{"id":1063,"date":"2024-12-02T13:05:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T19:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2024-12-02T17:26:13","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T23:26:13","slug":"im-waxing-poetic-about-fanfiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/2024\/12\/02\/im-waxing-poetic-about-fanfiction\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m Waxing Poetic About Fanfiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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from my research<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fanfic writing has officially begun. WOOOO!!! I\u2019ve actually gotten so into it that I didn\u2019t even want to pause to write this. I\u2019ve gathered enough research, as well as made enough preliminary decisions about the story and characters that now I feel comfortable finally writing, and my goodness is it fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I have mentioned in other blog posts, my research has been conducted to figure out if Jacob should continue to be Native American or if I should make him Mexican American instead. It has consisted of reading many wikipedia articles, a couple museum webpages, and some personal essays by those relevant to my studies. Based on what I\u2019ve found, I have decided to make him Mexican American as there is an extremely high percentage of Mexicans in Forks, Washington, and there is a reasonable enough way to link his werewolfism to Mexican culture. From what I\u2019ve found, there\u2019s not an exact werewolf in Mexican history, not the type I\u2019m needing at least, but there are shapeshifters and brujer\u00eda (witchcraft), which I think I can use to make a nice story. Ultimately, I\u2019ll still be warping culture to fit a narrative, but I feel less bad if it\u2019s my<\/em> culture, y\u2019know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s weird. Doing research for this stupid fanfic has forced me to think about my identity some more. Why am I surprised? Life is funny. You learn the most valuable lesson in the most stupid ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labels and I have never been the most compatible. It took me a while to figure out my labels, in every sense of the word, and half of the time I still think they\u2019re not exactly exact. I don\u2019t feel that here and now is the time and place to fully get into it, but in terms of what my fanfiction research reminded me about\u2026 Am I even Mexican American? I was born and raised in America. I\u2019m accustomed to American culture; I live it out. But I was raised by<\/em> Mexicans, and live with<\/em> their culture. Maybe the Mexican lifestyle isn\u2019t as strong in our household as it is in others, but what even is the <\/em>Mexican lifestyle? My skin is Mexican. My clothes are American. My name is Mexican. My tongue is American. My family is Mexican. My home is American. My brain is tired. My heart is in outer space. Who am I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oobleck. I use this word a lot in therapy and in my own headspace to recount emotions, thoughts, and parts of myself that I can\u2019t really describe, yet I still know. I\u2019m Mexican American, or maybe I\u2019m just one or neither; I\u2019m oobleck. I know who I am, but I can\u2019t tell you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to my fanfic, I went through a feeling that even if I made Jacob Mexican, I would still be appropriating culture, because for a second there, Mexican culture didn\u2019t feel like mine to use for a story. Maybe it\u2019s still not, but maybe I don\u2019t care. I mean, the aspects that will be used to explain werewolfism are even beyond my parents’ knowledge. My dad only knew a little when I asked him about it; my mom knew nothing. These aspects come from Mesoamerica, something my family is not all too connected to. We don\u2019t talk much about our ancestry beyond my great grandparents, so who knows where we came from, and if Mesoamerican culture is ours at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then comes the idea of learning. Learning where we come from, which I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be able to do anytime soon, but more importantly, learning about where we may<\/em> have come from. If I learn enough, and come to appreciate the culture and care for it, then can I call it my own? I think so. That\u2019s kind of just how culture works in general, right? For the most part, your culture is what you already know plus what you come to learn\u2026 right? I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019m making any sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, I\u2019m worried about representing Mexican and Mesoamerican culture poorly since I will be using aspects of them to create a fantasy (technically) story. I will literally be turning them into monsters, but I hope to do it, like, tastefully? The shapeshifters I learned about were often malevolent, so I think it\u2019s chill if mine are portrayed evilly\u2014hopefully my readers will have the literacy skill to realize I\u2019m not calling Mexicans monsters, I\u2019m just making Mexicans into monsters. Skull emoji. Guys, it\u2019s not a metaphor intended for discrimination, I just like beasts and creatures and wanted representation. Crying emoji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, Jacob\u2019s Mexican American<\/em> as noted. This, I have plenty of experience with, even if I sometimes question whether or not those experiences are valid. So I will for sure be able to do that<\/em> culture justice, if anything. Also, not to give too much away, but the werewolfism is almost definitely going to be a metaphor for identity. I can feel it happening. I foresee it. Me when I use my story to express my personal dilemmas. I might