#I think sometimes music is an important narrative tool

[simmonsized]

my onion of the day is that folk music of the american south can be good actually and generalizing an entire genre of music for one singular type of sound is boring and you might be afraid to love, actually

[heliza24]

Love your blog and all your analysis!!

Many people didn't like S2 because Simon, according to them was just a tool to drive Wilhelm's story, a love interest only and didn't really have his own story. In particular, many are frustrated at the lack of narrative on the video's effect and Simon's subsequent trauma. Of course, everyone's allowed their opinions but seeing as you have experience in the world of writing and making tv magic, wanted to get your insight on this. Thanks, a S2 fan! 💜

Hi anon! Thanks for the question.

I’ve already written pretty extensively about Simon’s arc in season 2 and why I like it in this post. In short, I think he grows a lot in season 2, but his growth takes him towards emotional vulnerability and openness, which is not something we’re used to seeing in characters (especially not male ones). 

I also don’t mind how they address Simon’s trauma in season 2. I’m going to approach this momentarily not as a writer, but as someone who has been in therapy for years. There are some traumas that have happened to me (like a serious car accident when I was a kid) that are very concrete, with a set beginning and end, and that began to affect me right away. (I had ptsd symptoms pretty immediately after that accident). But there are other traumas that feel like a series of small cuts instead of one big punch. It’s harder to decide where they begin and end, and their effects are more subtle. Sometimes it takes me years to even realize that they were traumatic and that they are still affecting me. (The medical trauma I’ve experienced as an adult over several years is like this). To me this is more what Simon is dealing with with the video. Once the video goes online, it’s not coming down. There’s no set end date, and Simon spends most of season 2 not even knowing who the perpetrator was. He’s in the kind of no-man’s land between the initial blow and coming to understand how the whole process has affected him. That being said, I do think we see some changes in him that reflect what he’s gone through. He seems to care a lot less about his academic classes than he did in season 1. He’s writing music in an attempt to process what he’s been through. And you could even see his attempt to have sex with Marcus as a trauma response. The last time he hooked up with someone his agency was taken from him. So it makes sense to me that he’s eager to have sex again but fully on his own terms, to partially erase that feeling of not being in control. I don’t know for sure if this will happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more traditional ptsd symptoms from Simon in season 3. If there’s some sort of legal action against August that would signify a sort of “end” of the video trauma, and would also probably be re-traumatizing in a lot of ways. I also think interacting directly with the royal family might stir up some things as well.

Ok, now I’m going to totally switch gears and approach your question from a writing perspective. Let’s talk about story structure for a minute, specifically TV story structure. Most TV has an A plot and a B plot (and sometimes a C plot too). In old school cable procedurals, the A plot would be the mystery of the week, while the B plot would be about whatever was happening in the characters’ personal lives. If there was an overarching mystery or storyline that tied the whole season together, that would be the C plot. As you can guess by how they’re named, the A Plot would take up the most time and do the most to drive  the episode forward. The B plot is next most important, etc. Once shows started to become more serialized in the age of streaming, the concept of A and B plots changed a little bit. Now the plots are divided by character and theme. The A plot will be headlined by the protagonist and will explore the main themes of the show. The B plot will be headlined by a secondary protagonist, who doesn’t have as much to do as the A plot lead, but is still answering a dramatic question that relates to the central themes of the show. A lot of times the primary and secondary protagonists’ actions influence each other, but they don’t share a ton of screen time. (If they did, their stories wouldn’t be separate.) You can think of the A and B plot protagonists as two sides of the same coin. They’re intricately connected, they’re exploring the same ideas, but they rarely come face to face, and they often represent different perspectives on the same themes. Black Sails is probably my favorite example of this. (I’m not as active in the Black Sails fandom as I am in the Young Royals fandom, but Black Sails is probably my all time favorite show and I absolutely love all the ungovernable pirates over in the Black Sails tag. Shout out to them). James Flint is the main protagonist and headliner of the A story, but Max is the secondary protagonist that headlines the B story. Both are struggling with the question of how to achieve and wield power in an unjust world, and their political maneuvers consistently influence each other’s plots. They share a lot of secondary characters across both of their plots, but they themselves never interact. So that’s one example, and if you look around at your favorite shows you’ll be able to find lots that adhere to this formula, including, I would say, Young Royals.

I think a lot of people are kind of subconsciously looking for this kind of structure, and have decided that Simon is the protagonist of the B plot. I understand this, because we all love Simon. He’s really well written and acted, his personality is so compelling, and his chemistry with Wilhelm is great. I spend a lot of time writing him in fic (I’m the writer of all the Simon content in Heart and Homeland) so I understand this impulse. But if you were looking for Simon to be anchoring the B plot in season 2, you might have been disappointed. Because in reality I don’t think he’s the secondary protagonist. I think Sara is. 

Sara is set up as a foil to Wilhelm, the main protagonist, in so many ways. I always say that the driving dramatic question of Young Royals lives with Wilhelm, and it’s something along the lines of “should I conform and live the oppressive life that was designed for me, or rebel and find my own path to happiness?” Sara is wrestling with a similar question that’s kind of the inverse of this; for her settling into a prescribed role in the Hillerska class system initially seems like a relief. So maybe for her the dramatic question is something along the lines of “is the price of fitting in worth it? Will it lead to true happiness?” They feel so much like opposite sides of the same coin to me. 

So Sara and Wilhelm are both trying to define themselves in relation to their families and also the class system. This comes up in the similarities of their family structure (they both feel very connected to their class position through their families; they both have complicated relationships with their mothers and bad to negligible relationships with their fathers; they both have a deep connection to their siblings) and in the relationships they choose to embark upon. They’re both navigating a very serious and complicated first love. They’re both dating across class (in the opposite direction, a perfect example of the “different views on the same theme” aspect of primary and secondary protagonists). They both have concerns about how and when their relationships become public, and by extension are both playing in the sandbox of themes around privacy and authenticity that define so much of the show.  

Both have difficulty regulating and recognizing their emotions. Sara seems to exhibit alexithymia, a common aspect of autism that makes it hard to recognize one's own emotions. Wilhelm has been taught to repress his emotions, which he does well until he explodes (like when he got into the fight at the top of the series or when he yells at his mom on the phone). He’s also managing a lot of physical symptoms of anxiety. 

Both also struggle with questions of justice and how to make things right. In the beginning of season 2, Wilhelm is initially determined to destroy August because he thinks August will never repent, but by the end of the season he’s starting to realize that this was the wrong technique. He realizes this largely because of Simon; he only puts down the gun and walks away from August because Simon does first.  Sara makes the opposite journey: she starts by trusting that August will change and repent on his own, but then she is forced to confront the fact that this is not true, and that she needs to use the legal system to bring August to justice. She makes this realization largely because of Simon, and seeing the ways that she has hurt Simon, in the same scene with the gun. 

The other big argument in support of Sara as the secondary protagonist of the show is that she and Wilhelm never directly interact. Their actions affect each other all the time, but they don’t share a scene together. They’re living on parallel but separate story tracks. 

Simon is a crucial character in both Wilhelm and Sara’s stories, but the fact that he is close with both excludes him from being a protagonist of his own plot line. (I would say the same about August, who is a catalyst for both Wilhelm and Sara.) That doesn’t mean that Simon isn’t well written. He has a very compelling character arc, motivates much of the plot, and his relationship with Wilhelm forms the heart of the show. But I think the reason people were disappointed in his story in season 2 is that they were expecting something from him that the structure of the show doesn’t support.  

If you’re interested in reading more about A/B/C plot structures I found this website really easy to understand. Also shout out to @bluedalahorse for talking to me about Wilhelm and Sara and helping me articulate what I was trying to say here. 

Thanks again for the ask, anon and for the vote of confidence in my analysis! I really appreciate it. If anyone else has a Young Royals scene or question they want me to break down from a writing or cinematography perspective, my ask box is always open.

[lemonhemlock]

As someone who (unfortunately) watches tons of reaction videos, the impact of framing is UNDENIABLE. For example, the scene of Aemond claiming Vhagar: most people start off excited by the scene, with its epic track (and music is a very important tool) and cool shots of Aemond succeeding; and then they switch up with swiftness when the show tells them that actually what Aemond did was wrong, and he deserved what he got.

Quite a switch up within one episode.

(Side note, this shit is why I’ll never understand ppl who act like Aemond is somehow adored by the narrative. He isn’t. So much unnecessary shit was pulled out of thin air (the addition of newly motherless Baela and Rhaena to the fight) to make him, the victim, look extra villainous. + To me it’s clear that groundwork is being laid for Aemond never being more than Daemon’s shadow narrative.)

i think that, generally-speaking, "Driftmark" is a solid episode that doesn't present the altercation in an excessively biased manner. to my eyes, the 4-1 attack was not presented as aemond getting his just desserts or anything like that & i thought alicent's pleas were displayed in a reasonable manner as a grieving mother at her wits' end.

that being said, i would have added a few tweaks, such as an adult stressing the idea that you cannot steal a dragon, that what aemond did wasn't "theft" and further confirmation that rhaenyra DID ask for aemond to be tortured over an insult. bc in the aftermath of the episode it became clear that a lot of people did not understand that "sharply questioned" was a synonym for torture as they weren't familiar with book terminology or simply forgot when dany told the audience that a dragon is not a slave. bc framing does matter a lot and, like you said, people subconsciously change their view with the switch from triumphant flying music to rhaena's accusation of stealing, which remains unchallenged and thus becomes the baseline in the minds of the audience

as for including the girls in the fight, here they wrote themselves into a corner and that was the only solution. i don't think it was a specific objective to frame aemond as "more" evil but since they made joffrey so much younger (i.e. a literal baby), he couldn't participate in the fight and a 2-1 brawl wouldn't have seemed so dramatic. so adding baela and rhaena was really the only way to keep the outnumbering aspect.

although it needs be remarked that this fight is kind of goofy in its original version too. sometimes grrm really fails at writing children and this is one of them. what would a 3-year-old joffrey even be doing unsupervised at the dragon stables in the first place? 🤦 but, anyway, the point we're supposed to take from this scuffle is that it wasn't "fair" bc aemond was outnumbered

[bleachbleachbleach]

17 and 19 for the writer's ask meme!

Fic Writing Meme!

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

Most recently I learned a lot about steam locomotives! Last summer my co-blogger and I made a Lonely Planet travel guide about the East Rukongai Soul Train based on @recurring-polynya’s train post, where I had to look up a bunch of stuff about trains, and I recently wrote a big fic about the East Rukongai Soul Train, among other things. So I went back and re-learned what I’d already learned about steam trains, and then got very excited about deciding, based on those pre-established parameters, how many cars the train could pull and how well it would work for the environment it was traveling through and how fast it could go and what structural elements it might need in order to make the journey.

Very little of this information is meaningfully a part of the end result, and is mentioned only reluctantly by Hitsugaya in one scene; but the important thing is, the train doesn’t derail and it has enough power to make it up a peak of moderate elevation and therefore doesn’t need to factor into the narrative because *the train* at least, knows what it’s doing. 

I also learned that one of the last remaining functional historic 2-6-0 steam locomotives is being restored for use on the rail line near my mother’s house!! The tracks were laid as part of the original Continental Railroad in the mid-1800s by Chinese laborers and many human rights violations.

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs.

This is one of the oldest scenes from my current active WIP, and one of my personal favorites:

"What… was that?" Hisagi asks, a little gravel in his voice.

"Music," says Outoribashi.

"Yeah, but—" Hisagi pauses. "Is it… shikai?"

"It is music," says Outoribashi.

"Yeah, but—"

Yeah, but zanpakutou aren’t meant to be used for frivolous things, is probably what Hisagi has lost the words for. Zanpakutou are to be drawn only in battle. To do otherwise is punishable by censure, and sometimes imprisonment. It’s written on the walls in the Maggot’s Nest. 

In the 12th, zanpakutou protocols are loose at best, and most of Akon’s colleagues have little to do with their swords regardless of circumstance. For his part, Akon generally thinks of his zanpakutou as a tool among many, a perception that his sword is happy to share. And it’s not as though his captain’s experiments with his own sword are exactly normative. So it surprises Akon, the degree to which he shares Hisagi’s reaction. It’s a mild degree, but it’s not nothing. For Akon, that makes it statistically significant. 

