Tag Archives: old

In With the Old [And In With the New]: The Silver Lining of Intertextuality

Last Friday I asked you all to watch a short video on the concept of intertextuality, which provides the basis for this week’s post.

While Nerdwriter1, the YouTuber responsible, initially describes the device as “something in a text, in this case a movie, that is shaped by another text” he later goes a step further in making the term distinct from mere allusion. Contemporary intertextuality, which he refers to as being “weaponized”, is defined as:

“objects, people or situations explicitly meant to trigger an emotional response”

To use my own visual example, successful intertextuality results in a combination of:

and

Being able to recognize and understand the reference is important, but equally essential is having that recognization elicit feelings, whether they be of awe, or joy, or pleasant surprise. Simply identifying a shot in a film as the replication of a comic book panel matters most if you care[d] about that original work. Continue reading

2 Broke Girls, S5E14 “And You Bet Your Ass”: A TV Review

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Have you ever watched an episode of 2 Broke Girls and thought to yourself, “That episode ended too soon”? The latest installment of Max and Caroline’s Hollywood adventures continues this week, and somehow manages to feel much shorter than its 21-minute runtime.

A large part of that is because the show largely eschews showing for telling, with two big moments taking place entirely off camera and only referenced after the fact. While this can be effective, the result is ultimately more confusing than anything else. For sitcoms the primary goal is to make your viewers laugh, but the second priority of telling a good story comes swiftly behind that. A lack of emphasis on that aspect is what leads to viewers being confused as to whether or not a love interest has been written out or not. Continue reading

Thoughts on Season 8 of Doctor Who (i.e. Will Peter Capaldi Kill the Doctor?)

I’m going to be touching on the first five episodes of Season 8 of Doctor Who in this article, so I want to give you fair warning before reading on.

Ever since Peter Capaldi was announced as the new Doctor in August 2013 Whovians have been complaining that he was “too old”. This is probably because a huge chunk of the Whovian fandom is young women who project themselves onto the companion character.

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Growing Old

Just a few seconds ago, I saw a picture of a time capsule embedded in the flooring of a mall in Calgary, listed to be unearthed in the year 2999. I had misread the caption at first as 2099, and thought to myself, “Huh- seems like a waste. I’ll still be alive for that.”

The full implication of that just struck me.

I’m going to be alive in 2099.

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What Do You Want From Me?

As this Sunday draws to a close, I’m bracing myself for the inevitable chorus of “So… what did you do over the weekend?” I’ll be encountering at work. I’ll be giving the same answer I always give:

“Nothing.”

Well, that’s not entirely true. I slept in, did a little reading, cleaned up my house, shopped for groceries, and surfed the web a bit. Barring the occasional oil change on my car, that’s pretty much all I do.

And for some reason, people take issue with that. I really and truly can’t count the number of times I’ve been called “old.” “You’re the oldest 22 year old I know.” “Your idea of fun… it’s like a 50 year old’s.” “You’re like an old man.”

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