regret saying that later on. Oh well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night, I stumbled upon a goldmine. Cecilia\u2019s 1997 high school senior project on Mexicans and Hispanics in Forks, Washington, uploaded by a local museum. It\u2019s an easy-to-read, yet still very knowledgeable project on exactly what I need, about the exact people, in the exact spot, during the perfect time. Oh, Cecilia, how I love you. I genuinely got emotional as I read through it last night. Granted, it was midnight and I was delirious, but hear me out. Based on his project, Cecilia is likely Mexican American. She\u2019s my mom\u2019s age, only one or two years younger. She made this project for a grade, though she probably also made it in hopes to actually teach people about this demographic that she\u2019s a part of. She probably wasn\u2019t expecting it to end up in a museum, nor on the internet. All she knew was that she needed to make a project, may as well make it about something personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cecilia in 1997 doesn\u2019t know that her hometown is about to become synonymous with a culturally phenomenal story. She doesn\u2019t know that in the story, she will be erased along with every other Hispanic. She doesn\u2019t know that despite this, young Latinas like her and my mom will latch on to the story and be part in making it famous worldwide. She doesn\u2019t know that my mom will read me the book as a bedtime story and buy me Barbies of the characters when the movie comes out. She doesn\u2019t know that I\u2019ll rediscover these Barbies when I\u2019m trapped in my house due to a virus, and that being bored out of mind, I\u2019ll read the books\u2014the very ones my mom had bought when they first came out. She doesn\u2019t know how attached I\u2019ll become to the story for reasons I can\u2019t quite articulate, and how even though I\u2019m obsessed with the story, I kind of hate it. She doesn\u2019t know that once I\u2019m her age and a senior in high school, I\u2019ll bring one of those Barbies to school whenever I\u2019m nervous because it bizarrely brings me comfort. Cecilia doesn\u2019t know that once I\u2019m the same age my mom was at the time she made this project, I\u2019ll decide that, in an attempt to practice my writing skills and work my creative muscle, I\u2019ll write something based on the story based in her hometown, that I\u2019ll write her and every other Hispanic back in, and that her project will help me figure out how. We\u2019re connected, and she doesn\u2019t know it. I\u2019m you, Cecilia, can\u2019t you see? You\u2019re me, and my mom, and my aunts, and my grandma, and my girl cousins, and the women relatives I don\u2019t remember or never met, and the Latinas all around us and before us and after us. And I\u2019m them, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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my mom’s transit card from 2010 kept within the pages of Breaking Dawn<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Is it normal to get this introspective when writing fanfiction? Don\u2019t answer that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m torn between spilling everything about my plans for the plot of the fanfic and sharing nothing at all. I\u2019ll settle with being vague. Overall, I want to make a story that\u2019s fun, tense, a bit suspenseful, bisexual in spirit, and most of all, entertaining. Even with all my changes, I think a lot of the original story will remain the same, just put into a different context. I think I\u2019m a bit too good with comedy writing. Everything I write ends up twisted into humor even when I try to be serious. I\u2019m worried I won\u2019t be able to pull off some parts I have in mind because I\u2019ll just end up making it funny, but I\u2019m going to do my damndest to be serious. This will likely result in a cringey story. Whether it be good or bad writing and storytelling, I think you, who are used to my lighthearted and silly voice, will cringe at reading my attempt to be sincere and my venture into writing what is essentially a thriller romance. What we all need to do is let go of preconceptions about me and my writing, and let loose. We need to give into cringe and wade in it long enough until we discover the profound authenticity inherently buried within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m overthinking this, aren\u2019t I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving on from my fanfic, guys… I have seen Wicked<\/em> (2024) not once, not twice, but three<\/em> times this week! WOOOOO!!!!!!! I feel ALIVE!!!!!!!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fun fact about me, I have seen Wicked<\/em> on Broadway in Chicago three times and once on actual NYC Broadway! I love that show so much. It was the first non-Disney, non-kid show I saw on Broadway, so it will forever be special to me. It started one of my favorite traditions with my mom\u2014seeing a musical every year\u2014and it was arguably what made me fall in love with theater in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love megamusicals, also known as blockbuster musicals. Sue me. I love the grandness of it all. All the glitz and the glamour\u2014the extravagance and spectacle. Call me simple-minded if you must, but I like big, shiny things and loud, pretty music. Sue me! Wicked<\/em> is, of course, all these things, so I, of course, love it! Songs? Eat. Costumes? Eat. Sets? Eat. Choreo? Eats. Story? Eats. There\u2019s no food for the rest of us, Wicked <\/em>ate it all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was apprehensive when I first heard about the movie, but as I thought about it more and as more about it came out, I became neutral, then even got excited! Nothing can compare to sitting in a theater and watching a spectacular live performance, but