#all this to reasonably justify making the kids watch ponyo but the rationale is that 1) it is a comfort film that people know

[waterfall-ambience]

on the topic of including modern media in perpetua: how the heck should i go about this

reasoning for doing it-

on some level, it is a story about stories. actually talking about media that the audience is familiar with helps keep the discussion 'legible'

referencing other media properties is commonplace in mcyt stories

not saying that i necessarily want perpetua to become (traditionally) unpublishable, but there might be a level of thematic 'merit' to making it so. right now, in the mess of ideas and Everything, there is a bit about how the characters struggle with or fail to meet the expectations that are placed upon them, and simply exist as themselves. perpetua only existing as something too complicated/unfinished/referential to be traditionally published could help drive this point home (but to lean into it? not sure).

potential methods:

reference whatever whenever, the things they watch are exactly as they are in our world.

similar to the above, change names and titles but keep plots and events the same

make up stories that only exist in their world, broadly analogous to stuff irl but don't go into it too much

no references, all stories in perpetua only exist to them, fuck it we ball

currently leaning towards references (3rd option) but im not sure bc i don't want it to come across as 'tacky' or ham-fisted

if ever, referenced material is limited to public domain and classics, but otherwise they must meet the following requirements:

ideally 10 years or older

reasonably popular (if you talked to someone irl about it, would they have at least heard of it? in cases of nerd culture, someone needs to have made fan-merch of it )

story has been completed

memes can be included but they need to naturally come from the characters themselves (eg avery's 'would you still love me if i were a fish' in an older draft of chapter 19)

exceptions to this must have enough narrative value to justify being included