tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post6683162007452395220..comments2024-02-05T10:41:31.777-05:00Comments on I Saw Lightning Fall: Seeley on the Grammar of HorrorLoren Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-40591593951842860042009-10-20T21:21:07.835-04:002009-10-20T21:21:07.835-04:00... it ceases to be helpful the moment you start t...<i>... it ceases to be helpful the moment you start treating your newly-forged categories as all-encompassing and requiring other works to all be sorted into the appropriate hats.</i><br /><br /><b>Yes.</b> That's a great way to put it. Archetypes work great as long as they're descriptive; once they become prescriptive, well, you start running into trouble.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-44647207337661174922009-10-20T20:45:16.034-04:002009-10-20T20:45:16.034-04:00I find that discussing the basic impulses and arch...I find that discussing the basic impulses and archetypes is very useful for thinking about a particular story or genre, but it ceases to be helpful the moment you start treating your newly-forged categories as all-encompassing and requiring other works to all be sorted into the appropriate hats. Sort of like how GNS theory is great for thinking about how your particular RPG addresses specific gaming styles, but becomes nothing but useless argument bait as soon as you start trying to sort games into "Gamist" or "Narrativist" categories. The important part is turning an analytical eye on the thematic underpinnings and the debt to what came before, not the actual categories themselves.Scattercathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302815654553659644noreply@blogger.com