Jake

Idle Thumbs 160: Die Übiverse

Recommended Posts

Harry Potter is a pretty Mary Sue character anyway, at least early on when he's suddenly brought to a fantastic place where he's a massive celebrity, an apparently hyper magical person and secretly super wizard rich. It's not a serious of books about breaking the mold of YA fiction.

 

I question targeting YA fiction though (based just on the paragraph that Flynn quoted) when that seems particularly true of many films and games too. Certainly not all, and you can imagine what kind of ones it does apply to, but it's not a YA specific problem and YA still has exceptions like the Hunger Games.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just skimmed that article too, and she does say that adults should embarrassed reading YA fiction, but specifically the "realistic fiction":

 

These are the books, like The Fault in Our Stars, that are about real teens doing real things, and that rise and fall not only on the strength of their stories but, theoretically, on the quality of their writing. These are the books that could plausibly be said to be replacing literary fiction in the lives of their adult readers. And that’s a shame.

 

So she's not referring to Hunger Games, Harry Potter etc., and I guess the point is that these are books written for teens about the experience of being a teen in a didactic, exploratory manner that shouldn't be of worth to the average adult.

 

I still think that article that Chris tweeted last time we had this discussion, about how adults should be ashamed to read HP on a plane or whatever, was bullshit, though.

 

 

Anyway, I think these blanket statements regarding entire genres are a different matter to talking about why a game you haven't played doesn't appeal to you based on your knowledge of it so far (which for me is a valid and interesting discussion to have).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think that the HP epilogue is in line with the general tone and structure of those books. That doesn't make it good or bad, it's just not out of place. What it does do, I assume unintentionally, is show how bad the Chosen One trope is. The disconnect between being a wizard Jesus and being just a normal dad is so bizarre.

 

I'm not saying it isn't. The HP books are kind of full of super lazy writing and wish fulfillment.

 

"Albus Severus Potter" is just fucking awful though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow, so much hate for Harry Potter! They're the best written books of our time. How dare you people act like you didn't love every aspect? This is a sham. I want a refund.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I like Harry Potter a lot and am less doomsday about YA fiction (although I agree some of the points of the article).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It sounds to me like those complaints are applicable to most fiction in general, not just YA. I know the Dresden files books (of which I'm a huge fan" tend to end up wrapping up without a whole lot of emotional concequence despite the emotional (and physical) wrestling that the characters go through in each book. There's also some history for that in TV, though the popular cable shows coming out recently (Game of Thrones, Sopranos, etc.) have been a little more brave with interesting endings.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It sounds to me like those complaints are applicable to most fiction in general, not just YA. I know the Dresden files books (of which I'm a huge fan" tend to end up wrapping up without a whole lot of emotional concequence despite the emotional (and physical) wrestling that the characters go through in each book. There's also some history for that in TV, though the popular cable shows coming out recently (Game of Thrones, Sopranos, etc.) have been a little more brave with interesting endings.

 

I was not at all vested in this conversation but you had to mention the Dresden files and now I disagree with everything everyone said!

 

But actually I don't and agree with what Dewar said.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The author of that Slate article had a short NPR interview wherre she acknowledged that there is good and bad fiction in YA and "adult" spheres. She wrote the article on YA specifically because of the current popularity that stuff like The Fault in Our Stars is enjoying. Her argument against adults reading YA wasn't so much about quality, because she states that there are good YA books, but more that YA isn't really relevant to adults with their adult experience. The benefit that a young person gets from reading YA versus what an adult would get is huge, or at least I hope it would be.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The author of that Slate article had a short NPR interview wherre she acknowledged that there is good and bad fiction in YA and "adult" spheres. She wrote the article on YA specifically because of the current popularity that stuff like The Fault in Our Stars is enjoying. Her argument against adults reading YA wasn't so much about quality, because she states that there are good YA books, but more that YA isn't really relevant to adults with their adult experience. The benefit that a young person gets from reading YA versus what an adult would get is huge, or at least I hope it would be.

 

I don't know if I agree with that either really, to me part of what makes stories great is their ability to show you someone else's viewpoint and world and then you can learn from that and how different it is to what you deal with in your world. Sure, I agree that if it makes up too much of what you read then your view is too narrow, but to me that means the answer is read more of all sorts of books, not just to avoid one area that's quite popular right now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would additionally argue that usually the choice isn't between adult and young adult books, it's between young adult books and nothing.

 

I guess we're not going to talk about what I brought this up to talk about? Darn.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I guess we're not going to talk about what I brought this up to talk about? Darn.

 

You can't un-sink a ship, Merus.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey, Idle Forums. I'm just going to leave this here. I don't have much else to add, except that Waluigi is indeed number one.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That was most enjoyable! The only thing that annoyed me was cutting back to [sean? The poem-reading Thumb] too often, and then the minute or so in the middle where it was just cutting between them in the studio for a good minute or so before the Waluigi balloon shows up.

 

I think the most important thing for these vids is not visual fidelity but variety.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry to keep bringing this thread back up without adding any meaningful discussion. I'll stop after this.

 

That was most enjoyable! The only thing that annoyed me was cutting back to [sean? The poem-reading Thumb] too often, and then the minute or so in the middle where it was just cutting between them in the studio for a good minute or so before the Waluigi balloon shows up.

 

I think the most important thing for these vids is not visual fidelity but variety.

 

Hey Ben. Thanks for the kind words and advice. I absolutely understand what you mean. Yes, that was Sean reading the poem. I use the cast cuts as a crutch (bah, unintended alliteration) so I didn't have to draw any more pictures. I will definitely try to keep it more varied in the future.

 

 

That's real good.

 

Thanks so much.

 

That was awesome.

 

Most appreciated.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Regarding the question of why so much of the most iconic video game music comes from the NES / SNES era, Chris and Jake danced around but didn't quite make the point that when you have limited sound channels available for music, pretty much the only thing you can do to make the music good is to have a really good melody.  So it makes sense that most of the best, most memorable game music melodies come from the era when melody was about thing you could do with game music.

 

Similarly, as Chris almost said, when you've got a realistic game like Far Cry 2 or Deus Ex: Human Revolution, it would be really out of place for the background music to have a catchy melody.  Those games use music more like film scores where it's trying to unobtrusively enhance the mood rather than be a noticeable thing in the foreground.  Conversely, a game like VVVVVV has no subtlety to the environment or the soundscape, so it's fine for the music to have a catchy melody right out front.  It's not stepping on anything else.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Did Chris or Sean ever post a picture of that hat Jake lost?   It may be unlikely that it could be replaced, but it wouldn't hurt to give us readers a chance to help you look for one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Did Chris or Sean ever post a picture of that hat Jake lost?   It may be unlikely that it could be replaced, but it wouldn't hurt to give us readers a chance to help you look for one.

 

Done and done. The lost hat (it says Cody, Wyoming and has the bucking bronco steamboat on the top)

 

6FTHlL7.png  VNE2uyJ.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now