! Could we please trouble you for an opinion? Thank you so much in advance.

You may absolutely get an opinion! I’ve seen this one being recced and floating around the tags, so I’m excited to finally take an in-depth look. I always have to start with a disclaimer, so here goes - this is all an opinion. Don’t let it get you down, or make you feel like you’ve made anything less than beautiful work! I recognize the hard work admins put into their rps, and my only goal is to let y’all know what I could see as a beneficial change to the rp. Now, with that said, let’s start with the icon and url! I think the url is obviously the name of a place. I already know that this is a university rp, but taking that out of my mind I would understand that the url is a place name. As for the icon, I don’t really see what Greco-Roman busts have to do with universities. However, it does look really nice and I don’t think that there’s anything you need to change really. To me, the best connection I can make with the statue in the icon is the old history of the school or the Greek life? Otherwise, all this stuff is good! As I got onto the main page, I liked the consistency of the statue in the icon and statue in the header. I like that you have a picture background, it really makes the container and the posts pop out (compared to if they were on a plain, color background). Overall the aesthetic of the roleplay is really nice, and I have nothing to really suggest. The theme you picked is also pretty good.

The next thing I’ll talk about is the navigation! It’s nice that you have it organized in the before/after acceptance categories. My only suggestion is to move the “Locations” link up to the before acceptance category. That way people can look at the locations before they apply along with the Greek houses to get a better idea of the rps setting and what they’ll be doing. As for the plot, I think it’s a nice and simple university roleplay. I like the idea that the university is newer, and that it’s mainly a school focused on their Greek life. I do have some suggestions, though. There’s one sentence that’s a bit unclear to me, “However, with much effort put in by the students to get those statistics up, grades and other aspects of campus life has started to rise sufficiently, making the school one to be watched.” It just seems strangely worded, in my opinion. I think it makes the reader confused if the students are/aren’t putting in the effort to raise the school’s stats. “The students put in effort to get Lockwood’s statistics up; grades and other aspects of campus life have started to rise sufficiently.” I think this is a much clearer way to say the students are putting effort in and the effect it’s having on the school. I would also suggest explaining why it’s a school “to be watched” and who is watching it? Just a general audience of people applying to universities? Or is the actual college board giving it the eye? The other suggestion I have is possibly describing what kind of college it is outside of the “party-school” moniker it’s been given? You say it’s not an Ivy League, so is it a liberal arts, private, community, arts and sciences, does it have a law and business school? Those kinds of things are important when describing an American college. Otherwise, I thought that the plot was short, but sweet, and gave me a very good picture of Lockwood and the type of roleplay you’re trying to build.

This is the part where I start going over your other main pages; the rules, the houses, the locations, and the application. I’m going to start with the rules. I was surprised by how precise and to the point your rules were. Perhaps, a rule you could look over again is this one, “problematic fcs will not be permitted. i don’t mean minor things, i mean things such as rape, abuse and murder.” I think that it’s too broad of a statement, I would consider providing a general list to help players understand what you mean. I get that you say “no minor things,” but what permits “minor.” The other rule I, personally, feel is another broad statement is, “tag any and all triggers.” I would provide the link to the list in your navigation, this way if someone doesn’t tag something that could be a trigger (let’s say describing a bruise), then they could be reprimanded without understanding the rule. I would suggest fixing up is the line that says, “make sure you use a theme that is easy to navigate.” I would add a link to examples, a lot of new players might not understand the meaning of just “easy to navigate.” Last thing I would add is a penalty for each rule. Make it transparents what will happen if a rule is broken. Otherwise, everything is good. For the houses and locations pages, I overall like your use of graphics and the creativity in each house. There were just some small things I would suggest. First thing, on the houses page, the BKE frat description has a line that’s a bit confusing, “their parents making more money a week than most people do in a day.” I think what you were trying to say is, “their parents are making more money a day than most people can make in a week.” This is a much better way to phrase, the former option makes it sound like they’re making less money than their middle-class counterparts. Other thing I noticed is that the ΒΔΞ house had a different font style for their description compared to the other houses. I would go in to the html styling of the page, and check that there isn’t a style specifically for their description. I like the rest of that page, and think the descriptions are very cute! As for locations, I think that the page is also really nice. The suggestions I have for this one are quite short. In the line, “the one to attend.” I would also italicize the “one.” Otherwise, it seems a little awkward that just the “the” is highlighted in that phrase. Also, the sentence, “20 to up to 1400 students,” could just be shortened to “20 up to 1400 students.” It just cleans up the redundant use of “to.” I would also go through and limit the amount of times you write “conveniently” into the descriptions. It is overly repetitive when reading closely through everything. Last page to go through is the application! It’s, obviously, an appless roleplay, so there isn’t much to say! I like that you include the tidbit about the character’s favorite song/song that describes them in there. Overall, nicely done!

