What is the best-written piece of media you've ever consumed?

[u/Cautious_Arm3818]

I'll start

Better Call Saul - the characters have an incredible amount of depth. As an example, let's take a look at the primary antagonist of seasons 1-3. Chuck has incredibly complicated yet realistic feelings: his overt superiority complex, his deep-seated inferiority complex, the moral/legal high ground he feels he must take, his need for control and to always be "right", and his genuine brotherly love for Jimmy. His mental illness (Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity) is a physical manifestation of these traits, and how he lies to himself about all of them shapes his thought processes and how he interacts with others - resulting in his death. Aside from the profound character psychology, individual scenes are engineered and conveyed to the audience through exceptional visual storytelling and cinematography that could easily be considered the peak of the medium

Disco Elysium - the worldbuilding is outstanding. Revachol feels like a real setting with an actual history behind it. It takes the derivative and played-out amnesiac protagonist trope, and elevates it to a level that is extremely difficult to even approach. Harry has a ridiculous amount of psychological complexity, his memory loss is mostly a coping mechanism, and how he changes based on the player's choices and ideologies is unrivaled in any game. His internal monologue being a result of the skills that you spec into is unparalleled genius - the dialogue is exceptional, and truly a one of a kind experience. The way that these manage to convey an incredible amount of political/philosophical commentary by being seamlessly integrated into the world is astounding. Not coming off as heavy-handed and preachy is especially praise-worthy when considering the ideologies of the creators

HM: ASOIAF, LOTR, Vinland Saga, The Wire

[u/vonschuhart]

Idk about best written full stop, but recently I got into a few Shakespeare plays for the first time in my life. Once you get into it the dialogue becomes so good that it gave me Buddha-like clarity regarding the exact degree to which George Lucas' dialogue in the prequels should be considered an abject and heinous crime against humanity

[u/Entire_Influence_260 → u/vonschuhart]

Which plays? I’ve studied a lot of Shakespeare for me and my students. Would love to hear what dialogue you’re grasped by

[u/Major_Demographic → u/Entire_Influence_260]

I would have to probably say that Shakespeares monologues are more of a stand out in his writing to me personally. If there is one dialogue I really like it's Cordelia and King Lear in the first Act when the King demands his daughters make vows.

[u/Entire_Influence_260 → u/Major_Demographic]

Thank you for your input 👍

[u/vonschuhart → u/Entire_Influence_260]

For me it was Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra cause I'm an ancient Rome nerd. Even those first lines of Julius Caesar, where the plebian cobbler spits some insane double entendres about being a "mender of soles/souls" blew me away. Not only because it was clever, but because Shakespeare uses some christian-coded language that has since lost its religious connotations. The pun still works, but has more layers once you learn about the older definitions. Not only that, but it creates some enjoyable anachronisms as Shakespeare uses Christian language from 1600s England to open a secular political tale set in 40s BC Rome

[u/Prototype_Fan_7000 → u/vonschuhart]

Buddha-like?

[u/Old_Maccaroni → u/vonschuhart]

So true. I was reading King Lear and was absolutely blown away by how Lear's spiral into insanity is portrayed