movies can get pretty close to capturing the feeling! And it sounded like they were treating Wicked<\/em> as the whimsical, energetic, and BIG show that it is, so I was aching to watch it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, since it\u2019s our<\/em> show, I saw it for the first time with my mom in the Dolby. The second time was a standard showing with my friends because we wanted to see a movie, Wicked <\/em>was out, I didn\u2019t mind seeing it again, so boom. Made sense. The third time was a surprise. My grandma and brother had said that they wanted to see the movie, while my mom and my friend said they had wanted to see it again, so I killed multiple birds with one giant rock and went to go watch it a third time with them all. This time in 3D! Ooooo! My recommendation if you haven\u2019t seen it yet and\/or for part two is to watch it in the Dolby if you can. It really immerses you. The music sends shivers throughout your body, it\u2019s great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each time I went, as soon as the movie started, I got teary eyed. That overture literally gave me my Nicole Kidman AMC moment; I got that indescribable feeling when the lights begin to dim. It reminded me of the Wicked <\/em>dragon and how it lights up when the show begins (iykyk), which is a big reason why I like this movie in general to be honest. It reminds me of the musical that I love. As promised, the movie stayed true to the musical\u2019s grandness and whimsy, giving us a fantastical movie that has the spirit of Wicked<\/em>. I have some critiques about it as a movie that I\u2019ll get to in a second, but for now know that I loved it as an adaptation of one of my favorite musicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allow me to talk about the cast now. I\u2019m going to be bold and say Ariana Grande was the star of the show for me! That woman was<\/em> Galinda. I literally forgot she was Ariana Grande; I heard one of her Christmas songs the other day and was like, \u201cOh yeah, I forgot she\u2019s a pop singer.\u201d The vocals were on point and her physical comedy had me giggling. She was acting. The other star for me was Bowen Yang. He is so hilarious, god, I love him. Whenever he was on screen, my eyes were glued to him. Yes, even when Jonathan Bailey was there. Let\u2019s address the elephant in the room: Jonathan Bailey is so hot. Like, unbelievably so. The man knows how to play a sexy beast, what can I say! And he can sing and dance, too? Whoo, sign me up. \u201cDancing Through Life\u201d is one of my favorite songs from the musical, and he definitely delivered. The whole scene did, so thank goodness for that. Omg, “thank goodness.” Like from Wicked<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, Jeff Goldblum is hot, too. There I said it. Besides being easy on the eyes, he\u2019s just so funny, man. Whenever I have watched Wicked<\/em> on Broadway, it\u2019s usually a snoozefest whenever the Wizard is on stage, so congrats to him for making the character less boring. Michelle Yeoh did the same for Madame Morrible. The character never was and I fear never will be my favorite, but my god do I love Michelle Yeoh, so I was entertained enough in her scenes. Frankly, I was too enamored by her beauty to care about the plot. Sorry. She\u2019s also hot! Dilf and milf. Who said that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Cynthia Eviro. She killed. She killed! She made me like \u201cThe Wizard and I\u201d which I previously didn\u2019t care too much for. Each time I saw the movie, I instinctively did silent claps for her after that song. It\u2019s just- she just- wow. Wow! She was a bit demure for Elphaba, I\u2019ll admit, but I\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s her fault more than it is the director\u2019s or writer\u2019s fault. They toned down Elphaba\u2019s annoyingness, I think. She sold me, though, and she sounded great! Although\u2026 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s controversial to say her \u201cDefying Gravity\u201d belt is not my favorite rendition. Maybe I\u2019m a hater, but I just think don\u2019t fix what isn\u2019t broken? Can I say that? Is that allowed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some more specific Wicked <\/em>spoilers:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me take this moment to talk about \u201cDefying Gravity.\u201d To hold space for it, if you will. (I don\u2019t get that meme. Why have the masses decided it\u2019s funny?) This finale scene unfortunately encapsulates everything I do not like about the movie. For starters, it\u2019s too long. Upon my first watch, I didn\u2019t mind the length even after I saw that wretched \u201cPart One\u201d in the title card, because what do you mean the movie is 2 hours 40 minutes long and it\u2019s only the first act? What do you mean?<\/em> That\u2019s how long the whole show is. What do you mean PART ONE? But like I said, first time through, I was like, \u201cYeah, okay, fine, I get why it\u2019s this long. You need to flesh some things out because film is a different medium than theater therefore some aspects need more focus to really sell it to the audience, yada yada, blah blah blah.\u201d But by the third time, I was back to going, \u201cWhat do you mean part one?!!!?!?!\u201d No, okay, listen\u2026 I get why they\u2019ve made it into separate parts, I do, but did it have to be 3 hours long? That\u2019s nuts. You have to admit that that\u2019s nuts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the final scene, \u201cDefying Gravity\u201d has gaps in the musical, but not like these. The song is not continuous as it is on the soundtrack\u2014Madame Morrible cuts in to deliver her speech, Elphaba spells her broom, Glinda puts the cloak on her, and the guards come crashing in. But it\u2019s quicker than it is in the movie. The broom only takes five seconds, and it makes more sense as a MomentTM in the musical because it\u2019s theater magic. The broom flies on its own, gasp! It\u2019s not the same when the broom is CGI. The cloak is barely a moment from my memory. At the very least it\u2019s not a fucking MCU suit-up moment, Jesus Christ. There\u2019s a couple of these moments throughout the movie, where it feels like they\u2019re just going, \u201cLook! It\u2019s the thing from the thing!