The theme for today is haikus, and the girls are already going strong. Although brevity is the soul of wit (and lingerie), this is a good time to talk a little bit about the something that has been on my mind: writing.
As I mentioned yesterday, I'm a postgraduate student, and I'm currently writing my MLitt in Film Journalism. It's a bit of a tricky course, with a melding of journalism and academic writing. As much as I've slagged it off and pointed mockingly at its shortcomings, I'd definitely do it again. While I was writing an academic essay about film journalism this week, I got to thinking more about the relationship between the two. Having studied Film & Media as an undergrad, I gained a pretty firm grounding in film theory. Moving out of that into journalism, especially in this era of bloggers, comment sections, and the idea that every man's opinion is as valuable as the next, has probably been relatively easy for an internet junkie like me. However, it all warrants some reflection.
This time last year I started my own film blog and started to make serious contributions to other websites and apply for writing jobs. Since then, I've practiced a lot and gained a lot of practical experience, but I still haven't decided what kind of writer I am. Upon completing my first proper academic essay in almost 2 years, Evan (my boyfriend) told me that although he didn't like the argument I was making, academic writing is still my forte. When I consider how much I struggled to get back into the academic mindset, that's a little difficult to swallow. In terms of practice, though, I suppose my hours on academia far outweigh the time I've put into journalism. In the end, I've realised that although I'm a bit lazy when it comes to research and prefer to draw from things I've already "researched" by proxy, academic writing is far more rewarding.
So who am I? Perhaps it has no niche, but I'm a writer who loves to deconstruct "low-brow" entertainment in a fairly "middle-brow" manner. As much as I hate those turns of phrase, I think that comedy, silly films, and ridiculous memes can warrant as much introspection as, say, a Bulgarian Chamber Drama. One of my favourite university lectures was from the late Dr Mark Brownrigg, who deconstructed the music of Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me according to the academic coda he'd spent the semester teaching us. I'd say that's the moment that made me realise that everything that's carefully constructed is worthy of analysis, and those are my favourite things to write about.
In journalistic terms, the closest you can get to publishing academic film writing (without submitting to an obscure journal) is probably Cineaste or Sight & Sound, and it seems they have no room for such silliness. So where does it fit? If I can capture that, you can bet your bottom I'll have found my aca-journalistic nirvana.
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P.S. Today, I came across the word drabble. A drabble is defined as,"an extremely short work of fiction of exactly one hundred words in length". Drabble Every Day May (DEDM), anyone?
'Til tomorrow!
Nicola
7 comments:
I feel like sometimes it's a delicate balance between academic and journalistic writing. Other times there's a huge gap of uncharted territory in between. It sounds like you're in the weird middle ground. I wonder if maybe sometype of online journal might occupy the same space.
Dr. Brownrigg sounds very entertaining. I love educators who can make learning fun! There are far too few of these endangered species. ;) I'm loving the DEDM idea. I would seriously consider doing this. It'd be pretty challenging, but very imaginative. :D
Becky - it is a balance, isn't it? I'm sure there are possibilities out there, it'd be pretty lucky to get to do my ideal type of writing as a job!
Mandy - He was the best! DEDM sounds totally daunting but it would be a lot of fun, shall we revisit the topic closer to the end of April?
Sounds like a plan. If not DEDM, I'd like to try blogging everyday in April..or vlogging..or podcasting.. :)
You'll find your home, just don't stop writing. And you should definitely pursue the DEDM idea. Dabbling in drabble could be fun.
Mandy, have you tried podcasting before? I've always been intrigued but I find them hard to listen to for long so I've never gotten all that interested.
Autumn, thanks! Have you dabbled in drabble?
I've been a guest on my friend's podcast a few years ago. It was a lot of fun, but it's harder to think on the spot..they definitely need to have been planned out a bit ahead of time (or have been assembled with several smaller, funny conversations we had when his recorder just happened to be on). :)
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