"Music is generally not what swords are used for," he says. He cocks his head, inviting further explanation.

"A zanpakutou is not a sword," replies Outoribashi. "They are a manifestation of the soul."

Outoribashi’s fingers alight on a keening treble note. He lets it warble before dropping an octave and beginning the bridge anew. 

“And my soul is not a weapon.”

[euphoricfilter]

hi hi :) quick question but what’s ur thoughts on those ai photos of bts that are trending on tt rn?

i have sort of mixed feelings?? though probably lean towards the dislike of it all more than being for it. first off, i don’t think realistically most of the ones that have come on my tiktok are harmful, though a few of them have come close to being scarily real and that is slightly worrying

i don’t know if they’re meant to be like photos or drawings or what?? a few i’ve seen i think are meant to be like photo shoots, which are the ones that always have me 🤨 because i think i’ve missed something. but a lot of the sci-fi ~ fantasy ones look more like digital art than photos

i don’t entirely agree with ai ‘art’ or media, be it writing, music, digital art, deep fakes, photos, whatever form of media we consume as people. simply for the fact that i believe humans will always do it better. plus, having that sort of unfiltered freedom is all fun for some people but can be dangerous if given to groups that have malicious intentions. which is scary part.

sure, a computer can write fancy words, probably come up with a full plot and have it written in minutes but it lacks the human empathy, and emotion, and experience. same with ai art, or photos. behind every art piece, either with traditional media or digital, there’s intention behind every choice made, what textures to use, placement, hidden mistakes that have been covered up but still a secret behind what lays on top. and no matter how good ai becomes at replicating stuff like that, i don’t think it’ll ever truly compare to human talent. that doesn’t mean i don’t think it can’t be a useful tool if you ever find yourself in a rut and want some form of guidance, or a new perspective on a question or topic to help you achieve your art in a way you’re happy with

as for the photos that have been on tiktok, i think maybe it’s important to label that it is ai generated if you desperately want to create and post photos like that. some of the ones i’ve seen are obviously fake, a lot of fantasy mixed with bts which when you first look at it you can tell isn’t real. however there have been a few that have looked a little too real with no disclaimer that they aren’t real photos. i say i have mixed feelings because i know the people that are posting that kind of stuff are just playing around, however, ai as whole, in terms of this topic i’m very iffy towards, and i’m sure it’s a topic that a lot of people will start to talk more about now that ai is very prevalent within both online and offline spaces in school or work, probably anywhere at this point 😭

i have similar thoughts of ai voice generation too, it’s kinda weird and kinda dangerous. because again, it’s fun for people to make their favorite singers do covers of other artist’s songs. but that doesn’t mean groups of people who have less than innocent intentions can’t also have access to these tools to spread a narrative that is entirely false

ai art ≠ art. they’re not the same thing!!! and will never ever be equals in my eyes

however i also don’t think there is a need to feed a computer the faces of bts and made it shit out a ton of funky, sometimes weird art? photos? whatever it’s meant to be. because somewhere down the line that’s gonna lead to some mean people doing some mean things

[letters-to-rosie]

Section Four: Delivery

How we package the tour is just about as important as everything else. This is normally where one would talk about grammar, but I find that general grammar advice can be kinda hard to give. Even in English, different kinds of English have different rules. I use American English rules (usually Chicago style), but I break the rules all the time for fun. If grammar is a concern (and it can be, since it can hinder the communication process), I’d recommend doing some practice online. I’ve recommended the Longman’s Student Grammar to a client before as well, but honestly, this is the internet, and it’s probably not that deep lol. Because I tend to think of writing as a communicative process, the questions I ask myself about delivery are often related to that: how does this come across? Is this being explained in a way that relies on patterns of my own thinking that my audience doesn’t necessarily share? Is this clear? If it’s not clear, how can I improve its clarity?

Generally, clarity is the chief concern for me. If I’m not being clear, then I’m not communicating, and if I’m not communicating, the experience of my readers is hampered. But otherwise? Go crazy.

When I work with friends to resolve issues of writing on the sentence level, many times the trouble at hand is that their vision in their heads is not making it onto the page. It’s important to remember that things that are obvious to us are not necessarily so to other people. While we don’t want to overexplain everything in a way that feels condescending, it’s good to be mindful and look for blind spots we may have. The good thing is that many other aforementioned writing tools such as perspective, narrative distance and voice, tone, and the like are helpful in this task. As are thinking of our goals. No writing delivery will ever be perfect, but we can always practice in ways that lead us closer to our goals.

Some things I like to keep in mind include:

Asking whether my descriptions impair meaning. I think a lot of people like to develop prose styles that feel rich and artistic. However, sometimes it can be hard to accomplish this and still get an intended meaning across. I often rewrite descriptions I feel like are unhelpful to make them simpler. As I improve, however, I feel like my range of options for descriptions grows along with me, and my prose becomes richer.

Rhythm. This one is a bit hard because it’s not equal for everyone; familiarity with the spoken version of the language you’re writing in and musical sensibility are big advantages here. Just like speech, written language has rhythm. This is often mentioned in the context of sentence length, but it’s also helpful for word choice. Good rhythm reduces awkwardness, and less awkward writing is easier to read. If a section of writing feels awkward, I almost always suggest reading it aloud. Reading things aloud is helpful for uncovering where things feel redundant, bulky, or confusing. I’ve read entire editing assignments aloud for this reason.

Word choice. Word choice is one of those things that improves with reading. Beyond that, it’s hard to improve at it. We need not be beholden to dictionary definitions of words, especially when writing in a creative way, but the communication aspect of writing does mean that some words might not get across what we mean. I tend to doublecheck ones I’m unsure about, just in case. If it doesn’t have to do with meaning, then go crazy! There are some words that just sound more fun than others. Trust yourself here (I make like all my word choice decisions based on rhythm and the potential for wordplay. If a pun can be made, I’m making it).

Beyond that, things like dialogue, how much description to apply, how short or long you want sentences to be, how you want the writing to feel—just about all of that is subject to your goals. Don’t be afraid to change things up if you think it’ll help your vision for your writing! Especially in “The Fire Next Time” and “revolution,” I’ve been doing a good bit of experimenting, trying things like more natural-sounding dialogue, varying the level of description, cursing, and so on. It’s really fun! It makes the projects very different from anything I’ve written before them.

[audiovisionacupuncture]

Week 7

Research

The 1959 film On the Beach served as important research into my surreal climate change video. It depicts the time before Australia is wiped out by nuclear winter, where in all of its characters are aware of the end of the world. It is interesting because of how normal life continues, but everything now has a dark or perverse edge to it.

This was analysed in this video by Jacob Geller, explicitly linking this film to climate change. I plan on pulling and researching more into the media shown in his video essay, including How to Blow Up a Pipeline and First Reformed.

I have done academic research into some of the topics I plan on covering in the capitol lights project. However, I plan not to dive too much into some of these academic articles, because I worry they will consume the entire project. I have also been reading Audio Vision by Michel Chion, specifically the stuff about the audio visual contract, and as it relates to theatre. I plan on doing some reading on Brecht as well.

This piece from Radiolab (which includes the “Sometimes behaves so strangely” illusion) highlights some of what I want to talk about, in a medium that works well for what I want to do.

Assignment

Project 1: Surreal Weird Video

Here is the video as it stands now, my goal as opposed to previous weeks, has been to just create something weird without a narrative.

Project 2: Capitol Lights

My experiments from the last trip to the Capitol were all a failure, and I’ve had to once again pivot from my plan, instead of doing psychology and cognition stuff, moving toward more entertainment and audiovisual stuff. I can still touch on psychology, but it should never be the focus.

I plan on creating a red wash of lights, and playing two different scores and seeing how the audience reacts emotionally to each.

“You’re brain loves a good pattern, it’s basically the reason why films can even have sounds. When you see something occur on screen and there is a sound accompanying it, 

[ light flashes with noise ]

You’re brain stitches the two together. It’s the reason why coconuts can stand in for galloping horses. There’s a word for this, synchresis, although it will show up with a squiggly red line in Microsoft word.

But sound is a much more powerful tool, it can motivate movements. When I cut from one scene to the next [ambient light changes colour] it can seem random or stilted. But as soon as you put in a click, [ambient light changes colour with click] it just feels correct. And then if I add in some music, [ambient light changes with new music coming in] it’s just like: wow what’s next let’s go. 

When I play this lightning sequence, it is not only difficult to tell what is going on, but its difficult to care. If I asked you to memorise what was happening, I don’t think you’d be able to pick out much detail. But as soon as a bring in music, set in time with the sound. You’re brain is able to parse much more granular detail, and the lights start to become meaningful.

No one knows the origin of language or music, but some suggest they evolved alongside each other. Regardless, your ears are much more finely tuned than your eyes to rapid and sporadic changes. And it’s the combination of the two that colour your experiences.

And as much as we rely on our eyes to understand the world, it is sound that colours our experiences emotionally. In film, it is our eyes that tell us what is happening, but our ears that tell us how we should feel about it.”

[lastdreadpirate]

Saw a post by someone I follow that was like. Ran into a cat tree & now have an eyepatch and no depth perception and like. That sucks obvs but it got me thinking about how these kinds of issues (no depth perception) could be fixed or prostheticized with modern tech? Like the first thing I really think of is maybe overlay glasses, like vr but just. Glasses, with two cameras and a bit of code designed to figure out what the layout of the ground is, and overlay like a grid so you can vaguely see where everything is, or maybe like a silent sonar system? That wouldn't be good for multiple people with that tech being in the same place, but it's an idea worth mentioning. Idk I just. Sometimes I need to remind myself that the things humanity has come up with can be used for healing and that society isn't just an instrument of environmental destruction. Modern technology is used for hurting but it's also used for returning agency to people without.

[septembercfawkes]

The Backbone of Cliffhangers & 4 Types

I've heard a lot of audience members say that they hate cliffhangers. But do you want to know a secret? I kinda love a good cliffhanger (along with everything else I'm not supposed to love, like *cough cough* prologues *cough cough* teasers).

So today we are going to talk about cliffhangers: why we should use them, mistakes people make with them, and four different types. I'll probably be bringing up some points you hadn't thought of before, so even if you don't much like cliffhangers, you might want to stick around. Who knows, maybe you'll have more respect for them by the end.

And in case you need a little refresher, a cliffhanger is when the narrative suddenly cuts away from showing or revealing something important to the audience. This creates suspense by leaving a critical issue unresolved. It lacks closure.

Why Use Cliffhangers?

If people say they hate cliffhangers, why use them?

The answer you will hear most often is that by delaying information, we get the audience to stick around longer. We get them to turn the next page, start the next episode, or buy the next book.

While that is a valid reason, I admit it sounds shallow. I think there is more to them than that.

Cliffhangers are great for another reason: They get the audience to participate in the story.

One of the best things about cliffhangers is the fact they cut away from an intense moment. This often forces the audience to pause and think.

If a murderer is about to be unmasked, this gives the audience a moment to pause and think who they think the murderer is. It may give them a second to change their guess as to who the murderer is.

If something shocking just happened, it gives the audience a moment to consider the ramifications of that.

If a confrontation is about to take place, a cliffhanger gives the audience a second to anticipate how that is going to play out.

In some cases, a cliffhanger may simply get the audience to participate by asking "What would you do?"

Other than that, cliffhangers are great at emphasizing tense situations. By abruptly cutting away, we force the audience to sit with shock, worry, wonder, or what have you, a little longer.

It can make the moment feel a little more dramatic.

As an audience member, I often love cliffhangers for the second reason: I am asked to pause and think. If a cliffhanger comes at the end of an installment in a series, it gives me time to talk with others about what I think might happen next or what I think the cliffhanger means.

However, not all cliffhangers function the same, and not all ask for much participation.

Nonetheless, cliffhangers aren't always about torturing the audience. Sometimes there is a method to all the madness. 😉

Cliffhanger Mistakes (& Rule Breaking)

While cliffhangers can work well to keep an audience interested in a story, they can't replace other elements of a good story.

Sometimes newer writers will throw in a cliffhanger to try to make the story interesting.