To wrap this up, I’ll end with the final thoughts I had on your rp! I though you did a nice job with the simple university plotline! I used to be a sucker for those back in the day, and clearly you’re drawing in some interest with the amount of people that have applied already. I think with the few touch ups I’ve suggested everything would be wonderful. Good luck, and I wish that this will last you a long time!

[tunaforbernadette]

No Humans Required: Exploring the Possibility of Computer Generated Fiction

Guest post by Wil Forbis

“It’s not hard to generate a story. It’s not hard to tell a story. It’s hard to tell good stories. How do you get a computer to understand what good means?”

Mark Riedl, associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology

Lately, I’ve been playing around with self-editing apps such as AutoCrit, ProWritingAid and SlickWrite. These tools, all of which offer some functionality for free, scan a user’s text and flag common literary transgressions like poor word choice, word repetition, improper sentence length and passive verbs. The apps aren’t perfect and tend to be biased towards a modern, no-frills writing style (the work of Lovecraft would caused their circuits to overload) but they can be helpful. They have caught errors that I would have otherwise missed.

The robust feature set of these apps makes the point that writing is not a single process but many. Proper word choice, balanced sentences and good grammar are key to successful writing as are larger concerns about structure, style and narrative. A good writer ties these skills together though no one masters them all. Some writers are known for excellent pacing but banal vocabulary. Others earn acclaim for great plotting while being damned for wooden dialogue. 

These editing apps do not, of course, make editing decisions for you; they simply offer suggestions. Still, I find myself wondering whether they could be used to automate the editing process. Then the question arises: will software eventually write? Will computers create works of fiction out of nothing, no humans required?

This question might seem premature. The apps I’m playing with are helping with the more mundane, technical aspects of writing but they aren’t anywhere near the creative side. They aren’t developing plots or characters, or exploring the emotional symbolism of colors or religious icons. And it’s hard to imagine they could.

Still, we recognize that creativity is not magic; it is a process that can be studied and deconstructed. Bookstores are filled with volumes about using the right side of the brain, or developing creative “flow”, or finding a step-by-step process to awaken the muse. And employing process-oriented steps is exactly what software is good at.

Additionally, creative computers are not science fiction. In the world of music, computers have been composing for some time. Programmer/musician David Cope has used software to generate thousands of hours of classical pieces. Several tech start-ups such as Amper and Jukedeck have been automating the creation of background music used in online videos and films. The quality of the music varies---nothing has yet appeared to make hit songwriters nervous---but it’s credible enough.

Computers are also getting into the writing game, specifically journalism. The “natural language generation” technology of a company called Automated Insights has been used by the Associated Press to write finance articles. A competing tech company, Chicago based Narrative Science, has been generating sports and other statistics heavy news stories for years. Jeff Bezo’s Washington Post is using an AI bot called Heliograf to massage raw data about politics into human readable text.

Of course, journalism is not fiction (well, not all of it) and fiction is the kind of writing that requires the most creativity. Even there progress is being made. A European academic project, the What-If-Machine (WHIM), constructs basic plot premises by analyzing data on the web. (The WHIM software teamed up with another program, PropperWryter, to write the plot structures for a musical that recently ran in London.  ) Another software tool, Scheherazade, developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology, writes original short fiction after analyzing human penned stories. These tools haven’t produced anything that’s going to put authors out of work but we are at a point where speculation on how computers could create stories and novels is valid.

As mentioned previously, writing is really many different skills, and exploring every function software will need to obtain to pen fiction is beyond the scope of this article. I’m going to consider the possibility of software tackling three tasks inherent in narrative writing: plotting, pacing and word choice.

Plotting Let’s define a plot as the “who, what, when, where, how and why” of a story. The form of it can vary between a one-paragraph synopsis or a ten-page story breakdown.

Automated plot development is not new; classic pulp fiction authors often used primitive plot generators. Erle Stanley Gardner employed a “plot wheel” to randomly combine story elements for his Perry Mason stories. Lester Dent swapped out elements in his “master fiction” plot to create stories for his Doc Savage novels.

Those early efforts were crude compared to what today’s technology offers. We now have computers with incredible processing power and the ability to parse written material and learn to correlate meaning to words. Computers are starting to “understand*” that Sweden is a place and bound to the various restrictions that places are bound to, or that dogs are living creatures and subject to various canine behaviors. As this capability expands in the future, software should have no problem filling in the “who, what, when, etc.” required for plot development.

