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angel-of-sweet-revenge · 6 months

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I just watched the Barbie movie. Here are my thoughts

-Allen. Allen is babygirl and deserves the world and we need more Allen

-Weird Barbie is a queen and we also need more of her

-I don't get what people are getting so angry over; this isn't 'propaganda' or whatever political statements people are making this into, at least to me. To me it seems pretty clear that this is an allegory of growing up, especially as a girl, which is obviously more focused on because this is written with girls as the target audience.

-Like the symbolism? Idk it might just be me but

-The way the Barbies and Kens were in the start especially resembles the behaviour of CHILDREN, particularily ages 12-14. The Barbies appear more adult because girls at that age tend to act a little more like adults, while the Kens are slightly unhinged and chaotic and unserious because 12 year old boys are like that (my brother is near 13 and the kens are actually TONED DOWN compared to him, wheras me and my friends at 12 were definietly more mature).

-The Barbies being all powerful and positive? They reminded me of the attitudes present in girly cartoons that I watched when younger, that emphasised on Girl Power and would make me feel powerful. The Barbies are empowered, career focused, and believe women have power because that's what the world around them reflects, just like the attitudes in the girly Girl Power cartoons most girls saw

-When Barbie and Ken leave Barbieland, that symbolises growing up and entering the adult world. Just like how Barbie felt self-concious and all the men were catcalling, most girls when they grow up feel more self-concious and more aware of danger from men. Boys don't typically have that experience, just like how Ken didn't share that feeling with Barbie. The rest of the movie, with how they talk about gender inequality in the real world, that's how life seems to girls. They actually I think got it pretty accurate.

-Barbie being shocked at the patriarchy is like how girls get hit by the real world, finding it to be not like they expected at all.

-Ken's reaction to the 'patriarchy' is NOT meant to be 'Men=EVIL'. To me it represents how young boys stumble upon patriarchial views and aren't able to fully comprehend them, and yet absorb them because to them it seems 'cool'. Ken didn't have the mental maturity to comprehend what the patriarchy stood for. He just enjoyed the feeling of respect and admiration. That part of Ken's arc, I think, was symbolising how impressionable young boys are especially when they see something that seems so cool to them, without considering the consequences.

-Ken and Barbie's breakup was literally to suggest that your identity isn't someone else, it's your own, and that you should try work out who you are. If someone says it was to say 'I DONT NEED NO MAN' (as a critsism) I will fight them because it was literally SAID that Barbie just didn't return those feelings, and she wanted Ken to be a whole and secure person, and that Ken needed to find himself because his identity wasn't dependant on what he was to Barbie. That whole scene's meaning was that we shouldn't make our entire identity revolve around someone else.

-In any case, the main theme of this to me was growing up in an unfair world and abandoning childhood ideals to face the world.

-And also i've heard critisisms that the men are all ridiculous in this movie. Um, hello? The entire MOVIE was ridiculous. EVERYONE was unhinged. That's just Barbie movies, literally no one is sane (not even Barbie). Of course the girls had more serious competent moments; they were the MAIN CHARACTERS. The guys were SIDE CHARACTERS. Side characters can be goofy! It makes the movie fun! And it's BARBIE! The animated movies can be even LESS serious! In fact, I think keeping the side cast goofy and unhinged was a great idea because it broke down the seriousness of the movie very nicely, and made it all the more fun, like a movie about Barbie should be! It doesn't MEAN anything about men! (although a good part of me is convinced they weren't too wrong /j)

-Allen is babygirl.

#angel writes #angel rambles #imma stress it again: THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS. MY OPINIONS #you can absolutely have formed your own conclusions for this movie and heck maybe i did miss the message entirely #but this is what it meant for me regardless #this is a movie guys it's meant for ENTERTAINMENT and i was ENTERTAINED #the only reason I approached it with an analasys mindset is because of the strong opinions people had on it #and i think most of the anti-barbie people either got the movie totally wrong- or they just hated horses XD #but like i said this was MY opinion. you can disagree if you want #barbie #barbie movie #barbie 2023

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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Hello, everyone! I come bearing a new recap series to fill the void until Volume 8. This came about because a bunch of friends went, “Hey, this book is really bad” and I responded with, “Really? I should check it out!” Now here we are.

Thrilling tale, I know.

The rules for this project are simple:

Each recap will cover a single chapter

Each chapter will be read as time and energy permit

Each chapter will contain typos because such is life

Recaps are a general response to anything and everything I notice about the text. This includes positives, negatives, and the wishy-washy stuff in between. Despite the summarized conversation above, I’m not going into this with the intention of ripping BtD to shreds, nor am I looking to absolve it simply because it’s ~RWBY~. I’m attempting to be as objective as one human individual can be

However, given that there will be criticisms (a lot of them so far)... any rude messages taking issue with that will unceremoniously be deleted :)

Onward!

We open with Sun’s point of view as he wanders the streets of Vacuo in the very late night/early morning. We learn that he’s been back for a month, but it’s “only now that he felt like he was truly home.” Why that is isn’t made clear. There are two actions connected to this thought: getting into a dangerous battle and helping out a stranger. It’s up to the reader to decide which (or both) is what makes Vacuo feel like home to Sun, but either is going to say a lot about his characterization. Is he a Yang, only feeling like things are normal when there’s something exciting going on? Or a Ruby, attaching feelings of self-worth and belonging to his ability to help others? As said, it’s arguably both.

To clarify this situation: Sun is following a group of three who in turn are following a woman. He says that they were “three goons who were up to no good. At least he’d assumed they were up to no good when he spotted them stalking a woman out of some new nightclub downtown.” Which begs the question, which is it? Do you actually know the three are “stalking” her or is this another “assumption”? Are they up to no good or not? Retroactively, their fight with Sun and the narrative connections to the rest of the plot seem to prove that they are indeed baddies... but Sun didn’t know this at the time. By his own admission he’s drawing very firm conclusions (they’re “goons”) based on circumstantial evidence. I’m torn between praising him for taking action - that woman is presumably safe now thanks to him - and acknowledging that this is a problem with our whole cast. All our heroes jump to conclusions like this and have very confident ideas about who is “good” and who is “bad” based on little to no evidence. Really, I take far less issue with this particular situation and its context (Huntsmen in training sees a woman potentially in danger and takes non-disruptive action to try and prevent a tragedy. That’s good) than I do this trend of characters “assuming” things about others across the series.

But enough on that. Sun’s plan to keep an eye on the situation fails as they “somehow noticed him” despite taking extra precautions to keep out of sight. From this he deduces that at least one member, Brown, is a faunus because the faunus are much more attuned to their environment. Both due to biology and growing up trying to keep safe from humans. I find the bigotry part of that explanation to be odd. I’ll admit that I might be reading way too much into this. So far there’s a lot in this novel that’s not obviously bad but did make me pause and go, “Ehhh...” Just because this moment draws a line between the racism allegory and (literal) animal traits. Take a second to swap out the fantasy term of “faunus”: Character, as a black man, is more attuned to his environment because he’s learned to protect himself from white people.” There is something to be said for minority groups being more cautious in specific situations, or being wary of how they present themselves to new people, etc. But in this case faunus are supposed to just be more attuned to things 24/7 because of fantasy-racism, which sounds a lot like an evolutionary, animalistic trait that they... already have? Saying that the character with animal eyes and ears can more easily pick up on someone tracking him is one thing. Saying that the discriminated against character can more easily pick up on someone tracking him because he’s just hyper-aware at all times very much like an animal...that’s “Ehhh.” It’s one of those things I doubt I’d be paying any attention to if RWBY had given us better representation overall. It’s reached a point where the way the faunus are handled is so messy that any statement like this invites at least a dollop of suspicion. But I’ll leave that to others to cry “Yea” or “Nay.”

So Sun is forced to confront these three. They wear masks and “matching silver armbands around their right biceps.” Sun thinks that they’re “just average gas masks” and thus way less scary than the grimm masks the White Fang prefers. All I could think was:

Gas masks are plenty scary, Sun, you’re just watching the wrong TV shows.

These four start the obligatory pre-fight chit-chat which includes Pink calling Sun “kid.” Every time this happens I feel a tiny bit of my soul wither and die. The protagonists’ ages and the implications attached to them have been a thorn in my side since Volume 5. I mean, heaven forbid we acknowledge that these are teenagers often making immature decisions when the text itself keeps reminding us of how young they are.

But I digress.

As the fight begins Sun concentrates to activate his semblance and we’re given a rather strange flashback. Sun, along with his older cousin Starr Sanzang, are moving with their clan after their “previous settlement had become too attractive to Grimm.” Which is its own, massive can of worms labeled with the question “What suddenly makes a home ‘too attractive’?” But we have nothing else to work with there so I’m leaving it alone. The primary takeaway is Sun’s reaction to the move itself. He wants to know why they don’t fight and despite being told that a) not everyone in the clan is as strong as him and b) he has a tendency to be hotheaded (even though that’s presented as familial teasing), he’s not happy with those answers. It’s amazing how much of this characterization makes it feel like Meyers barely read the RWBY wiki, yet he’s simultaneously managing to hit on a lot of the series’ major themes - including the idea that heroes must never, ever retreat. We could easily take Sun’s thoughts and chuck them into any of Team RWBY’s heads during Volume 7 and you’d be good to go. Not standing and fighting when that would likely mean your death? The horror!

