When I sat down to watch My Oxford Year, I didn’t expect to be impressed. I expected that I would cringe, maybe laugh at it some, and probably turn it off about midway through.
And to be fair, none of those predictions were wrong.
It’s just that I didn’t expect that I would also end up being wildly depressed.
If you haven’t read my other articles (and to be particularly terrible to myself, I’ll ask “why would you, anyway?”), I’ve just started my journey as an author. Right now I’m publishing short stories while I work on my novel, and it’s not going terribly. But… It’s not going great either.
And I know exactly why:
I don’t give a single shit about the market.
That’s why I’ll never succeed.
To be fair, I’m not in the same genre as My Oxford Year, but I know enough about romance to see everything the movie (and presumably the story it’s based on) is doing.
Rather than ramble on about the specifics of the plot, though, let me just break it down into the marketing buzzwords it’s screaming at me, because those are what really matter:
- Dark academia – Only in aesthetic, not really in vibes, which is my least favourite style.
- Enemies to lovers – The old classic in its most contrived form possible.
- For people who loved Me Before You – It’s more romantic when the guy dies, I guess?
Like I said, I didn’t finish My Oxford Year because I was already nauseous long before it finished, but I already knew almost everything I needed to in the first hour, and the Wikipedia page filled in the rest. I’m not saying it’s an inherently bad movie – as mean as I’m being about it, there’s clearly an audience for it. I can’t be upset that I’m not part of it.
(I can be mad that it portrays British people as either clowns or sexy rogues, but that’s just because I know too many British people (aka my family) to find it even close to believable.)
No, what’s upsetting to me is the fact that everything, everything has now been distilled down to its purest, most marketable form.
You know how we all complain about how bland Marvel movies are these days? Hell, even one of my first articles here on Peliplat was about how disappointingly formulaic the Dungeons and Dragons movie was. Well the thing is, now that I’m on the creating side of things… I get it. When I talk to other people in author groups, their advice is simple:
Read what other people are doing.
Copy it.
From the covers to the content to the blurbs, the trick has already been figured out to create the minimum viable product that will appeal to the largest possible audience.
But is that all there really is these days?
I won’t lie, I’m in it for the money.
I would love to earn a living, just a modest one, from my novels.
But do I really have to sacrifice my voice to do that?
If the original author of My Oxford Year was truly passionate about her book, more power to her, but god does she not have an ounce of creativity in her. I’ve been on enough distributor platforms that I can literally list of every genre category box she’s trying to hit off the top of my head, and again, romance isn’t my genre.
But what does that matter if it sells?
I don’t really know what the point of this article is. Really, it’s just me screaming into the void. I’m not looking for fame, or for my books to be made into movies. I just want to stand a chance. More importantly, I want everyone to stand a chance. I hate to sound classist but… I want the general public to develop a sense of taste, or at least novelty.
I want the world to reward creativity, not sales…
And yet even as I say that, I’m driven by the money.
I'm on track to earn a WHOPPING $30 this month. Hooray...
If you’re looking for an intercultural, enemies to lovers, slightly tragic romance that takes place at a university, go watch My Oxford Year. That’s the nice thing about it: it’s perfectly describable, perfectly recommendable. You’ll know exactly what you’re getting before you even buy your ticket, which offers a lot of comfort.
But it doesn’t enrich our understanding of ourselves, let alone others.
If you take anything away from this article, let it be this:
If you’re not succeeding, I’m proud of you for creating what speaks to you – not that you can’t get rich from your passion, but if you’re not earning these days, you’re almost certainly writing from the soul.
And if you’re a consumer rather than a creator… Please, for the love of god, give something weird a chance. I can’t explain the thrill I get whenever I see any purchase. I track my ratings obsessively. I give my work away for free just to get feedback, even.
Make someone’s day.
Try out their passion project, and leave it a review.
Maybe it won’t be for you, or maybe you’ll be surprised.
Either way, the author will be on the verge of tears thanking you.
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