But really, ideally, no story should need cliffhangers to be interesting (more on this in a sec). No story should need cliffhangers to keep the audience reading. A strong story should be able to do that without them.

Cliffhangers are a tool that, when properly used, enhance what is already there.

They aren't meant to create tension and suspense over nothing. (Usually--all rules can be broken).

Another problem that can come up is when a writer uses cliffhangers and then doesn't deliver on what's promised. This makes the moment anticlimactic.

For example, say the protagonist runs into a room to find his loved one bleeding, then we cut away. This is the cliffhanger. When the story cuts back to the scene, the blood turns out to actually be ketchup. This will probably be a disappointment to the audience because they expected something serious.

In other words, it undercuts the tension the story has built up.

It tried to make something out of nothing.

If a writer does this repeatedly, the story loses power and can begin to drag, or worse, become annoying.

However, like everything, this is not to say you can never undercut the build-up effectively. A writer may want to undercut the tension and then surprise the audience with something worse.

So maybe the blood is actually ketchup--the protagonist relaxes, the loved one laughs, the audience breathes a sigh of relief (and maybe even gives an eye roll)--and then BAM! A burglar breaks into the house!

Okay, that may be a little dramatic, but you get the idea. The point is to undercut the tension only to surprise the audience soon after. In this sense, the writer arguably still delivers on the promise of danger, but in an unexpected (though still satisfying) way.

Sometimes undercutting tension can be useful in playing with the audience's expectations. I'm sure we've all seen scary movies like this: a babysitter walks down a long dark hall while creepy music crescendoes--only to have her phone ring innocently and make us jump. Later in the story, something actually scary may happen instead. This can make it difficult for the audience to anticipate the emotional outcome. It can also help set the tone of the piece.

So it's not always bad to break the rules--which in this case would mean, they aren't really "mistakes" since they are done intentionally.

The main thing is not to write cliffhangers that are ultimately going to be a disappointment or to write a story that relies only on cliffhangers to get the audience to keep reading.

Understanding the Backbone of Cliffhangers

For the next bit, I'm going to talk a little about story structure, and then relate it back to cliffhangers, so stay with me.

As we've talked about before, in a well-structured story, everything makes this shape--whether it's a scene, sequence, act, or whole story. And it can even fit in smaller pieces inside a scene. It's essentially like a nesting doll or a fractal.

The climactic moment is sometimes called a turning point because it "turns" the direction of the story.

This moment can only be one of two things (well, or both of them): a revelation, or an action.

These are the only two ways to turn a story.

This is most obvious in the overall plot level because that is what we are most familiar with. THEE climactic moment will either be a revelation or an action and often it's both.

It might be a revelation that leads to an action. Or it might be an action that leads to a revelation.

For example, the protagonist may have an epiphany (a revelation, and often a thematic one) that informs him how to defeat the antagonist, so the protagonist takes that action. Alternatively, the protagonist takes an action to defeat the antagonist, and the result leads to a realization. (Generally speaking.)

Whatever it is, and in whatever it is (scene, sequence, act, or whole plot), that's the turning point.

If you are working with a unit smaller than the whole plot, this shape then repeats itself, for example:

This means that in a great story, you will have plenty of turning points--it's just that a turning point of a scene may be smaller and less dramatic than the climactic turning point of the whole plot, but it's nonetheless significant.

For example, the climactic moment of a murder mystery may be unmasking the serial killer.

But the climactic moment of the opening scene may be discovering the dead body of his first victim.

This means, that ideally, you will be having lots and lots of turning points throughout a story. If every scene has a turning point, that means you'll have at least one turning point in each scene (yeah, I know, that sounds redundant, but bear with me).

This innately creates a story that keeps readers interested because the situation is constantly changing and evolving.

If the structure of your story is solid, then creating a cliffhanger isn't so much about asking "How do I come up with a great cliffhanger?" but instead, "Where do I cut away to make a great cliffhanger?"

In short, this means you use the cliffhanger to enhance the story that already exists. You don't use it to substitute an element.

Now, with that said, it's possible to brainstorm a cliffhanger on a whim and then work it in as an important component of a story. The creative process can become a chicken vs. egg experience.

The idea is not to rely on cliffhangers to make a story compelling.

So next we will talk about four types of cliffhangers based on the basic structure, then I will use an example to show multiple places that would work well to create a cliffhanger.

The four types of cliffhangers for this post are called: Pre-point Cliffhanger, Climactic Cliffhanger, Post-point Cliffhanger, and Post-hook Cliffhanger.

They don't really have official names, so that's me making them up.

Let's dig in!

1. Pre-point Cliffhanger

In the Pre-point Cliffhanger, the narrative is cut just before the turning point. It might cut to a different plotline or it might be the end of the chapter or what have you. But the cliffhanger works by building up to the point with a rising action and then making the audience wait for the climactic moment.

If you are a cliffhanger-hater, this is probably the type you hate most 😆. The story builds up to a critical moment, only to have it interrupted.

As an example of a Pre-point Cliffhanger, say we are following the Mystery Gang as they investigate something supernatural. Just as they are about to unmask the ghost/zombie/banshee/whatever, the show cuts to a commercial. That's what this cliffhanger is like.

Another example may be a detective who's just about to put all the clues together, when the chapter ends and the text switches to another plotline.

In some cases, the character may actually reach that turning point, but the audience doesn't. For example, we could show and imply that the detective has solved the case, but not share with the audience what her realization is.

Or alternatively, we could show Fred from the Mystery Gang unmask the ghost, but not show who the ghost actually is.

All of these examples relate to a turning point based on a revelation, but you can do this with an action turning point as well.

You may have the antagonist whip out a gun to shoot the protagonist's best friend and cut away just before he pulls the trigger.

In a Pre-point Cliffhanger, the audience is usually anticipating an outcome or result.

2. Climactic Cliffhanger

In a Climactic Cliffhanger, the story cuts away mid-turning point. I could just as well call it a "Mid-point Cliffhanger" except that that creates ambiguity, since "midpoint" is already an existing writing term.

Some climactic moments have more than one turn. Remember how I gave an example earlier, about a climax that utilizes both a revelation and an action? Sometimes you can cut away between the two to create a great cliffhanger.

The protagonist may have a massive realization that begs immediate action. Get to the realization, make sure it implies a necessary action, and then cut away. That will keep the audience wanting to come back for more (or give them time to react or think).

It is not necessary that the turns be opposite types. You can sever two revelations, or you can sever two actions.

For example, you may set up a climactic moment that implies, if so-and-so does this, the protagonist will have to do that. If the antagonist aims at the protagonist's friend and pulls the trigger, the protagonist will have to jump in front of the speeding bullet because the friend is necessary to save the world and he is not. You can cut away after the trigger is pulled and before the protagonist jumps out.

Obviously what works and what doesn't depends on the setup and rising action, and in order to do this cliffhanger, the climactic moment must have multiple turns.

3. Post-point Cliffhanger

A Post-point Cliffhanger happens (you guessed it,) after the turning point.

This may not work in all situations.

But often just after a turning point, the audience is left wondering, Now what will they do? Or perhaps they will be looking for meaning, But why did that happen?

Let's look back at the Mystery Gang.

Fred unmasks the ghost.

It's George the electrician!

The next question that innately comes up is, why? Why did George do this? What is his motive?

The show creates a cliffhanger by cutting to a commercial, so we have time to wonder about George.

This is a revelation example. Let's consider an action.

The antagonist shoots the protagonist's friend, but the protagonist jumps in front and gets hit instead. Another ally quickly subdues the antagonist, but the protagonist lies bleeding out.

The next question that comes up is, will the protagonist be okay? What will happen now?

I'll tell you what--it's time to cut away and create a Post-point Cliffhanger!

In a Post-point Cliffhanger, the audience is anticipating meaning and explanation (why?), and wondering what the new direction or goal will be (now what?).

(To some extent, as a lot of these concepts overlap.)

4. Post-hook Cliffhanger

Basic story structure is a repeating shape. This means after the falling action, we will begin a new rising action. Often this starts with a hook or an incident that disrupts the characters' course. You can create a great cliffhanger by cutting away just after that hook or disruption.

A great place you will see this sort of thing used a lot is in a series. We have the climax of the plot, the falling action, and then there is a subtle new rising action--the promise of future problems--which can be developed into a cliffhanger.

For example, perhaps our protagonist defeats a supernatural villain. She goes home as we have the falling action. All seems safe. But in the last chapter, we show that the supernatural villain is actually still alive, and his apparent "defeat" is actually part of a bigger master plan. He releases something deadly that will strike the protagonist's loved ones. Then the book ends.

That is what this cliffhanger looks like.

But it can happen on a smaller scale, too. We could have the falling action of a scene, then the beginning of the next scene, then bam, something that gets us to fear or dread or wonder about what happens next, before we cut away to something else.

The Post-hook Cliffhanger usually occurs after something unexpected or after laying out the stakes. This begins to build the next rising action.

A word to the wise: The reason I mentioned this cliffhanger last is because it's pretty much impossible to open a brand-new story with a cliffhanger. And a cliffhanger is only really a cliffhanger after the audience has gotten invested in the story.

I mean, you can't really start a story with a cliffhanger, because there is no build-up yet. What you can do is build up to the very first turning point and create a cliffhanger. But the very first hook can't really be a cliffhanger--at least not very easily. I mean, it'd be way too early to cut away!

Placing the Cliffhanger (Example of all 4 Types)

As I said earlier, if your story is structured well, it will have a lot of turning points (and hooks), so the question becomes, where do we sever the story to create a great cliffhanger? Not how do we throw in a great cliffhanger? (Generally speaking.)

Not every placement will work for every scene. For example, sometimes it's impossible to do a Climactic Cliffhanger because the climactic moment only has one turn, which you can't split in half.

Let's look at an example where we could choose any one of them.

Now, I usually try not to use examples from my own work for several reasons, but since it's fresh on my mind and proves the point (and I can offer insight into my thought process), I'm gonna pull from a scene I've been playing around with.

One of the plotlines of one of my manuscripts is a murder mystery (though it's not the primary plotline). The scene I've been working on is the obligatory find-the-dead-body scene. But because I'm working with fantasy, the situation is a little different.

The setup is this: The viewpoint character, Scott, knows that an acquaintance, Allie, is dead somewhere in the forest (this information was obtained through a magic system). Assuming she must have fallen off a ledge, Scott thinks he knows the whereabouts of her body. A small search party is formed, and Scott breaks away to search on his own.

Scott's goal is to find the dead body. So the discovery of the body is the climactic moment of the scene.

However, there are several turns:

- At the end of the rising action (the search), Scott catches sight of what he thinks is a body.

- But as he draws near, he realizes it isn't Allie. It's Allie's best friend, Kinsley.

- As he arrives at the body, he sees she didn't die from an accident or predator. This was murder.

- Knowing that this will cause major problems for him (it would take too long to explain, but it relates to the magic system), Scott begins altering the site and messing up the evidence.

- While doing this, he hears another search party member approaching and knows this is gonna look real bad if he's caught red-handed.

That's the basic shape of the scene.

Pre-point Cliffhanger: If I cut away when Scott thinks he sees a body, this creates a Pre-point Cliffhanger. The audience is left wondering if he finally found Allie. They're anticipating a specific outcome.

Climactic Cliffhanger: If I cut away when Scott realizes it's Kinsley, this creates a Climactic Cliffhanger. This is because the climax--finding the dead body (action)--has other turns: It's not Allie (revelation). And it's murder (revelation). So I can sever the turns.

Post-point Cliffhanger: If I cut away after Scott realizes it's murder, this creates a Post-point Cliffhanger. Why? Because the climax is finding (and learning) about the dead body. We've done that. The questions the reader now innately has is, Now what? And Why? He or she searches for explanations and meaning.

Post-hook Cliffhanger: Now that the body has been discovered, we begin a falling action. How do we address and tie up this situation? Well, Scott decides you do that by altering the site and evidence. But then someone starts coming toward him--will he get caught? This is a hook to a new climb. The rising action will deal with possibly being caught. So I can create a cliffhanger by cutting away after the hook.

Each of these options has a slightly different effect. I don't find the Pre-point Cliffhanger as powerful as the others--possibly seeing a body, isn't as big of a deal as finding the wrong body or a murdered body. I could cut in or near-after the point, but in this case, I think leaving the reader with more to think about, rather than less, is most effective.

