The semester, and the year, ends.

[davetheanalyzer]

The end of another year, with many beginnings and other things. I started and finished my first semester at Albertus Magnus college, in my first online classes. For my Creative Process class, I wrote and submitted an essay based on how technology communication is used in storytelling. I was going to talk about the storytelling process in general but the professor expressed interest in the technology communication part, so I concentrated on that. I used Tribetwelve’s social accounts and a fanfic composed of emails and text messages as examples to show how each communications’ advantages add to the story. Due to the short word limit, I had to cut out a bit I’d have liked to wax lyrical about. Still, I believe my point came across, as he sent a grading email expressing fascination with this phenomena, comparing the emails and text message fanfic to those novels composed entirely of letters. Needless to say, I passed. That was a nice note to end on.

For Writing Portfolio, I submitted my revision and got feedback. I had some details and characterization cleared up, but still need to work out the place of other characters as well as the details of the world. Didn’t think there would be anything dramatic to work on for class’s end, just spotted a few days before the final day that a portfolio was due. The wording gave the impression you were supposed to submit other people’s works you critiqued but the professor actually meant to submit the works you had critiqued. Fortunately, there wasn’t that many. I just submitted both drafts of the writing samples I submitted for both classes and that was that. This won’t be the last I deal with that professor though, since I need to take this class around three more times to fulfill the requirements.

My other next term class is Readings in Fiction, which will be taught by my advisor. From the description, it’s supposed to catch us up on what’s contemporary in the literary scene as well as the controversies and debates. Even with keeping track of the trends, we’ll apparently learn how to be innovative and find our own voices. The workload sounds intimidating but my previous classes also sounded intimidating and I dealt with them just fine. I surmise one thing we’ll learn is that the process of testing and borrowing from other writers would lead us to find our voice. I see how true that is when the term starts January 17^th.

In other news, I’ve seen Coco. There was understandable outrage when Disney’s marketing department tried to copyright Day of the Dead and suspicion it stole from The Book of Life. For some reason, I began to have some doubts about the latter, and they were confirmed when some Latinx Tumblr users pointed out the mistakes of that perception, including that The Book of Life was shopped at Dreamworks instead of Disney and that being outraged at another Day of the Dead movie is like being outraged at the thousands of Christmas movies in existence. It’s not bereft of Mexican talent, since the co-director and much of the advisors and staff are Mexican. There can be more than one, and Disney doing it mean this film will get more exposure.

Having heard reviews and seen the film myself, I can confirm Coco is a good film that is its own different entity from The Book of Life. It retread some familiar ground with Miguel wanting to be a musician while his family, who feels cursed by it, is against it, but the matter is executed well. The family isn’t portrayed as evil for their position, just well-intentioned but closed minded. Abuelita Elena’s harsh, matronly attitude is especially understandable. She wouldn’t take too well to Miguel’s passion since that caused her grandfather to apparently abandon her dear mother and grandmother.

Miguel, though a nice boy, realistically resented being stifled, so it was only natural he rejected being part of the family and made not only the rash action to take Ernesto’s guitar, but ran away from his dead family to receive a blessing to get back to the living world so he wouldn’t get any conditions about forgoing music. He was also naturally skeptical of Day of the Dead until he came to the afterlife personally. The Land of the Dead was beautiful, with hundreds of lights and buildings animated in, according to the pre-movie special. I don’t know how faithful it is to the actual traditions and word about the Land of the Dead but it was interesting.

Of course, going to the Land of the Dead means we meet Mama Imelda. From the prologue, of how she dealt with her husband’s disappearance, I was interested in her, so I was happy we actually got some screentime with her. When Miguel ran off and Dante led him to Hector, I was a bit amused that this was one example of many of the dog leading Miguel to the next plot point but after the revelations later in the movie, it turns out that was his intention. I don’t know if this means Dante was an Alebrijes all along or his acts made him an Alebrijes, I haven’t seen much info determining it either way, but it was funny and sweet his Alebrijes form is shown.

For Hector, his growing bond with Miguel, at first the pair only sticking with each other for their self-interest but becoming fond, was typical but great. It led to showing some other sides of the Land of the Dead. We get a glimpse of the underclass of the forgotten in both senses of the word who suffer a final death if all living loved ones forget them. For all of his schemes to get into the living world, Hector being there for one of those people in those final moments shows he cared. His encouraging and joining Miguel on stage in the singing contest was great. Even if Miguel’s family came around and that caused their bond to breakup, it did lead to a nice moment later on where the runners-up who won by default were kind enough to sneak him into Ernesto’s party. It’s nice to see even competitors be swell with each other.

