Friday, January 23, 2009

Witless Dictionary #8--Marenghi Bubble

Part 8 of a never-ending series designed to create a functioning vocabulary for my unique brand of comics criticism. Or, to be more blunt about it, I'm just making this stuff up as I go along.

Marenghi Bubble--Filter on perception that usually results from having a reliable coterie of apologists around them that prevents any valid constructive criticism (or, indeed, criticism of any kind) from penetrating. Those in within a Marenghi Bubble will often justify dubious creative choices by citing high sales or an editorial mandate to shake things up or . . .geez, anything, really. This meme will be buttressed by his followers, who will continue to paint the person inside the bubble as a visionary and slag off anyone who doesn't get it.

Or, alternatively, those poor fools who walk around the Emperor with a big sheet so we can't see he bloody well has no clothes on.

Named for fictional construct Garth Marenghi, who, while meant as a parody, sadly has plenty of company in the real world who aren't.

2 comments:

Diana Kingston-Gabai said...

Is the Marenghi Bubble applicable to fans as well? Because they often deliver the same types of justifications in defense of their chosen author, which require a pretty big set of blinkers...

Kazekage said...

It's an inextricable part of the bubble, really. It's a kind of symbiosis--the fans form the bubble that insulates the writer from any critique at all. Combined with a writer past the Sim Meridian, this is usually catastrophic.