Also, worth taking into account, is that I have multiple viewpoint characters and plotlines, so it's going to be a while before I get back to Scott. I don't want to cut near the point and force the audience to wait a couple chapters. The longer they wait, the more the suspense drops off, and the more they need to be reminded of what happened when they come back. So in this situation, I think the Post-hook Cliffhanger is the most effective. The audience has plenty to digest and wonder about, and when I pick the plotline back up later, it will be easy to remind them where we were, especially with a situation that demands immediate attention.

Things Worth Knowing

You can totally categorize cliffhangers in other ways. For example, I could talk about physical cliffhangers (taking a bullet for your friend) or emotional cliffhangers (discovering a spouse's infidelity) or shocking cliffhangers (a burglar just broke in!)--but ultimately, if you have plenty of turning points in your plot and you have appropriate structure, cliffhangers get down to knowing when to cut away to something else.

All that other stuff about what the cliffhanger is, gets back to plot. Have a great plot, and you'll have plenty of moments for cliffhangers. (You'll also likely avoid making those cliffhanger mistakes.)

Some may wonder, can you create a cliffhanger during rising action? Yes . . . and no.

The basic story structure is a repeating structure. It also works as a nesting doll or fractal. This means that in some sense, yes, you can have a successful cliffhanger during rising action--because obviously a book can have cliffhangers prior to the climax of the whole plot. However, in a sense no, because what is actually happening is that the writer is working with a smaller version of the structure. Even within a scene, this structure may be present.

For example, in my Scott-finds-the-dead-body scene, this shape is present within it, as a smaller segment. Partway through his search, Scott begins messing around with a magic system. In the overarching story, he has a goal of figuring out how a certain element of it works. Deep in the forest, he starts working on this; however, in the process, he realizes he's been going about it all wrong. Everything he has been doing is wrong. This is a mini-turning point--a revelation that changes the direction of that plotline. But it happens within the rising action of the scene.

This means that I could create a mini-cliffhanger by cutting around that turning point. . . . I may indeed insert a chapter break there because Scott-finds-the-dead-body is too long to be one chapter. This would create a lesser cliffhanger that would pull the reader into the next chapter.

Likewise, this shape may exist within a falling action of a bigger structure. Or run through smaller structures. But let's end that idea here, for today. The main thing is that a cliffhanger will be around a turning point or just after a hook--if it's going to be a legit cliffhanger.

The other thing I could talk about is the actual writing of the cliffhanger. The best thing to say here is that effective cliffhangers are typically slim and fast-paced. They're abrupt. So say enough for the reader to get it, but don't wax strong in long sentences and descriptions. (Of course, though, you can always break the rules.)

And that's pretty much what you need to know about cliffhangers.

They are not as evil as you thought, are they?

[girlactionfigure]

There's something I need to get off my chest.

I'm an Ultra-Orthodox, Chassidic, Hareidi Jew. I live in Jerusalem, in an area that is exclusively Ultra-Orthodox Hareidi for street after street, suburb after suburb, for miles and miles. In all of these neighborhoods where the roads are blocked off and no cars drive on Shabbos, each black-hat-wearing family has many many children and literally no TV’s. I personally only ever wear black and white clothes, my wife only dresses in Chassidic levels of tznius (modesty), and my boys and girls all attend mainstream Hareidi Chassidic schools where the main language is Yiddish. My kids don’t and never will have smartphones, nor have they ever been on the internet at all. Period. They don’t know what social media is and they’ve never seen a movie — not even Disney animation. 

Having lived exclusively immersed in this culture for the last 21 years, I think I'm sufficiently qualified and well-researched enough to state that the consistent depiction of Hareidim and Torah Judaism by mainstream media, from Netflix to the daily news, is somewhere between delusion, slander and the literal equivalent of racism. If you consider yourself less closed-minded than how you imagine we Hareidim to be, then permit me to share a few personal details about my family, and other families in our neighborhood, to see how well your mental narrative matches up to reality:

- Besides learning Torah each day, most of the men in our neighborhood work full or part-time.

- Many women in our area work. Some even manage their own business or company. These are not special or “liberated” women — it’s so normal here it’s not even a discussion point.

- My wife is a full-time mother by choice, who despite attending an Ivy League College,  finds it a profound and meaningful thing to dedicate her life to. If she didn’t, she’d go get a job. Mind you, she also attends Torah classes each week, works out with both a female fitness coach (who’s gay) and a frum Pilates instructor, writes and edits articles for a couple global websites and magazines, and personally mentors a number of women. None of this is seen as unusual. 

- Kids in our community go to Torah schools where they learn (surprise!) Torah. They are fluent in three languages from a young age and the boys even read and understand a fourth (Aramaic). All the kids learn grammar, math and science. Weekly after-school activities have included music (violin, drums, piano), Tae Kwon Do, swimming, art, woodworking and robotics. The girls' school teaches tools of emotional intelligence. The principal of the boys' school doesn't hesitate to refer to kids to OT if needed. I practice meditation with my children multiple times each week. None of our kids think the world is literally 6,000 years old. They devour books about science and think it’s cool. They know dinosaurs existed and don’t find that existentially threatening. They have a telescope with which they love to watch the stars. 

- The women in my family (like the men) only dress modestly according to Hareidi standards. The girls don't find this burdensome or oppressive. Period. They aren't taught that beauty is bad. They're certainly not taught to hate their bodies, God forbid. Each morning when they get dressed, they are as happily into their own fashion and looking pretty as any secular girl is. They just have a different sense of fashion than secular culture dictates. (Unfortunately for me,  it's no cheaper.)

- The local Hareidi rabbis we receive guidance from are deep, warm, sensitive, supportive and emotionally intelligent. If they weren’t, we wouldn’t go to them.

- My boys assume they will grow up to learn Torah, as much as they want to, and then when they’re ready, get a good job or learn a profession to support whatever lifestyle they choose. My girls assume they’ll be wives and mothers (which they can’t wait for) but they're also warmly encouraged to train in whatever other profession they desire. (My 9-year-old daughter, chatting with her friend in the living room, just commented, "I want to be a mother and a teacher and an artist." Her friend replied, "I'm going to be a ballet teacher.") All options are on the table, and their future seems bright.

- We love living in modern Israel, feel proud and blessed to be here, and frequently count and celebrate its blessings. Everyone in my area votes. Sometimes not even for Hareidi parties. I pay taxes. (And they’re expensive!)

- As a Hareidi person, I’m glad we have Hareidi representation in the government — though I don’t always love or approve of how the Hareidi politicians act, or what they choose to represent. For the record, I'm equally dubious about secular politicians, as well. 

- While I don't spend much time in Tel Aviv, I do have a few close Hareidi entrepreneur friends who have founded high-tech start-ups there, and are — Boruch Hashem! — doing very well.   

- We don’t hate all non-religious people. Our kids don’t throw stones at passing cars on Shabbos. I doubt they even know anyone who would do that or think that it’s ok. We frequently talk about the Torah value of caring for and being compassionate towards everyone. As a family, we proactively try to find ways to judge others favorably (even those people who throw stones at passing cars on Shabbos.)

- We invite all manner of religious and secular Jews to join our Shabbos meals each week and the kids are open, happy, and confident to welcome everyone. (No, we're not Chabad.) One of the many reasons for having such guests at our table is to teach the kids this lesson.

- While we would technically be classified as right-wing and we don’t at all buy the modern “Palestinian” narrative, we certainly don’t hate all Arabs, nor do we have any desire to expel them all from the land. We warmly welcome anyone seeking to dwell here with us in peace and we are pained and saddened to see the suffering and loss of lives of all innocent Arab families and children — as would any decent human being.

- Of the few local families I know whose kids no longer identify as religious, none at all chose to disown their kids. The very thought, in such lovingly family-dedicated communities, is hard to imagine. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm just saying it's not as common as it's made out. Rather, these families have tirelessly, profoundly, compassionately committed to maintaining any connection with their children, and to emphasize that, no matter what, family is the most important thing. Because it is.

- We aren't just living our life blindly, dogmatically following empty religious rules; rather, we are frequently engaged with, exploring and discussing Torah's richness, depth and meaning. Our kids honestly love learning Torah, praying and doing mitzvos. They’re visibly excited about Shabbos and festivals. This lifestyle is in no way oppressive or burdensome for them. If you suggested to them it was, they’d laugh and think you were crazy.  

- We Hareidim are normal people: we laugh, we cry, we buy too much Ikea furniture, and we struggle with all of life's daily ups and downs, just like the rest of you. Some of our communities are more healthy and balanced, some are less so; some of our people are warmer, nicer and more open, some are more closed, dogmatic and judgmental; some of our leaders are noble and upstanding, and some are quite frankly idiots…JUST LIKE ANY SECULAR NEIGHBORHOOD IN THE WORLD TOO. But having grown up living a secular lifestyle myself, and today being Hareidi-by-choice, I can testify that in these communities there is generally a greater and more tangible sense of well-being, warmth, tranquility, connection and meaning. We love and feel blessed to be living this life and wouldn’t want any other.

If this description of Hareidi life is hard to swallow, be careful not to push back with the often-used defenses like: "Well, you're just an exception to the rule...", "You're just American Hareidim", "You're baalei teshuvah", "Well, I know a bunch of Haredim that aren't like that at all"....because the truth is, while there might be many Hareidim who aren't like what I described above, it's still an accurate description of literally hundreds of thousands of Hareidim in Israel and the US — a decent portion of all Hareidim in the world. Which is my very point — how come you never see this significant Hareidi demographic represented in the media, television series, or the news? How come we mostly see the darkest and most problematic cliches instead? 

And finally, if all the facts I've listed above about our communities are hard for you to accept as true, then perhaps the image you have in your head about Hareidim is less based on facts and reality and more based on stereotypes, fear, hate, and discrimination — like any other form of prejudice in the world. 

Care to prove me wrong? Well, you're welcome to come argue it out with me and my family at our Shabbos table on Friday night. It would be a joy and honor to have you. 

Doniel Katz

[rjscottie]

let’s talk about where the crawdads sing besties..

I highly reccomend that everyone read https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/04/05/the-hunted

https://slate.com/culture/2019/07/delia-owens-crawdads-murder-africa.html

It’s an 18,000 word piece of journalism published in 2010, but follows the story of the owens. She, her then husband, and step son are all still wanted for questioning involving the filmed murder of a person. taylor swift is doing a song for the movie coming out soon and I would just encourage you all to maybe not see it if you can avoid it. 

However what I especially want to draw everyones attention to is the language the Owens use to refer to African people. 

They are quoted as saying: 

Vieira asks, “Do you feel that sometimes an animal’s life is worth more than a human’s life?” Owens answers, “Worth more to whom? The elephant or the person? Ask the elephant. And ask the human. You’ll get two different answers.”

-I have no desire to get into a philosophical argument about the value of animal and human life, but I think it is important to assert that the personification of animals and the valuing of animals has been used as a tool of colonization and white supremacy in Africa. Routinely African people have been displaced from their homes in the name of conservation. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/conservation-refugees

More examples from the hunted article of the harmful narratives about africa that delia and her husband share: 

- On the Web site of the Owens Foundation, Africa is referred to as “the Dark Continent,” 

-throughout “The Eye of the Elephant” the Owenses expressed a desire to live in an Eden-like Africa, free of the complications created by the presence of humans. 

-In “Secrets of the Savanna,” they issued a strong call for human population control in Africa. “Unless human numbers are in balance with those of neighboring wildlife populations, the decline of wildlife will continue to be a hard reality,” they wrote. “Despite the ravages of aids and a plethora of other diseases, Africa’s populations continue to outstrip the carry capacity of the continental resource base.”

I also think that Taylor Swift’s song needs to be a part of the conversation. While i don’t find it unbelievable that she would read the book and have no idea of Delia’s racist attitudes or the fact that she’s wanted for questioning for a murder in Zambia, I do think it implausible that no one on her time thought to do a quick google search.

