Attempted An RR Sketch. Turns Out I Can't Keep All Of His Suits Straight (lol), So It Ended Up Being

I feel like we need a refresher on Watsonian vs Doylist perspectives in media analysis. When you have a question about a piece of media - about a potential plot hole or error, about a dubious costuming decision, about a character suddenly acting out of character -

A Watsonian answer is one that positions itself within the fictional world.

A Doylist answer is one that positions itself within the real world.

Meaning: if Watson says something that isn't true, one explanation is that Watson made a mistake. Another explanation is that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made a mistake.

Watsonian explanations are implicitly charitable. You are implicitly buying into the notion that there is a good in-world reason for what you're seeing on screen or on the page. ("The bunny girls in Final Fantasy wear lingerie all the time because they're from a desert culture!")

Doylist explanations are pragmatic. You are acknowledging that the fiction is shaped by real-world forces, like the creators' personal taste, their biases, the pressures they might be under from managers or editors, or the limits of their expertise. ("The bunny girls in Final Fantasy wear lingerie because somebody thought they'd sell more units that way.")

Watsonian explanations tend to be imaginative but naive. Seeking a Watsonian explanation for a problem within a narrative is inherently pleasure-seeking: you don't want your suspension of disbelief to be broken, and you're willing to put in the leg work to prevent it. Looking for a Watsonian answer can make for a fun game! But it can quickly stray into making excuses for lazy or biased storytelling, or cynical and greedy executives.

Doylist explanations are very often accurate, but they're not much fun. They should supersede efforts to provide a Watsonian explanation where actual harm is being done: "This character is being depicted in a racist way because the creators have a racist bias.'" Or: "The lore changed because management fired all of the writers from last season because they didn't want to pay then residuals."

Doylism also runs the risk of becoming trite, when applied to lower stakes discrepancies. Yes, it's possible that this character acted strangely in this episode because this episode had a different writer, but that isn't interesting, and it terminates conversation.

I think a lot of conversations about media would go a lot more smoothly, and everyone would have a lot more fun, if people were just clearer about whether they are looking to engage in Watsonian or Doylist analysis. How many arguments could be prevented by just saying, "No, Doylist you're probably right, but it's more fun to imagine there's a Watsonian reason for this, so that's what I'm doing." Or, "From a Watsonian POV that explanation makes sense, but I'm going with the Doylist view here because the creator's intentions leave a bad taste in my mouth that I can't ignore."

Idk, just keep those terms in your pocket? And if you start to get mad at somebody for their analysis, take a second to see if what they're saying makes more sense from the other side of the Watsonian/Doylist divide.

Proud of this one, condensing his creation down into 40 seconds was tricky.

Part 3 of me drawing my avatar/OC into random pictures. Believe it or not I actually enjoy the outdoors.

It's almost spooky time! :D

(I'm still alive! finaly had time to draw something for fun)

Minecraft shenanigans

WIP

Had a friend send me an outfit reference to draw a character around. Decided to go for a strawberry cow gardening. It fits pretty well.

Day 1: Stars

I honestly love drawing glowy creatures, so I'm going to attempt to do one each day as one of those october drawing things. I have to catch up since I was gone all day yesterday. We'll see how long it takes before my motivation dies.

break is over, and I already feel like I need another one. Anyway, I'm experimenting with different rendering methods, so have a messy drawing of me being tired.

I don't know why this is what made me come out of lurking, but yes! My mother was, and still is, so weird about my hair. I'm not a kid anymore, so she isn't able to control me as much, but she still makes offhand comments about how "she wishes I would let it grow some" or that I "looked so much better and more presentable before" every time I have it trimmed.

Another Rambley because shading him has become incredibly calming for me.