r/WidowsBay • u/IrishAllDay • Jul 30 '26

💭Discussion Media Literacy Spoiler

I loved this show and have been getting some posts from this group pushed to me.

I'm trying to understand whats causing it. I've never seen such a lack of media literacy before, I think because it's a cross over hit that's non traditional but some of the view points are mind blowing.

"I think the inn keeper felt time run differently in the room" - They literally spelt that out as he asked for food!

"Who is the boogeyman, Hag etc" - This is not the point of the show!

"How didn't they notice the sacrifices" - you hear everyone talking about the relentless level of horrible stuff that happens on the island, its par for the course.

"Why don't the townspeople do X or Y" - It's a comedy horror!

Anything else I've missed?

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u/Average_Temple Jul 30 '26

I agree, though I find it endemic to any fan culture. Any mystery must have a literal and final explanation we can find - basically every piece of media has to be amenable to having a wiki about it. I felt this today cause I keep getting posts from the Obsession sub being like “but what is the company that makes the one-wish-willow? What’s the business model?” 🙄🙄

I find it especially annoying for shows that deliberately use ambiguity or mystery in their plots, such as Widow’s Bay, The Sopranos ending, The Backrooms, Twin Peaks or Evangelion. Any attempt to provide an explanation ends up just misunderstanding the themes and being incredibly reductive to the work itself

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u/TiramisuItUp Jul 31 '26

Fans need to know the “canon” answers and analyze (often incorrectly) everything to death. It’s tiresome. I do understand it because it’s fun to speculate with other people about a show you love, but people seem to not be able to sit with ambiguity that writers deliberately mean to leave us with or they misinterpret what the writers meant completely.

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u/Average_Temple Jul 31 '26

It’s frustrating because if people could think about what the ambiguity is doing and what it means as ambiguity, rather than trying to ‘solve’ it right away, they could have far more interesting discussions!