This comes after the whole wildest dreams video fiasco. While i understand that it was attempting to romanticize “old hollywood” and potentially Out of Africa, it comes off as romanticizing colonization, and throughout the video there are just repeat images of a “wild africa”, which is perpetuating a singular narrative of Africa as both monolithic and a place with no people in it. I respect her efforts to donate to conservation in Africa, but I think there could have been a better way to do the music video without necessarily reinforcing the western perception of africa as a wild place with no civilization or people. 

It’s the combination of the two that I find to be concerning with taylor, and while she is not responsible for delia’s actions, I do think we can all recognize the platform she has as well as her capacity to influence. I do not think she should be using that platform to promote the works of Delia Owens. 

But I digress, back to delia. 

This is a specific instance where Delia wrote about her interaction with an African man named Justice and portrayed him as ignorant and childlike, which harkens back to the colonial idea in Africa. 

“Delia wrote of one of her first conversations with Justice, who was in his early twenties at the time. “Tell me, Sunday, can we fly to that village?” she asked, naming a village reputedly populated by poachers. Justice responded, according to Delia, “Oh no, Madam, that village is very much on the ground.” She continued, “I smile behind his back for a long moment. All morning I have noticed Sunday stealing glances at the plane.” She asked, “You like the airplane, don’t you, Sunday?” 

“Yes, Madam. I myself always wanted to talk to someone who has flown up in the sky with a plane.”

“Well, you can talk to me,” I say, as I pour salt into a jar.

“I myself always wanted to know, Madam, if you fly at night, do you go close to the stars?”

I explain that on earth we are so far from the stars that being up a few thousand feet does not make any difference in how close they look. But I don’t know if he understands, so I end by saying, “When you fly at night, you feel closer to the stars.”

The author of the hunted later asked Justice whether he knew about planes. : 

When I asked him about the conversation, he laughed and said, “I always knew what an airplane was. I used to fly to Lusaka all the time with John Harvey.” As a child? “Yes, as a child and as an adult.” After leaving the Owenses’ camp, Justice said, he worked for the Zambian Air Force.

Other accounts of those who associated with the Owenses:

Mark Harvey told me that the Owenses earned a reputation in the valley for their intolerance of local people. “Their whole attitude was ‘Nice continent. Pity about the Africans,’

P. J. Fouche, a professional hunter who manages a hunting concession in a game-management area outside the park, said that Mark Owens developed a proprietary feeling about the park’s wildlife. “He didn’t want them”—the Africans—“to be anywhere near his animals. That’s how he saw the animals, as his.

Fouche handed me a letter that he said Owens had faxed him in 1994. It was written in part as a plea to Fouche to help raise funds for the Owenses’ project, and it listed some of Mark Owens’s antipoaching accomplishments. “To date I have flown eight airborne antipoaching operations over your area, including four in which I inserted scouts on ambush,” Owens wrote. “Two poachers have been killed and one wounded that I know of thus far, and we are just getting warmed up.”

none of these issues i’ve mentioned are even about the murder but they have demonstrated in their language some clear racist rhetoric and perceptions of african people and i highly encourage everyone to think a bit about delia owens writing a book about righteously motivated murder in the wild...

[lazyliars]

Tubbo for the character breakdown? :D

How I feel about this character

c!TUBBO MY BELOVED.

The Sidekick. The Yes-man. The Pawn. The Child Soldier. The President. The Government. The Revolutionary. The Fool. The Scientist. The Husband. The Best-friend. The Leader. The Follower. The Underestimated.

Tubbo is a man with many titles, and as the situation calls for it, he can wear any of them comfortably.

Tubbo is defined, more than a lot of characters, by those titles, and by who calls him by which ones. The roles that he has played over his tenure on the server have left a more dramatic impact on both how he is perceived by others, and his own self-image.

He’s Tommy’s Sidekick and Best-friend - but he’s also Ranboo’s Husband, and Snowchester’s Leader, and A Scientist with Jack Manifold, and an (ex) President to Techno, and a Pawn to Dream.

What's interesting is that this relationship with titles is one he shares with Technoblade, and it's a unique way in which they foil each other. None of either of their other foils really share this dynamic, and to add to it, they both propagate this in each other. The difference is in how they deal with, feel about, and utilize it.

Techno is “The Blade” and “The Blood God,” and he hates it. He feels used, objectified, and reduced to a weapon by these titles. At the same time however, the actions he ends up taking only reinforces the way the average people perceive him – violence, blood and anarchy. The reputation Techno has aqquired often overshadows the person who might prefer to be seen as.

Tubbo on the other hand, tends to slip into the these titles without much resistance. He accepts them, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. He's happy to be Tommy's sidekick; He takes on the role of President of L'manberg; He accepts Dream's metaphor for himself as a Pawn. But to his advantage, his flexibility within these roles and the ability to put them on and take them off as he pleases gives him a uniquely wide arsenal of social tools.

There is so much more to say about c!Tubbo but If I keep going I could be here for hours...

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I am an enjoyer of his marriage with Ranboo, although I wouldn't call myself a shipper really.

I think their dynamic as two people who value kindness, but who also possess the capacity to be surprisingly ruthless, makes them an unusually dangerous and honestly, somewhat thematically opposed pair.

Tubbo is one of the people on the server who has the longest and most consistent relationship with what Ranboo would consider “sides” which automatically sets him up as a foil. Before even L'manberg, it was Tommy and Tubbo vs. Dream, and Tubbo has always held that loyalty close to his heart, and likely wont be cutting that off anytime soon. As a consequence of this, he naturally adds Ranboo to the list of people “on his side,” quietly, but surely.

Ranboo's somewhat correct, somewhat misidentification of “sides” as the root of all conflict on the server, in contrast to Tubbo, drives him to be more individualistic, “choosing people over sides.” And accordingly, it would be a stretch to call him a member of Snowchester, despite how deeply entrenched he's become in it's founder's life. At the same time, it's clear that Tubbo is one of, if not the most important person to Ranboo out of everyone on the server, and he's willing to do anything to protect him.

All in all, Ranboo and Tubbo end up being an odd couple for a multitude of reasons, who, despite some very core differences in personal philosophy, both end up caring for each other ferociously.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I would love to be contrarian here, but I just can't. Clingy Duo 4 LYFE!

Tommy and Tubbo's friendship, from the start of their time on the server to the current day, has been one “thing” that I continually return to, and that the story over all returns to. They are the emotional anchor of the server in a lot of ways – both a representation of it's innocent, idyllic past, and it's forward march into a darker future. Whenever the narrative wants to make a story beat feel strong and impactful, they'll often end it by echoing the scene on the bench that started everything, whether or not it's Tubbo and Tommy specifically; their Bond resonates so strongly throughout the DNA of the story that their Bench has become a Symbolic Archetype all in itself, and is something that no longer even requires the two of them present to recall it's power as a representation of Attachments, Loyalty and Platonic Love.

TLDR; Clingy Duo is the glue that keeps the core of the story together, and intentionally or not, most important friendships will end up either paralleling or foiling them by the sheer fact of how impactful their relationship is to the greater narrative.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't know how unpopular or not this opinion might be, but I do consider Tubbo to be a darker character than a lot of the content for him I see produced.

One way this expressed: he's incredibly pessimistic. He's a person who lives his life hyper aware of how easy it is to die, and with a full acceptance that, if a worst case scenario should arrive on his doorstep, he would die without hesitation, if he had to.

That isn't to say he isn't invested in preventing that, far from it – but there is an undercurrent of absolute certainty that he is living on borrowed time.

One interesting development on this is how he's expressed this – during the Disc Finale, Tubbo has already accepted his own death. He tells Tommy that he's “done enough” and that he should let him die so that Tommy can have his disc back. He tries to get Tommy to resign, to not fight Dream in the end because he can tell that they've already lost and he doesn't want him to have to die too or suffer more.

Contrast this to Snowchester now – as we've learned that the Nukes have dead-mans switch; a suicide button, that only Tubbo knew about. It's a far more proactive expression of this mentality, a final ace up his sleeve, so to speak, so that if an unwinnable situation should occur again, he can turn it from a loss into sick kind of pyrrhic victory.

It's important to note that Tubbo has not yet projected or pressed this mentality onto others; this is self destruction only, and I do think that says something about him, although it's less positive and more tragic.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

VILLAIN ARC. VILLAIN ARC. VILLAIN ARC.

Okay, as a specific example, there is sooooo much missed potential for Egg!Tubbo (and Egg!Tommy) and I will die on this hill.

Imagine, in a world where Tommy isn't immune: Tubbo gets trapped and infected by the egg, as it offers to grant him the one thing he wants most in the world.

The vines grow around Snowchester, seeping into the cracks in it's walls and then hardening into a scaly form, creating a shell around his home. The ambient radiation causes the egg to grow faster in this area, and form odd spikes that loom outwards from the heart of the town, like blades pointed at anything that gets too close.

Tommy realizes too late what's happened, and when he tries again and again to convince Tubbo to just come with him, please come with him to Church Prime, he’s sure that they can find a way--

--he ends up letting Tubbo lead him, and follows him down to the depths of the egg.

When the doors behind them are covered in thick vines, and the humidity of the room increases, and every breath feels like it draws in clouds of dust, it’s already too late to run.

Tubbo stays with Tommy for the two weeks it takes for his will to break and the egg to infiltrate his mind; it's offers of wealth and vengeance and rebuilding L'manberg and resurrecting Wilbur and making people love him and making him powerful and giving him the whole world--

--all rejected, until finally, in the sickening red haze of Tommy's mind, a single scene; a clear blue red sky, the sun high and bright, a warm breeze blowing in, a bench, the sound of good music, and there--

Tubbo moves and the vines around him creak, having been undisturbed for days. He places his hand on the mass of crimson where Tommy is trapped waiting.

--Tommy grins and rushes forwards, all of the weight in his heart, all of the dread and responsibility and fear and anger and hurt and pain, all of it suddenly gone on the breeze as he takes his place next to Tubbo on the bench.

The Eggpire grows. The vines begin to appear in more vulnerable places – peoples secret rooms, near their pets, wherever they keep their most sentimental objects.

Tommy loves causing harmless mischief, and the feeling of being accepted, of being cared for? It's perfect. Nothing can touch him now, where everything is simple and easy and just the way it should be.

Tubbo knows. It's not a deep feeling, it's not a secret part of himself still in there, still fighting. He knows, and when he sees Bad staring him down, piercing through him, he knows that Bad knows too.

There is no kinship for them. There can't be. That would be too close to rebellion against The Crimson. That would be too close to comfort.

But Tubbo knows quietly. He's not a follower by nature, but he'll follow now, simply because he's seen the most logical way to attain what he wants.

And he and Tommy will make a kinder, safer world then the one the Crimson is eating now.