\u201d Granted, the musical also has some of these moments as some of them are kind of part of the story, but like, we\u2019re smart. You don\u2019t have to linger too long. We know the Wicked Witch of West has a cloak and broom, you don\u2019t need to shine a bazillion lights on it to remind us. Especially when nothing cool happens afterwards. MCU suit-ups are followed up by fight scenes; this one was followed up by one of the slowest, quietest parts of the song. C\u2019mon. Besides this, my least favorite Wizard of Oz<\/em> cameo was the yellow brick road scene. In the musical, I believe it\u2019s already up-and-running, and if it\u2019s not, they probably choose the color in a throwaway joke because I surely don\u2019t remember it. We didn\u2019t need a yellow brick road backstory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me clear in saying once again that, yes, Wicked <\/em>the musical is full of Wizard of Oz<\/em> cameos because it is a Wizard of Oz<\/em> story at the end of the day, but it differs to, like, the fucking Mufasa prequel in that it\u2019s not utterly reliant on these cameos. The cameos are fun nods to the audience more than they are the reason the story exists, you know what I mean? Wicked<\/em> the musical exists to tell a story about prejudice, injustice, morality, and relationships\u2014it also just so happens to serve as a possible Wizard of Oz<\/em> prequel. The prequel bit comes second, but I feel as if the movie prioritizes it too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this to say, these cameos could have been cut out (the yellow brick road scene) or heavily trimmed (the broom and cloak scenes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We could have also saved some time by not having so many flashbacks. Personally, I did not like the mini Elphaba addition. It doesn\u2019t tell us anything we can\u2019t figure out via other scenes. Actually, it kind of makes some of these storylines worse in my opinion. In the musical, the first time Elphaba\u2019s powers are shown is when she yanks Nessa back from the professor. It\u2019s another theater magic moment because the wheelchair moves on its own, but it\u2019s also just a cool way to introduce us to her. They had that slo-mo reveal of Elphaba, but y\u2019all, that is less impactful if you show us mini Elphaba. Am I the only one thinking that? The mini Elphaba scene also implies that she only cares about the animals because they cared for her, which I don\u2019t think is the point. She cares about the animals because they\u2019re worth caring for, simple as. She sees part of herself in them, both being outcasted, but more than that she simply sees them as worthy of respect. That\u2019s more impactful if you ask me. As for the mini Elphaba bullying, guys, we know. We know she gets bullied. It literally happens every other scene with her. When she introduces herself, she says, \u201cFine, let\u2019s get this over with,\u201d before rapidly answering FAQs, implying that she has gotten these rude questions so many times before that she just answers them straight away when meeting new people. When will the movie makers realize we\u2019re not as dumb as they think we are!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another flashback that I think should\u2019ve been cut happened in \u201cDefying Gravity.\u201d I told you, the scene unfortunately encapsulates everything I do not like about the movie! Okay so, why did they replay Madame Morrible\u2019s speech like a minute after we originally heard it? I understand that those cliffhanger scenes were important in setting up the next part, but we couldn\u2019t just have those happen with the first time the speech played? Orrrr just have the speech play for the first time then? I realize you wanted your dramatic \u201cthis\u2026 Wicked Witch\u201d bit, but you realize you could have still had that even with the cutaways to other characters? Just like, make those scenes shorter. Stop being lazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, it feels as though they skipped an editing session. They\u2019re still clinging onto certain long ass, boring\/cringey ass scenes because they\u2019re like, \u201cWell, no actually we need this scene to make this other scene work or else this storyline is completely disconnected to the main plot!\u201d Okay well\u2026 then ask yourself\u2026 is this storyline necessary at all? They needed me in that writers\u2019 room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gave the movie five stars on Letterboxd each time. I don\u2019t care if it sucks as a standalone movie, at the end of the day it\u2019s Wicked<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WIIIIIICCCKKKKEEEEDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fanfic writing has officially begun. WOOOO!!! I\u2019ve actually gotten so into it that I didn\u2019t even want to pause to write this. I\u2019ve gathered enough research, as well as made enough preliminary decisions about the story and characters that now I feel comfortable finally writing, and my goodness is it fun! As I have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1063"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1094,"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions\/1094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longstoriesshort.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}