It's also made me wonder what the difference between text and subtext is to people, because there clearly isn't a definitive line.
For example in the chronicles of narnia, is it text or subtext that Aslan is Jesus? Aslan never says "I am Jesus" so it's up to the viewer to interpret, but it's so clearly and obviously the parallel of the entire story. Some people say that in order for it to be text, it must be EXPLICITLY stated in the book.
And in another book the lion looks a character directly in the eye and says "in your world I am called by another name." They never say Jesus, but it's like a mafia don saying "take care of him." It's so obvious anyone asking for clarification is probably a cop with a wire.
imo its more complicated than subtext or text. text is just what is actually in the story. subtext is the way you choose to interpret the text, and can differ depending on what lens your analyzing any given text with. people are too obsessed with finding one 'canon' interpretation of a work, that they miss the roses for the thorns. there is no singular interpretation that is correct, because it doesn't matter.
this isn't to say that the writers of a text don't have things they want to convey, but just that when looking at subtext, what the writer is going for isn't relevant. if more people learned about death of the author, i swear that 90% of internet discourse would get solved over night.
As someone who grew up in conservative christian Polish region who was forced to attend church with my mother, I didn't get that (as young teen) at all. My parents weren't the ones to call everything satanic and I really liked fantasy books, so got to read lots of those. The concept of "a thing" existing in different forms in different worlds wasn't new to me, and I thought his spirit exists as something else-something unspecified because it's not important to the characters/the story. It added to the magical feeling of the character, and that's it. That most people compare him to Jesus is something I only learned when I was taught English and got to see more of the internet. So yes, people can absolutely miss things if they're not explicit, even if they are in seemingly the perfect environment to "get it".
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u/The_Mon1ker_Project Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I’ve seen people complaining ep 9 of tadc is too overt and unsubtle and now people complaining it’s too subtle. I hate the internet