“Murder” of the Author: how fan entitlement goes too far

There’s a certain attitude in what I’d call the currently popular form of “fandom” happening these days. It’s weird and, if applied to other things, totally inappropriate. Yet it is somehow totally fine when placed in this specific context.

I’m talking about the aggressive sense of entitlement that fans seem to have towards the media that they love.

A lot of people enjoy shows, movies, or games to the point that they feel attached to them. I’m one of them—I can definitely proclaim that Dragon Age and Mass Effect are two series that are very important to me in a lot of ways. However, some fans take this too far.

Growing Up Disney

Like so many of us, I grew up with Disney movies. It seems kind of weird to state it like that, since it’s something that was a part of childhoods across the world – and still very much is. There have been multiple videos about how movies might affect girls’ self esteem – particularly from BuzzFeed – concerning the physicalities of the various princesses. While I can say that I wasn’t ever really affected by the princesses’ bodies, I was more concerned with them as characters and how they grew. This focus on that aspect of their overall personality has only deepened as I’ve grown into an adult.

So without further ado, here are my two favourite princesses and why I love them dearly:

Trilogy vs. Trilogy: Why the Lord of the Rings trilogy feels timeless (Part Two)

As part two of the “huge” post concerning hobbits these films, I again would like to gently remind everyone that I enjoyed The Hobbit films and probably sound more abrasive towards them than I mean to. Am I likely being over-critical? Maybe, but this is my blog neener-neener.

Thank you.

Last time, I talked about the films’ soundtracks. While I could go on and on, I’d like to move on to the second item on my imaginary list of topics:

Trilogy vs. Trilogy: Why the Lord of the Rings trilogy feels timeless (Part One)

While watching The Fellowship of the Ring with my co-dictator of the planet (a.k.a. my significant other), we talked about the differences in things like cinematography, soundtrack, and other elements of film-making as they were in the LotR movies and then, for comparison, the way those elements were shown in The Hobbit trilogy. After I wouldn’t shut up about them for a good portion of the movie, my SO suggested that I write a blog post about it, since I clearly had a lot to say on the matter.

He was right.

Growing up in a nerdy household meant that when the LotR movies came out, my mother was excited. Well … very excited. At the time, I was a bit too young to go and see them in theatres with my parents, but I remember going to the LotR exhibit when it came by my home city. Like other movie exhibits, it featured props and costumes from the film and transformed the space into mini-versions of the sets. I’ll never forget the Dead Marshes room. It’s forever burned into my memory.

Naturally, The Hobbit movies set off a lot of excitement in my house and we went to see them right away. While I enjoyed them, watching The Lord of the Rings recently has made me realize why I never feel a sense of temporal embarrassment for the filmography of that series in the same way I predict The Hobbit will make me feel years from now.

More simply, nostalgia-goggles aside, I think The Lord of the Rings was overall a better trilogy than The Hobbit.

HUGE DISCLAIMER: I enjoyed The Hobbit trilogy and do not mean to sound as though the following things ruined the films for me. They are my observations and personal opinions.

Inside Out: My Feelings on a Film About Feelings

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So, Inside Out just opened in theatres last week (or something like that). Contrary to my usual pattern of missing movies when they are in theatres or just barely catching them, I went to see it today–just days after its release. This isn’t the start of a trend, so don’t get excited. I just don’t get out to movies much.

I included the trailer above to basically do the boring job of giving you an idea of what the movie is about. It’s about our feelings, personified. Well, more specifically, the emotions of an 11-year-old girl named Riley as her family moves to a new state. Of course, moving isn’t that simple–there are always things that will go wrong. Aside from the standard worries most kids/teens/adults have about transitioning from one neighbourhood to another, there are a lot of things going on that influence Riley’s emotions more subtly.

Modes of Writing: I saw Fury Road, but I can’t write about it

The other day, I went to see Mad Max: Fury Road. I really, really wanted to write a post about it and eventually I will, after I hopefully see it again. Why do I need a second viewing? Well, aside from wanting to experience all of it again to a) capture more details and b) enjoy every bit of the film anew, I need to watch it in a different way in order to write about it for a post. This might sound odd, but humour me.