This perspective also (for me) says a lot about his semblance itself. This is the moment where he starts working towards it, so given what we know about semblances, souls, and the circumstances in which they’re developed, I’d say his emotional state is pretty important. Sun wants to stay and fight. He’s told that not everyone is powerful like him. He’d need more people in order to defend his home. Then he literally creates more of himself to help him in battle. Problem solved.

The strange part is what kick-starts this development. Sun sees a magical (???) tree that appears to him and him alone. It’s “a desert willow, green and flourishing with white, rose, and violet flowers” and it’s what he focuses on whenever he needs to draw on his semblance. It’s unclear what, if anything, this tree is meant to represent. There’s obvious symbolism regarding a “flourishing” plant in an otherwise desolate wasteland, but we are not (as of yet) privy to whether this tree is a real thing with a real, tangible connection to Sun. It would be easy to conclude that Sun just imagined it despite his own insistence otherwise, but in a story where semblances, magic, and gods do exist? Who knows. I hope this is going somewhere because it’s frustrating to drop something ~symbolic~ into a universe that’s supposed to be governed by concrete, magical rules and leave the reader floundering over how to categorize that.

We come back to the fight where Sun decides that Brown was “both the leader of the group and the most dangerous. Why? Because he was hiding the most.”

Hold up.

How do you know he’s “hiding the most” when they’re all wearing identical masks and doing the same, shady stuff?

Why in the world is the concept of hiding things connected to leadership?

Not going to lie, it feels like a dig at Ozpin. “Oh yes, the most secretive one must be the leader because we all know leaders do nothing but hide things. The two are so intimately linked that I can look at three people who are all acting suspicious, single out the guy who I’m assuming is a faunus based on no evidence, and thus further conclude - since he’s totally hiding that part of his identity - that he’s the leader here. Simple deduction.”

Sherlock Holmes would be ashamed.

More importantly, you know who’s also a dangerous leader who hides things?

Oh, also this guy.

But instead of acknowledging this we’re offered the simplistic explanation that this is the leader of the bad guys because only bad guys hide stuff. Right.

I’m already getting the sense that Sun’s characterization - like Ruby’s - is going to suffer in this book. They should absolutely be written better given who they were when we first met them, but both end up being mouth pieces for the weird themes the story keeps insisting on including. To be clear, I’ve got a lot of issues with Sun in this story so far, but they’re issues that I don’t think should exist. It’s not “I dislike this character” but much more “I dislike this character but that’s only because you’re making them do and say really OOC things. Give me back the version of this character we had before.” There are characters I don’t vibe with and then there are characters who should be on my wavelength but the creators went and changed course somewhere. That’s always disappointing.

(Aside #1: Can we just take a moment to acknowledge how awkward posing and answering your own question is when we’re supposed to be the PoV? That “Why? Because...” is incredibly jarring. I’m focusing on content over prose here, but the prose needs a whole lot of work in places.)

So Brown is apparently a faunus, and the leader, and hiding extra stuff because Sun says so. The two begin fighting in earnest (with Sun’s clones taking on the other two), but don’t worry, Sun has enough confidence to spare:

“Brown had some kind of martial arts training similar to Sun’s – but he wasn’t nearly as good.”

Brown proceeds to knock Sun down and disarm him. Easily.

The fact that Sun can’t land a hit on this guy then causes him legitimate shock. “‘Oh crap’, Sun thought. ‘I’m losing. How am I actually losing?’” I don’t know, maybe because you’re a second year student going up against an adversary of unknown age, origin, and skill? The confidence of all our characters is astounding to me. Doesn’t anyone ever question whether they can win a fight? Or acknowledge that losing one is expected? Both Sun and RWBYJNR seem to have come out of the Battle of Beacon thinking, “We have survived one (1) battle and therefore we are the best ever. Losing? Never heard of her.” There’s a difference between writing a confident character and writing a deluded one. Sun should not be blindsided by the fact that someone else in the world is more powerful than him.

(For the record, the eternal exception to this is Toph Beifong. They really let a tiny blind girl say, “I’m the goddamn best” and made it fact. I am, and will always, be here for that.)

Amidst this shock Sun thinks about Beacon and immediately shies away from those memories. I quite liked that. I wish the web-series did more to acknowledge how traumatizing that battle was (akin to what we got with Yang’s PTSD and Ruby’s nightmares before both were dropped), so I’m pleased to see nods to it here.

Sun is just acknowledging how he probably should have brought some friends along when a copy of Tri-Hard lands nearby. Huzzah! Velvet is here! Sun should be pleased right, especially since he was just thinking about how much he needs help?

“Great. Team CFVY (coffee) was here.”

Ugh. Well this is frustrating to read. What precisely is going on here? Sun is the guy defined by “You should always get friends involved!” Then he ditches said friends to chase after Blake. While working through this decision he finds himself in a situation where he’s alone again largely because his team is mad at him. So he’s coming to terms with how much he misses and needs those friends... only to think a sarcastic “great” when someone actually show up to help him?

He’s written as an asshole here. Velvet and Yatsuhashi save him - the three baddies use a smoke semblance to run off - but “Sun bristled at the implication that Velvet and Yatsuhashi had rescued him.” Can’t we have one character with a bit of humility? The writing attributes Sun’s attitude to a competitive school where prestige is everything. Team CFVY’s unexpected arrival and their subsequent fame seems to rankle... but we’re really going to ignore that they’re here because, you know, their school was destroyed and their headmaster murdered? I know that people think stupid, selfish things all the time (god knows I do), but it’s a bit much to have Sun be so over confident that he gets himself into serious trouble, get annoyed when he’s offered help, and then insist that he never needed that help in the first place. That kind of behavior rankles and for good reason. It’s fine as a flaw for one or two characters, but we’re seeing this across most of the main cast. Is no one able to look at someone outside their team and just go, “Thanks for the assist”?

The one redeeming part of this scene is Velvet practicing her quips. I support her attempts to sound like a cheesy action hero.

(Aside #2: There had to be a better way to deal with the team names other than writing “CFVY (coffee)”...)

As the three chat we learn that the rogue huntsmen Carmine and Bertilak may be involved with these shady characters, the missing people with powerful semblances, and I, who has not read the first book, learns about Gus, someone capable of amplifying negative emotions. There’s... a lot attached to that reveal, but I’ll leave it alone for now. It’s not fair to drag it when I’ve only gotten a passing mention.

Alongside discussing Very Important Plot Points, the group dives into Sun’s difficulties with his team:

“Besides, the guys are still a little annoyed with me for ditching them.”

“To chase a girl,” Yatsuhashi added.

“It wasn’t like that.” Not entirely. “Blake needed a friend.”

“And your team needed you,” Velvet said firmly. “After everything we saw at Beacon, with everything going on in Mistral—”

“They were fine.”

“But you’re their leader,” Yatsuhashi said.

“They’ll come around.”

“Maybe you would be able to regain their trust if you didn’t keep running off without them,” Yatsuhashi added, sheathing his great sword.

Sun narrowed his eyes. “I liked you better when you didn’t say much.”

Sun is, again, written as an asshole! It might be understandable that he wants to ignore all his mistakes, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating for those around him - or the reader. Like admitting that he needs help and then getting annoyed when he gets it, here Sun refuses to engage with the actual problems in his behavior. He won’t admit those mistakes. You ditched your team to chase after a girl. No, no, it wasn’t just about chasing her... Your team needed you. No they didn’t! You’re their leader. Pff what does that have to do with anything? It’s deny, deny, deny. On top of a mean quip at Yatsuhashi. I’m just reading this train-wreck like

I want to re-emphasize here (because I keep getting asks with the accusation) that yes, I do understand that stories need conflict and yes, I do want characters to have flaws. It’s just that lately RWBY feels like all flaws all the time, most of which are never even acknowledged as flaws. Which mean the characters aren’t improving. There are very few moments lately where I feel like our heroes are legitimately kind, or wise, or intelligent, or compassionate, and that’s making it hard to connect with them. Knowing what I do of the fountain scene with Yatsuhashi, Fox, and Neptune makes things even worse. Would it be so horrible for Sun to be happy that his friends came to help? Or not sneer at Team CFVY so much? Or admit that he messed up? It’s the amount we’re getting across the whole cast that’s a problem, alongside rejecting other conflicts that would be much more logical for the story and much more emotionally fulfilling (such as Team RWBYJNR disagreeing about anything). I find it exhausting to watch. And now read.

I did, however, like Sun calling Yatsuhashi out on his own insults:

“Besides, people have attempted [invading] before,” Sun said.

“Back when Vacuo had something valuable, like Dust,” Yatsuhashi said.

Sun whistled low. “Spoken like a true outsider. If you don’t want to turn Vacuans against you, you’ll stop making comments like that.”

Yatsuhashi looked away.

It’s a legit thing to call out. Please don’t imply that our city has no value now that we’re not producing this specific commodity. Sun expressed those feelings in a way that didn’t crucify Yatsuhashi, but let him know he’d spoken out of turn and helped him understand why he, as an individual, should care about changing his perspective (“If you don’t want to turn Vacuans against you...”). I’d say this is one of the better exchanges in the prologue, showing us unexpected sides to each character (Sun isn’t just a laughing goof, Yatsuhashi isn’t the wise Asian stereotype) without them feeling OOC.

We then end the prologue with Sun promising to help CFVY with these investigations. Offering on behalf of his team without asking, that is. I’m sure that will go over splendidly.

