#clairemorello

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RNM March For Meta - The Scenic Route

What scene defines an episode? A character? A ship? What’s your favorite dramatic scene and why? Comedic scene? Romantic scene? What’s an underrated scene, in your opinion

My favorite dramatic scene is the scene of Isobel getting back into her “pod.” This scene shows Max and Liz dramatically bringing Isobel into the cave where the pods are located. Isobel is dressed in a hospital gown, looking distressed, and faces the pods as she undresses. Liz helps Isobel undress herself, then right after, Isobel slowly covers herself in the silver slime. The scene is extremely dramatic, it is in slow motion with music that elaborates the theme. Isobel slowly covers her entire body in this slimy silver substance, as her eyes close and she hops into this mysterious pod. This scene is not only dramatic, but it is also devastating. Max, Michael, and Liz surround her as she hops into this pod for a little amount of time. This scene is dramatic, yet my favorite. It feels very sentimental and the emotions are high the entire scene. Although, this scene is not underrated, as it is very dramatic, it is extremely important and the producers make it known that it is important. 

[aliensandidentity-sp21]

Stein - The Limits of infinite scroll

“Where the interface limitations of Tumblr are many, and can make it feel very opaque and confusing to newcomers, at the same time Tumblr conveys a sensation of limitlessness”

This article goes over two different types of aesthetic forms, the gif set and the fanmix. These, and others are different types of ways that fans communicate, and some can be extremely creative. First, gifs can be animated or not animated, and have evolved mostly on tumblr. Tumblr is a place where no arrow is necessary, just keep scrolling and more will come. Fans can share these gifs or create themselves. These gifs can show particular moments, or even have lyrics. Some gifs will have multiple visual sources together. I personally have seen many gifs and also use gifs, and they are a great and comical way to convey information or portray something that was seen on a show or some other type of media. The next type is the “fanmix.” Fanmixes are similar to gifs in a sense that they also reflect the fan culture. Fanmixes are playlists dedicated to a series, a character, or a relationship within the series that portray songs that really recollect the visuals, narrative, and story world. Many of these are shown within locked communities, or public ones. It was particularly interesting reading about fanmixes, since I am considering creating a fanmix myself. Reading this really put it into perspective on what a fanmix is, and how useful it can be.

[aliensandidentity-sp21]

3 Fanfiction Favorites

1. Painted nails: FlyofDragon https://archiveofourown.org/works/27625793/chapters/67590254

This fanfiction is about Michael and Alex. Alex is painting his own nails, but struggling, so Michael comes and begins to help him. This fanfiction shows a very flirtatious side of both of them. Alex is extremely focused painting his nails, as Michael comes in scaring him. Alex is struggling because he has a broken wrist and, and Michael says that he should let Max heal him, but Alex wants it to heal on his own. Michael begins to paint Alex’s nails, as they come out good, Alex agrees that Michael should do this for him all the time, and Michael says he is happy to help. You should read this story because it was super brief, yet so entertaining. I could really see the emotional tension between the characters just through this short story. One can tell they have feelings for each other, just by reading the words they say and the interactions they pursue. I personally love them as a couple, so reading this was very sentimental and made me feel happy.

2. Feel it on the way home: notsodarling https://archiveofourown.org/works/30532767

This fanfiction is mainly about Michael and his favorite movie, “Lilo and Stitch.” Michael was in a group home and stole this VHS from his group home. Being in foster homes, Michael watched a lot of movies, but this one was his favorite on a worn down, creased, faded VHS. Alex walks in and is with Michael, they are in each other’s arms. Michael says, “If an alien like Stitch could find a family, if someone could love Stitch, maybe the same could happen to me." You should read this because it is very sentimental to Michael as a character and as a person. It shows Michaels true sweetheart personality, and how he had a rough life, and is trying to find happiness within the little things. He puts off a very shy character in this fanfiction and opens up a bit to Alex, which is what I really liked about it.

3. Take party, add alcohol, get fic https://archiveofourown.org/works/20265070/chapters/48033820

This fanfiction is once again about Michael and Alex. Michael is showing Alex all of his hair products he uses, and Alex is giving him a lot of sarcastic energy about how much dedication he puts into this. They begin to talk about which ones smell good, what they do, and through this Michael is definitely showing a feminine side to himself. At the end, Alex starts lathering products into Michael’s hair, and the fanfiction goes into deep imagery of Alex rubbing, twirling, and scratching through Michael’s hair very intimately. You should read this because it is a very brief yet shows the intimate relationship between Michael and Alex. It shows Michael’s feminine side and how intimate of a couple they really are. The imagery within this fanfiction is also very good, with an extremely interesting scene of rubbing hair products within Michael’s hair, the reader can really visualize this moment between them.

