on the dreaded "relatable"
Not about Shakespeare at all, but a Slate post about why "relatable" is such a terrible, useless word:
!http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/04/11/relatable_the_adjective_is_everywhere_in_high_scchool_and_college_discussions.html
This is exactly right, I think - it's the way that "relatable" shuts down discussion, whether it's being used as a term of praise or as a way to dismiss something for not fulfilling that totally arbitrary idea. People - and I don't only say 'students' for a reason - use the word as though they're saying something other than "I have had a life experience like the life experience of someone in this novel/play/TV show/song lyric/movie" - as though it tells us something about the writers' or actors' skill, when it really doesn't, and means that people don't look for more precise terms to describe what they might actually be experiencing when they say that something is "relatable." And it's impossible to respond to, really: you're stuck with a chorus of "Me too!" or the feeling of "…That's nice for you, I guess?" You can't have a dialogue with "relatable" because it's solely about the speaker's personal life experiences; if you don't share them, there's nothing else to say.
!http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/04/11/relatable_the_adjective_is_everywhere_in_high_scchool_and_college_discussions.html
This is exactly right, I think - it's the way that "relatable" shuts down discussion, whether it's being used as a term of praise or as a way to dismiss something for not fulfilling that totally arbitrary idea. People - and I don't only say 'students' for a reason - use the word as though they're saying something other than "I have had a life experience like the life experience of someone in this novel/play/TV show/song lyric/movie" - as though it tells us something about the writers' or actors' skill, when it really doesn't, and means that people don't look for more precise terms to describe what they might actually be experiencing when they say that something is "relatable." And it's impossible to respond to, really: you're stuck with a chorus of "Me too!" or the feeling of "…That's nice for you, I guess?" You can't have a dialogue with "relatable" because it's solely about the speaker's personal life experiences; if you don't share them, there's nothing else to say.