"The viewer, reader, listener or player is the final artist to work on the project"- love this perspective! I totally agree, I have even found that the mood I am in when reading something will influence what I take from it.
I just finished reading a novel that left me kind of blah even though I read it straight through over the weekend. I enjoyed some of the characters (there were too many!), loved the themes, but hated the plot holes (my favorite character got no resolution). I went back and forth between rating it a 4 or 3. I finally settled on 3 after reading your article and understanding what I felt while I reading. Thanks again!
I love the idea that every reader experiences the book a different way. Just read any series of reviews and it becomes clear. The funny thing is that I will totally go to Wikipedia and read through the plot of a show or movie or book that I didn't enjoy and quit on just so I can know how it ended. This is rare, but I've done it. Like with most of season 4 of The Boys. I was tired of the gore and wanted to see if they figured out how to kill Homelander, the show's main villain.
AI, I think, is good for summaries or discussing themes when I'm relooking at novels I've read or movies I've seen that speak to what I'm writing. Sometimes I read up on plot there to revisit how the author or director pulled off a scene or a twist maybe that I found intriguing and wanted to use as inspiration for my WIP. In that case, I'm already familiar with the story; I just need a refresh that won't take 2 or 20 hours to re-experience.
Yeah, it works better for jogging your own memory. Far more effective for researching topics you already know about, than new and unfamiliar territory.
Yeah, I really like that aspect — I know this, but I want to examine it further, and it's in that aspect of AI as a research assistant, with whom I can have a conversation, is great.
Plot simply comprises the footprints and fingerprints of characters. Plot is NOT a map drafted before the journey; it is the map created after the journey.
On movies and box office numbers: I think it's because the movie reviewers have tastes so far removed from the general public that most people don't trust what the critics say and are trying to use financial success as a proxy for the reviewers "like them" who don't exist.
I think there's also an aspect of having to 'prove' their opinion on a film. And obviously you can't prove an opinion, because it's an opinion, so they then turn to financial numbers in search of a definitive, factual representation of their world view. "Your opinion on this film is wrong because look at the numbers."
It's a weird linking of business and art in a way that I don't remember happening pre-internet. In the 90s, making less money on something was a badge of honour! It meant being indie and rebellious, and not selling out. I suppose back then we simply didn't have access to the data in the first place!
Of course, it's not a very good proxy because of franchise and marketing effects. D&D Honor among thieves is a good movie that flopped because of a PR fiasco earlier that year by the company that makes D&D unrelated to the movie
Perhaps students are using AI tools in that manner, but I can't think why others would. Is everyone cheating in casual conversation now? 😁
Lots of people are deeply immersed in film. I don't always have to call Tarantino to get a deep dive on something I've already seen. I can draw on Reddit and YouTube when I'm still trying to figure out why I loathed something that has been widely praised, or vice versa. Or when I want a better understanding of why something did or didn't work.
Same with books that are at my extreme ends of like or dislike.
It's always reassuring to find that I've not lost the plot, as it were, or to gain something from other points of view.
An awful lot of popular fiction is plot driven. Think Dan Brown, or top selling genres such as romance, murder mysteries, suspense, police procedurals, fantasy, and so on. Readers will often say how much they enjoy certain characters, but we know all those detectives are too often interchangeable.
I've read a heap of top selling and mid-level forgettable novels in the last couple of years, and plot holes really piss me off, as do poor endings.
On the other hand, I'm frequently fond of books and films about nothing in particular, and ambiguous endings are often a delight.
I've noticed that books with themes have become like sledge hammers in current times, more soapbox than craft, and therefore extremely bloody annoying.
So many thoughts on this essay!!
I've never asked an AI tool to give me a summary or critique a book or a film. Maybe that day will come, but not yet.
On explainer videos: there's a handful of youtubers that I like to watch either first-time-reacting to movies or explaining with snark. Mostly I watch ones about movies I already saw, and it feels like I watched the movie again without devoting 2 hrs. sometimes I just enjoy those channels on movies I have no taste for and no intention of watching. I agree though, I would never say I've "seen" Ice Age just because i watched hi boi explain it!
