[ SECRET POST #2692 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2692 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 070 secrets from Secret Submission Post #385.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[seventh_seal]

So, English majors, Film majors, other similar fields majors - did dissecting how books are written and movies made forever destroy your enjoyment of said works, or is it just a myth?

[rubbertea]

no, it didn't. if i love a book, i'll enjoy analyzing it even more. on the other hand, if i hate it, analyzing will make me loathe it.

[(Anonymous)]

No, for a couple of reasons.

1. I tend to do that with the stuff I like anyway. I call it fandom.
2. The books assigned for class aren't usually ones I'd read for pleasure. In one case, a book I was assigned was really fun to break apart and analyze but actually reading it put me to sleep.

[cushlamochree]

I didn't major in those fields, but I took some classes in those majors. I really enjoyed doing those things, and it never made me dislike anything I read. In fact it made me love a lot of things much, much more. That stuff is fascinating.

[souljelly]

Former English major here - nope, it increased my enjoyment of most of the stuff I read because I could still enjoy it on the most basic level but also had a bunch of different levels/interpretations I could use to inform my reading.

[dreemyweird]

I'm not an English major but I've done a fair share of dissecting, literary criticism and English literature classes included, and I must say I have to join these folks upthread. No, it didn't destroy my enjoyment at all.

In fact, if I already like the work, "dissecting" it only enhances my admiration; while if I am indifferent to it, analysing it does not affect my feelings.

Though admittedly if I dislike the work I'm dissecting, I may eventually become a hate-expert seeking an opportunity to rant about the work in question and frothing at the mouth every time it gets mentioned :/

[(Anonymous)]

Nope. I'd go so far as to say being a creative writing major who took a handful of film classes enhanced my enjoyment of media because now I have the words to express why things do or don't work.

[(Anonymous)]

The "forever" part is the myth, for me. It did ruin things for awhile there, but I've adapted.

[inkdust]

Nope. Editing and proofreading work took care of that. Analysis was great.

[dimestoresaint]

Nope! It made me enjoy them more.

I'm sure that's true for some people, but those people chose the wrong field of study.

[(Anonymous)]

It doesn't in general, but there have been a few works or authors for which I have developed a festering kind of resentment.

Though I encountered some really great works which I would have never have come across on my own during mycourse of study as well, and overall those definitely outweigh the stuff I can't stand anymore.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not so much the dissection as it is the fact that you basically don't read for pleasure at ALL for four years. You're well-schooled in Wordsworth and Keats, but it takes a while to sit down and read for fun as often as you used to.

Although poetry analysis did make me sort of hate poetry.

[(Anonymous)]

Well not really dissecting a movie or whatever, but sometimes when I watch one I become overly aware about lighting and angles and the goddamn golden ratio. If I first start to think about the golden ratio during a movie I will think to myself, "Here they used the golden ration, here they didn't, there they did and there again, and there they didn't." It doesn't really destroy my enjoyment, but it does annoy me, especially if I start thinking about it in the beginning of a movie, because then I will keep thinking about it until it ends.

Most of the time I succeed in pushing back these things though. Luckily.

[skippydelicious]

It did at first, when I was in the first phase of studying, when by necessity it was all I could think of. However once I progressed in studies and had a firm grasp on the concepts, it has eased of dramatically. I guess it is like anything, when you are beginning you see it everywhere (and want to show off your knowledge so are always speaking about it, and sounding like a jackass) and then you mature a bit and it no longer is everything.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly the opposite! I've always loved stories about stories, and knowing more about how stories work and how humans create stories and pass them along has only made it better and more interesting.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes and no. I'm not a Film major, but I know my way around the technical stuff that goes into film-making.

At the beginning I had a hard time trying to turn my brain off because I kept getting distracted with every single minor detail, especially editing and lighting. Nowadays, not so much. It's become easier for me to just kick back and watch movies without constantly trying to figure out how the crew achieved a certain technical trick or other. If anything, it's made me appreciate films more because now I'm more aware of how exhausting making a film, even if it's a shitty ones, is.

That said, learning about sound editing destroyed movies and shows for me for a while. It was horrible to find out that literally every sound in every movie ever was fake.

[cakemage]

Nope. Sometimes it even enhances my love of a work.

[lunabee34]

Nope. :)

[silvereriena]

Nope. I enjoy analyzing fiction anyway, and the thing about a lot of literature is that since there are so many interpretations one can have, you can always pick one that you like best. Also, I find it easy to switch off my English lit mode and mindlessly enjoy something as well.

[(Anonymous)]

Myth! It made it so much better.

[(Anonymous)]

For the most part, no -- at least for books.

I don't think I would've enjoyed the Great Gatsby at all without the in-depth analysis and historical context that I was taught alongside reading the book. This was the first book that I know I wouldn't have liked at all but I appreciated a lot once I knew about all the symbolism in it, etc.

Generally, the more I learn about a book and the more I'm directed to look at how it's crafted and why, the more engaged I am. But, as others have said, most books I read for my English major I wouldn't have touched on my own and most of the time I was rather blah about the choices my teachers made.

However, when the book/story is something I enjoyed, learning more about it just made everything better. For instance, I'm pretty sure I would've enjoyed The Canterbury Tales even without analysis, but learning about the careful word choice and writing styles Chaucer was playing with really opened up the poem further and made me aware of a lot of fun stuff that his audience would've gotten but don't really translate nowadays.

[kallanda_lee]

Film major:

In a way, yes, though it depends on how well the movie is made.

It also depends on the genre. But, let's say with your average horror flick I'll be going "right, so this is the false scare, now the real one's coming". I also seem to see plot twists coming more often than some of my friends.

Bad camerawork can really bugs me (and ruin my enjoyment). And there's little funny things. I've literally found myself contemplating the lighting and color palette in porn before. It happens.

But, I can partially turn it off.

I'd say it made me pickier. And it makes some things more predictable. But a good film is still a good film - and a good story can still move me to tears.

[(Anonymous)]

See, the thing is I think someone who picks one of those majors is someone who's not gonna be off-put by that over-analyzing effect...I specifically avoided English classes when possible because it DID ruin books for me (and 'cause I hated reading books I hate just to pick them apart)

I will say that Galaxy Quest was ruined for me for a while when I wrote a giant paper on it, but I got over it after a while.

[cbrachyrhynchos]

Just a myth.

[(Anonymous)]

As an English major, it actually made me appreciate literature even more. That includes contemporary novels like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc. It's easier to see old time literature themes, structures, and prose used in novels. An example would be how the chiastic structure is used in the Harry Potter series. I guess it can ruin literature for some people, but for me it's like how people who master a musical instrument can appreciate songs in which that instrument is being played. You just get that much more insight into a piece of art that you wouldn't have had before.