[septembersghost]

it’s almost five o’clock in the morning here, liminal hours, and i can’t explain why this is nagging me, but it is.

a few weeks back, i saw someone say we only like dean because he’s the “comic relief.” and it was such a reductive, basic comment that it felt like a frying pan to the head, so i decided to ignore it. as you can see...that didn’t work.

there’s a level of coherence i’ve been lacking for the past few weeks too so idk if this will make sense, but - dean being allowed to have fun or have a sense of humor shouldn’t equate him to comic relief (in a gothic horror story where he is a lead protagonist), and it startles me because many of the things i like least are when he is used as a joke (especially in the later seasons, but this started to crop up as early as S4, and with a particular writer, guess who). (dean, like: luck of the draw only draws the unlucky, and so I became the butt of the joke...) this isn’t the same as allowing him his humor, btw, it’s about putting him in a position where the narrative/other characters debase his traits/intelligence/emotions/pov/etc.

dean is the most human character in the story, by design. he is meant, at the outset, to contrast sam, who is chosen (and violated as an infant) and has the psychic visions and the difficult destiny (initially). (we don’t know about the destined aspect for dean until five years in, but in the early days, this is important for established story). so we see him quip and enjoy greasy food and turn up the music in the car, and even as the narrative transforms, he still does, but that’s not what he is at a core level, just like sam isn’t only books and salad.

and there are endless things i could say about that and many i have said already, but a central point -

the fact that dean can make a snappy retort or do something silly (and then immediately get right back to competency) or experience simple, freely felt joy is a valuable trait not because it’s funny, but because it’s a form of defiance. and this is an aspect of dean’s consistent free will (human disorder incarnate - be this love, humor, fear, courage, anger...). dean is deeply traumatized and depressed. this is never not true. (there’s always something eating at me, that’s who i am.) he is never without suffering or without a burden. he has experienced abuse. characters like him often don’t get to have that clearly delineated while ALSO being allowed some levity, and i think that throws people off, and they read his trauma as “not that bad,” but the POINT IS that depressed/traumatized people are still multi-faceted human beings, and are not only defined by what they’ve experienced or what they carry. they are not only that hurt. he doesn’t respond in the way we’re shown “good” victims should respond, so this is either interpreted as him being a “bad” victim, or it becomes victim blaming, OR it’s used as erasure altogether. being able to laugh doesn’t magically make one’s depression disappear, and i would hope that it’s understood that people who struggle are still allowed to have moments of happiness too.

dean made a joke and he’s attractive and those are the only reasons why we like him! no. dean made a joke as a means of self-expression and because that’s a tool for survival. dean has a sense of joy because dean knows what it’s like to have everything stripped away and thus cherishes those small, essential things even more. (and his beauty is a whole other topic, while we may appreciate it, it’s weaponized against him on numerous occasions.)

and then i see things like “dean isn’t kind” made as a blanket statement of fact, and you know... to boil him down to being comic relief, or being some...invented bully..., truly does make me wonder what’s being perceived. he is remarkably kind, but sometimes dean IS cruel. and sometimes dean IS selfish. because...he’s human. his ability to empathize and extend depths of compassion is not erased by the moments of cruelty, or by the moments of lashing out, or by the moments of (often justifiable) anger. this idea that kindness means you have to always be “nice” is a misunderstanding of kindness itself. his kindness persists when the pain could very easily blot it out, when he could become nothing but sharp edges. he makes choices that inform how he responds and who he is. his self-sacrificial instincts and his selfish ones are actually ENTWINED. he is unflinchingly honest and he also lies. he’s desperately tender and also able to be brutal. he is deeply, ceaselessly loving, and sometimes love is difficult and tumultuous, and sometimes love is comfort and salvation. it’s not that simple. it’s never that simple with him.

[incarnateirony]

Pre-Rewatch Notes

So since I’m going to be doing a mix of in-timeline and full retrospective text value of the canon, one of the things I’d like to actually get out of the way is the Key Concepts of the eras, most explicitly Kripke and Dabb as the start and end.

The Key concepts are the single most important framework in media studies. They have evolved as a means of understanding a text by using a critical framework, rather than just making unconnected and meaningless observations. Throughout the course, you will need to refer to the Key Concepts and use the terms you learn when analysing media texts. One way to remember the Key Concepts is to use the mnemonic "RAILING". Representations, Audiences, Institutions, (Media) Language, Ideology, Narrative, Genre.

(also sometimes called MIGRAIN if using Media Language to clarify rather than spoken language)

With this as my note in front of the cut, I’m going to drop the rest behind one while I try to sort out the RAILING of the show before I even try to start establishing long term collective rewatch arguments on the canon. I do also invite some discussion on these, as in, if you feel my markers are off, or if I’m missing anything that I could probably negotiate the text.

Pulling, for my sanity, from here [x]

SO FIRST TO DEFINE:

Media Language This is how media producers communicate their ideas to the audience. Below are some examples to think about when considering media language:

Images used

Words used

Use of colour

Signs and signifiers

Connotative meaning

Use of sound

Iconography

Camera angles and picture composition

Institutions The companies who produce the media. Fox, Disney, CNN, the BBC, Warner Brothers etc will have a set of Institutional Values; beliefs on aspects of life e.g. their political stance or moral beliefs etc. Also, whether they have to make large profits for a board of directors. These institutional values will guide what their media products include. You should consider who made a particular media product and what impact this has on that product.

Genre The style of the media form.

A film could be Horror or Action.

A book could be Fantasy or Thriller.

A computer game could be RPG or Sports Simulation.

A website could be News or Social Networking.

Representation How media producers show a thing, person or group of people.

May be positive or negative.

Why have they chosen to show them in this way?

Think about the 5 w’s: who, what, where, when and why?

Audience

The people who buy and consume media.

Who are they?

What do they want from the media product?

How does the media product fulfill these wants?

Use theories such as Uses and Gratification theory.

Ideology Ties in with Institution.

What values and beliefs underpin the product?

How does this fit with the values of society?

Narrative How is the text structured?

Use Todorov’s Theory of Narrative Structure.

Use Propp’s Character Theory.

Use Strauss’ Theory of Binary Opposition

I’m going to use VERY shorthand notes on these moving forward.

So here’s what I see off the cuff:

KRIPKE ERA

Media Language Faded film stock to denote horror; darkness; emphasis on SFX like footsteps. Grim cinematic. Eventual christian imagery overlapping urban myth icons. Faded color palettes. Fairly classic color use (pink or white for femininity or purity, etc). Nostalgic classic rock/music. Nostalgia, general. Muscle cars. "Classic american masculinity." Hopelessness seeking hope.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2005-2009. Kripke, Singer. Manners. McGee. Sgriccia.

Genre Horror, survival, drama

Representation Americana, working class america, "american masculinity", fraternity; Sam and Dean vs the world with occasional help from other friends or family in the life. Metanarrative hostility to issues like queerness reflective of both time and institution at the time.

Audience Originally targeted at young/teen men (to “not be like other girl shows on the network”), became split demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Fraternal bonds. Arguably, family. Hero's sacrifice for the greater good.

Narrative Campbell, Hero's Journey; Rule of Cool; Christendom; Man vs Divine

GAMBLE

Media Language Film stock, brightness, saturation at fairly standard media level -- sometimes unstable. Standard cinematics. Residual christian imagery overlapping lovecraft. Decline in classic music from Kripke. Unclear or unreliable interpersonal messaging. Arguably southern gothic. Hopelessness.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2010-2011. Gamble, Singer. McGee. Sgriccia. Norman Bee. Edlund.

Genre Teen Drama, Adventure

Representation Established characters Sam and Dean. Fraternity. Sam and Dean vs the world.

Audience Originally targeted at young women, became split demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Brothers quarreling; fight monsters; I don't know. Did she know? "Everything is tragic but have some dick jokes"

Narrative Lovecraft. Does anyone know. "I need to make more episodes"

CARVER

Media Language Brightened film stock with increased saturation establishes fantasy setting. Smash cut interruptions to former grim cinematics offset more hopeful visuals. Fairly media standard lighting and color use in related fantasy cinema. Found family. Hope against hopeless odds.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2012-2014 (arguably 2015). Carver, Singer. Glass. Sgriccia.

Genre Fantasy, Adventure, drama

Representation Widened character base. Widened hero's journey arcs (castiel). Masculinity messaging of the past has not vanished, but has dampened and become less hostile to the LGBTQ and woman audience. Regular Cast widened (Crowley, Castiel)

Audience Split gender demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Split age demographic from targeting vs duration. Increasingly digital demographic and marketing; begins increasing queer, poc and other audience. International boom (Netflix deal, digital 2012+). Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Found Family, Hope against odds. Free Will highlighted.  Destructive or harmful relationships. Humanity. The human journey.

Narrative Self-established TV episodical, largely internal lore, residual christianized mythos or christendom. Castiel acquires first proper hero’s journey personal arc/lens. Multiple relationships vs world, man vs world

DABB

Media Language Carries from carver; largely identical but more close-up shots and interaction shots for drama focus. Internal color pallate unique to its own while still interacting with Carver standard media pallate.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2015-2020. Dabb, Singer. Sgriccia. Buckner, Leming. S15: Berens. CW has begun rebranding into a “queer friendly” platform with unreliable results.

Genre High-fantasy, drama, arguably soap.

Representation Carries heavily from Carver, plus. Expansion of queer creatives adds queer voice to the text. Queer text manifests over time into show's canon text. Lack of metanarrative hostility has become space for queer text. Attempted routine inclusion of women, queer characters. While not a queer piece, establishes queer narrative with roots as far back as Kripke. While still maintaining strong leads, Regular Cast and other leading cast has expanded (Crowley, Castiel, Jack, other major recognizeable faces: Rowena, Wayward). It flirts with ensemble presentation without ever landing on it wholly.

Audience Split gender demographic skewing towards women. Split conservative and liberal demographic skewing towards liberal. Multiple generations of demographic from longevity. Primarily digital demographic and marketing (top 99.9% digital but a bottom live ratings performer on live TV outside of the CW); primarily queer, poc and other audience. International boom. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Found family. hope against odds/defining the odds. Free Will vs authoritative power. Psychological rebuilding*. The family journey. The family unit. Non-nuclear families. (finale not withstanding)

Narrative Self-established TV episodical, largely internal lore, subverting christendom and authority with alchemy or gnosticism. Optimism vs Nihilism. Contrasting ending (see: Nihilism) Campbell. Other characters, like Jack, begin claiming narrative presence like Carver era Castiel, whereas Castiel maintains or expands on his. Man vs Divine vs Man IS Divine

These will be used to address the text during the large scale rewatch.

Each era has its own parameters to best address its showrunners’ visions in. Each era will receive snapshots unto itself, or snapshots also only in regards to how it adapts to the previous text. On the other hand, as half the goal is also a full retrospective to address the complete body of the text since the show stands as a complete body of word and I shouldn’t change my tools over and over again throughout for the complete-text study the same way I will by showrunner era.

I’m going to make a PITCH on the most likely way to give this a strong reading through to prepare what targets to keep an eye on as they evolve. This may change along the way if at any point I realize the first-glance overview was wrong, but

OVERVIEW MIGRAIN

Media Language The growth from hopeless dark into vivid potential; the lost heroes still oblivious to the world, their vision distant and dark to begin. Contrast faded dark to vivid and bright as much over timeline as Carver did between shots. Consider addressing the increased interpersonal camera work that blooms in later seasons for commentary in regards to the increased interpersonal complexity and growth of the cast.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2005-2009 as the holdover of some audience being maintained with inevitable pressures from the outside world of 2020 forcing change.

Genre Survival, drama, fantasy

Representation Americana, fraternity, family; Split Hero's Journey Narratives. Late-end queer story affirmation demands a look at the body of the text for its queer journey throughout, though the work itself should not be expected to perform as an LGBT genre work but rather a Survival-Drama-Fantasy work with queer characters. Loved ones versus external forces.

Audience Too shifting to consider in the target read anymore.

Ideology Expanding knowledge. Growing expansion of the world first to find, then surpass and subvert God--or at least their intention. The growth out of expectations of work or behavior into passions and dreams. Finding and pursuing hope. Fraternal bonds. Family, Found Family. Queerness. Hero's sacrifice for the greater good, but to find and define what that greater good is, one must know the self through the family. Free Will vs authoritative power. Psychological rebuilding*. The family journey. The family unit. Non-nuclear families.

Narrative Campbell, Hero's Journey; Occasional intertext (On the Road, Vonnegut, Lovecraft). Varied mythos, best collected and then addressed and subverted through gnostic thoughtform per the ending.

Comments, critiques, criticisms, ideas to add, things I may be missing? 

[bookandcover]

What I miss most: “the liminal, magical space that is the live concert venue.” ~June 8, 2021

I’m so glad to have finally read this book after it was repeatedly recommended to me by several different friends. Hanif Abdurraqib has an absolute gift for crafting essays that braid his personal experiences with the (sometimes seemingly cosmic, and therefore daunting to explain or conceptualize) forces of racism, sexism, economic inequality, and nationalism in America. He also jumps seamlessly in scale and in scope, summarizing the heart of something hugely complex—a masterpiece album, a regional sound, a decades-long relationship—without reducing the irreducibly complex, without sacrificing specificity, without sounding trite. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this, although I haven’t read very much Creative Non-Fiction. Regardless, Hanif moves skillfully, masterfully. I love the collection’s confidence in narration, the love of language, the direct confrontation with that which makes us all deeply flawed (deeply human).