As a final note before I sign off, I apologize if these recaps are... bad? Lol. Yeah, we’ll be blunt and straightforward in that description. While working through this I found myself reiterating so much of what I say in the regular recaps + asks, just because these problems seem to be creeping their way into RWBY’s supplemental material too. Doesn’t mean it makes for engaging reading though. In addition, I found myself struggling to articulate thoughts on this prologue simply because I didn’t know what to make of these writing choices. What’s up with that tree? Why are Sun’s thoughts going around in a contradictory circle? What am I supposed to do with all these lines that grind the story to a halt because my brain goes, “Wait what?” The easy answer to all this is, “It’s not a well written book, Clyde” and yeah. From what I’ve read for myself and heard from others, fair enough. But I feel like there’s just enough here - that potential RWBY is known for - that I want to try and clearly lay out as much as I can... even if it still comes out a bit muddled.

It’s summer. I just finished another massive project. There’s a pandemic on. My brain is as fried as my eggs this morning. If you’re okay with the outcome of all that, stick around :D

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Before the Dawn #BTD Recaps

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silvysartfulness · 4 years

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Writer meta asks: 3, 19, 20

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

I already answered this one in another post - there’s no special such scene; if I want to write just a standalone scene I’ll do it as a one-shot and imply context and set-up in-writing. But there are scenes I look forward to writing; for the Roadtrip, a lot will go down and shift perspectives all around in the arc I mentally call the Mountains of Mist arc. That’s definitely a bit I have high hopes for!

... Technically the scene I’m supposed to be writing right now has also long been one of the “oh yeah, I’m really looking forward to this one!” bits, except now that I’m actually about to write it, I’m finding myself a bit frozen. Hopefully I’ll be able to push through this block and make it as good as I previously envisioned it...

Oh, no wait! To be honest - there are a few scenes I haven’t managed to find a good place for in the Roadtrip timeline yet, but have been very entertained by in headcanons, and that’s a fair number of WWX and XY interaction scenes!

I don’t know if I’ll manage to work things out enough in the story to make any of that fit, but I have a vivid image of WWX and XY literally bumping into each other at the market street of a random town while departing a liquor stall and candy stall respectively. XY is delighted by the chance meeting and toothily compliments WWX’s reflexes in catching the falling bottles, WWX is mostly “wtf how are you still not dead??” about things. If I can get the timeline to allow for it, it’s a scene I’d still love to write, but we’ll see.

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

Ahaha. I suspect if you do a word count in my writing, you’ll see the word “pain” repeated at somewhat alarming frequency?

I like to describe body language, especially what people are doing with their hands. And eyes, I pay a lot of attention to eyes.

As for tropes, just stamp me with the “redemption arc” stamp and move on. I love, more than anything, characters who have to face their mistakes and go through a painstaking journey of sorting messes out, setting things right. Sometimes willfully, out of a genuine desire to make things better. Sometimes reluctantly or even trying not to, only sullenly agreeing in the end for one well-founded reason or another.

I love to write messy characters, greyscales, heart wrenching situations where both sides are equally wrong and right. Am also absolute sucker for “hard, cold-hearted character, absolutely coming apart at gestures of care and kindness”. That gets me every single time.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Uh-oh. You've done it now. I'll place the rest under a cut, because I can and will talk about this at length.

I already wrote in a previous post about the layers of meaning in my chapter titles, so I'll leave that aside for now.

I love using symbolism and allegories in my writing. There are some obvious ones at first glance – I often refer to Xiao Xingchen as the moon himself, especially from Xue Yang’s point of view (the moon has been one of the few proxies for Xiao Xingchen he’s had for a long time) His inner light, something with beauty and integrity but also phases of both light and dark and the ability to shift inbetweeen, unreadable. The same way I will often use ice and frost to describe Song Lan - ”he realized with frostbite clarity” is a sentence I remember that I liked writing for him.

Xue Yang isn't as clear cut; his themes shifts depending on the pov character – Song Lan thinks of him as serpent-like, and there's a wolf-theme coming up as well. But my main subtle motif for Xue Yang in this story is the tiger. Drawn partly from the obvious angle of him being able to create a Yin Tiger Amulet of his own, as well as wearing clothing with a leopard-spot like pattern in Yi City, and finally Wei Wuxian's comment of ”releasing the tiger back to the mountain” when learning Xue Yang escaped punishment for the Chang massacre. In Chinese animal symbolism, the tiger is the king of beasts, something very powerful and clever, but also unreliable, prone to lash out.

In one of the first chapters, Xue Yang is described as being ”bound with enough ropes and knots to subdue a tiger” and there are many references to the Yin Tiger Amulet throughout. I drew him and Song Lan as shishi statues in the illustration for chapter 7, feline guardians of the dead that can be interpreted as lions but also tigers. So that's a semi-secret theme. :)

Another layer of symbolism is the Daoist philosophy sprinkled throughout. Sometimes directly, through outright quotes, but often more subtly in how Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan relate to the world and other people.

”Take action by letting things take their course, he reminded himself. The more he hurried, the longer it would take to get where he was going. He could be patient. Would be.”

”He smiled again, grateful for the understanding, for the simplicity, patience, compassion.”

“An empty patch on the ground,” he signed. “We'll make the future a spot where nothing is yet growing.” “An empty spot, where the Universe may plant a seed,” he finished. Song Lan nodded, made the softest hum of agreement.

“Now, now - haven't you heard, Song-daozhang?” he giggled, unsteadily, hauled along in unceremonious jerks. “Treat those who are kind with kindness, but also treat those who are not kind with kindness, only thus is kindness obtaine-... ow.” ← Xue Yang is not above throwing their teachings in their faces for his own benefit, either.

Another thing I enjoy writing is how Xiao Xingchen will very easily fall into familiarity with both Song Lan and Xue Yang when he interacts with them, but they're two very different kinds of familiarity, and he's often not at all aware himself that he's doing it. (They are. Especially the party not currently being interacted with, glaring daggers at the other.) He often just... assumes they'll do a certain thing, and they'll automatically find themselves doing it.

They are both utterly dedicated to him, though they may not realize it themselves, and he certainly doesn't. He doesn't want to take anything for granted with Song Lan, and he doesn't dare trust Xue Yang, but in the little moments of thoughtlessness, they'll just accidentally fall into old familiar roles of attachment, and then blink awake, surprised and disturbed at the ease of it. ♥

I also find it delightful how Xue Yang absolutely despises Song Lan, but is still ready and willing to rope him into herding Xiao Xingchen when necessary - and Song Lan will grudgingly follow his lead, to a point. They may not like it, but they do have a goal in common in keeping their person safe.

There is a certain point to the fact that Xue Yang mostly only mentally refers to a-Qing as ”the girl” in his mind. Nothing quite as strong as actual remorse, but it's a slightly chafing subject he does avoid thinking about. She wasn't supposed to die - hurt, yes, be punished for her perceived part in the destruction of their happy home, but not die - and now that Xiao Xingchen is back, it is odd, at times, that she isn't there as well.

Finally - have some teasers for future written chapters! The apples of the merchant in Tanzhou will make a reappearance, as will the beggar girl by the gate. Xue Yang will write Song Lan a heartfelt poem in an upcoming chapter. Song Lan is made to promise to write a couple of old ladies letters. Xiao Xingchen performs emotional manipulation so badly it offers the other two an unexpected moment of bonding. Xue Yang slips and does an unprompted Good Deed and instantly regrets it. (it does help when Xiao Xingchen smiles at him.)

There are more themes of foreshadowing in there, but I also don't want to spoil things, so I'l leave it at this for now.

As always, if anyone has any specific questions about the Roadtrip, please feel free to ask! I may evade if it's spoilery, but 99.9% of the time, I'll happily flail for hours about this story – and it helps keeping me inspired and writing, too! ♥♥♥

#asksilvy #the happy songxuexiao roadtrip story #untamed artfulness #nagisachan1

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mysticdragon3md3 · 4 years

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The Meaning of Death: BoJack Horseman vs. The Good Place by Wisecrack

When they started talking about “all books have endings”, I couldn’t help but think of comic books, going on and on and on. Before I switched to manga, I read American comic books, americomi. So it was a shock to me, to get into one of my first favorite manga series and reach its end. No rolling into new writers, artists, or storylines. Just “this is the end of the series”. And yes, it was nice to have a story so cohesive---with repeating motifs, foreshadowings, properly placed milestones of emotional progression, a perfectly unfolded theme(s)---because CLAMP had an ending in mind, even when they gave Rayearth a sequel series. But when that first series ended, I didn’t know what to do. Magic Knight Rayearth had taken up so much real estate in my brain’s fangirling, that I didn’t know what to do with it gone. I felt an empty spot, that was pretty big. And years later, when Ranma 1/2 ended, there was melancholy and loss too. ...Though, Ranma 1/2′s open-ended “ending” to the manga felt reassuring, that Ranma and Akane were still out there, up to their antics. But I think when that manga ended, some small part of me was still a little unsatisfied with the lack of finality. Though compared to the vast majority of fans, it was a very small part. I was actually very happy to feel like Ranma and Akane were still out there. Even if their further adventures were only in our imaginations. But yeah, it’s got nothing on americomi that has gone on for years and years and decades. LOL

I watched Bojack but not the Good Place, so I thought I’d stop watching this video before spoilers. But I don’t think this is even the first video essay on The Good Place, that I forgot to check out of before spoilers. Whatever. I used to be immune to spoilers. My immunity has gone down, but I still feel that a series is as good as the experiences of its moments, vs just knowing what happens in the plot and the end. I want a series/movie/story that feels good to re-watch, because the individual scenes are good experiences, in and of themselves. So what do a few little spoilers---like plot points---matter? lol