On rereading or rewatching something years later: I grew up watching Last Unicorn over and over again. It shaped my musical taste and my identity. But now at going-on-44 I see things as much from Molly's pov, and hearing "now that I'm a woman, everything has changed" devastates me. But I still love it deeply, and I follow Peter S Beagle's facebook page (at least i think its really him). And though I don't comment, I feel good seeing inspirational posts from him on my feed
Yes! Every artistic encounter is individual, particularly with books, where you even have to create all the images yourself in your head. I've returned after 20 years to a film I loved and barely even recognised it as the same thing (and definitely no longer enjoyed it), because life experience I guess makes me put different interpretations on actions and dialogue. This is also one reason I rarely re-read books, I don't want to ruin a pleasant memory.
The best illustration of story being more than plot is all the novels, films etc based on the same classic tale, whether Shakespeare or a Greek myth or Jane Austen. In the last few years I've read Pride and Prejudice, and a novel called Unmarriageable which is P&P set in modern Pakistan, and the plot summaries would be the same but they have such different vibes. Unless you were using it like we used to use York Notes (to scrape through GCSE Eng Lit without having to read the set texts) I can't see why you would want to skip reading a book so that AI could tell you what it's about.
Interestingly, in a work context the main use I keep hearing about for genAI is for summarising reports and research papers, that's really all anyone I run across can think of to use it for. Doesn't bode well.
Reading The Lord of the Rings is like going on a hike. Zelda: Breath of the Wild feels rather like being in The Lord of the Rings, except instead of faithfully heading straight off to Mordor*, I can wander off and spend more time with the Ents, or making rabbit stew, or exploring all the culinary possibilities, or paraglide throughout the world.
That for me is the key difference between the interactivity of word-stories and (this type of) video games.
*I could even reach Mordor in BotW much more speedily than Frodo, if I wanted!
"The viewer, reader, listener or player is the final artist to work on the project"- love this perspective! I totally agree, I have even found that the mood I am in when reading something will influence what I take from it.
I just finished reading a novel that left me kind of blah even though I read it straight through over the weekend. I enjoyed some of the characters (there were too many!), loved the themes, but hated the plot holes (my favorite character got no resolution). I went back and forth between rating it a 4 or 3. I finally settled on 3 after reading your article and understanding what I felt while I reading. Thanks again!
I love the idea that every reader experiences the book a different way. Just read any series of reviews and it becomes clear. The funny thing is that I will totally go to Wikipedia and read through the plot of a show or movie or book that I didn't enjoy and quit on just so I can know how it ended. This is rare, but I've done it. Like with most of season 4 of The Boys. I was tired of the gore and wanted to see if they figured out how to kill Homelander, the show's main villain.
AI, I think, is good for summaries or discussing themes when I'm relooking at novels I've read or movies I've seen that speak to what I'm writing. Sometimes I read up on plot there to revisit how the author or director pulled off a scene or a twist maybe that I found intriguing and wanted to use as inspiration for my WIP. In that case, I'm already familiar with the story; I just need a refresh that won't take 2 or 20 hours to re-experience.
Yeah, it works better for jogging your own memory. Far more effective for researching topics you already know about, than new and unfamiliar territory.
Yeah, I really like that aspect — I know this, but I want to examine it further, and it's in that aspect of AI as a research assistant, with whom I can have a conversation, is great.
Plot simply comprises the footprints and fingerprints of characters. Plot is NOT a map drafted before the journey; it is the map created after the journey.
On movies and box office numbers: I think it's because the movie reviewers have tastes so far removed from the general public that most people don't trust what the critics say and are trying to use financial success as a proxy for the reviewers "like them" who don't exist.
I think there's also an aspect of having to 'prove' their opinion on a film. And obviously you can't prove an opinion, because it's an opinion, so they then turn to financial numbers in search of a definitive, factual representation of their world view. "Your opinion on this film is wrong because look at the numbers."
It's a weird linking of business and art in a way that I don't remember happening pre-internet. In the 90s, making less money on something was a badge of honour! It meant being indie and rebellious, and not selling out. I suppose back then we simply didn't have access to the data in the first place!