Each of these essays could stand alone. It’s a joy to read even one and Abdurraqib’s style shines through in just a couple pages. He crafts his stories with such dexterity. It’s clear that he comes from a background in poetry, as he celebrates language, builds vivid images, and thinks thematically. (I love the moments that are truly experimental—erasures of his own work, pieces without punctuation that flow on and on in one interlinked sequence). At the same time, he relies heavily on facts and content. Part of his conviction is born of research and depth of understanding. He knows his subject; yet, within this knowledge, he expresses personal preferences and sentimental love. I learned a ton from this book about music, about the history of particular musicians, about the relationship between racial inequality and self-expression within the field of music. Together, these essays form of complex tapestry of recent history in America seen through the lens of music. I absolutely loved the experience of coming to understand the interweaving of so many of our lives’ central questions and tensions through the history of music.

Art is inherently political, as many contemporary artists would agree (a viewpoint that counters the modernists before them who argued for the apolitical nature of art—art for art’s sake). Abdurraqib makes a very compelling argument for the deep integration of art with politics, social systems, economics, and trends. These things, however, are also deeply tied to the powerful forces of our choices, our identities, our love, and our compassion. It does not cheapen art of have it be so informed by, so shaped by political and social forces. In Abdurraqib’s worldview, art is the medium by which we reflect ourselves back to ourselves. And it’s also the medium by which we find freedom, by which we challenge ourselves to grow beyond the ways we understand ourselves to be. Race is the most central political and social theme that weaves throughout these essays, starting with the title of the book, which is introduced in the essay on Bruce Springsteen. “They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us” are the words that hang above Michael Brown’s memorial in Ferguson, Missouri. It might be hard to imagine an essay that weaves a Springsteen concert with a trip to Michael Brown’s resting place, a task that would certainly be daunting to any other writer, yet Abdurraqib navigates this with dexterity that seems natural, fundamental to how he thinks about the world.

Within the framework of race in America, some of the themes from these essays that I most appreciated and internalized included: Black joy (when it’s expressed and what it means), the markings of wealth (in the context of a journey out of poverty), and the policing of authenticity (or other forms of self-expression/emotion). Black joy is mentioned repeatedly in these essays, as something to be commented on for its rareness, while also positing the idea that music is a space that more boldly permits Black joy. Awareness of joy seems flow underneath these essays; it’s something not taken for granted, something treasured. I found this awareness of joy in the essay on Nina Simone’s Blackness and in the contrast between how she is portrayal by Hollywood and how she lives on in Abdurraqib’s childhood memories. I found this awareness of joy in the essay “Surviving Punk Rock Long Enough to Find Afropunk,” which focused on the exclusion of Black bodies from punk rock spaces (and the disregard for the handful of Black bodies that dared to enter anyway), while emphasizing the inherent survival in the African American experience that resonants deeply with punk rock’s values. A longing for a space that is joyful for Black people was addressed beautifully in the essay on Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, in which Abdurraqib wishes for a home in the darkness of the photo of the two of them, where he sees “a small & black eternity.”

One of my favorite essays in the collection was the piece “Burning That Which Will Not Save You: Wipe Me Down and the Ballad of Baton Rouge,” which focuses on the rise of three Baton Rouge rappers—Foxx, Lil Boosie, and Webbie—in the years that followed Hurricane Katrina, which changed the outlook of Baton Rouge and its relationship to loud neighbor New Orleans. The essay breaks down the fundamental pieces of the rapper persona (circa mid-to-late 2000s): shoulders, chest, pants, shoes. For each of these elements, the essential nature of each is discussed, particularly as they relate to signaling both wealth and self-confidence: the dream realized. I loved this essay because it brilliantly articulated something I’ve always sensed (understood in myself in certain ways), but been unable to well-articulate, which is the power of “markings of wealth” in the life of someone who has survived through poverty, or an understanding of the proximity of poverty. For this person, the possession of wealth (things that show wealth, that communicate its presence to others, whether or not there is a real depth of wealth) feels and is different. Someone wears their wealth differently if they are conscious of it. This is a different look than that of the third-generation millionaire’s son for whom a real depth of security is so deeply ingrained as to limit the frame of imagination to always include it. I loved how this essay explained that wealth is not an universally proud/cocky look, but instead braggadocios, something that has a lot of context, a lot of nuance, a lot to do with environment and habit and understanding of temporary/permanent.

Sports, another space in which the economic and political forces of America come head-to-head with the personal and lived experiences of diverse Americans, also center several of these essays. Abdurraqib has a similar appreciation of sports—spaces of fandom, spaces of mass-appeal, spaces where the struggles and triumphs of a few become the struggles and triumphs of many—as he has of music. The social discussion around sports also holds a magnifying class to systemic racism, a process which Abdurraqib unpacks and examines. Serena Williams is discussed as an example of the policing of Black self-expression (policing how she expresses anger, how she expresses confidence, i.e. “too loudly” for the white Western world), topics also addressed in depth in “On Kindness.” “Black Life On Film” tackles the way violence is romanticized and compartmentalized as part of the Black experience, allowing an observation of violence for white viewers that is unhinged from a need to alleviate it, to address it. These same tensions and problems bubble forth in the dialogue around sports, as the eyes of the nation are turned to popular topics, which are filtered through (nearly exclusively, exhaustively) the same biased lenses.

As Abdurraqib develops these complex themes, he relies on a few central tools that are essential to his literary project. To point out these common tools is not to say that Abdurraqib only has a couple tricks up his sleeve. These aren’t “tricks” at all. Instead, these seem important to how he thinks about the world, things that are inseparable from his mode of observation.

His most central tool is the “parallel events” essay structure. With this approach, Abdurraqib details what happened for him personally as events occurred elsewhere that rocked the framework and landscape of America. A collapse of time collapses distance. Abdurraqib seems to have experienced many of these such moments of collapse, as he vividly recalls where he was and what he was doing as particular significant events unfolded. The eeriness of these experiences are not lost on a reader; we’ve all been there. To say that Abdurraqib has experienced many of these is to, perhaps, point out how much current events impact and rock him (as they always do those who belong to the groups that are, time and time again, targeted and destroyed in America). But it’s also, perhaps, to point out the precision of Abdurraqib’s memory. He holds onto details like a vice, capturing for us in painful and poignant specificity the situation in which he personally broke against the tragedy of the news (as the news breaks to us, we break against it, like waves). One of the delicate powers of Abdurraqib’s use of this essay structure is the way that his personal narrative is not cheapened, nor lessened when set up against the national event, the event we all remember. Instead, one is given the right urgency and the other given the right intimacy.

This technique for framing an essay (an experience, a life) begins in the essay “A Night in Bruce Springsteen’s America” in which a white older man at a Springsteen concert tells Abdurraqib he was at another Springsteen show on the evening Lennon was murdered. While this man wishes that “no one gets killed out there during the show this time,” there’s no world in which, for Abdurraqib, someone is not killed out there during this show. The cycle of loss that is stitched into Abdurraqib’s environment, his racial identity, is too great for him to ever hold that same hope. I think that this technique of parallel events (one personal and intimate, one tectonic and tragic) is best maximized in the short piece “August 9, 2014,” a poetic erasure of Abdurraqib’s own writing. In the main text, Abdurraqib recounts something that seems, on the surface, like an every day experience: another passenger complaining on the flight he’s boarding, a mother asking to switch seats so her son can look out the window. With the bulk of the text crossed out, the secondary narrative that emerges from the remaining words is of another mother asking for her son. The date in the title clarifies that this secondary mother-son narrative centers on the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The longing, the seeking, the asking of both mothers exists in a poignant overly. Perhaps what the mother on the plane asks for is trivial, all things considered, but Abdurraqib never dismisses her impulse to shelter her son, from fear, but, at the same time, to let him see the world beyond the plane’s window. The personal and small that occurs in Abdurraqib’s unique experience takes on the sacredness, the elevation of the cosmic, the tectonic plate shifts of death/life, and also the heralding in of a new/old era in America with the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement.

My favorite, though, of all these essays was “Fall Out Boy Forever,” one of the most personal in the collection. Abdurraqib places the loss of his closest friend to suicide into the context of the rise, fall, and rebirth (as if from the ashes) of the band they both loved. Abdurraqib’s long-term fan following of Fall Out Boy works like pearls on a string, moments in time that span years, yet unite into a collective personal narrative. This narrative rang so, so true to me, as someone for whom the bulk of the past six years has been shaped by my relationship to a specific band. Their narrative contains my narrative; my narrative contains their narrative. Their concerts, their albums, their successes, their growth—these things exist like glowing points on the thread of my experience. I recall my life within this thread, anchored by it. I know the previous time I was able to see my grandparents, down to the exact date three years ago, because it followed on the heels of a particular BTS album that played in my ears over and over that week. I know when and where I traveled within the timeline of their music. I know when my friendships blossomed, pinned to the backdrop that is their musical evolution. I know the ways they challenged and changed me, changed my writing, grew my sense of myself. I know how inseparable I am from BTS, and I saw this so poignantly reflected in Abdurraqib’s journey with Fall Out Boy.

Like any true fan (the fan who is not self-interested, the fan who is there for the ups and downs, the fan who is there for the real story), Abdurraqib observes the members of Fall Out Boy with such astuteness (this made me go and listen to more Fall Out Boy songs than I ever had before). I loved the way he captures the dynamic between the band members. He’s great at this in general (his insights into the intra-band relationships in Fleetwood Mac and the production of the album Rumors was also so engaging), but there’s a different intimacy, a different kind of care with Fall Out Boy. Abdurraqib’s ability to so clearly reveal his own close relationship with Tyler in the context of Fall Out Boy’s inner life is striking and heart-breaking—from Patrick’s frantic internalization of his music (performed for himself, yet in front of a crowd) without Pete’s complimentary/conflicting (necessary) presence when Abdurraqib seems him perform solo in Austin, to Tyler’s DESTROY WHAT DESTROYS YOU patch that Abdurraqib casts into the pit at a concert after wearing it to shows for years. To me, Tyler leapt from these pages, alive in the space where Fall Out Boy and their audience come together, transcending his own life’s timeframe in the liminal, magical space that is the live concert venue. This essay made me feel less alone in my experience of life perceived through the lens of music. This essay was Abdurraqib’s project at its most intimate, where the perception that happens through the lens of music is, most fundamentally, that of one’s self.

[divineknowing2021]

viewing guide

At its core, divine knowing is an exhibition about knowledge, power, and agency. It’s become a more common understanding that governments, institutions, and algorithms will manipulate the public with what information they frame as fact, fiction, or worthy of attention. Though I am early in researching this topic, I've only come across a minimal amount of mainstream discourse on how the initial threat limiting our scope of knowledge is a refusal to listen to ourselves.

In a world faced with so many threats - humans being violent toward each other, toward animals, toward the earth - it can be a bit unsettling to release the reins and allow ourselves to bear witness for a moment, as we slowly develop a deeper awareness of surrounding phenomena and happenings.  

divine knowing includes works by formally trained and self-taught artists. A majority of the artists are bisexual, non-binary, or transgender. Regardless of degree-status, gender, or sexuality, these artists have tapped into the autonomous well of self-knowing. Their artworks speak to tactics for opening up to a more perceptive mode of being. They unravel dependencies on external sources for knowledge and what we might recognize, connect with, or achieve once we do.

The installation Femme Digitale by Sierra Bagish originates from a series she began in 2017 by converting photographs of women that were taken and distributed online without the subject’s consent into paintings. Her practice at the time was concerned with female abjection. Sourcing images found via simple keywords and phrases (e.g., passed out, passed out drunk) she swathes a mass-circulated canon of internet detritus that articulates and produces aggression towards women. With her paintings, she circumvents the images’ original framing mechanisms and subverts these proliferated images through a sincere and personal lens.

These paintings divulge the blurred space between idolatry and denigration these online photos occupy, asking whose desires these images fulfill and what their propagation reveals about the culture producing them.  While Bagish's work contends with political motivations, she also remains keenly observant of form and the varying utilities of different media.

“I use the expressive potential of paint as a vehicle to intervene and challenge ideas about photography as a harbinger of the real and everyday.”

Chariot Birthday Wish is an artist and angel living in Brooklyn. They have seen The Matrix 28 times in 2 years and love horses. The tarot series included in divine knowing is their most intuitive project, something they revisit when unsure of what to work on next. The Major Arcana are composed of digital collages made from sourced images, the Minor Arcana are represented by short, poetic, interpretative texts about the cards. The series is played on shuffle, creating a unique reading for each viewer. This is a work in progress that will eventually finalize as a completed deck of digital collages available for purchase.

