Thinky thoughts and why some people call me a Marxist

[psuedo_catalyst]

Which I'm not, by the way. I don't consider myself well educated or well-versed enough to call myself an anything-ist. All I have is a part way finished liberal arts degree made of classes at two different schools, my own reading, of which there is plenty, but it's far to spotty and unsystematic to count for much, and then my own thoughts and

Comments

[psuedo_catalyst]

Yeah, I was wondering how this kind of conversation would look in other countries and cultures, too. I've never actually left the US, so I haven't got a lot of perspective there.

And I agree, there probably is a degree of wish fulfillment going on in these portrayals. More than that, though, especially when it comes to tv shows, say, rather than fic, I feel like there might even be more of a projection of wish fulfillment--what the writers assume their viewers would want, if they were put in that situation.

As you say, we're all products of our environments, and I did grow up with a kind of weird relationship to normalcy as well, so maybe that's where I'm getting some of this. Different perspectives are good, though! It's like I was saying in my fiction workshop class the other day--it all depends on what it is you are trying to do with your writing (or any other art form or whatever). Do you want to change the world and/or your reader's mind, or do you want to reflect the world as it is, or as you assume it is, keeping in mind that if what you want is just to reflect reality, you run the risk of perpetuating it.

...or maybe it's not like that at all. I am just a ball of opinions rolling on to no clear goal tonight.

[la_dissonance]

I feel like there might even be more of a projection of wish fulfillment--what the writers assume their viewers would want, if they were put in that situation.

YES YES YES THIS. Or what they *should* want, if they're to be functional cogs in the capitalist machine. Show people a character acting a certain way enough times, and eventually they'll just assume it's the normal way to act in [situation], right? Not that I think this is an actual conspiracy going on in the TV writers' rooms across the country, but if the system is set up to behave in a certain way... *shrug*

I think fiction can definitely reflect reality with a critical slant - like, look, this is how I think things are, and this is what I think it does to people - or do you think that would count as writing to change the reader's mind. Where's the line, with that?

*bops the opinion-ball along*

[psuedo_catalyst]

YES. A reinforcement of normalcy-as-it-benefits-capitalism which, yeah, I guess, may not be an actual, well set up conspiracy, but is certainly a value which it benefits huge, corporate interests, including tv stations, I bet, to promote. I guess that falls under the umbrella of 'using fiction to change the world,' too, right? Not as idealistically as I meant when I first typed the phrase, but perhaps more effectively?

And yes, I think accurate reflections of reality can have a critical slant, certainly, but I think that can get into matters of degrees, and the more implicit the criticism is, the more easily it can be ignored or reinterpreted by critics, as I said, running the risk of reinforcing that reality.