Of course, it's not a very good proxy because of franchise and marketing effects. D&D Honor among thieves is a good movie that flopped because of a PR fiasco earlier that year by the company that makes D&D unrelated to the movie
That D&D movie was enormous fun. I'd started playing D&D a year earlier and it all hit rather cleverly. :D
Perhaps students are using AI tools in that manner, but I can't think why others would. Is everyone cheating in casual conversation now? 😁
Lots of people are deeply immersed in film. I don't always have to call Tarantino to get a deep dive on something I've already seen. I can draw on Reddit and YouTube when I'm still trying to figure out why I loathed something that has been widely praised, or vice versa. Or when I want a better understanding of why something did or didn't work.
Same with books that are at my extreme ends of like or dislike.
It's always reassuring to find that I've not lost the plot, as it were, or to gain something from other points of view.
An awful lot of popular fiction is plot driven. Think Dan Brown, or top selling genres such as romance, murder mysteries, suspense, police procedurals, fantasy, and so on. Readers will often say how much they enjoy certain characters, but we know all those detectives are too often interchangeable.
I've read a heap of top selling and mid-level forgettable novels in the last couple of years, and plot holes really piss me off, as do poor endings.
On the other hand, I'm frequently fond of books and films about nothing in particular, and ambiguous endings are often a delight.
I've noticed that books with themes have become like sledge hammers in current times, more soapbox than craft, and therefore extremely bloody annoying.
So many thoughts on this essay!!
I've never asked an AI tool to give me a summary or critique a book or a film. Maybe that day will come, but not yet.
On explainer videos: there's a handful of youtubers that I like to watch either first-time-reacting to movies or explaining with snark. Mostly I watch ones about movies I already saw, and it feels like I watched the movie again without devoting 2 hrs. sometimes I just enjoy those channels on movies I have no taste for and no intention of watching. I agree though, I would never say I've "seen" Ice Age just because i watched hi boi explain it!
On rereading or rewatching something years later: I grew up watching Last Unicorn over and over again. It shaped my musical taste and my identity. But now at going-on-44 I see things as much from Molly's pov, and hearing "now that I'm a woman, everything has changed" devastates me. But I still love it deeply, and I follow Peter S Beagle's facebook page (at least i think its really him). And though I don't comment, I feel good seeing inspirational posts from him on my feed
I do watch the occasional video that explores the themes of a movie. That can be interesting, and provide a deeper or alternate reading of the text.
I do get confused by the videos which simply recount what happened, beat for beat, but dress it up as some kind of critique.
Also, writing for a game seems like something I would love. So many games now have amazing writing and acting.
Yes! Every artistic encounter is individual, particularly with books, where you even have to create all the images yourself in your head. I've returned after 20 years to a film I loved and barely even recognised it as the same thing (and definitely no longer enjoyed it), because life experience I guess makes me put different interpretations on actions and dialogue. This is also one reason I rarely re-read books, I don't want to ruin a pleasant memory.
The best illustration of story being more than plot is all the novels, films etc based on the same classic tale, whether Shakespeare or a Greek myth or Jane Austen. In the last few years I've read Pride and Prejudice, and a novel called Unmarriageable which is P&P set in modern Pakistan, and the plot summaries would be the same but they have such different vibes. Unless you were using it like we used to use York Notes (to scrape through GCSE Eng Lit without having to read the set texts) I can't see why you would want to skip reading a book so that AI could tell you what it's about.
Interestingly, in a work context the main use I keep hearing about for genAI is for summarising reports and research papers, that's really all anyone I run across can think of to use it for. Doesn't bode well.
Different adaptations of the same source material is a great example!
Reading The Lord of the Rings is like going on a hike. Zelda: Breath of the Wild feels rather like being in The Lord of the Rings, except instead of faithfully heading straight off to Mordor*, I can wander off and spend more time with the Ents, or making rabbit stew, or exploring all the culinary possibilities, or paraglide throughout the world.
That for me is the key difference between the interactivity of word-stories and (this type of) video games.
*I could even reach Mordor in BotW much more speedily than Frodo, if I wanted!
hence why i am addicted to Skyrim. I haven't played many other games and fear I would also get addicted to Breath of the Wild :D
Wouldn’t it be good to be addicted to multiple games? 🤔