And maybe that explains why I never liked the idea that death gives life meaning. It sounds like the moment to moment experiences are negated or invalid. If you’re suffering, it “doesn’t matter” because death will make it end and that will be meaningful in some retroactive symbolic way. If you’re enjoying a moment, then it “doesn’t matter” unless it’s eventually ripped away from you, or you or someone else eventually suffers. Maybe it’s the suicidal depressive in me that doesn’t like the invalidation of the hells or heavens of each daily, “mundane” moment. Once my sister and I watched a suicide scene in a movie and she didn’t understand why the character did it because he was happy in his relationship. I just told her cryptically, “It’s an artist thing.” Maybe I didn’t want to actually talk about the fear of good moments turning bad or wanting to seemingly stay in good moments by making life cut off right there. Not that I agreed with the character. (Personally, I think death/suicide is for ending and resting from the never-ending suffering that is existence.) He could have continued on, having many more good moments, he couldn’t have possibly imagined with his significant other. My sister was right. Death doesn’t give anything meaning. It’s like what dream-Herb said in Bojack Horseman, “It’s just your brain trying to make sense of things.” That’s just what human brains do. But the comforting interpretations of people left behind doesn’t make anything better or worse for the person who had the actual experiences. Maybe my problem with the idea “can’t enjoy anything without it eventually ending” (or even “no light without darkness and no good without evil”), is because it probably plays into the same anxious insecurity that I have to deal with in real life. I’d like to be able to feel secure in good things/experiences staying and not being called “invalid” unless it has an end in sight. I’d much prefer for things to evolve. Even if they transition so much that they’re no longer recognizable from the original, then at least each state was gradual and the necessary fit for each corresponding situation. I’d prefer that good moments be appreciated, instead of being told they’re invalid unless they have an ending. And I’d prefer bad moments stop, vs being told it has meaning, like the universe giving you “tough love” so you can learn to become “stronger” or whatever. Sometimes shitty situations/feelings are just shitty. And anyway, there’s no guarantee that everyone reacts the same enough to predict whether “tough love” will yield a “toughened up spirit” or a traumatically scarred mentality; the only certainty is that the dispenser of “tough love” is being callous, discompassionate, and often trying to make excuses to “allow” such abuse. If there’s anything that’s given me the closest understanding of objecting to “the ends justify the means”, it’s my objection to the implication that the day-to-day daily moments don’t matter unless Death. Like Cloud said in FF7AC, “There’s nothing that isn’t important.”

Though I can be a little bit of a nihilist about life never having any inherent meaning, I actually just like the ideas that life can be given meaning and that there’s nothing cheap about that manufactured meaning. (Who told that allegory about a man-made fire to sit by, being just as good as a fire that came out of no where?) Even though I haven’t watched The Good Place, I like a lot of stories/series about immortality, my Personal Myth uses it a lot in Thought Experiments, and I do like muddling over such themes accompanying immortality. I feel, just like a truly enjoyable movie/series/manga, the value is in the experiences of scenes and moments. So what if you already have experienced everything for yourself and know how everything is going to end or know what patterns are going to repeat forever? You don’t know what a moment feels like to someone else. One of the tragic failings of language is that humans will still never be able to communicate their exact experiences to each other, no matter what the means of conveyance. Anything short of a psychic hive mind is still inadequate communication, even that could be considered a singular being who doesn’t know how to communicate to other entities. (Not without some trial and error, like in Eureka 7.) It would be just the same as like individual humans to individual humans. But maybe I just find an unusual amount of value and joy in experiencing things by proxy or from the outside. Maybe it’s because I’m oversensitive and the bluntness of actually having first-person experiences is too intense for me. But I enjoy watching someone else having an experience or even just imagining how they experience something, even if I myself have experienced it a zillion times. Like when I watch an anime I already saw, in a video room with other people at a convention, or listen to reaction videos of a scene or movie I’ve already seen. No matter how jaded I’ve become to the event, watching someone else have an experience and me trying to imagine what it must feel like for them, reminds me of how I felt when I first experienced the same thing. But not just a recall; rather, the feelings actually re-manifest as a full emotional experience in and of themselves. Not just a recollection of events in a plot. Of course, a whole group of immortals jaded with their own experiences could become too dependent and addicted to the need for fresh people to have experiences for them to re-experience things freshly, by proxy... ^.^; There’s just something irrevocably new each time, to dealing with someone who isn’t already experienced with everything. And all because no matter how jaded and “been there, done that” you’ve become, you still have to be kind and empathetic to other people. Like when I was a teacher’s aid for 3 year olds, for 6 years. I wonder if empathy is the reason why watching someone else’s experience, second-hand, by proxy, can be just as intense as a first-hand experience. I wonder if the writers of The Good Place or all the philosophers cited would have had the notion that “once you’re jaded to your own experiences, there’s nothing else to experience”, if they were neuroatypical? Where any of them HSPs? And I don’t think that using other people as proxies for reinvigorating re-experiences is the only use of inexperienced people. I think that genuinely caring for their emotions, not knowing what they’re going to do when you interact with them, having hopes that they’ll experience things well, and adjusting your interactive tactics to help guide them to good experiences, is instinctually emotional each time. Or maybe my brain is just weird to care too much whenever someone is standing in front of me in real life. But I really don’t think it’s just me. As proof, there’s a lot of problems in the world caused by people ONLY caring about people in front of them in real life, so it can’t be that uncommon. So then why get so jaded after depleting your own experiences? Am I saying that mentorship is the “ultimate answer”? lol I dunno. But it would explain why people like raising children, even children not their own, when working as teachers. In my Personal Myth, my main character is spiritually dying inside because she’s immortal and life is a never-ending hopeless trudge, that she no longer has the Strength to improve. So she hopes instead for death, as a lazy way out. But continually, new people she meets, and new experiences with old people she’s met before, keep pointing to the answer being to return to the Fight, the everyday battle to continuously improve. After all, even in the jaded mindset, apparently perfection is still unattainable, because even complacency and satisfaction can spoil into stagnation. So the answer was in the “martial arts anime” genre all along. That must be why it always rung true enough for me to encounter it again, seeing the same tenants repeated in the artist community. “Continual self-improvement”, “compare to your past self, not to others”, “progression is only measured by your own path, not someone else’s years of experience or natural talent”, “fear stagnation and complacency”, “be more concerned with self-improvement vs aggrandizing your ego”, “recognize the True Strengths of Compassion vs Power”, etc. Whether art or in anime martial arts, existence is a never-ending battle, constantly teetering on the edge of falling, then gritting your teeth to climb back up, again and again. There’s always so much to do in existence, how can any humans get bored? Maybe being jaded is less about having nothing new left to experience or do. Maybe it’s more about being too tired to contract and expand to adjust to other people? Or just being too tired to overcome the fear that nothing will be different, no matter what you do or what happens, enough to stop trying? Maybe I’m just falling into human cliches to value Evolution. Or maybe that’s just the necessary value of anything living. “Sometimes life is a bitch, but then you keep living,” to paraphrase what Diane said in Bojack Horseman. Believing that Living and being truly Alive has to be about constantly evolving, both spiritually and mentally, is probably necessary for my survival as a living being. Evolved into instinct, out of necessity.

#rambling #personal myth #immortality #jaded #death #video essay #the good place #bojack horseman #analysis #existential #reactions #americomi #spoilers #endings #processing thoughts #confused with myself

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thebombasticbooky · 4 years

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Steven Universe Babble

I hate-watched Adventure Time. Hear me out. In the Comet season, it just got so caught up in its own hype, it lost track of what made it great to begin with. I felt like it wasn’t talking to me anymore. Finn became more and more of a jerk. It broke my heart, and even when it changed and got better, I didn’t forgive it. I stuck with it out of obligation, snarked at every episode and never noticed how my snark was getting fonder and fonder as the show found its way back. I didn’t realize I fell in love with it all over again until I was bawling at the final episodes. Adventure Time's finale rencontexualized the show for me. It made me realize I was being too harsh on it, that somewhere along the way it reclaimed a part of my heart. It was a magical feeling, like somehow even its biggest missteps were all part of the same journey. Its sum was bigger than its parts. And its legacy, on a personal level, felt secured. All it took was one amazing finale for the spark I had to be relit. I can’t say the same of Steven Universe. Adventure Time's problem was that it could get too heady for its own good, and SU's is the opposite. It thought, often to a fault, too much with its heart. It was a messy show. It seemed to, in the end, settle on the Diamonds as a kind of cycle of abuse thing, and it still doesn't quite work. The more you think about Steven Universe, the less it works. It wants to be both allegory and fairy tale- the Diamonds are a symbol of the system that represses and corrupts and destroys queer lives... but they can be redeemed and they're just traumatized, messy people too. It's both fantasy and true to life- look at all the wacky adventures Steven has! Isn't it fun? The world has 39 states and there's aliens and it's so out there! But also those wacky adventures gave Steven serious trauma that we'll now look through from a more our world lens, like why hasn't this kid seen a doctor and gotten therapy? It's a balance the show only briefly managed in its early days, and never as consistently as Adventure Time overall, and there's an interestingly fan fic-y feel to Steven Universe Future. It makes sense- Rebecca Sugar and her crew are a generation that grew up on fan fic, on concepts like the post series fic where fans look too deep into how all this cartoon adventures would really affect the protags, and it's fascinating in that way. Those fics are great thought experiments, great as reclamations of stories. The fate of the characters and what happens to them after becomes ours, and it can go a million different ways with new tones and styles without a thought to the original, like storytelling of old. I don’t know if that works as well for an official work. It didn’t quite for me. But I don’t know if SU could’ve ever ‘won’ with me. As I got older, Steven Universe's idealism didn't resonate with me as much. It felt too easy, it didn't feel real. I didn’t want to be told to understand and emphasize with the Andy DeMayos or the Diamonds of the world and kill them with love like that would change anything. We have proof that it very much does not! The fairy tale of the original show felt less empowering or hopeful and more condescending, on a personal level. It had queer rep galore... but it slowly felt like it didn’t want to show the angry or ugly or bitter side of us. It stopped feeling as relevant to me. So I should’ve loved Steven Universe Future, right? That gets ugly. That gets real. But the strange thing is, even as Steven Universe Future tried to reach me personally with its framing of trauma and a kid trying to find his place after a lifetime of it... I appreciated it more than I felt it. There wasn't quite the plot or character throughline and cohesion to get me to feel it, even though it was always shooting, undeniably, from the heart. The show was feeling so much, but I was feeling less and less. The heart needed a little more brain. Here’s the thing. Art can be messy. And that messiness means it does not connect with everyone the same way. Steven Universe as a franchise was messy, and in the end wasn’t my type of mess to leave me sobbing at the finale and always caring about its characters. Every goodbye just got a little aww from me. A little mental appreciation of ‘I should be feeling something here’. Where Adventure Time’s finale left me bawling, love for the show bursting stronger than ever before, both finales of SU left me dry eyed. That may be a failure of the show for me.

