Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1916997-20160229060949/@comment-1916997-20160229171916

P3nathan wrote: I see posts like these a lot, not just Once, but other fandoms too. They always remind me of "Moff's Law" What is that? Well...

''Moff's Law: Never try to dismiss critical analysis by asking, "Why can't you just enjoy it for what it is?" ''

''When pop culture and fans intersect, there are sure to be discussion on a work's merit and message. These discussions take place on blogs, message boards and even on this wiki. Sometimes certain subjects (such as race, gender, etc) will come up and serious analysis will take place. At some point, someone will say a variation of this question: "Why can't you just enjoy it for what it is?" This statement is usually meant to derail discussion and protect their favorite work from criticism (although it may also be done in order to prevent Serious Business from escalating too much).''

''This is NOT a “Stop Having Fun” Guys trope. It's not saying that you have to analyze a work as if it were the results to a scientific test searching for the cure to cancer. There is nothing wrong with liking a work for what it is without thinking about it too much. Moff's Law is a response to those who tell critics that they're being stupid by analyzing the work and should just sit back and enjoy it mindlessly.''

Source- TV Tropes



To me, "It's not your story to write/You're not the writer" seems like a variation of the "Why can't you just enjoy it for what it is?" response. Both make an attempt to dismiss.

A lot of people analyze and critique flaws, and that is completely okay. All works of art, whether highbrow or lowbrow, can be analyzed, and if anything, I personally think it does a disservice to the work itself to simply dismiss such discussion.

A lot of Once analysis has an unfortunate tendency to accentuate the negative, it's the negativity that's the problem, not the analysis itself. It's a GOOD thing that so many fans think critically about the show. You don't put such effort into looking at something you don't care about. Well, that was not my point at all. I don't think we have to all "sit down and shut up", which is what the thing your referenceing seems to be implying. I'm totally fine with discussion. I'm totally fine with people being saying "I didn't like how Emma acted in this episode because (insert reason here)." My point is that people can't "know the characters" better than the actual creators. Just because a fan thinks the writers should have handled something differently, or shown it differently, or whatever, doesn't change that what they show is the canon reaction of that character. Part of the problem is that even when a character has acted similarly for the past two seasons, it is still dismissed, because "Season 1 Snow wouldn't have acted like that". Well, guess what? Season 1 Snow was basically a whole different character, and for good reason. She was cursed (including a new persona) to a world fundementally different from her own, where she was saved by her 28 year old daughter who was an infant the last time she saw her. They crap happened and they got sent to the EF. Then they came back and Snow killed Cora. Then Henry was kidnapped and they had to go to Neverland and save him. Then they all had to go back to the EF except Henry and Emma. Then Snow got pregnant. Then they went back to SB again and Snow had her baby. Then even more crap happened. Then they had to go to Camelot to save Emma. You see my point? Snow has been through alot, so she is not going to react the same way she did years and years ago. What others see as OOC, I see as character growth and evolution.