a rant.

baroque-mirrors:

So much of TV is way too concerned with being Clever™ right now. There’s this pervasive myth that audiences won’t enjoy a narrative climax unless it’s a total surprise. “Predictable” is always used as a pejorative term when it comes to storytelling, but I think that’s absolute crap, because here’s the thing:

Unpredictability is not, inherently, a virtue. Unpredictability can mean: a) you don’t have a clear grasp on who your characters are or what direction they’re growing. b) you don’t have a clear vision for the story you’re trying to tell. c) you don’t know how to tell the story (for example, you have a Point A and a Point B but the middle is a bunch of disjointed time-wasting filler.

“But,” the showrunners cry, “you never saw that twist coming! We kept you on your toes!” That does not make it good. Cleverness is often just smoke and mirrors designed to distract the audience from a lack of substance; it doesn’t guarantee a worthwhile story. I don’t want to be shocked for the sake of surprise – I want to feel like the experience was worth my time.

I want to be introduced to a character, and then I want to be taken on a journey with that character. I want every step of that journey to teach me who they are; what they believe, what they want, what they hate, what they fear, and what they love, so that when they are faced with a conflict or a critical moment of decision, I understand exactly why they do what they do. I’m hoping their choices in that moment will reveal something truthful and powerful and worth knowing about another person’s experience.

That’s what I want in a story. I genuinely don’t care whether it’s clever or predictable or whatever; I just want a worthwhile journey in which every moment of every episode means something – to the character(s), and to me. That’s what makes serial television satisfying. It has nothing to do with shock or intellect or reinventing the wheel, it’s just about telling the damn story in a way that makes you feel it.

afro-elf:

nerdy white women grow weaker in my eyes each time one of them is faced with a challenge from a nerdy woman of color and they pull out the “but… GIRL????” card

coffeeandufos:

Spectrum outfitters is a new UK BASED company that is about to start selling binders

I know this damn website is so Americanised but PLEASE reblog this! Transmasculine people in the UK have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for shipping from America. This could change all that.

Support your UK trans community. Reblog this. Get the word out.

nonbinarist:

z-nogyrop:

alexiorsay:

ppl are always like “no game is perfect you can’t please EVERYbody” but when was the last time you heard a motherfucker complain about portal

should have contained more portals. i was disappointed by the number of portals

z i hate to break this to you but you as the player are always in direct control of the amount of portals