i think that all stories are about consumption, performance, and/or narrative, and the best combine elements of all three
a thesis as a series of posed questions
consumption: who and what is consuming or being consumed? who is invited to the table? who is given scraps and who eats well? is the consumption an act of love or of violence? is the act of consuming performed alone or with others? is the act of consumption one of ritual, survival, eroticism, pain? who is fed and who starves?
performance: who and what is performing? is there an audience? what is an audience? is the performative act a conscious one? is it a performance if there is no audience? who is watching? who is watching the watchers? does it matter?
narrative: whose story is being told? who is telling the story? whose story is being erased? who is aware they are in a story? who is trying to escape? is the narrative linear, does it loop, does it move backwards? is there a resolution? is the story about the conclusion or the action itself? what haunts this story?
i think about this post a lot and i think that while this last category runs in connection with all three of the previous ones, i’d be remiss to not detail it on its own
love: who and what is loving or being loved? where does the love come from? what form does it show up in? how is it communicated? is it reciprocated? is it hidden, is it obvious? is it platonic, familial, romantic, erotic, divine? is love fought for or does it show up easily? is love absent? why? if it is absent, how is it found?
in my mind stories look like this
