media, fandom, pet peeve, old cat yells at internet
A narrative is the exact opposite of a jigsaw puzzle. All the pieces should NOT fit together perfectly-- because there are no pieces and, therefore, no edges to lock or not lock correctly.
I've been looking at fan theories all evening, and while I've also seen some really clever, insightful stuff, it still worries me how obsessed this kind of "folk criticism" is about making every single piece of content finds its place in a Grand Unifying Theory, some final and all-encompassing answer to What The Author Is Telling Us Here.
That's a very specific variety of literary criticism at work there, one that's taught in most high schools, and it's one that most of my college education in lit-crit was devoted to undoing. :)
It's possible I'm just playing the old priest here, advancing my own dogma at the cost of an equally valid one. But I'm a creator myself, and I'm married to a creator, plus yanno, I've read a hell of a lot about how media is made.
IMHO, the worst thing about fan theories is that they simultaneously revere and eliminate the author, turning them into a godlike entity who never does anything unless it's for a perfect, abstract thematic reason. And I KNOW most media doesn't work that way. I've _been_ the one scratching my head at the script, wondering exactly why the hell what some plot token was still doing there-- or even making the judicious decision to keep something that makes no plot sense because it's just so damn funny.
re: media, fandom, pet peeve, old cat yells at internet
FWIW, the example that inspired me was an otherwise really nice analysis of Alan Resnick's Live Forever As You Are Now, a fake self-help infomercial that satirizes tech-guru transhumanism.
They were spinning these HUGE theories out of the fact the video was full of short jokes, which they'd decided was a symbol of false humility on the part of the tech world and don't you see how their advertising does blah blah blah...
And I gently pointed out, um, Alan's 5'4" in RL and his troupemates make a point of teasing him about it in EVERY. SINGLE. THING. THEY. DO. They once did a sketch about him sleeping in someone's shoe.
And like I said, this kid had some really good ideas! I'm so glad they did this, and an error like that is well worth all the good insights! But I bring it up because it feels like this kind of high-school style "THE RED CURTAINS ARE A SYMBOL OF VIOLENCE, BECAUSE THE AUTHOR WANTS TO MAKE A STATEMENT!" criticism is... basically the only thing that we've got. And there are so many other ways to criticize fan media that better reflect the real creative process.
So, yeah. Good criticism is the exact opposite of a jigsaw puzzle. Good critics _know_ they're just taking rough, random pieces and super-gluing them together in interesting patterns. Some of those patterns will be drawn straight from the pieces' actual shapes. Some will be total guesswork. Some will require an X-Acto knife. And that's fine... but the more aware of this process you are, the better your criticism will be.