[aliensandidentity-sp21]

Liz and Max Heaven

Throughout watching the videos on the playlist, it was extremely hard to pick my favorite. I personally loved the relationship between Liz and Max throughout the Netflix series “Roswell New Mexico.” Scrolling through all of the videos that had to do with Liz and Max, this one was my favorite. In the beginning of the video, it starts with dialogue. Max and Liz are close together in the desert, and Max is speaking to Liz in a soft, sincere, tone. This scene is actually a younger scene of them together, most likely in high school. The music is playing in the back of the dialogue, and then it flips to a compilation of them hugging together and crying, which seems to have fast forwarded to the more present moment. I really like how this video starts out in the younger days, then shows them now. The video is extremely slow paced to the slow music, which is one of my favorite things about it. Another one of the reasons I like it is because of the dialogue mixed in with the music, it gives the video a lot more emotional meaning. The dialogue shows the love they have as a couple and the words they are saying show how much they mean to each other. The video also portrays many scenes of intimate activity, such as hugging, kissing, and lying in bed. Max says, “You’re not perfect, I see your faults, and I love you.” This phrase really stands out to me during the video, and then the video continuously flips between the present moment and the memories of high school. Many of the moments shown are extremely powerful and traumatic memories they have had together. The video ends with a very sexual scene of them in bed, kissing, and gripping hands. I feel as though this video shows that through all of the hard moments they have had together, they still make it through as a strong couple. Together, they have experienced many hardships, yet still end up being fine, and this is shown by the emotional traumatic videos, then the video concluding with them happily together in bed. Overall, the video is arguing for them together as a couple. The evidence is provided by the many videos put together with music and dialogue, and it is extremely persuasive due to the very slow and emotional song and the transitions between the “throwbacks” and more present days. 

[aliensandidentity-sp21]

RNM playlist favorites

Picking favorites on this playlist was extremely hard, considering so many of them were so meaningful and good. One of my favorites was “Liz and Max, Heaven,” because the music was slow and meaningful, and I really like Max and Liz together. Watching them as a couple was one of my favorite things in the show, and seeing them in a video together really made me happy. I also loved “True Love, Michael and Maria.” I really liked the editing in this video, and I love this song as well, so watching it come together was definitely one of my favorites. Lastly, I really liked “multigay, a thousand years.” One of the reasons I really liked this one is because I love the song. I tend to like a video mainly because I love the song so much. If the music is good, the video is definitely put together and better, in my opinion. I also enjoyed the variety of characters throughout this video, some are male and some are female so it made the video very interesting and not boring. 

[aliensandidentity-sp21]

The Crazy One After All - Fowler

One of the most interesting things I got out of this text was the introduction. Fan videos are literature. Fan videos often are just a collage of videos and pictures with music, but they truly do mean something. Fan videos are a narrative structure that tell a short story and provide character analysis. The fan video shows many different sides and personalities of different characters within the story. Throughout fan videos, one can feel the emotional charge between the characters. Towards the end, the article explains the construction of the videos. These videos can be made on windows, and the creator of the video must download all of the file he or she wants to include. Then, these overlays and fades are put together to create the fan video. These fan videos truly represent a visual and recognition impact.

[aliensandidentity-sp21]

Reading the Romance - Eve

This text went over the increase presence of the LGBTQ community throughout media. I found this text extremely interesting, because I almost wrote my paper on the presence of LGBTQ members throughout Roswell. The text goes over many examples of this rise. For example, Ellen coming out. The article then goes into many more examples, most arising around soap operas. Soap operas portray romance as the central element. Many fans truly engage with these dominant modes of this representation. These changes are for the better, since many years ago none of these representations would be truly brought up and shown throughout the media. These changes are not huge, but are definitely being brought up more often through the media and showing immense amounts of progress.

[aliensandidentity-sp21]

How to Watch a Fan Video - Henry Jenkins

Reading this text was actually very informative for myself. I have never truly watched a fan video, so while watching these I was not exactly sure the purpose, or what exactly to look for when I watch. The text explains that these videos take a while, about 6-8 hours to produce and distribute. A lot of effort is  put into a video that is only a few minutes. Another thing that really matters in a fan video is the aesthetics. The video must be “cool” and be layered with images and videos that link together well. I completely agree with this statement, in the sense if I was watching a video that did not flow well, I would definitely not be as interested. These “recurring images” carry a lot of emotion and meaning. Another thing that I learned was “slash this.” I was not aware of this statement, and learned that it meant the romance between two same sex characters. I thought this related well to Roswell New Mexico, since we see a lot of same sex relationships throughout the series.