one thing that im learning that it is much more of a privilege than I realised to actually be able to think critically, and there are a lot of political parties and groups and people that have an active interest in reducing your capacity for and ability to learn critical thought. It is not a sign of lower intelligence, or even necessarily of undereducation (though school is where I learned these skills in the first place), or wilful ignorance.
Also that reading fiction and analysing fiction I love is maybe a lot more beneficial than I realised.
I spoke to my father recently about a book series I am loving, that he has read. The author of the series is Mormon/LDS, and I've been enjoying keeping an eye out for potential Mormon influences in the narrative. Not to criticise or dismiss the book — Brandon Sanderson is a brilliant author and is inspiring me to try fantasy worldbuilding for myself — but just... because i genuinely enjoy flexing that analytical muscle, and it's fun to see how ideas are shaped.
Dad was wary. "You'll ruin the book, don't worry about that sort of thing, just enjoy the story."
Maybe thats true for some people, but for myself, that muscle works without any effort. I'm an efficient critical thinker. It's like people who can run for kilometres. They get efficient at it, it's no biggie to literally jog a few hundred metres to catch a train. Me? That's... something I need to work at. I simply am not going to run to that train, because my teeth would start hurting and I would fucking taste blood.
I love thinking about how the author is reflected in their work, what they are telling me (consciously or unconsciously), and how culture at the time of writing influenced the work, and how culture at the time of reading influences my interpretations. For me, that's not exhausting, that's invigorating. That's a fit person's morning jog.
The thing is, the muscle I use for analysing and interpreting media is EXACTLY the same muscle as I use when a politician makes a claim. I think, "Why did they say that? Do they have any incentive to spread that idea? Who is their target audience? What does that statement actually mean, if I take away the emotionally charged language?"
If you don't gain a love for reading, if you didn't have good English and History teachers (or teachers in your home country who teach media literacy and research skills), and if you don't have opportunities to exercise these skills after high school... it would be a marathon effort every time to analyse every statement you hear, especially to be sceptical of your confirmation bias.
I am genuinely very lucky that I had some great English teachers and History teachers that I was able to really engage with. I have continued to be lucky to have an interest in books, movies, and TV shows beyond just watching them. I'm not saying fandom makes you a better critical thinker — definitely not — but I think fandom does afford you opportunities to utilise those skills in a fun way that other people will read and give you good feedback on.
idk. This is long and ive gone on a bit of a tangent — there's a personal essay here to write I think — but do you kind of get what I'm saying?
There are so many people right now who, even putting aside generative AI and social media, never had the opportunity to build the muscles for critical analysis. Their life hasnt demanded it of them often enough to get efficient at doing it, and now there are more forces than ever trying to erode that skill, to give people fewer incentives to exercise that muscle.
My dad is kind of going down a far right pipeline right now — he still had a lot fair and kind beliefs that are his own, but he has a (very compromised, moreso than most) political idol whom he does not question because his biases have been confirmed and he has not had the kind of chances I have to make scepticism and analysis easy skills to deploy. My dad is a smart man, but these arent muscles he has developed because he doesn't have an interest in pulling apart and analysing books and shows, nor has his work over the years required him to build this muscle. (He's a fantastic problem solver, though, much better than I am!!!)
I don't know what we do about this. But I think for me, I am just very grateful that I have a love for exercising these muscles. I know they werent always as robust as they are now, I remember groaning when my teacher made me write annotated bibliographies reporting source bias and reliability, but I've been able to continue practicing those same skills because I just so happen to love media analysis.
We learned this stuff in high school, but if i got fit as fuck in highschool and hadnt hit the gym in a few years, that fitness wouldnt stay with me.
My analysis of Pinepoint: insomiac and its endings, and what i think it really means: An essay
This is a long ass ramble so Grab your popcorn, make some coffee, and sit your little asses DOWN cuz we’re gonna be here for a while
now for starters, guys gals and nonbinary pals- for anyone who’s new here and DOESNT know what Pinepoint is, but is maybe still curious about this, here’s a quick little recap:
Pinepoint insomniac is a visual novel-esque game about a social outcast named Nil and his friend Dimitri, who is moving out to college. As they attend a shift together at [GENERIC PIZZA PLACE WHOS NAME I DEFINITELY DIDNT FORGET] nil finds himself exausted as he struggles with falling asleep.
Now there are three possible endings to how nil decides to deal with his insomnia (obvious spoilers for every route)
Ending one: after nearly throwing a pizza at dimitris face from getting too delirious, Dimitri suggests he drinks coffee from the break room to try and get his shit together
He listens, before he starts to see things and passes out in the pizzerias rest room
Ending two: instead of following dimitris advice, nil decides to walk to the gas station to get something to drink before he meets his band mates, Momo and journey, as she points out how godawful he looks and offers him sleeping pills.
Nil accepts them and when he goes out to sleep in the woods after taking them,he discovers those were in fact, DRUGS
before he hallucinates dimitri abandoning him as he suffocates within a costume of a childhood show him and dimitri used to watch together and falling off a cliff before the route abrubtly ends
Ending three: Nil continues talking with Dimitri before Dimitri decides enough is enough agrees to take nil home. There, nil vents to him about his issues and they talk about how they plan to decide to spend their final days together before dimitri leaves town to head to college once and for all. after a long talk, nil finally drifts off to bed on his own accord.
Although some may argue that the endings are allergories for death (which I wholly heartedly still agree with— you can’t tell me he DIDNT die in the pills route)
Rather, I believe the way Nil chooses to fall asleep is a metaphor for how he accepts his circumstances
One example of this is, as in the first route I had mentioned, when Nil Tries to AVOID his exhaustion through drinking coffee and attempting to power through the rest of his shift with Dimitri,
he ‘dies’ and passes out on the bathroom floor from what is presumably heart failure (from what the final lines seemingly described).
Exactly the same as with the PILLS ending, wherin Nil tries to IGNORE his insomnia by avoiding talking to dimitri about his problems, and takes the ‘sleeping pills’ Momo decides to give him
before he hallucinates as he suffocates to death from a drug overdose (MAY JUST BE PART OF THE DREAM. NOT A HUNDRED PERCENT SURE)
However, in the final ending, wherein nil decides to follow dimitri home, and during his talk with him
Nil FACES his insomnia, and FACES dimitris about his issues with him leaving the town
before finally he falls asleep on his own,
This is noticibly the only ending where he doesn’t ‘die’ in some way. Or- rather
If he does die, its not because of a “quick fix” to any of his problems—
He dies of natural causes.
And more importantly, during his discussion with dimitri, he comes to terms with the fact his friend is going away.
This is the only route where he isn’t avoiding his insomnia or forcing against it in some way
In conclusion I believe The way he chooses to counter sleep, symbolizes the way he accepts his situation.
Avoid/ignore the problem = death
Accept the fact your a gay ass motherfucker(/j) and also don’t want your only friend to really leave and take a fucking NAP= no death
-
“Oh but Alex!!” You all cry out in unison
“Anyone with a fourth grade reading comprehension could’ve figured that out!!! We already knew this!! Why are you telling us all this?”
Well okay then Sherlock Holmes fuck you too. Maybe i just wanted to write a short analysis essay on my special interest you absolute COCK SUCKERS—
Anyways uh. Yeah. This is the ending of my rant.
Thank ye all for reading
..hope yall actually like this.
Anyways, cya
This was a pain in the ass to write. So I really hope someone does see this
