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writing prompt of the week: write a short story from the perspective of a false prophet

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I feel like we need a refresher on Watsonian vs Doylist perspectives in media analysis. When you have a question about a piece of media - about a potential plot hole or error, about a dubious costuming decision, about a character suddenly acting out of character -

A Watsonian answer is one that positions itself within the fictional world.

A Doylist answer is one that positions itself within the real world.

Meaning: if Watson says something that isn't true, one explanation is that Watson made a mistake. Another explanation is that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made a mistake.

Watsonian explanations are implicitly charitable. You are implicitly buying into the notion that there is a good in-world reason for what you're seeing on screen or on the page. ("The bunny girls in Final Fantasy wear lingerie all the time because they're from a desert culture!")

Doylist explanations are pragmatic. You are acknowledging that the fiction is shaped by real-world forces, like the creators' personal taste, their biases, the pressures they might be under from managers or editors, or the limits of their expertise. ("The bunny girls in Final Fantasy wear lingerie because somebody thought they'd sell more units that way.")

Watsonian explanations tend to be imaginative but naive. Seeking a Watsonian explanation for a problem within a narrative is inherently pleasure-seeking: you don't want your suspension of disbelief to be broken, and you're willing to put in the leg work to prevent it. Looking for a Watsonian answer can make for a fun game! But it can quickly stray into making excuses for lazy or biased storytelling, or cynical and greedy executives.

Doylist explanations are very often accurate, but they're not much fun. They should supersede efforts to provide a Watsonian explanation where actual harm is being done: "This character is being depicted in a racist way because the creators have a racist bias.'" Or: "The lore changed because management fired all of the writers from last season because they didn't want to pay then residuals."

Doylism also runs the risk of becoming trite, when applied to lower stakes discrepancies. Yes, it's possible that this character acted strangely in this episode because this episode had a different writer, but that isn't interesting, and it terminates conversation.

I think a lot of conversations about media would go a lot more smoothly, and everyone would have a lot more fun, if people were just clearer about whether they are looking to engage in Watsonian or Doylist analysis. How many arguments could be prevented by just saying, "No, Doylist you're probably right, but it's more fun to imagine there's a Watsonian reason for this, so that's what I'm doing." Or, "From a Watsonian POV that explanation makes sense, but I'm going with the Doylist view here because the creator's intentions leave a bad taste in my mouth that I can't ignore."

Idk, just keep those terms in your pocket? And if you start to get mad at somebody for their analysis, take a second to see if what they're saying makes more sense from the other side of the Watsonian/Doylist divide.

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thinking about Her (elizabeth bennett's daydream of standing up and throwing a hymnal at mr collins in the middle of his sacrament meeting talk and clocking him dead in the face in the 2003 mormon movie adaptation of pride and prejudice)

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The Romans really went off with 'nisi fallor'. All the English online equivalents simply do not compare.

'if I remember correctly' -> wordy, stupid, too long

'as far as I know' -> sounds bad, clunky, can't say it quickly

'afaik' -> unpronounceable, weird looking

'iirc' -> gibberish, incomprehensible, too many i's

'nisi fallor' -> good length, easy & fun to say, can be thrown in anywhere quickly, literally 'unless I am deceiving myself' which is sick

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Sharks // oil on canvas

Konstantin Korobov

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unfortunately The Character has now lived rent free in my head for so long they can claim squatters' rights

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I don't care how gay the wicked movie is or whatever this site can't gaslight me into taking ariana grande seriously all of a sudden

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3m tall cat in da woods

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merry christmas to this specific microraptor who’s eating some unexpected snowflakes. he doesn’t know what december is

inprnt shop

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If you’re having a bad day, here’s a parakeet in a teacup hat.

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that comment about how you should not borrow grief from the future has saved me multiple times from spiraling into an inescapable state of anxiety. like every time i find myself thinking about how something in the future could go wrong i remember that comment and i think to myself: well i never know, it might get better. it might not even happen the way i think it will and if it does happen and it is sad and bad ill be sad about it then, when it happens. and it’s somehow soo freeing

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Care for a drink?

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gamer boyfriend yells GODDAMNIT! from the other room and throws his headset and you walk in all what's wrong babe :( and he's playing a story-driven indie game

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the em dash and i are in a torrid toxic love affair