Chariot's work emerges from a constant consideration of apocalypse and connection. They reference technology in tandem with nature and a desire for unity. Underneath their work's surface conversation on beauty, care, and relationship exists an agenda to subtly evoke a conspiratorial anti-state mindset. Through a collective imagining of how good things could be and how good we want them to be, we might be able to reckon with how bad things are in contrast.

“I think about texting my friends from the middle of the woods...

Humans are a part of nature and we created these things. There's this Bjork quote where she says that "You can use pro tools and still be pagan." I'm really into the idea of using technology as a tool for divination and holy connection with nature. I imagine a scene; being in moss, it's absolute bliss, and then the connection of texting, sharing an image of moss with a friend, sharing that moment through cellular towers.”

The album "adding up" by thanks for coming is composed of songs Rachel Brown wrote during what they believe to be the most challenging year of their life. Rachel now looks back on this time in appreciation, recognizing they grew in ways they had never imagined. The entire year, they were committed to following their feelings to wherever it may lead.

“If I hadn't been open to following the almost indiscernible signs I was being sent, then I would have missed out on some of the most important moments in my life.”

Kimberly Consroe holds a Masters in Anthropology along with degrees in Archaeology, Literature, and History. She is currently a Research Analyst at the US Department of Commerce. Her artwork is a passionate escape from a hectic professional life and touches on themes of feminism and nature.

Her works begin as general ideas; their narrative complexity growing with the amount of time she invests in making each one. Her decoupage process starts with cutting hundreds, if not thousands, pieces of paper. The accumulation of clippings sourced from vintage and current-day magazines overlap to tell a story. In Domestication, Kimberly borrows submissive female figures from found images of Ryan Mcguinness's work and places them in a position of power.

“I believe intuition is associated with emotion and experience. It is wisdom and fear, empathy and outrage, distrust and familiarity. It is what we know before we know it. This relates to my artwork in that, from beginning to end, there is never one complete idea concerning the outcome: it is a personal journey. It emerges from an ephemeral narrative that coalesces into a definitive story.”

Anabelle DeClement is a photographer who primarily works with film and is interested in relationships as they exist within a frame. She is drawn to the mystery of the mundane. Intuition exists in her practice as a feeling of urgency and the decision to act on it  ---  a drive often used to describe street photography where the camera catches unexpected moments in an urban environment. Anabelle tends to photograph individuals with whom she has established personal relationships in a slow domestic setting. Her sense of urgency lies in capturing moments of peak intimacy, preserving a memory's informal beauty that otherwise may have been forgotten or overlooked.

Gla5 is a visual artist, poet, bookmaker, production designer, and educator. Play is at the center of their practice. Their process is an experimental one embracing impulse and adventure. Their compositions are informed by relationships among bodies of varying shapes, materials, and densities. Interests that come up in their work include a discernment between symbols and non-symbols, dream states, the portrayal of energy in action, and a fixation on forms such as cups, tables, and spoons.

“I generally think of my work as depicting a layer of life that exists underneath what we see in our everyday lives.”

Gladys Harlow is a sound-based performance artist, comedian, and activist who experiments with found objects, contact mics, textures, range, analog formats, present moments, and emotions. Through raw, avant-garbage performance art, they aim to breakdown societal barriers, abolish oppressive systems, and empower communities. Gladys was born in Queens, NY, raised in Miami, FL and has deep roots in Venezuela. Currently haunting in Philadelphia, PA, Gladys is a founding member of Sound Museum Collective. SMC holds space for reconstructing our relationships to sounds by creating a platform for women, nonbinary, and trans sound artists and engineers.

Street Rat is a visceral exploration of the mysteries of life. Attempting to bring heavy concepts to your reality, it is the eye on the ground that sees and translates all intersecting issues as they merge, explode, dissolve, and implode. Street Rat is Gladys Harlow's way of comprehending, coping, feeling, taking action, disrupting the status quo, and rebuilding our path.

All Power To The People originated as a recorded performance intended to demystify sound by revealing the tools, wires, and movements used to create it. All Power To The People evolved into an installation conceived specifically for this exhibition. The installation includes a theremin and oscillator built by Gladys, a tarot deck they made by hand, and books from the artist's personal collection, amongst other elements. Gladys has created a structure of comfort and exploration. They welcome all visitors of divine knowing to play with the instrument, flip freely through the books, and pull a tarot card to take home.

Phoebe Hart is an experimental animator and filmmaker. A majority of her work is centered around mental illness and the line between dreams and reality. Merry Go Round is a sculptural zoetrope that changes in shape and color as it spins. Its form is inspired by nature and its color by the circus. The video’s sound was produced by Hayden Waggener. It consists of reverbing chimes which are in rhythm with the stop animation’s movement; both oscillate seamlessly between serene and anxious states.

“I often don't plan the sculptures or objects I am fabricating, there is a vague image in my mind, and my hands take care of the rest. I find that sometimes overthinking is what can get me and other artists stuck. If I just abandon my judgments and ego, I can really let go and create work that feels like it came inherently from me.”

Powerviolets is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Violet Hetson who is currently based in New York. After experiencing several false starts while bouncing coast to coast, recording and performing with several lineups, Hetson has finally released her debut album. ~No Boys~ namesake is a sarcastic sign she hung on her suburban CT teenage bedroom door. Violet Hetson grew up primarily listening to punk and hardcore. She parses elements of these genres with influences from bands such as X and Suburban Lawns. ~No Boys~ takes a softer, melodic approach to Hetson's punk roots. Powerviolets' music is linear, unconventional, dark, and airy with a sense of humor.

Mary Hunt is a fiber artist specializing in chain stitch embroidery. This traditional form of embroidery uses vintage machinery and thick thread to create fibrous art and embellishments. They use an approach called "thread painting," which requires each stitch to be hand guided by the turn of a knob underneath the table while the speed of movement is controlled by a foot pedal. Chainstitch works can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 200 hours, encouraging a slow and thoughtful process. Mary uses a Cornely A machine, made in Paris more than 100 years ago.

“I think we are sent messages and guidance constantly. Our intuition is simply our ability to clear the path for those messages. The largest obstacles on my artistic path are usually self-imposed negative thoughts. I simply do things to take care of my spiritual well-being, first and foremost, and the rest follows. If I can trust the universe, trust the process, then I am much more likely to listen to the messages sent my way.”

Jes the Jem is a multi-media artist working with acrylic, watercolor, mold clay, and whatever else she can get her hands on. She uses vivid color to bring joy into the lives of those who view her art. Jes the Jem has experienced a great deal of pain in her life. Through that unique displeasure, she has been gifted a nuanced perspective. She aims to energize the present while paying homage to the past events that shape us. In her art, her life, and her interpersonal relationships, Jes the Jem appreciates the gift of all of life's experiences.

“The pursuit of happiness and understanding is instinct.”

Pamela Kivi pieces together visual scraps she has saved over the years, choosing to fuse them at whatever present moment she sees fit. Her work reflects on creative mania, fleeting emotions, and memories. Pamela's collages are a compilation of unexpected elements that include: old notebooks, cut-outs, text messages or Facebook message conversations, nostalgic cellphone photos, and visual materials she has chosen to hold onto. She prints out, cuts up, scans, edits, repeats. Pamela's artistic practice is deeply personal. It is a submittal to the process of dusting things off until a reflection can be seen, all enacted without an attachment to the end result.

“I rely on intuition and whatever state of mind I am in to whisk me away. In life, I often confuse intuition with anxiety- when it comes to creative work, I can decipher the two.”

Through sobriety, Kendall Kolenik's focus has shifted toward self-discovery and shedding old adaptive patterns, a process that led her to a passion for helping others heal themselves too. In autumn, she will begin her Masters in Social Work at Columbia University.

“I love how when I'm painting my self-doubt becomes so apparent. Painting shows me exactly where my doubt lies, which guides me towards overriding it. When I paint something and lean into doubt, I don't like what comes out. When I take note of the resistance and go with my gut more freely, I love it. This reminds me of my yoga practice. What you practice on the mat is a metaphor for how you show up in life. By breathing through the uncomfortable poses on the mat, you learn to breathe through challenging life moments.

I think we all grow up learning to numb and edit ourselves. We are taught not to trust our feelings; we are told to look outside ourselves for answers when we already have a perfectly good compass within. Painting is an archway back to that for me - rediscovering self-reliance and faith in my first instinct. When I'm creating these rainbow squares, sometimes I move so fast it's like something else is carrying me. I sort of leave myself and enter a trance. Like how you don't have to tell the heart to beat or the lungs to breathe - thinking goes away and I can get so close to my knowing that I become it. I love how art allows me to access my love for ambiguity, interpretation, and an interpretation that feels closer to Truth. I find no greater purpose than guiding people back to safety and reconnecting them with themselves. The most important thing to ever happen in my life was when I stopped trying to deny my reality - listening to your intuition can be like a freefall - no one but you can ever know or tell you - it is a deep trust without any outside proof.”

Lucille Loffredo is a music school dropout, Jewish trans lesbian, and veterinary assistant doing her best to make sure each day is better than the last. Lucille tries to find the music rather than make it. She lets it tell her what it wants to do and what it wants to be. The Wandering EP was in part written as a way to come out to herself. She asks all listeners to please be gentle.

“Change will come, and it will be good. You are who you think you are, no matter how far it seems.”

Whitney Lorenze generally works without reference, making thick, graphic pictures with precise forms conceived almost entirely from her imagination. Images like a slowly rolling car crackling out of a driveway, afternoon sun rays shining through a cloud of humidity, or headlights throwing a lined shadow across a black bedroom inspire her.

“As it concerns my own practice and the creation of artworks generally, I would define intuition as the ability to succumb to some primal creative impulse. Of course, this implies also the ability to resist the temptations of producing a calculated or contrived output.”

Ellie Mesa began teaching herself to paint at the age of 15, exploring landscapes and portraiture. Her work has evolved into a style of painting influenced by surrealism where teddy bears will morph into demons and vice versa. Her work speaks to cuteness, the grotesque, and mystical beings. The painting "Kali" is an homage to the Hindu goddess of creation,  destruction, life and death. This was Ellie's first painting after becoming sober and is an expression of the aforementioned forces in her own life. Through meditations on Kali, Elli has been able to find beauty in the cycle of love and loss.

“To me, intuition means doing the thing that feels right whether or not it's what you want it to be. When I'm painting or making a sculpture, I give myself the freedom to follow what feels right, even if that means starting over or changing it completely. I allow the piece to present itself to me instead of forcing something that doesn't want to be.”

Mari Ogihara is a sculptor exploring duality, resilience, beauty, and serenity as experienced through the female gaze. Her work is informed by the duality of womanhood and the contradictions of femininity. In particular, the multitude of roles we inhabit as friend, lover, sister, and mother and their complex associations to the feminine perspective.

“Intuition is an innate, immediate reaction to an experience. While making art, I try to balance intuition, logic, and craftsmanship.”

All Of Me Is War by Ames Valaitis addresses the subconscious rifts society initiates between women, estranging them from each other and themselves.

“It is an unspoken, quick, and quiet battle within me as the feeling of intuition purely, and when I am making a drawing. I am immediately drawn to poses and subject matter that reflect the emotion inside myself, whether it is loud or under the surface. If a line or figure doesn't move me, after working on it for a few minutes, I get rid of it. If something looks right to me immediately, I keep it; nurture it. I try to let go of my vision, let my instinct take hold. I mirror this in my life as I get older, choosing who and what to put my energy into. The feeling is rarely wrong; I'd say we all know inherently when it is time to continue or tap out.”

Chardel Williams is a self-taught artist currently living in Bridgeport. Her biggest inspiration is her birthplace of Jamaica. Chardel views painting as a method for blocking out chaos. Her attraction to the medium springs from its coalescence of freedom, meditative qualities, and the connection it engenders. rears.

“Intuition for me is going where my art flows. I implement it in my practice by simply creating space and time to listen. There are times when what I'm painting is done in everyone else's eyes, but I just keep picking at it. Sometimes I would stop painting a piece and go months without touching it. Then, out of nowhere, be obsessed with finishing. I used to get frustrated with that process, but now I go with it. I stopped calling it a block and just flow with it. I listen because my work talks.”