[the virtues of being braindead]
May. 4th, 2006 01:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaI was going to whine a little about the absolute horridness of the writing in yet another former slashfic writer 'going pro' and asking people to pay (for what??!), but then woke up & remembered just how pointless that would be. Sure, yeah, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ms_manna's Administration series is free and tons better and so on, but this person's fics have the typical formulaic addictiveness people do want--- predictable shock-plot, cookie-cutter characters, standard descriptive adjectives and even the usual names, like Hawthorne this and Ashton that: the usual line-up. But it's a popular line-up that's worked over & over again in bestselling media, so from a money-making or popularity point of view, I've got no reason to sneer at any of it. I mean, lots of crap is popular (or at least sold), but there's a reason for that; people must like predictable, formulaic writing. It hits the spot, right? I guess it does, and if I switch off my brain, I can wonder 'so what'll happen next??!' same as anyone.
Sometimes I really wonder if I myself should write formulaic things-- at least try and see if they'll be popular, since I see the formula itself well enough. I used to create formulas for the H/D fics way back in the first months of me reading them nonstop, but really there are layers of formulas-- romance formulas, character formulas, even dialogue & sentence-structure formulas. It's really more of a curse than a blessing that with just a little prodding, I 'see' the formula behind most writing or storylines. It must be more fun without it, right? You could just enjoy things without thinking 'ohmyfuckingGOD, I've seen this FIVE ZILLION TIMES, COULD YOU STOP NOW PLZ?!' -.-
I think visual art & music have just as much tendency to 'formularize' (heh), but since I'm not as experienced with breaking them down, I can enjoy almost any trashy song or pretty picture at a surface level. I guess that's what most 'general' readers must feel reading those fics I linked: that mind-numbed buzzy sort of acceptance, like, 'oh, that's nice'. It's sort of horrific, but at the same time I myself do that about many things in life (hey, a lot of buildings are the same, the majority of people act predictably, history repeats itself and I myself make the same mistakes many times over). I guess if you thought about it too long, you'd either become bitter and misanthropic or... uh... possibly suicidal, I dunno. Or maybe rebellious, like 'fuck you world, I'll go skydiving!! so nyah!' I dunno.
And I'm not even talking about the oft-touted 'originality' issue; I don't think you need to be original to not be a braindead cookie-cutter rip-off without a single halfway interesting thing to say about anything. I mean. There are degrees to these things, right? Uh. ^^;
~~
Speaking of being halfway original: I've been obsessively watching a number of Japanese drama series (um, Jdramas) all in a row, and so far I've successfully avoided any of the more braindead ones, yeay! :D :D
'Kimi wa Petto' (based on the manga), is really really (really!) good. See, it's not about originality at all to me, at least with art: it's about execution. Like with professional figure skating: unlike what you hear in made-for-TV movies, it's not about that 'special amazing secret move' the character pulls off in the competition. Actually, I don't think the beauty of figure-skating is about competition or ranking at all; it's all about skating well in an overall sense. When the music is suited well to the skater's personality & the specific program, and the outfit complements everything, and the jumps are worked in well and actually landed, and the movements are graceful as well as athletic: when everything comes together, then it works, and that's what it's all about.
Kimi wa Petto has funny moments, insightful moments, touching moments-- and really good chemistry between the lead actors. It's such a pleasure watching Matsumoto Jun being a complete doof, I swear :D And also, there's just enough messing with predictable gender-roles and boundaries and just enough touching base with the tried-and-true emotional basics and Truths About Us that things just work and the emotional balance is a beautiful thing. Also, I think this is Jun's best work (meaning, I've seen him in Gokusen & Hana Yori Dango, and while he pouts really well, he's just more... um, accessible and rings truer when he's goofing off, somehow).
