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chasemaddigan
Since: Oct, 2011
24th Feb, 2018 12:02:07 PM
Here's what the description for Applicability says:
Applicability encourages the reader to interpret what the theme of any given work is. Sometimes a reader's interpretation of the meaning of the story is very different from the authorial intent. Anvilicious works with high applicability can see alternate interpretations on part of the audience. Put another way, applicable works support multiple interpretations, only some of which are those that the author specifically intended. Applicability can give a fictional work different interpretations even on different readings, and is one reason Alternate Character Interpretation and Wild Mass Guessing are such active topics in fandoms.
I was browing the YMMV.The Nostalgia Critic page and noted an entry on applicability.
" Applicability: Autistic fans have welcomed Critic with open arms, with Doug comparing him to similarly coded Peridot, and Home Alone 2 bringing back the cereal special interest, all the nerves from the episode resulting in a meltdown when it's mocked and getting forgiven when he stresses out over thinking he ruined it. Hyper Fangirl has her fair share of Misaimed Fandom, but her most devoted audience are neuroatypical women who relate to her struggles and want to see her get better (without Critic having to forgive her). "
I didn't know what applicability as a trope was until I looked at the Laconic page, but it says "Word of God asks the audience to make up their own mind about the theme." which doesn't seem to fit these examples... and neither do many examples on the applicability page itself.
"Prometheus was designed for Wild Mass Guessing. One moment of Idiot Ball could mean an hour of theorizing behind why it is so. "
"The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1962) was made long before global warming and climate change became big issues, but is still about climate change which has been caused accidentally by technology (simultaneous nuclear tests at the north and south poles change the tilt of the Earth's axis)."
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a case of confusing applicability with allegory. The connection between The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the then-contemporary American political landscape was not even raised until 1963, when summer school teacher Henry Littlefield, while trying to teach the 1896 Presidential election and the turn-of-the-century Populist movement to bored history students, stumbled upon the idea of using the characters and events of The Wizard of Oz as metaphors to teach the concepts. He and his students made a number of connections - the Scarecrow represented the farmers, the Tin Woodman the factory workers, the Wizard was President Grover Cleveland or Republican presidential candidate William Mc Kinley, the Cowardly Lion was Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, the silver shoes were the silver standard, the yellow brick road the gold standard, and so on - and Littlefield eventually wrote an article, "The Wizard of Oz: A Parable on Populism," which was published in the magazine American Quarterly in 1964. You can read this article here. Unfortunately, this was eventually taken to mean that Baum wrote the book as an allegory for the political landscape at the turn of the century despite the fact Littlefield believed Baum had no political agenda when he wrote the book."
" Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid is open to many allegorical interpretations, as are its various adaptations."
So, what is applicability and are these examples valid/applicable? Should the Laconic page be rewritten?
Edited by lalalei2001