I am curious how you are able to make crazy indepth reads of HxH characters (I am a huge fan aswell and I continually look for analyzations like yours to understand Togashiās writing better). Do you have any tips or guides, suggestions? I am similar age and study english, but nothing this in-depth in my classes (in my opinion). Thank you
I Aw, shucks! I appreciate that, anon. As far as suggestions go, Iād say that the most helpful things for me with regards to analysis and meta and stuff have been doing a lot of reading, both fandom and professional, and seeking out other people who do analysis and review. Iāve always been a big reader, so certain plot points and character archetypes become recognizable over time, and that helps a lot with forming analysis about character foils, parallels, plot twists, etc. As well as deeper analysis about the story as a whole. One of my creative writing professors made a point that, by and large, stories can be reduced (as one might reduce a lovely sauce) to a single, central question. Will the One Ring be destroyed? Yes. Will Voldemort be defeated? Yes. Will Elizabeth and Darcy get together? Yes. And the more complex layers of storytelling are laid upon that foundation.
Oops I Wrote A Lot Hereās A Read More
Now, I donāt think that holds true 100%, but I do think that it can be useful to look at a storyline or character and pare it down to the basics. āWhy is this in the story?ā is a good question to ask. In good writing, everything has a purpose that serves the story as a whole. For all the problems in Harry Potter, for example, the story structure is very tight and the characters have clear arcs with satisfying, meaningful payoffs. Generally. Anyway, itās a good one to learn about plot threads with.
Fandom-wise, I think that the most eye-opening analytical stuff Iāve seen has been either in that same vein (eg. meta about Harryās coping with trauma in book 5) or been about media representation. Questioning why characters are written the way they are, what agendas are hidden or betrayed by the narrative, etc. Abandon āDeath of the Authorā for a bit and delve into how an authorās mindset is revealed by their writing.
For me, the best thing, though, was getting into Lit classes where we focused on one book. For the whole time. That was great, because having a discussion on ~one chapter each week gives far more time to dig into writing techniques, syntax, word choice, and story beats than if you had to read the whole book in a rush. I adored being in a class on Nabokovās Lolita, and itās still among my favorite reads. That book is great to pick apart, because the question at its heart isnāt āWill Humbert Humbert abuse Lolita?ā, the question is āWill Humbert Humbertās narration sway you, the reader, to sympathize with him?ā. There are so many tiny details to pick up... Nabokov really Did That. Another good read is his Pale Fire, and that one has less... confronting subject matter. So if you can get into discussions like that, I highly recommend it.
Also, for fun, YouTube reviews of bad stuff babyyyy I really like the channel Folding Ideas (though he does more movie-focused stuff), hbomberguyās Sherlock is Garbage, And Hereās Why is both hilarious and really detailed as to why certain parts (read: all of it) fall flat and Iāll swallow my pride and admit to watching Digibroās anime analysis stuff (Sword Art Online, Asterisk War) for kicks, he makes some good points.
Um... thatās all I can think of right now. I hope that was at least somewhat helpful? My last point is that when doing analysis for fun, I just donāt bother writing about stuff thatās not interesting to me personally. For more educational or professional contexts thereās merit in finding a way to work with material thatās dull, but like, if Iām writing about HxH in my free time Iām not gonna write about Chrollo. I just donāt like him and I wouldnāt enjoy it. So when stretching your meta-writing muscles, just donāt strain yourself, the pain could well do more harm than good. There, a nice metaphor to cap off this long ass post.
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