#i have no beef with ppl who believe that the curtains are just blue or that the curtains have deeper meanings

[macabremoons]

Why yes, @softvampirewhump, I shall.

It's the blasted "are the curtains blue because it's a message or because they are just blue" conflict. Because many people were FORCED to make meaning in story where there was none in school, they saw the flaw of thinking that everything in a story had deep meaning. Perhaps these people would go on to become authors and learn that writing is just a ruse of competency, leaving room for mere happenstance.

Thus creating the firm statement that the curtains are ALWAYS just blue.

But then, this generation grows older with this mindset and another generation, perhaps not released to the horror of having to write an essay on something they do not believe in, gets to have their own fun with analysis. They see the previous statement, and grow to have issues with it. This could also be due to a more fanfiction background since fanfiction is media where it is so much easier to add double meanings to things because there is an established base ground. You don't have to tell the reader what the main character looks like, the setting, or characters' personality, so you can explore much more interconnected prose.

Thus creating the firm statement that, no, the curtains ALWAYS have a deeper meaning.

Wait, but both sides have good points. What's the right answer? Neither. If the curtains never had deeper meanings, then media such as ARGs wouldn't work. That being said, you can't force someone to see meaning where there is none. Instead of letting kids in literature class draw their own conclusions from books that are good analysis (Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a great example of this. There is obvious Something being said, and being tasked with putting to words your thoughts could be very fun!) they hold the kids' hands and force them to write about conclusions that the teacher's have come to.

This is not analytical thinking because you aren't thinking. You're bullshitting. People pleasing. Trying to get a good grade and get your homework over with. You aren't engaging with the text, so the curtains being blue for ANY REASON, even if the reason is Just Because, isn't something you are putting thought to.

The answer is Schrodinger's Curtains. Sometimes you will deduce that it is nothing, other times you will find a clue the author left for you. To say that thinking the curtains is blue for a reason is overthinking discourages thinking. To say that the curtains are always blue for a reason also discourages thinking. There is no blanket answer because every piece of media is so vastly different. Different genres and different stories will require different levels of engagement. A cheesy romance isn't telling you that the main character's car is going to get hit because she wore yellow that day and the car that hits her is also yellow, but a character who always wears bright colors wearing black in a mystery novel might be suspicious!

TD;LR: BOOOO the education system sucks. sorry to y'all

But this is a trend with EVERYTHING. Everything is counterculture. We are in our "said isn't dead, you idiot" phase of the world, but eventually too many books are going to overuse said, we'll go back to "said is dead," and then people with oppose it, and it'll back and forth again and again until the sun explodes. This is why nuance matters.

it's interesting to see what parts of media consumption and analysis have been ruined by the education system. a constant, bitter back and forth with teaching of the past that were flawed.