* I realize I’m on tenuous philosophical ground when I imply computers can “understand” meaning, a feat that would presume they have some kind of consciousness. This is merely a writing shortcut: I make no claims about computers being able to think.

Early attempts will doubtless be underwhelming. (The WHIM software mentioned above already does this kind of plot development but only rarely creates gems.) Computers will need to not only understand what plots are, but what good plots are. How can this happen?

Two possibilities come to mind. One is that computers submit their plots to human reviewers. Via a crowdsourcing platform, plots could be ranked by engagement. As good plots are highlighted and bad plots down-voted, the data could then be fed back into machines that could analyze the differences. For example, computers might learn that lots of action or exotic locales are important to a good plot. (At least as defined by some readers.)

Another possibility hinges on a technique gaining ground in the world of artificial intelligence: deep learning. In this process, computers digest large amounts of data and observe trends and correlations in that data that might be missed by humans. Via deep learning, computers could analyze the text in every fiction book ever digitized*, as well those books’ sales figures and critical reception. This could lead to numerous observations about what makes plots good or bad. That data could then be used to aid a WHIM type tool in plot development.

* This kind of analysis is already occurring. Recently, scientists at the University of Vermont ran computer analysis on hundreds of stories and confirmed Kurt Vonnegut’s theory that most stories follow one of six plot outlines.

Pacing Pacing can be thought of as the flow of a story, the speed with which it progresses. Action scenes (battles/break-ins/romantic encounters, etc.) speed up the pace while expository scenes (dialogue/ruminations/descriptions etc.) slow things down. Good stories balance these two elements, though there’s no single, perfect formula.

Can computers automate the task of setting a story’s pace? To do so, they would need to be able to identify action scenes and expository scenes within text.

One way to define a scene’s nature is by identifying word types. Action scenes have a lot of action or emotion words like “scream,” “break,” “shoot,” “stab” and so on. Expository scenes have a lot of cerebral and calm words like “considered,” “wrote,” “says,” “mused” and so on.

Sentence length also indicates a scene’s character. Action scenes tend to have short, curt sentences that capture the frantic pace of what is being described. Expository scenes move more languidly and flesh things out over longer sentences.

These are two of many attributes that can be used to identify the pacing of text. With these tools in hand, computers could analyze stories and move scenes around to achieve a good balance between action and exposition.  

There’s much more to pacing than described here, but this provides a high level view of how computers might tackle this writing challenge.

Word Choice The need for variety drives good word choice. Readers don’t want to see the same word echoed over and over. All of the self-editing apps mentioned above already flag repeated words.

Of course, choosing word substitutes is not about blindly swapping out synonyms.  Several factors affect our choices. They include…

• Alliteration We sometimes take advantage of the sound of language when finding a word. Say you’ve already used the word “snake” and now want to refer to it again prefaced it with the adjective “repulsive.” Instead of saying "the repulsive snake" you may choose "the repulsive reptile" to play off the alliterative properties.

• Syllable Count Sometimes a you want a word that has some beef to it. You may be referring to a “reprise” but instead choose “recapitulation” as a meatier substitute. In other situations you may seek shorter words to balance a sentence correctly.

• Genre/Style The nature of the work will always have an effect on the words used. In a period detective story, a female character might be a “dame” or “moll,” while in a high society novel she may be a “lady” or “ingénue.”

• Intended Audience Every author must writer for his or her readers. Complex words should be avoided in kids’ novels but embraced in the fiction section of The New Yorker magazine.

There are many additional factors. Each of these could be thought of as a rule that could then be applied by software in the writing process. Via deep learning, computers could analyze existing stories and suss out the delicate ways these rules interoperate and influence each other. Computers may even develop new “styles” of word choice that humans find unique and engaging.

Summing it up I don’t want to make any of this sound easy. Efforts to automate writing will likely evolve in fits and starts, and the road to progress will be littered with failures. I suspect much of the development will not be in the interest of replacing human authors but aiding them. Who wouldn’t want a “pacing recommendation engine” or an “automatic thesaurus”?

There’s also the possibility that there is some unique property, some tic of the human brain, that grants a magic spark to the best human created fiction. Computer authors may never replicate this. But it’s a mistake to think they have to. Computers don’t need to write like Shakespeare to be competitive in the marketplace since most published human authors don’t meet that standard. Sometimes “good enough” is fine.

When all this could happen is hard to say. According to the science fiction of yesteryear, we should all be flying around in jet packs right now. Predicting the future is a fool’s errand but I’m enough of a fool to claim that within 20 years we will have an automated writing tool capable of generating readable fiction. And in 50, 100, 500 years? Who knows?