#media gifs

[prokopetz]

Reading fandom character analyses for 1990s visual novels can be kind of a trip because you'll come across this thoughtful and nuanced reading like something out of 19th Century Russian philosophical novel, then you look up the actual source material and the character in question is a bug-eyed, mitten-handed gremlin with permanent Dreamworks face and a recurring catchphrase about butts – but then I'm not really in a position to complain, because I know this is precisely parallel to the experience of some uninitiated soul stumbling on one of this very blog's long-winded meta-analyses of the role of narrative determinism in some popular work of online seralised fiction, and then they look up the work in question and see this:

[alpaca-clouds]

Why the media CEOs will always learn the wrong lessons

Yesterday a friend and I talked about how the entire (AAA) game industrie looked at BG3 being as popular as it is and going: "Oh, we need to produce 100+ hour games, I guess! Those sell!" Which... obviously is not why it is popular. The game is not popular because it has 100+ hours of gameplay, but because it has engaging characters, that are well-acted and that work as good hooks for the players. Like, let's face it: The reason why I so far have sunken 160 hours into this game is, because I wanna spend time with these characters - and because I wanna give them their happy endings.

But the same has happened too, just a bit earlier this year, right? When Barbie broke the 1 billion and every Hollywood CEO went: "Oh, so the people want movies based on toy franchises! Got it!" To which the internet at large replied: "... How is that the lesson you learned from this?"

Well, let me explain to you, why this is the lesson they learn: It is because the CEOs and the boards of directors at large are not artists or even engaged with the medium they produce. They mostly are economists. And their dry little hearts do not understand stuff more complex than numbers and spread sheets.

That sounds evil, I know, but... It is sadly the truth. When they look at a successful movie/series/game/book/comic, they look at it as a product, not a piece of art or narrative. It is just a product that has very clear metrics.

To them Barbie is not a movie with interesting stylistic choices that stand out from the majority of high budget action blockbusters. It is a toy movie with mildly feminist themes.

Or Oppenheimer is not a movie to them with a strong visual language and good acting direction. No, it is a historical blockbuster.

And this is true for basically every form of media. I mean, books are actually a fairly good example. In my life I do remember the big book fads that happened. When Harry Potter was a success, there was at least a dozen other "magical school" book series being released. When Twilight was a big success there was suddenly an endless number of "teen girl falls in love with bad boy, who is [magical creature]" YA. When the Hunger Games was a success, there were hundreds of "YA dystopia" books. Meanwhile in adult reading, we had the big "next Game of Throne" fad.

Of course, the irony is, that within each of those fads there might have been one or two somewhat successful series - but never even one that came even close to whatever started the fad.

Or with movies, we have seen it, too. When Avengers broke the 1 billion (which up to this point only few movies did) the studios went: "Ooooooh, so we need shared universe film series" - and then all went to try and fail to create their own cinematic universe.

Because the people, who call the shots, are just immensely desinterested in the thing they are selling. They do not really care about the content. All they care about is having a supposedly easy avenue of selling it. Just as they do not care about the consumer. All they care about is that the consumer buys it. Why he buys it... Well, they do not care. They could not care less, in fact.

So, yeah, get ready for a 20 overproduced games with a bloated 100+ hours of empty gameplay, but without the engaging characters. And for like at least 15 more moves based on some toy franchise, that nobody actually cares about.

And then get ready for all the CEOs to do the surprised Pikachu face, when all of that ends up not financially successful.

Really, I read some interviews yesterday from some AAA-studio CEOs and their blatant shock and missing understanding on why BG3 works for so many people.

Because, yeah... capitalism does not appreciate art. Capitalism does not understand art. It only understands spread sheets.

[sukinapan]

based on Dotek motýla (1972) •⩊•

[itsmyfriendisaac]

♉ May 2nd: Louisiana Native, Dustin Zito.

[drferox]

So part of parenting is slowly exposing the small child to various pieces of media.

There’s a balancing act between trying to present media that I loved at that age and allowing space to explore it, and becoming acutely aware of confronting content in ‘kids’ media. The child’s brain is like a sponge and I have no idea what’s going to be absorbed on any given viewing.

For example, going from Disney’s Frozen to Disney’s Cinderella is confronting and kind of scary for a little kid, because we jumped from one idea of what ‘sisters’ are to wicked ones. Like yeah, I have to agree in context that it’s scary.

But Sleeping Beauty, with the monsters and dragon and fire, is only ‘pretend scary’. It does, however, cause questions to be raised about kissing. (Because, being a single mum, the child doesn’t see me kiss anybody so has no context for that)

But anyway, now we’re finally grasping more complex stories and while we’re nowhere near developing a moral code yet, kiddo is currently obsessed with The Last Unicorn movie!

And I am so happy about it!

It was a movie I first saw at about that age, though I nowhere near understood it at the time.

You gotta be careful about what words you let I be your brain because some of them will re-write your mind. The Last Unicorn was one of those influences for me and I’m delighted to be passing it on.

[academiclover]

[vampiresque]

SHARON TATE as SARAH SHAGAL DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES (1967)

[sweeetestcurse]

Gillian Anderson as Media in American Gods

[desire-mona]

to anyone who was also insane about the rsl hug gif: im about to make your life infinitely worse

[televangelismsc]

happy birthday chloë 🐇

[prettysweetprettysweet]

Achi and Jinta:

queer besties

introvert4introvert

mind-reading virgins

Cherry Magic (Thailand) (2023)

[alwaysbewoke]

[iladygaga]

Tryin' to be a lady at home but feel the gaga coming on Lady Gaga, TikTok

[userdocumentary]

PAMELA: A LOVE STORY (2023) dir. Ray White

[itsmyfriendisaac]

♐ November 27th: Alpha Male, Arad Winwin.