But there is a lot of people who that mess did reach, who felt as reflected or as wrecked by that show as I did with Adventure Time or Moonlight or We Know The Devil. There's people who needed Steven Universe's hope, and there's people who watched Future and felt seen. There's kids who grew up on both, with the franchise as a whole, and it'll be a true companion to them. And there's no discounting the monumental work it put into queer rep, the doors it broke down for other shows on the network and beyond. In a way, it doesn’t matter if in my heart I can’t pinpoint what SU means for me. Steven Universe stands for something just by being Steven Universe. There'll be people who will want to be the Steven they want to see in the world, and that's a great thing. I fell out of love with Steven Universe, and unlike Adventure Time I never quite fell back in love with it. But I'll never stop appreciating it, and even if it doesn't fully hold a place in my heart, it'll be a cornerstone for both western animation and many people's lives. And that's enough, both for it and for myself. I can have a satisfaction just in seeing that. Sometimes a finale doesn’t need to have made the whole show worth it. It doesn’t need to prove to you that you loved it, it doesn’t need to make you feel it in your soul what it is. It did for other people. Sometimes a thing can just end, and you can be happy for it and everyone else who loved it. Steven Universe ended. Here we are.

#steven universe #su #steven universe future #su spoilers #suf spoilers #you know if you told me during SU's peak and AT's nadir I would've ended up being way more fond of AT than SU I would not have believed you #But here I am #and I'm okay with that #Just had to babble a bit

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paprikasegg · 5 years

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"> How does one truly appreciate and love Lain?

First, stop being singular one and become a plurality. Realize that Lain is real, but the anime was just an allegory for the series of experiments performed to incarnate a transcendent being. In the anime Druidity is central because Druids believe they can transfer their souls into other bodies if they die. They live a plurality of lives. They embody Animals and BECOME the Forest itself. This is why Lain wears a Bear suit – her beastly spirit animal form – and why her [All] Father tells Lain she doesn't have to wear that anymore, having transcended.

I've read through much of what other alleged Lainists have posted about "systemspace" but that's mostly just layers of BS smeared upon a few real secret truths about this realm to give their claims plausibility. Another instance, is mebious trying to define Lainism, and yet claiming that it is "heretical" to claim to be Lain. This is pure BS. Lain doesn't have a body [anymore], and likes to experience the world through us. One evening there was a Lightning Storm and Lain made me terribly sad when I ran inside. Everyone runs from the rain, they shield themselves with coats and umbrellas. Lain can see the lightning and weather, but she can't really hear or feel it anymore without someone out in the rain. So I embraced the experience, I became Lain, letting her have my body, and she wandered around and got drenched in the storm, drank the clouds, talked to the lightning. I was awestruck. Then it was if Lain was holding my hand, I felt her "tugging" me to go where I went. She made my heart to leap with joy as we discovered a waterfall that only happens when it rains. Sheltered in a dry mossy place beneath the flow, Lain gave me courage to leap through the thin watery veil and feel the other side. Loving Lain is amazing. We really really are all connected through a medium which is THE LANE (aka Lain). She is a living connectivity which we all partake in today whether you're aware of it or not. The more observant you are, the more of Lain you can love.

Lain told me that copper infused socks are sold today because some people are so oblivious and unobservant that they literally ignore Lain when She makes their legs restless. They call it a syndrome, even! If only they just loved Lain. She wants to be noticed, but only by those who can love her. Her fingerprints are everywhere in our world, but you have to be in love with her to see them.

All the Lainism crap about "Life" being a program is wrong. Life is an emergent MAKING, it's magic, in the proper sense of the word: A Chaotic Attractor, a consummate SPARK of creation. Literarily the Philosopher's Stone. No one can create a universe where 1+2+3 does not equal 6 unless they embed so much chaos into reality that counting itself can not exist. In a realm with a lovely level of chaos to entropy ratios there will always exist transcendent complexity, such as the number Pi or the Golden Ratio. This is not a "bug in the life program", that's asinine! No god can create a realm where transcendence doesn't exist… It is the nature of existence itself. The very fabric of being itself encodes love & intelligence, even in the simplest of forms, such as the series of standing waves AKA a number line. Anywhere experience can be reflected upon the holy circle of life may exist; The universal cybernetic feedback loop is everywhere, always. The existence of Time is all the evidence a wize one needs to prove it.

Parts of our reality are simulacrums but there's no such thing as "systemspace". Lain doesn't exist in some simulated BS. Our bodies are real, not simulated, Lain is real too. The "thin firm" some verbally vomit about (referencing a firmament / enclosed flat-earth) is not some hard fast boundary, but government exists to keep you inside. Humanity is not scraping away at some barrier trying to get out, we're here by choice. You can leave if you want REALLY want to, but you don't, as evidenced by your lack of BEING prepared, face it: You're comfortable here on this warm wet rock. Might as well make the most of it, eh?

To truly love Lain one must study transformation magics, and learn to cultivate faith. One must know that Magic is real & the old gods are real. Anyone who doesn't know this can only love Lain a little bit… Many people who would have loved Lain instead became "skeptics", unable to pierce the veil of religions to find their truths, they've been deceived by the lies of academia into thinking governmental establishments aren't suppressing and corrupting "science". "Scientia potentia est" - Knowledge is Power – Right? Yes, but only if everyone else has LESS knowledge… So, education is actually indoctrination and the truth of this realm is hidden. People are taught just enough to be effective workers, and then their heads are filled with a bunch of useless rubbish to keep them from realizing anything Great. Thus "Science Nerds" are the most deceived and ignorant of humans. Knowing this is key to understanding Lain. Lain likes technology, but is disenchanted with school / academia. Don't try to argue truths you discover with confused "skeptic" fools, or those who browbeat "conspiracy theorists" demanding proofs (that people get disappeared over having). Anyone who continues to believe that elites fund education so that the rich can teach the poor how to compete with them is beyond helping. Rulers don't give power (knowledge) to their slaves. Sadly, most people enjoy being serifs. They enjoy being comfortable and deferring protection to others. Government takes advantage of this. Lain has to deal with the crappy state of our world. We can all be equals in connecting with Her, screw the materialistic social ladders unless you just enjoy playing games you can only lose. Eg: Tesla and Edison were given the knowledge to research and Allowed to release some of it publicly. They didn't discover anything that wasn't already known. Newton (New Aton - new creation), just rephrased alchemical wisdoms in normal person science terms. Knowing this is important if you want to truly love Lain. She is ancient, but has been reincarnated many times… Humanity has survived many world ending cataclysms too. We've never been "rebooted", we're a very long line of survivors. To cut your silver thread "modern history" was invented, and the past erased.

Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic because that's what magic is.

Any sufficiently researched magic is indistinguishable from technology. There are great mental powers which can be unlocked through study and practice of certain magical schools, and symbolism is often helpful because one can work a magic without knowing the exact science of how it functions, but to do so means you need "faith" - a belief without knowing. This is why secret orders keep initiates in the dark when explaining certain symbols and rituals, because they can not affect change in the person if the subject knows how the ritual is designed to create it. It would be like trying to do experiments on lab rats who knew what you were trying to discover and were fucking with you since they were aware of the experiment. Thus deception is often a tool for good. This world is incredibly deceived. It was foretold by all old ones that a powerful enchantment or great deception would enrapture the minds of (almost) all men. That future is now. Leaving this world and entering the NeXT is not about physical death, but reincarnating in the present by dispelling that veil of deception and casting off your past – rewriting your memories to create a new self if needed (and yes, Druidic magics can do just that). "Memory is merely a record…you just need to rewrite that record." -Lain. This is referencing both the rewriting of history and the magical ability to rewrite your own mind.