Also, it was reassuring that my favorite Jdrama so far isn't actually a romance (whew! no, seriously). 'Nobuta wo Produce' is basically about a friendship between three losers (one who's popular at first), two guys and a girl. There's many fantastical elements, a lot of stuff about how to survive high school (and bullying themes, etc), and it feels... um, a little like if Holden Caulfield actually had real friends. The themes of Nobuta wo Produce & Catcher in the Rye are actually very similar, come to think of it. Well, the big difference is that NP is a more hopeful & upbeat story, being rooted in friendship rather than loneliness itself. Well, and then there are the little pigs. :>
ms_manna's Administration series is free and tons better and so on, but this person's fics have the typical formulaic addictiveness people do want--- predictable shock-plot, cookie-cutter characters, standard descriptive adjectives and even the usual names, like Hawthorne this and Ashton that: the usual line-up. But it's a popular line-up that's worked over & over again in bestselling media, so from a money-making or popularity point of view, I've got no reason to sneer at any of it. I mean, lots of crap is popular (or at least sold), but there's a reason for that; people must like predictable, formulaic writing. It hits the spot, right? I guess it does, and if I switch off my brain, I can wonder 'so what'll happen next??!' same as anyone.Sometimes I really wonder if I myself should write formulaic things-- at least try and see if they'll be popular, since I see the formula itself well enough. I used to create formulas for the H/D fics way back in the first months of me reading them nonstop, but really there are layers of formulas-- romance formulas, character formulas, even dialogue & sentence-structure formulas. It's really more of a curse than a blessing that with just a little prodding, I 'see' the formula behind most writing or storylines. It must be more fun without it, right? You could just enjoy things without thinking 'ohmyfuckingGOD, I've seen this FIVE ZILLION TIMES, COULD YOU STOP NOW PLZ?!' -.-
I think visual art & music have just as much tendency to 'formularize' (heh), but since I'm not as experienced with breaking them down, I can enjoy almost any trashy song or pretty picture at a surface level. I guess that's what most 'general' readers must feel reading those fics I linked: that mind-numbed buzzy sort of acceptance, like, 'oh, that's nice'. It's sort of horrific, but at the same time I myself do that about many things in life (hey, a lot of buildings are the same, the majority of people act predictably, history repeats itself and I myself make the same mistakes many times over). I guess if you thought about it too long, you'd either become bitter and misanthropic or... uh... possibly suicidal, I dunno. Or maybe rebellious, like 'fuck you world, I'll go skydiving!! so nyah!' I dunno.
And I'm not even talking about the oft-touted 'originality' issue; I don't think you need to be original to not be a braindead cookie-cutter rip-off without a single halfway interesting thing to say about anything. I mean. There are degrees to these things, right? Uh. ^^;
~~
Speaking of being halfway original: I've been obsessively watching a number of Japanese drama series (um, Jdramas) all in a row, and so far I've successfully avoided any of the more braindead ones, yeay! :D :D
'Kimi wa Petto' (based on the manga), is really really (really!) good. See, it's not about originality at all to me, at least with art: it's about execution. Like with professional figure skating: unlike what you hear in made-for-TV movies, it's not about that 'special amazing secret move' the character pulls off in the competition. Actually, I don't think the beauty of figure-skating is about competition or ranking at all; it's all about skating well in an overall sense. When the music is suited well to the skater's personality & the specific program, and the outfit complements everything, and the jumps are worked in well and actually landed, and the movements are graceful as well as athletic: when everything comes together, then it works, and that's what it's all about.
Kimi wa Petto has funny moments, insightful moments, touching moments-- and really good chemistry between the lead actors. It's such a pleasure watching Matsumoto Jun being a complete doof, I swear :D And also, there's just enough messing with predictable gender-roles and boundaries and just enough touching base with the tried-and-true emotional basics and Truths About Us that things just work and the emotional balance is a beautiful thing. Also, I think this is Jun's best work (meaning, I've seen him in Gokusen & Hana Yori Dango, and while he pouts really well, he's just more... um, accessible and rings truer when he's goofing off, somehow).
Also, it was reassuring that my favorite Jdrama so far isn't actually a romance (whew! no, seriously). 'Nobuta wo Produce' is basically about a friendship between three losers (one who's popular at first), two guys and a girl. There's many fantastical elements, a lot of stuff about how to survive high school (and bullying themes, etc), and it feels... um, a little like if Holden Caulfield actually had real friends. The themes of Nobuta wo Produce & Catcher in the Rye are actually very similar, come to think of it. Well, the big difference is that NP is a more hopeful & upbeat story, being rooted in friendship rather than loneliness itself. Well, and then there are the little pigs. :>
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 08:05 pm (UTC)Which might make it interesting, actually. If you gave it a try you might wind up with something really cool! Though probably you'd wind up with something you didn't mean to come across the way it did cause that just seems to happen with you.:-)
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Date: 2006-05-04 08:24 pm (UTC)Oh! Yeah. That author I linked to said she's just writing stories of the type she wants to read. Um. Well, I'm doing that too (to some extent), but... ummmm... what I want changes??? (?????)