Thinking about how and why I write reviews

Something I've been thinking about for a while is the assumptions people have about the motivations and purpose behind reading and writing reviews and analysis, especially the sort of amateur, social justice-tinged posts I make myself.

Specifically, as it relates to reviews and reactions on this blog: what is my goal here? And how much stuff I assume goes without saying isn't clear?

So here's a rough approximation of my goals, in vague order of importance:

• Let people who haven't consumed the thing figure out if they might like it
  
• Articulate and explore my own feelings about the work and how it fits into broader patterns, and express myself creatively
  
• Be entertaining
  
• Help others understand my POV and figure out their own feelings, even if we don't agree
  
• Give other people with similar feelings to me a chance to feel seen
  
• Have interesting conversations, both about the specific thing and broader topics
  
• Promote stuff I think is worthy or that my readers might like
  
• Encourage an environment where people can think and talk about this sort of thing without being made to feel bad or weird
  

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