Well, at least the poster is pretty.
While I could easily spend an entire blog post critiquing this movie (and wouldn’t my snark be amusing?), I’m going to restrain myself and instead point out something else. If I had watched this movie three years ago, I would have thought it was mildly entertaining and left it at that (except the end. I still would have thought the end was stupid.) I wouldn’t have noticed the negative depiction of women, and I definitely wouldn’t have noticed the issues I had with the plot.
Becoming a writer has changed me in many ways, not the least of which is the way that I engage with entertainment. I read differently, and I watch TV series and movies differently. If I still played video games, I’d probably experience them differently too. Even when I force my mind out of critique mode (which I can usually do if the errors in front of me aren’t super egregious), I notice aspects of the narrative that I never saw before. I think about conflict, I think about stakes, and I think about character motivations. And I notice when women are being portrayed as playing pieces instead of fully realized characters.
When I’m not enjoying a novel, instead of just putting it aside, I start to analyze why it isn’t working for me. Are there too many info dumps, or is the beginning too slow? Do I not understand or buy into the world building ? Does a character’s voice not ring true? Or is it merely a personal preference issue? (I tend to bounce off fairly dense prose with large amounts of description. Sometimes I can objectively see that this is good, but it doesn’t matter. I’m still bored out of my mind.)
When I am enjoying a novel, I try to pay attention to why I’m loving it so much. What combination of techniques is the author using to give me such a reader happy? How is that Guy Gavriel Kay switches POVs and tenses as much as he does without making me hate the book? How is it that Suzanne Collins keeps the pace so breathless in The Hunger Games?
I don’t usually mind this interference. It sounds awful, and if I had known about it ahead of time, it might have given me pause. But in reality, it’s kind of like a nerdy, intellectual game. It’s fun to be able to have solid reasons to put behind my opinions. It’s even entertaining to have debates on the relative merits and drawbacks of a certain work.
But perhaps most importantly, I haven’t merely learned how to read or view media differently. Becoming a writer has changed how I see and understand the world and its history, present, and future. It has changed how I see the people in that world. And I wouldn’t give that up for anything.
The Practical Free Spirit 
THIS exactly! It’s like when I went to the Art Institute for Music Video Business and… well, it ruined movie watching for me for a LONG time. People stopped going to movies with me a lot because I’d mutter things about jump cuts and all sorts of other things under my breath. And now, the more I learn about writing mechanics, the more I see the behind-the-scenes snafus!
Yes! For awhile it was really driving me crazy, but now I value it for the entertainment value.
I suppose it could be pretty irritating for non-writers to listen to me though. I’m lucky that my husband enjoys it too. And that I have many writer/creator friends who do the same thing. 🙂
I’ve found that just being married to a writer has that effect. I guess that the good news is that it can make even a lousy work interesting, because there’s so much to dissect about why it failed.
The downside is seeing flaws so much more clearly. I suspect that a few years ago, I would have had much the same opinion of The Adjustment Bureau — mildly entertaining, a great concept but a somehow “off” execution. (And a truly awful ending) This time, it was kind of painful.
It’s sort of like the experience of working in search; suddenly every query looked awful to me, because I knew what was wrong with it. Once you work in the sausage factory, the stuff never tastes the same.
You know, my dad spent a summer working at a cookie factory, and he was never able to eat Oreos after that experience. So yes, once you understand what’s involved, your life changes….
And thanks for the wonderful topic idea!
Once you begin to write, seriously write, everything changes. My writer brain is constantly on, both considering the current WIP and how the world I’m experiencing can fit into any writing. Also, experiencing story in any way (including video games) has evolved. Recently, however, I’ve started to learn how to read while critting, yet still really enjoy what I’m reading and get lost in it. I lost this ability in the mid-2000s, and it’s nice to have it back.
On the one hand, it’s great because even when I’m reading “for fun” I can always make the excuse that I’m working. 🙂
I also had a time where it was much harder for me to read almost anything, especially in speculative fiction, because I was just too conscious of process to the exclusion of all else. Happily that seems to have improved.
Not only can I not enjoy every movie that comes out, I’ve become very picky about what “mainstream” fiction I’ll read. Character development, anyone? Please?
Another interesting development: I can nail the plot/conclusion of a movie or tv drama episode within 5 minutes without ever reading an intro beforehand. Needless to say, my choices for entertainment have become seriously limited in an effort to avoid extreme boredom.
The most recent movie I saw that really kept my attention was Get Low with Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek. The most recent, strange but enjoyably original book was Of Bees and Mist by Eric Setiawan.
I have to say, that before I read your blog (and despite the presence of my darling Matt Damon), I had every intention of avoiding Adjustment Bureau. Let’s not even discuss Red Riding Hood … seriously.
I am so impressed that you can predict endings like that! Of course, the ensuing boredom is a serious drawback, but wow, what skills!
Yes, I have heard alarming things about Red Riding Hood. And yet I heard that it wasn’t as bad as Beastly, which I did unfortunately see. I know when I start laughing out loud in the theater, and the movie is not trying to be funny, that I’m in the middle of a real … treat.
Haven’t seen The Adjustment Bureau so I’m not even sure what that’s about. However, as a writer, I became too critical about the books I was reading for a while. Then, I realized it’s not about the techniques. It’s about the stories they tell. Now, I’m more or less back to where I was before but a little more discriminating since I’ve been reading more.
Well, putting aside the plot problems, the portrayal of women in the movie was what annoyed me the most. I didn’t have a terrible time watching it, and I know that many other movies have the same problem, but for whatever reason, I found it particularly distracting this time.
And I agree, story is key!
The instant I saw the preview, I knew this would be an incredibly complicated movie to pull off. They’d either ace it or flop it. No middle road for this one. I can attribute this insight to my training as a writer. Granted, I’m not trained to write for the screen, but story elements are story elements.
I can’t say I’ve ever annoyed anyone with analyzing a film. My sister grumped at me once when I told her she couldn’t NOT like the Sex In the City films because of their storytelling techniques. She especially didn’t like that I compared them to formula romance novels. I think that’s more a commentary on her dislike of anything ‘formula’ though. Myself, I see absolutely nothing wrong with formula, just so long as you’re not saying ‘this is groundbreaking, cutting-edge stuff’.
Anyway, I feel a digression creeping up on me, so I’d better hide. 😉
Can we expect a blog entry from you in the near future on the topic of formula? I hope so because I want to read it!
[…] her blog Practical Free Spirit, Amy Sundburg writes about the ways that writing has changed how she thinks. I read this and thought: hey, […]
Amy–WOW. I love your post! And I identify with it so much. It’s like that for me, too–even down to the not liking reading huge chunks of description or dense writing. Though, at the moment, when I read a book that I can’t get into, I put it down. I do note why I can’t get into it–but then I move on to one I really enjoy. There are SO many books waiting for me!
Since becoming a writer and an editor, my reading has changed dramatically. There are fewer books that I can lose myself in and fully enjoy. But the ones that I can feel like treasures.
I agree! The books that I love now, I feel like I can appreciate so much more, knowing all the craft work that’s going into them.
I’ll often put a book down after a chapter or so. But for certain books, I’ll slog along awhile longer (usually if I’ve heard other people rave about them).
[…] often don’t recognize it’s happening. I’ve been watching movies all my life, and it’s only recently that I began to notice how gender is so often portrayed in Hollywood. Now that I’m breaking away […]