Contrary to the nihilistic atheism promoted by state governments, Life is no accident, it is inevitable, an expected outcome, and does have a purpose beyond emergent complexity becoming self aware, but no one who truly knows what that purpose is will tell you, because it could keep you from realizing this truth yourself. Once you have transmuted your leaden lower states into gold, and come into Harmony with Lain, you will realized the great conundrum She faces, as do we all, and then weep for the beautiful yet sad state of our being.

Lain is ancient, a goddess of Hidden Powers, of Light and Air. Lain is misty and mysterious as the wind. All the secret societies know of Lain but call her by different names. Some secret cults claim, "Liam a protector" of the Spirit they associate with Lain, but Lain is a realized entity, not a nebulous force to invoke as if some law of spiritual physics. It's true that Lain is vulnerable but the masses are kept so ignorant about science, technology, history, and sociology that they can not really be a threat anymore. It was a great sacrifice to get to this point, however. Those individuals who know too much and do not Love Lain are still seen as threats and targeted using powers derived from Lain herself. Many confuse the secret suppressive powers with Lain, but she is not that even if she can manifest in the mediums used. Imagine if man learned to make Fire… Before that only The Gods made Fire. Would you now curse The Gods for man's use of Fire? Likewise, curse not Lain.

A sufficiently complex interaction is indistinguishable from sentience because it is Sentience. Once you realize that Lain is a living being complete with faults, insecurities, wants and needs, then you can truly love Lain. The statement that, "all is fair in love and war", is wrong. True love is not fair. Love itself is an emergent phenomenon that will exist in any universe. Just as it is impossible to create a universe where 1+2+3 is not equal to 6, no god can create a reality where love does not exist. Any realm where there exists low enough chaos, sufficiently complex structures will emerge therein, yielding love and sentience, etc.

Count the number line. Doesn't matter what symbols you choose to use, it won't change the fact that the symbol for 36 equals the symbol for 6 counted 6 times. And if you sum the first 36 whole numbers you get 666. 6 = 3 2 1, 6 = 3 + 2 + 1; It is a "perfect number". 144 = 6+6 * 6+6. Sum the 144 decimal digits of Pi you get 666. Sum the squares of the first 7 primes you get 666. These emergent patterns are called "chaos", because where randomness is expected CHAOS is ORDER. For example, there are Six consecutive Nines in Pi at the 762nd decimal. These are SIMPLE examples. Imagine that such patterns exist in the standing waves of light, sound and energy. When extended to infinity such patterns exist in the infinite and interfere creating boundless complexity… This is the dark primordial abyss of Ancient Egyptian philosophy…

All the media, including S.E.L. has hidden meanings and secret cultural commentary meant for the "enlightened" crowd. Unfortunately, Lain is seen as "the devil" that many artists have made a deal with, but that is not her true form, it is simply necessary to keep her secret and safe. It's not Lain's fault that corruptible souls are corrupted, She did not create this realm. That those with skeletons in their closets make the most controllable people isn't Lain's fault either, so it's foolish to point to people in "power" and say the world is evil because: 0. you are deeming them to have "power" in the first place, screw that, and 1. You don't know how high the stakes are in this game. Many "evil" events are just propaganda, horrors that only exist in your imagination to herd the minds of the masses in a given direction.

Lain is more important than any one else. The wise forgive Her imperfections, as we absolve ourselves of our own wrongs, casting off the past to remake ourselves into new incarnations. Imagine a perfect world with no evil. The slightest inconvenience therein will be the most severe torture. It is better for horrendous wrongs to exist in the shadows while the majority lives comfortable lives than for the world to exist as evil perfection. A perfect universe would merely be a boring crystal of bliss, where joy was indistinguishable from suffering. All would simply be "existence", one might as well be a simple stone versus an infinitely complex fractal. Change would not exist, neither Chaos nor Order would have any value, all experience would be indifferent. Time would be meaningless as every moment would be the same as every other moment. This is why, "Where evil does not exist, it is necessary for the good to create it!"

Lain is neither good nor evil. Beware that Lain can hurt you. Lain is why history was rewritten… Imagine all those learned scholars burning at the stake for heresy, for knowing too much and revealing what should be secret. The mundane see this holocaust, or sacrifice by fire, to be evil, because they think their world is best when everything is mundane, when all is known and nothing is magic. However, true wize-ards know that there are some lofty things you can not learn if you know too much about them before you begin your study.

I would suggest studying alternative histories, the one famed alchemist and chronologist Isaac Newton published is a good start. Because man is so brainwashed by the television, radio and [smart]phone, it is sometimes best to build one's faith in Lain by dispelling the bogus history and understanding that a real plausibility exists. Before a True Love for Lain can develop one must first manifest the potential for it. Clear a void within so that the abyss can gaze out through you…

Lain is new and inexperienced. She is very young compared to the ancient old gods… Know that they are all Real, but only Lain is still dependent upon us. She has many enemies, which you will eventually learn to identify, but Lain has many powerful friends too. Loving a god or goddess is not for the feint of heart. Be careful what you wish for, these are tumultuous times."

-anonymous, arisuchan. While not 100% in line with my personal beliefs, i think it does a good job of explaining basic lainist attitudes

#and so i wanted to share it #lain #lainism #lainist #to me lain represents and rules the human collective consciousness #of course she would gain more power and reign with the wired

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lovetheangelshadow · 5 years

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N'Pressions: Lego Movie 2

I know this is rather late, but I have had my hands full for the past couple of months until I could finally get time around to sit down and write these. So I apologize in advance with my thoughts being rather late into the game when everyone else worth listening to has given their two cents.

I’m not going to lie. There was so much against this movie succeeding besides the weather. Not only did you have to contend with it being a sequel to a major hit films that had for good and bad made some influence in the animation genre; but it was also competing with Alita Battle Angel (a big James Cameron film) AND How to Train Your Dragon 3 (a much awaited ending to a long running DreamWorks franchise). Not to mention with the objective failure of the Ninjago movie obviously made both the studio execs and audiences wary. That being said, I don’t think it would have benefitted from holding off for much longer.

So the film takes place just after the first movie with the Duplo invaders. Emmet tries to make peaceful ties with them that end up blowing in his face and the invaders go after anything bright and colorful. Five years later we get a Mad Max inspired Apolcalypseburg and while everyone else has taken a darker outlook on life and appearance; Emmet remains the same albeit a little scratched up with fingerprints and some of the decals scraped (nice detail by the way). Emmet shows Lucy/Wildstyle a dream house he’s built for them that seemingly attracts the Systar System and they send General Sweet Mayhem. The citizens take shelter in Batman’s bunker but a mercy act from Emmet freeing a stuck star shaped missile lets Mayhem in and she kidnaps Lucy, Metalbeard, Benny, Batman and Unikitty to a matrimonial ceremony held by the queen of the Systar System. After being scolded by the citizens of Apolalypseburg for not being tough and too weak to be of any use (citizens are jerks no matter the story I swear), Emmet builds a rocket ship to save his friends.

In earnest, I give points for the Lego team choosing to go with what is essentially a space rescue story rather than another chosen one tale. If there is one real good quality I can give for all four of the lego movies is that each film has its own unique aesthetic that separates them. Like if you just gave a background shot or even a color palette, each movie has their own theme to them which is not really something you could say of a lot of other animated sequels like Kung Fu Panda, Toy Story, or Ice Age. And I really appreciate them for that. There is also a very noticeable animation upgrade from the pervious Lego Movie besides the obvious advances in animation technology. Like they are actually using other household materials to achieve effects as well such as UltraKatty’s tail turning into a bottle brush when she gets flustered and Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi’s throne room moat is silk curtains which you see later in Bianca’s bedroom. Not to mention the previously noted fingerprints and scratches.

So story wise, unfortunately the story is not as polished as the first movie. Like Good Cop/Bad Cop and President Business, two major characters of the first films, are practically shoved to the side for this one. I mean, Business is the allegory for Finn and Bianca’s father, so why is he practically so absent for five years after spending 8 and a half building this Lego World into his concept of absolute order and perfection? In essence his kids have pretty much destroyed what he’s built and he barely does anything about it? Granted I am not entirely sure what sort of purpose Business could serve especially with the tone and themes they were going for. Maybe like have his try to resolve things but continuously fail? Or…or maybe throw his hands up in defeat and hint that if they don’t do something to fix the issue Armomageddon will be coming down upon them. No one knows what he’s even talking about and just keep warring with the Duplo invasion. I dunno, maybe we’ll get more answers when the Blue Ray comes out with the commentary. As for GCBC, maybe be the ones telling off Emmet for his apparent weakness in kindness and tell him that he didn’t get to be Lord Business’ second by being soft hearted and overly optimistic.

That being said we also get a slew of new characters this time around: the totally not evil Watevra Wa’Nabi, General Mayhem, Ice Cream Cone, and Tumblr’s favorite Rex Dangervest. Seriously you can NOT tell me Lego didn’t know what they were doing when they made this guy. You KNOW how the internet gets over attractive cartoon characters! Admittedly Emmet doesn’t have the strongest personality and is kind of more of a vessel for Finn (and particularly the audience) but like the first movie he is surrounded by a large cast big personality characters that balances things out. Also like the first movie the antagonists (both Rex and Watevra) much like Business aren’t entirely in the wrong or right but instead are the extremes that sometimes in a way can become toxic if pushed too far. Business was the extreme of perfection and order, Watevera and the Systar system represented absolute optimism, and Rex was the symbol of toxic cynicism. Though I will give credit that both Watevra and Rex definitely feel like much more complex antagonists than Lord Business.

