Markup View

Author: jkbeta

Jun 18th 2012 at 12:59:09 PM

Ok, I will info-dump what I think I have worked out so far. Warning, this will be long. I'll split what I want to say over three posts.

The first post is a case of "example as a thesis", and the second a proposed write-up of the concept. In the third post, I shall voice my concerns about how the concept as it stands will probably not work as a trope.

Let's start with an example then that will explain my understanding of what is proposed here. I'll use metasyntactic variables, since I don't have a good example ready. That means if there's a word you've never seen before, such as quux, consider it a placeholder.

Alice, an up-and-coming creator of works, is enraged. Those quuxes are frobnicating all the time, and things can't go on like that. So, doing what she does best, she takes her pen/brush/graphics tablet/typewriter and writes/paints/designs a work that breaks this taboo subject. Being as creative as she is, she uses a style that has never been seen before to properly express her thoughts about the subject.

Now, her creator friend Bob sees her work, and since he's also somewhat bothered by the quuxes, he joins the fun by creating a similar work. Now, he's not quite as creative, so he [[FollowTheLeader follows her lead]] stylistically. Their wider circle of friends includes Carol and Dave, who really love the style and [[GenreLaunch go on to create works in that style]] while sometimes dropping hints that quuxism is nasty, because that's what's done in here, isn't it? They also start talking about the style as bazianistics, and experiment with all the ways this style could go.

A few years pass, and people have come to love this style. The evil of quuxes has been vanquished, so the only thing that lingers on is this awesome new style that is, like, totally edgy. Oh yes, there was something about frobnicating, wasn't there? Well, who knows, but those bazianistics are awesome and freaky! (just be sure to stay true to the original style...)

Some more time passes, and every young creator who thinks he needs to be edgy imitates bazianistics because that style is so awesome, freaky and deep. Books are written about the great psychological implications, conferences are held and so on. Nobody mentions quuxes or frobnication anymore. The style itself has become set in its ways, and Alice's attempts to develop it further are met with confusion.

This little story sums up my understanding of what is proposed here. On to the next post.