The Spectacle

From Barbelith

The Spectacle is the section of the board devoted to discussing, well, "the arts", if you like. It's subdivided into five subfora: Art Fashion & Design; Books; Comic Books; Film TV & Theatre; Music.

Specific FAQs for:


They cover pretty much anything that will fit into them - Music, for instance, has seen threads on music production, the effect of sound on body and mind, criticism of artists or songs, ranting about trends, etc. You get the picture. The content of The Spectacle, just as anywhere else, is not Invisibles or Morrison focused as such; yes, Comics contains a significantly high proportion of Invisibles and Morrison threads, but that's the right place for them, and it is the board's oldest function. But you shouldn't feel limited by it. A quick look at the posts should indicate the diversity of threads and thought present.

Barbelith Viewspace.

I REALLY LIKE MUSIC/FILMS/COMICS/BOOKS etc, BUT NONE OF THE THREADS IN THOSE RESPECTIVE FORUMS REFLECT MY INTERESTS. SHOULD I JUST NOT POST IN THESE FORUMS?

[Flux] No! You should try starting threads about your interests, and the chances of other people on the board sharing your interests could be quite high and/or you could influence other people to check out what you're writing about.

If you're writing about something that other people might not be aware of; it's a good idea to express enthusiasm about it, because that enthusiasm can be contagious or arouse curiosity in the subject matter. Be descriptive in your writing - a thread in which you simply state the name of something or someone isn't as effective as adding a description of your feelings and ideas about it.

WHAT KIND OF BOOKS SHOULD BE DISCUSSED IN THE BOOKS FORUM? ISN'T THERE SOME OVERLAP IN SUBJECT MATTER WITH OTHER FORUMS, SUCH AS THE SWITCHBOARD AND THE HEADSHOP?

“Books” is devoted primarily to fiction; although there is no ban on non-fiction, it is frequently discussed in the relevant section of the Revolution. That’s a judgement call, really – “Michael Moore’s approach to corporate justice” would perhaps be a Switchboard topic, but the actual book “Stupid White Men”, and specifically the problems getting it published, were discussed in Books.

[Kit-Cat]

Don't forget that topics can be moved across fora, so that if a thread is started in Books and it subsequently veers towards a Headshoppy discussion (for example) the moderators can move it over to the Headshop with no difficulty.

[Kit-Cat again]

There are various things about Books which I think it would be helpful to have a new page for - let's call it Books and Literature...

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