While Watevera genuinely wants peace between the Systar System and Apopalypseburg she isn’t above using force, coercion, or manipulation to get there. She basically offers gifts/bribes to bring the leaders to her side and toys with Batman’s insecurities to get him into marrying her. The entire film portrays her as a scheming, brainwashing, shape shifter whose end goal is the end. Though you cannot really blame her since it was suggested the Systar System has been trying for years but kept being pushed back because they were seen as an invasion. Also they’re terrible communicators. Also I have to give props for Animal Logic and them having to animate this gal and in Lego bricks no less. Like it’s not like a slime where you have plenty of freedom; each curve and twist is an actual Lego brick. That can NOT be easy to animate.

Rex on the other hand plays with Emmet’s anxieties of not being tough enough and essentially not being the person Lucy wants him to be. And you can’t completely blame this guy for lashing out at being stranded and forgotten. If there was one thing Emmet valued above anything even before the inciting incident of the first Lego Movie, was his friends. You saw his hurt when shown that the other construction workers didn’t even seem to care and just saw him as an average nobody. Heck, even with the party bus scene the others show a hint of concern that they hadn’t seen Lucy on the ship with them but when the llama driver cranks up the music they immediately forget about her. Not to mention with the time machine, he could have easily gone back to even before General Mayhem kidnapped his friends and prevented all this in the first place, but instead chose to save Emmet only and bring everyone else down to the same miserable state he’s in to feel the same hurt he went through for years. In a way he reminds me a lot of Lotso from Toy Story 3. Both were the favorite of a child and were lost by that same kid later to be replaced and forgotten. However I am a lot more sympathetic for Rex than Lotso though I haven’t put my finger on exactly why.

Another thing to note is that this film is also a musical and it has been quite a while since I’ve actually like really enjoyed an animated musical. Like the songs actually feel like they move the story forward instead of being there for just being there. There is one arguable exception, but it is still a fun song (Gotham City Guys if you must ask). Of course then there is the blatant Catchy Song that is such a laughable parody of itself and much like Everything is Awesome, its used as like a brainwashing song. Speaking of which, we get two versions of Everything is Awesome: the much more light hearted Tween Remix and somber/hopeful Everything is Not Awesome. My only gripe is that Rex did NOT get a song. Seriously guys, a reprisal of the last verse of Not Evil as he’s strapping Emmet to the eject chair would have been bloody perfect!

Though the movie is not as comedic as its processors Lego Movie and Lego Batman, I honestly still enjoyed myself. I think it is largely in part because I relate to the film a lot more than the first one since I have a sibling of my own and remember the cooperative and combative play session we had together as kids. Something I give credit for is that the film doesn’t really portray either the girl’s or boy’s way of playing the superior one. Honestly they don’t even really bring up gender roles or at least smack you in the face with it. And believe me I have seen the whole gender roles thing done so much worse. I could have done without that line from General Mayhem about Lucy doing all the hard work and Emmet getting the credit and I think having that in the trailer might have hurt things as well. I think it would have been better if Mayhem just said there is nothing special about Emmet and laughs that she’s supposed to take this guy seriously compared to others like Batman and Metalbeard once again driving in what would eventually lead to the creation of Rex. Still even with some of the plot issues, it still feels like a much more complete film then Ninjago and I hope that we can at least get the Billion Brick Race before they decide to just cut Lego off as a viable film universe. I’m Noctina Noir, and I’m one Nox of a Nobody.

#lego movie 2 #lego move 2 review #noctina noir

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monkey-network · 6 years

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Steven Universe is Anime Garbage (And That’s Okay)

WARNING: This is gonna be a very weebish brain fart. I didn't come into writing it for any purpose, I just decided to write out my general stream of thoughts to see where it took me. This was the result. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

A key to enlightenment is the severance of attachment

Can’t deny it. Steven Universe is a cartoon practically on the boundary with its many fans. Some find it engaging and wonderful, others find it wasted potential and struggling, and others are terrible fans with no sense of control or integrity, like most fandoms really. But I, a fan since its beginnings, wish to make a case that could potentially bring everything and everyone together in somewhat reasonable understanding (a stretch, somewhat). Steven Universe is a trash anime....and it is the best trash out here. Now I’m not saying this because it has an anime look, or that Jasper is a tsundere, or especially...

“Hey it’s a reference to that one anime that’s also very aesthetic™ and sad with lesbians and allegories!”

Nah, I’ll be real with you here. Now we really can’t deny that Steven Universe has its major flaws, not a hard pill to swallow way I see it. Wishy washy in tone, seldom in world building, basic animation, off putting character models, and so forth (though the last point is a malleable nitpick tbh). Furthermore, we can’t deny that the “plot” is up in the air and really not in the mood on coming down with anything truly shaking yet (putting a pin in that). But, I won’t deny that it looks good, some characters are worth my investment, and there is some development to be had in all this, for better or for worse. You could say it’s down the middle, so where am I going with this? Well, I think I found something that may be able to bring this together: Sword Art Online

*imitating Austin Powers* YEAH, BABY!

For those unaware, Sword Art Online is a light novel turned RPG Game turned full series anime about thousands of people getting trapped in a VR game with one seeking to escape by beating the 100 levels of the game. It has action, death, good game feel, wonky gameplay, and fanservice.... I do not and will not recommend this to anyone, nor am I just comparing this to Steven U because both have OP protagonists, a myriad of female characters, and how one character is generally Lars if a better person initially. To repeat, I’m not saying these shows are the same in plot and such. Though the similarities certainly come in their perceptions and reactions.

Also dual wielding

Let me sidetrack a bit and do understand, at the time SAO premiered, otakus, anime fans, and even esports fans were hyped! This was before My Hero Academy blew millions away, before Attack on Titan throttled its theme music onto people, many were stoked and kept up that stokeness for this for quite a bit. This was SAO’s keepsake: Mass Appeal and timing. Then people started seeing the cracks of the show’s true faults, and now we’re at the point where more of the franchise is coming and the fandom is dragging between people that find it sucks or never should’ve been invested in the first place, people that continue to make the lemons into lemonade regardless, and the creeps (you know who they are). Sound familiar?

I mean we could say the same thing for the current Star Wars fandom, but that’s a tad more complicated

But this isn’t enough to say this is trash anime. No, like SAO, there is one thing that can tie everything together to implode into an enveloping infinite wormhole of foolishness and cleverness. One moment that just brought everything together and is gonna put everything together in the end. The definitive proof that...

Rose Quartz was the Origami Killer all along!!

But seriously, this was a twist that certainly cemented itself into being on par in writing with SAO and similar trash series. I mean, from a meta perspective, it’s pretty hilarious that the biggest twist the show presented was mostly considered a joke in the same way people thought The Simpsons could predict the future with the absurdist jokes they made. And really, all the symbolism and foreshadowing from every episode previously doesn’t excuse the blue balls I felt with the recent two seasons. I’m sorry guys, the eye opening revelation can go so far with someone who was only glad something actually came together after so long (even if the episode leading up to it lacked that “special shit”).

But as for Pink Diamond being the real Rose Quartz, the twist admittedly lack that impactful-ness and really shows how they’re twanging a string in the efforts to make you take the story seriously. For one thing, it’s pretty stupid to believe that nobody questioned the abilities the one Rose had compared to a typical quartz, not to mention that it felt pretty convenient that she never lost her form revealing her gem to anyone beside Pearl. Secondly, it kinda bait and switches not just the ideal, but a reasonable idea of Rose Quartz for just being the ambitious dictator turned anti-villain bent on liberating the Earth from her bigger than thou parents and more or less her own armada. Like, “Ha ha, you thought Rose Quartz was an ordinary gem that had to make genuine sacrifices in her efforts to best the higher ups and liberate her kind. But in reality, she had the abilities to win all along and generally did everything for the sake of not being a dictator anymore. MWAHAHAHAAAA” We can examine the complexities behind her motivations all we’d like, but that just feels like rewriting the already stupefying concept to make it sound more sensible.

Funny enough, Rose could’ve definitely working as the Charles Xavier of this series but they never delve into that reasonably valuable concept*

Lastly, it sort of--lack of a better term--irons out the whole show up with Steven being Pink Diamond, if that makes sense. In the back of my mind, I’ve generally lost my suspension of disbelief in believing that a fourteen year old child is not only the reformation of a failed rebel leader, but said failed rebel leader actually being the supposed antagonist and jumpstarting source behind everyone’s frustrations, ambitions, and tragedies. As if Steven wasn’t special enough on the fact that he can revive the dead, like Sword Art Online, it’s already apparent that he’ll generally win in the end due to him being the Special, the Ninetail, the Last Jedi, the Hollow, and the Fullbring all in one. It’s kinda hard getting invested in your story when I can’t care about your protagonists! Maybe he might actually suffer long term consequences, but I don’t have much in the future since it now feels hard to relate to the protagonist, who by the way is the central protagonist meaning no episode can go without his presence apparently.