Speaking of Ernesto, I managed to dodge most of the spoilers and thought he really was Imedla’s wife. The most hints I got was he did something bad in contrast to his good image, which merited TVTropes to compare it to John Lasseter and the sexual harassment allegations. I also saw Hector/Imelda was THE ship for the burgeoning fandom. It confused me as I watched but I surmised maybe Hector would be a nicer second lover for her. When it came to be revealed that not only Hector was the real mind behind the music and that Ernesto murdered him, I was genuinely shocked. The thirst for fame can trump friendship, it seems.

As Miguel and Hector talked in the pit, I gained the suspicion a minute or so before it was confirmed aloud that Hector was the former’s great-great-grandfather after all. I read some were disappointed Ernesto wasn’t the actual great-great-grandfather, so the family would have to cope with having an actually terrible relative but I didn’t mind. It led to some interesting dynamics.

I did like how in chasing Miguel, Imelda showed her talents with singing and the conflict that aroused. When she found out Hector was going to come back but Ernesto murdered him, I also liked she was still rightly mad at him for leaving in the first place but she was still outraged Ernesto murdered him, enough to slap him. The moment where in trying to retrieve Hector’s photo Imelda got sent up on stage and had to sing was great for her slowly embracing her husband and music back into her life. It made sense she would stay by Hector’s side and send Miguel back with no conditions when it seemed like Hector might go through the final death. The crowd turning against Ernesto when overhearing what he really did was a great show of human decency.  

I was on the edge of my seat when Miguel ran home and tried to prod Mama Coco to keep her memories of her father with words and then song. I admit, some wetness came in my eyes. Coco remembering her father and becoming lucid while talking to her family is heartwarming, especially with Abuelita Elena’s reaction. With how she hid Hector’s photo and letters, I wonder how much resistance Coco put up to the villainization of her father and the banning of music. She must have been strong and clever if they never been found before. With this new lucidity and the truth out, it’s only natural the Rivera’s allow Miguel to pursue his music dream and for them to join in.

There is much fanwork of this movie, which is heartening but I’m interested in how the Rivera family manage to convince at least their village the truth of Ernesto and how Hector was the real talent. Claiming that a beloved singer and actor was not only a plagiarist but a murderer is guaranteed to unleash shock and backlash. I could see bullying, smears, and the family’s now dissipating distaste for music being used against them. It would take some help and some damning evidence to convince the village and maybe the whole nation of the truth. It would be interested in seeing what kind of story that would lead to.

On the Land of the Dead side, I wonder what Hector would do about the forgotten class. I doubt he would completely abandon them, since he lived with them and they helped him through the century. I’m unsure of how he can help beyond asking Miguel to bring their photos to the living world so they would be remembered or at least making sure their final time in the Land of the Dead is comfortable. It would be interesting and likely tearjerking to explore in fanfic.

In fanfic news, it looks like We Will Hold On Forever won’t be updated again this December, sadly. There was just so much to rewrite and correct in revising the latest chapter that I couldn’t make a November posting time either. With class, I could only write a page a day but with the semester done, I’ve upgraded it to two pages a day. I’m on the second revision. With the ninety pages I wrote, a third might be needed. I do hope to post the opening chapters of the next arc in January. I’ve also been unsure about the portrayal and backgrounds of certain characters in this arc but I think I’m leaning toward the right motivations enough to begin posting soon. Though I likely won’t post in February. I haven’t written the chapters that would follow the 90 page ones, so I need to do that. With two pages a day, I hope I’ll be able to write and revise those chapters within one-two months.

In addition to that, I’m also planning to write a page a weekday of an one-shot. Even with these chaptered stories, I want to post around four to six one-shots a years, so I need to make time for that. That’s around three pages of story writing a day in addition to reviews and soon schoolwork writing. I hope for the new year I can balance this out, since I’m washing dishes in the afternoon and occasionally the morning as well as replacing the dishes back into their proper cabinets in order to give my aging parents less work to do. That eats up time. I might pull back a bit on my Tumblr posting since that takes around two to three hours to do and having even a bit of that freed up would be great for me. 

That’s all I can think of for now. I’m typing at my usual spot, with snow outside and reading and reviewing a good Zootopia fanfic called “Stars.” I’ve been reading fanfics a bit more since I miss doing more than one at a time and I’m reviewing to give support since writers including myself complain about how the lack of reviews are de-motivating, so I should walk the walk. Hopefully, I can keep some of it up when the new semester starts. Happy New Year, everyone. Until the end of January, see you!