love this piece and agree with everything you said! I’ve been seeing this discourse for a while now on booktok and I am quite passionate about it 😅 I hate that readers who engage critically with books are seen as people who “don’t have fun” or are “just trying to be different”. this whole “I turn my brain off” sentiment for reading has really affected the sphere of critiquing books. nothing is above criticism and I hope that these criticisms are normalized in the future (even tho they should be normalized now lol)
hi liv! thank you so so much for reading! i love this comment and yes i absolutely agree. i think people have also forgotten that regular analysis is still literary analysis and this doesn't mean you have to have a phd in literature to engage. it's a bit jarring to see themes ignored and glossed over in lieu of non-explored tropes when new releases are being published!
yes!!!!!!! omg I can't stand the anti intellectualism wave that's going on rn. this belief that critical thinking "ruins" the entertainment of a piece of media is so ????? like what are these people even fixating on if they can't tell you anything beyond the surface level?!?! just say you are into abuse apologia with your chest bc 95% of the time that's what is being defended 🙄 and for people who claim to love the genre or the medium or whatever, it feels really dismissive to the people creating the content when the anti intellectuals are handwaiving away people's analysis and/or critiques with "it's not that deep" like..... no, 99% of the time it is, they just want to turn their brains off and admitting the truth makes them feel guilty, so they have to badger everyone else to shut up or their escapism is no longer escapism bc it being escapism relies on their ignorance. AHHHHHHHHHH this is why I can't do fandom even tho my autistic ass does nothing but fixate on media whshdhdydhf
also omfg thank you for bringing up Baldoni when talking about It Ends With Us, I cannot rmbr what started it, but I have been wanting to fight that man for like a decade now.
"it's not that deep" is top ten fastest ways to get me insanely irritated because it is that deep. it was deep enough that you chose to write it. as for baldoni, i definitely find his angle on this interesting because out of all the books in the world? please be serious. he seems to be well intentioned but i'm tired of everyone else but him shouldering the blame when it comes to the conversation of the production of this film.
thank you for reading as always, rachel!! i adore you!
Amazing and well said. If I can add something else, it feels like a lot of these stories use serious topics as a plot device in such a gross way, and I’d like us to stop rewarding it.
Thinking critically about what we’re reading so we can demand more is the only way we’re going to push authors to be better writers and conversationalists.
These tend to be the Colleen Hoover type books that booktok seems to promote a lot.
YES. thank you so much for pointing this out. a really good example is the sexual assault content of haunting adeline. it's barely acknowledged, heavily romanticized, and then completely ignored by the author when critics call her out.
"Thinking critically about what we’re reading so we can demand more is the only way we’re going to push authors to be better writers and conversationalists."— yes this is so perfectly said. thank you so much for reading, my love!
this piece really hit home because this is exactly what i loved in college about studying literature and culture: the criticism. Engaging with a piece. Understanding the role of the character's ethnical background in the story. Their place in history. The economical class that theyre part of and how that ties in with the narrative voice. It was all absolutely amazing and its safe to say that i hate seeing books presented as "enemies to lovers troooope"
yes oh my god. i miss the long ass seminars i used to hate in high school because i genuinely am realizing how good they were for students. and do not get me started on enemies to lovers because i will be here for days. it's never done well or it's used in the most insane situations like literal fantasy genocides i—. thank you so much for reading!! i adore you!
Yesyesyes to all of that!! Every day of my life i consider saving up and doing another master's degree because i keep seeing courses that sounds so amazing about things that i didnt have time to immerse myself in!!
And yeeeeh the enemy to lovers... its always like "hes a literal psychopath who wanted to kill me but now we re in looovee because he took off his mask and hes hot" lol
love this piece and agree with everything you said! I’ve been seeing this discourse for a while now on booktok and I am quite passionate about it 😅 I hate that readers who engage critically with books are seen as people who “don’t have fun” or are “just trying to be different”. this whole “I turn my brain off” sentiment for reading has really affected the sphere of critiquing books. nothing is above criticism and I hope that these criticisms are normalized in the future (even tho they should be normalized now lol)
hi liv! thank you so so much for reading! i love this comment and yes i absolutely agree. i think people have also forgotten that regular analysis is still literary analysis and this doesn't mean you have to have a phd in literature to engage. it's a bit jarring to see themes ignored and glossed over in lieu of non-explored tropes when new releases are being published!
yes!!!!!!! omg I can't stand the anti intellectualism wave that's going on rn. this belief that critical thinking "ruins" the entertainment of a piece of media is so ????? like what are these people even fixating on if they can't tell you anything beyond the surface level?!?! just say you are into abuse apologia with your chest bc 95% of the time that's what is being defended 🙄 and for people who claim to love the genre or the medium or whatever, it feels really dismissive to the people creating the content when the anti intellectuals are handwaiving away people's analysis and/or critiques with "it's not that deep" like..... no, 99% of the time it is, they just want to turn their brains off and admitting the truth makes them feel guilty, so they have to badger everyone else to shut up or their escapism is no longer escapism bc it being escapism relies on their ignorance. AHHHHHHHHHH this is why I can't do fandom even tho my autistic ass does nothing but fixate on media whshdhdydhf
also omfg thank you for bringing up Baldoni when talking about It Ends With Us, I cannot rmbr what started it, but I have been wanting to fight that man for like a decade now.
"it's not that deep" is top ten fastest ways to get me insanely irritated because it is that deep. it was deep enough that you chose to write it. as for baldoni, i definitely find his angle on this interesting because out of all the books in the world? please be serious. he seems to be well intentioned but i'm tired of everyone else but him shouldering the blame when it comes to the conversation of the production of this film.
thank you for reading as always, rachel!! i adore you!
Amazing and well said. If I can add something else, it feels like a lot of these stories use serious topics as a plot device in such a gross way, and I’d like us to stop rewarding it.
Thinking critically about what we’re reading so we can demand more is the only way we’re going to push authors to be better writers and conversationalists.
These tend to be the Colleen Hoover type books that booktok seems to promote a lot.
YES. thank you so much for pointing this out. a really good example is the sexual assault content of haunting adeline. it's barely acknowledged, heavily romanticized, and then completely ignored by the author when critics call her out.
"Thinking critically about what we’re reading so we can demand more is the only way we’re going to push authors to be better writers and conversationalists."— yes this is so perfectly said. thank you so much for reading, my love!
Colleen Hoover books need to fall out of vogue TODAY. Love your publication btw
i love YOU btw
very well said! disagreements are part of life! discourse is necessary!! loved 💗
maria i love you so much!! every time i see your name in my notifications i smile as wide as i can!!
this piece really hit home because this is exactly what i loved in college about studying literature and culture: the criticism. Engaging with a piece. Understanding the role of the character's ethnical background in the story. Their place in history. The economical class that theyre part of and how that ties in with the narrative voice. It was all absolutely amazing and its safe to say that i hate seeing books presented as "enemies to lovers troooope"
yes oh my god. i miss the long ass seminars i used to hate in high school because i genuinely am realizing how good they were for students. and do not get me started on enemies to lovers because i will be here for days. it's never done well or it's used in the most insane situations like literal fantasy genocides i—. thank you so much for reading!! i adore you!
Yesyesyes to all of that!! Every day of my life i consider saving up and doing another master's degree because i keep seeing courses that sounds so amazing about things that i didnt have time to immerse myself in!!
And yeeeeh the enemy to lovers... its always like "hes a literal psychopath who wanted to kill me but now we re in looovee because he took off his mask and hes hot" lol