Nobody is making you do anything.
This was a manner of speaking, and you know it. Cheap trick. Subtle but cheap nonetheless. Poisoning the well, uh ?
I wasn't comparing them in the way you suggest. I was using Tolkien's characters as examples of characters who are functionally important but nonetheless uninteresting. I did this because some posters seemed to be arguing about whether Annie had done anything important in the plot as if it were a proxy for how good or interesting a character she was. Nowhere did I say that Caribdis' characters are equally bland to Tolkien's.
And I'm telling you that each LI are both functionally important and still interesting. You compared them to tell us how one of the LI is as bland despite being important. Again, cheap trick.
Do you know what is meant by "poisoning the well", and do you understand why I brought it up?
Yes, but it's not accurate. I'm not attacking you, I am just telling you that people who don't find a well-written character interesting is on them, which you don't seem to understand because you think that you not being interested mean that the character is not interesting. That's just false. I'm not interested in quantum physics, yet I know, objectively, that it can be interesting for some people. This is the same here. You're saying a character is not interesting, I'm telling you she is because she has deep character traits that make her interesting and she's well written. And the fact that you or anyone is not interested don't make anything less interesting. I know how to differentiate what I like and what is good, and I know how to differentiate what is interesting and what is not. I don't like BaDIK, but I know it's good. I'm not interested in, say, Tuco from breaking bad, but I objectively think that he is interesting.
Again, check your preferences. Don't say that something is not interesting when it is. Say you're not interested. Because otherwise you risk annoying someone like me who can go off on writing novels about why you're wrong. Unless you're just joking, but that's another case entirely.
This seems to be an opinion, stated as if it were fact. Has it occured to you that reasonable people may disagree on whether Annie is interesting and appealing?
Funny, you saying a character is not interesting also seem like an opinion, stated as if it were a fact. Funny how life is, isn't it ?
You can be reasonable and be wrong. You can disagree with me and use bad arguments to support why you disagree. Reality is shaped by our beliefs and preferences, sure. But it comes from a substance as a base. The very fact that a character is well-written make them interesting. You're not interested, it's your belief and preference, not reality.
"Annie is not interesting or appealing" is a value judgement misstated as a fact. So is "Annie is interesting and appealing". I do not find Annie as interesting or appealing as Luna; pointing this out does not implicate me in a falsehood. Nor is it evidence of some character defect on my part.
It's misstated as a fact because it's presented like a fact. "Annie is not interesting or appealing" is a factual sentence. Nowhere in that sentence there's an indication that it's just your preference. I think at this point we already argued a lot in this thread about how Annie, and each and every Li in Eternum, is interesting. Saying they're not interesting is simply not true. Saying you're not interested, and why, would be more accurate.
But we're just playing with semantics here. You use "interest" as if it's factual. I don't argue with you about the "I do not find Annie as interesting or appealing as Luna" because that sentence is indeed presented like a preference, and not a fact. This is the internet, semantics is important.
There are people who don't find Mozart or Beethoven to be interesting or appealing; there are people who don't find Tolstoy interesting or appealing; there are people who do not find Rembrandt interesting or appealing. There is nothing presumptively wrong with such people, nor with their views. To say otherwise is just opinionated assholery.
No, I 100% agree. There's people who are not interested in interesting stuff. Just please try to not present your interests as a fact. Even I don't find Mozart or Beethoven interesting or appealing, yet I'm not here trying to convince people who love them that what they find interesting is not.
Why should anyone stop saying "Annie is not interesting or appealing" when you think it's perfectly OK to say "Annie *is* interesting or appealing"? That's just more opinionated rhetoric, insisting that you should have the privilege to state your opinions as fact while suppressing those who disagree with you.
As a matter of fact, I only say that said character is interesting to counterbalance someone who said they're not. When someone said Luna was the "least interesting", I went off. When someone says Annie is not interesting, I also lose it. I'm not the one who started it.
Plus I'm not suppressing anything, hardly arguing that people trying to convince others that one of the LI is not interesting seem to seek conflict and are annoying. Which I react by entering the fray. I've litterally waited 5 pages of people arguing before I decided to answer you. Before that it was all Church of Nova trying to convert other and other answering with good mood and jokes.
Well, yes you are. And it makes you come off as pompous.
No, I'm not. I'm saying that stating one preference as a fact is wrong. Especially to people who like or are interested in something I dislike or I'm not interested in.
I have no idea why you wrote that.
I have no idea why any of us write all of this shit. I guess my point is that people's preferences don't "make" the character. Only Caribdis (and people helping him maybe) make them. Therefore, the intent and the results are more important that people's preferences in the end.
Really? I didn't know that. I'm so glad you told me that, because without your brilliant insight it would never have occurred to me that those were different concepts. /sarcasm.
My pleasure, pal. /passive-agressive.
I have a better suggestion: stop telling me what to say. I'm not terribly concerned if you and I are good. You're just some opinionated rando on the internet who feels compelled to
Me for some reason. You really need to get over your compulsion to shout down opinions that you don't agree with. It's not healthy. And it won't work.
I have a better suggestion : stop telling me what I need to do. You're just some rando on the internet who feels compelled to answer another rando because he disagrees with you for some reason. I'm not terribly concerned if you and I are good too. Stop answering me, I'll stop answering you. Stop attacking something I like and I'm interested in, and I'll stop defending it. Really simple, welcome to the internet.
I get it. You find her interesting. She seems kinda tropey to me. I don't think Annie's terrible or anything. I'm just not that impressed or intrigued by her.
Okay, I get it too.
The issue seems to be that I don't share your opinion of the character and you feel compelled to lecture me about what's wrong with that.
Sorry. Again it's about semantics. Maybe it wasn't your intention, and maybe that's usually not someone's intention, but the way we whare opinions and preferences actually matter. Phrasing is important. Plus we can litterally delete or change said phrases here so there's no excuses.
I know I come off strong but that's because, while I don't write here often, I read this thread a lot. Meaning that when the good mood goes away because suddenly there's like 5 pages of arguing about if a character is interesting or not, I feel it. This is almost the only thread I read, and I like to see the church of nova going crazy and all the crazy people here using memes and having crazy theories etc. That's until someone come here and stirr a pot of shit about a character.
But right, maybe I'll be better off putting images and memes and jokes about it because arguing usually lead nowhere.
Why is it that people on the internet not liking the same things you do is a problem you need to "cope with"? Do you even hear yourself?
Well no, I don't hear myself. Well I'm hearing my fingers typing the keys I'm writing with.
Just saying, if you put your opinion and preferences out there, be ready for some crazy randos to try and lecture you about it. Especially when you try to make your preference a fact.
It just seemed to me like it was annoying you, so that's just a friendly reminder that crazy randos are indeed a possibility.
Hello.
Meaning you're trying to state that a character is not interesting by saying just that, while still using the argument of "it's my opinion" to try and deflect responsabilities of that claim. That's a nice try.
But maybe it wasn't your intention. Like I said it's hard to differentiate what "
is" interesting and what is interesting "
to me" or "
to you". Even if you can differentiate that (and I don't know you so I won't assume you can't), it gets even more difficult when you communicate it, because phrasing. Even more so on the internet, since every rando who don't agree with you can react to every single word you say.
By the goddesses, that was long...
Anyway, the fire has past now. I'll try to be more candid because... pheeew.