1) I have absolutely no idea what "meta" actually means. It seems to have a different use in each area of the internet. Anyone care to give it a shot and explain the term?
Okay, I've actually researched this before, so. Meta's got several meanings. As a prefix, it can mean "beyond" or "after" or "transcending" or "more comprehensive" [which is one of the meanings fandom appropriated]. In computer lingo, it means "one level higher", i.e. if A is a concept, then meta-X is the data/notes/discussion about the concept A.
As an adjective, it means "self-referencing". For example, a movie-within-a-movie is meta. Or a book about books, or a song about songs, or, you know, when The X-Files made "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'". :)
So, on a tv show like "Lost", when the characters talk to each other about their circumstances on the island, i.e. something like...
Charley: "Wow, we're all going a little nuts here, being stuck on this island for so long."
or...
Kate: "Jack, we as a group really need a leader because blah blah blah."
That is not meta, that is just...dialogue, right? Those lines would only be meta if the characters got bored and decided to put together a little play re-enacting their adventures on the island and they were part of the script.
But then, I always thought the character Arntz was meta because I thought, on the part of the writers, he was supposed to represent the very vocal haters of "Lost" in the audience. But that's not necessarily 'meta' either, is it?
I know you don't watch "Lost" but hopefully these are general questions. It's what finally made me throw my hands up in the air about the word.
The Arntz stuff in Lost can be seen as meta. Those other things, that's just expository dialogue-- a bit unnecessary in strict "people wouldn't be saying that to each other" way, but a TV convention. Following the TV convention so new viewers can jump on, however, is not meta.
I'm not up-to-date on Lost, but I just want to add the caveat that the show referencing fandom or behind-the-scenes issues is seen by some (including me) as meta
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Okay, I've actually researched this before, so. Meta's got several meanings. As a prefix, it can mean "beyond" or "after" or "transcending" or "more comprehensive" [which is one of the meanings fandom appropriated]. In computer lingo, it means "one level higher", i.e. if A is a concept, then meta-X is the data/notes/discussion about the concept A.
As an adjective, it means "self-referencing". For example, a movie-within-a-movie is meta. Or a book about books, or a song about songs, or, you know, when The X-Files made "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'". :)
/linguistics geek
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So, on a tv show like "Lost", when the characters talk to each other about their circumstances on the island, i.e. something like...
Charley: "Wow, we're all going a little nuts here, being stuck on this island for so long."
or...
Kate: "Jack, we as a group really need a leader because blah blah blah."
That is not meta, that is just...dialogue, right? Those lines would only be meta if the characters got bored and decided to put together a little play re-enacting their adventures on the island and they were part of the script.
But then, I always thought the character Arntz was meta because I thought, on the part of the writers, he was supposed to represent the very vocal haters of "Lost" in the audience. But that's not necessarily 'meta' either, is it?
I know you don't watch "Lost" but hopefully these are general questions. It's what finally made me throw my hands up in the air about the word.
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