Updates and Things

I have made some great "progress" this year with my Reading Challenge- I've finished 92 books out my goal of 100, and it's only the beginning of November! This sounds really impressive, but a lot of filler books and mindless books in series make up the majority of the list.

I have severe reader's guilt, though, that when I'm reading books about Percy Jackson or Sookie Stackhouse I should really be more interested with classic and modern literature, stuff that scholars all have under their belts by this point. I consider myself well-read, though, and I think part of being well-read and thinking critically about texts is the ability to do so in any genre and with a book from any time period. Symbolism isn't dead in YA fantasy, okay? Fantasy novels are ripe with metaphors and interesting ways of dealing with problems (mostly psychological/coming-of-age, but there's way more if you look), and even when I think I'm reading a "mindless" novel, I can never simply STOP thinking critically about it.

Interpreting art in modern forms is really done the same way as interpreting art classically. I mean, you can engage a current text with the same kind of checklists and questions which you use to analyze a respected or classic novel. I count music, video games, and movies with this category as well. I think analyzing video games and movies the way we do literature is a huge step that a lot of people in pop culture just aren't taking-- the consumer, of course, not the creators. The creators just layer all these ideas and metaphors in these under-represented forms of media and we just ignore it. Ask a 17 year old kid what he thinks the implications of the ending of BioShock Infinite are, and if they are indicative of any current political/social/economic crises, and he will probably look at you confusedly and try to explain to you the plot or something. NO, OKAY? THIS IS NOT OKAY! We should be teaching kids how to apply critical thinking to everything. Listen to your music like you would read a poem in English... I think all but the most shallow of songs have intricately woven stories behind stories, and metaphors that could potentially change the way you think. In life, things are scheduled into tiny, neat boxes that contain Science in one slot and English in another and History in another, although that's kind of how we are taught to think. Pop culture and the problem-solving and analytical skills we learn in school aren't ever presented in the same box, much as the separate subjects aren't every really taught compatibly. Life in no way reflects this, but it's really hard for people to get out of that mindset after 12 years of being trained to think that way.

How what I am experiencing right now will change me and allow me to percieve the world in different ways is my favorite part of watching movies and playing video games, listening to music and reading books, sitting through lectures and listening to educational podcasts, even learning foreign languages. I really hope that one day I can convince just ONE person to apply their analytical skills to their pop culture intake, and see how that changes their view on even one tiny detail. I would really consider myself a success if I could convince that one person that there is merit and even necessity to this way of thinking... I just really want to influence someone for the better. Can I be a teacher now if I promise to try and make one infinitesimally small slice of the world a more analytical and harmonious place?

Molte beine, Allons-y!