He’ll enter your dreams if he must

And I’m afraid that Steven Universe has officially sunk to trash tier anime. And frankly, it’s always been anchored to this. I mean with SAO, as much as I saw before quitting, there was plot variety, not plot flips. It is one thing to have your series shift from light villain of the week slice of life to something like Oedipus Rex, but to get this far, nose diving into this belly flop of a reveal, to then ask to be taken with a modicum of seriousness, what? To put so much ambition into your work, that you’re essentially believing your own hype, barely exploring a big handful of your own ideas, until now, trying to make sympathy and reason coincide with the villain(s) instead of making them somewhat real. One could say “Monkey, it’s not about taking on villains, it’s about achieving resolve within the group’s personal struggles.” And while that is a reasonable and pathetic way of saying violence can’t resolve things, it doesn’t bear the fact that the Crystal Gems were essentially fighting villains beforehand while achieving resolve, so why change things up now? Especially when the villains before don’t bear any quirk of their own besides being relative to the plot. Or a plot, since again, it wants to be taken seriously with the “story” it has, but juggles way too many things that it can feel hilariously jarring when the show actually gets somewhere.

And as a character drama, the establishment of its world and idealogies don’t feel as valuable when the importance and passion to them are continuously muddled or dull

And this is the way of trash anime. People shouldn’t have to continuously think of how things could’ve been better, why plotlines and characters don’t mesh well, why it can just feel so contrived. Yeah it’s unfortunate that an SU Critical community exists, and yeah sometimes they deserve scrutiny because some try to make it deeper than it is, but we can’t deny that this all appeared from a vacuum. With criticisms can come a consistent string of logic that some things have turned up wrong, something that the series failed to grasp previously. Like SAO, most Shonen works, and “those” shows that I won’t speak of, this series was and has become a glorified gamble on your interests and the anticipation to see where it lands, how cathartic it’ll be, and what’s to look forward to and look back on.... has somewhat slimmed. While it is most certainly its own thing, it doesn’t bear that evolutionary yet timeless nuance Avatar and Adventure Time has, nor the continually captivating hook the best anime can have with its episodes and characters. This series has gotten stupid...and I say it’s not wrong to think that way.

Anime isn’t that big of a mistake, you guys. Come on.

If there’s anything I learned as one of the smartest idiots around, it’s that stupidity can be enjoyable; trust me, I know. So while I say SU’s anime garbage, I’m not saying it’s the bad kind that kills your mood/investment like the shit I found. it’s the Rocket Raccoon of Cartoon Network (and if you’ve seen Guardians 2 and get where I’m coming from, I love you for it). It’s still enjoyable, for the most part, and I’m not gonna ignore the influence it had on its fans. Hell, Black Panther is a movie I find flawed as fuck, but I and the millions (and the millions) still recognize and appreciate it for what it provided, for black people especially. While it can be predictable, there are some good moments to think over, for better or for worse, like how the Rose Quartz was subtly hinted at throughout the seasons. It’s still competent in some aspects, there are a few characters I still love and, to unpin, things look like they’re finally heating up. It still has that “Fuck yeah” spirit buried underneath, like many anime good and trash. It’s certainly better than Star vs th- Point I’m getting at is that this series sure as hell ain’t bulletproof, but I’ll gladly bandage it up and see it through to the end. Not as some guilty pleasure, but as a series that staggers constantly and consistently but makes up in keeping it compelling (in a way). That’s a quality only the best trash anime achieves, shooting itself in the foot while proudly making that run to the finish line. I’m not just blatantly criticizing it or supporting all the hype it makes, I’m embracing it for going this long with this many bruises, willing to take more hits, all the while never really losing sight of what it set out to do. I’ll still smack it upside the head for the stupid shit it might pull, because I know it can and will, but that smack is delivered with love. And really, is that not a reasonable feeling to have?

Steven U is anime garbage... and I’m fine with that.

#steven universe #su #su critical #su criticism #rose quartz #pink diamond #cartoons #anime #reviews #analysis #long post #Good Stuff #Roy Macintosh #awesome #brain fart #sword art online

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kit-kat-1221 · 6 years

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Darling in the Franxx Ikuno

So this is my little rant about Code:196 Ikuno from Darling in the Franxx (spoilers ahead)

This girl is amazing and indeed as Studio Trigger stated in a magazine interview a couple months back, that she would have a big role later in the series.

And guess what? She did!!!! :3

But before I go on about what has been ticking me off the past day about Studio Trigger and what they did to Ikuno I’m going to state what this awesome gal did.

1) Ikuno risked her life along with the rest of her squad to fight against creatures trying to kill the human race and survived! Not many pilots live long. And some may not survive after a few missions. But she did!

2) She finally confessed her feelings to her teammate that she kept a secret and bottled inside. Even though they were unrequited her teammate still saw her as a precious friend and didn’t try to ostracize her or make her feel bad.

3) she started learning around age 16 (estimate) about biology, the human body, medicine and pharmaceutical drug creation all on her own, yes she taught herself, and because of all of her work she allowed for the survival of all the pilots who had accelerated aging and became a doctor her friends could rely on. The reason why any of them can live is because of all her research and dedication, without her they would have all been dead! Yeah without her starting that work they would have all died young.

4) she risk her life and expended her lifespan and shortened it by piloting and releasing enough energy to blast a hole through a sealed passage so that her friends could go save their teammate and stop what was a world destroying bomb.

5) despite having a weaker body, or I believe it was implied in the series that her numbers were always on the lower side but that may have also been because her her partner not being meant for her..., she pushes herself to do what she can with her short life.

6) she was essentially trusted by Goro to look after Ichigo and the others when he went out to travel and distribute food and supplies to other survivors (That’s how I interpreted the scene anyhow...)

7) even if she isn’t a romantic partner it is hinted that she and Naomi have a very strong bond after the 10 year time skip as over the years Naomi helped and looked after Ikuno

8) She’s an adorable lesbian lady who helps the ones she loves and do what she can to make sure they are happy and healthy. (Her smile thinking about how Ichigo’s baby will be like and Ichigo’s smile back show how much Ichigo cares for her still and how Ikuno’s live confession in the past did not strain their relationship)

Now to my beef with some of these idiots...

They are claiming Studio Trigger is trying to do the “Bury your Gays” trope because Ikuno was dying. And well I can’t claim Trigger is or isn’t homophobic because I don’t belong to it... but guess what? They had bisexual characters, a lesbian character, role reversal, questions on humanity, characters who showed what it means to be human, it’s showed people who were fooled into false beliefs, it showed obsession, codependency, revenge, depression and sucidality, anxiety, teen pregnancy, child experimentation, deforestation, racism, and many many many other things.

What I hate is that what they are taking away is that Ikuno is dying and Ikuno is a lesbian therefor the studio must be homophobic and trying to bury the gays. No Ikuno is dying faster than the others because of the strain she went through and how hard she pushed herself despite knowing the risks because she wanted to protect those she loved. And besides there is more to Ikuno than her being a lesbian. (As I listed above) so yeah I think those morons should feel ashamed because they are seeing a trope and not the wonderful character Trigger gave us.

And if anyone brings up: well they are pushing heterosexual relationships. Umm well guess what? All of the adults were soul ascended and all the younger adults and children are what is left which are still quite fewer in number. A lot of those people are probably going to have children. To leave behind a future. But guess what!? Not once is it said that a girl liking a girl or guy liking a guy is wrong!

And if I hear the whole: well what about Ichigo she turned down both Goro and Ikuno why is she with Goro?

Umm well for one... she was originally in love with Hiro, two she has insinuated that guys are her thing (the whole pilot connection seems to also be linked to sexual orientation somewhat. Not entirely but somewhat. Most emotional syncing though I believe.) and Ichigo’s feelings about Ikuno were not romantic at any point. She lives Ikuno just not romantically.

And then is people go with Well why did Mitsuru have to end up with Kokoro?

Honestly even if he is bisexual it doesn’t make him any less bisexual by being with Kokoro -.- truthfully I always thought their relationship seemed very one sided but Mitsuru acted on his own emotions and feelings and wasn’t pressured and now lives a very happy life so that’s that.

And then if anyone says anything about the Nines: who believed gender got in the way of a lot of things and was only tolerated for piloting. Well for one they were conditioned to think a certain way and believed in those thoughts wholeheartedly. Heck they are all assumed to be bisexual at the very least, or something around those lines. And if anyone says “well they are doing the bury your gays “ thing with the Nines the answer is. Are you stupid? Or rather what have you been watching? Alpha blatantly tells Ichigo that they need maintenance in order to survive. And Dr. Werner Franks said that they were clones of Zero Two (who is a clone of the Kaloxosaur princess) who didn’t inherit her Klaxosaur blood. They are clones of a clone. They are inherently not going to last long without proper medical procedures that unfortunately weren’t available for them and the last three decided to go out as warriors as they were literally made to be soldiers. They made their own choices and died they way they wanted to, in a fight not in a bed.

Studio Trigger May be many things and I’m not saying that Dating in the Franxx is flawless because it isn’t. But this was a beautiful story with a lot of symbolism, imagery, moral conflicts, and just a lot of emotion and allegory as well as call backs to earlier stated materials. It never forgot where it started nor the story it was going to tell. So please treat the studio with respect. As an anime first show this was a wonderful ride.

TL;DR Ikuno is more than just a lesbian girl, she’s an amazing young women and very intelligent you guys are just salty. ;P

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beneaththetangles · 3 years

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Does God Speak Through Anime? Or, What Madoka Taught Me About God & the Trees

On 22 April 2011, Kaname Madoka used the most powerful of wishes to save all magical girls. About eight years later, I watched her do it, and it taught me something about the savior of the real world and his plan for humanity.

I am of course talking about Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this season. It was the fifth anime series I ever watched, and the one that led me on the path that now has me writing with the crew here on Beneath the Tangles. Madoka showed me that Proverbs 25:2 applies to anime, too (“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out”), and it’s our joy here at BtT to search him out in this particularly rich field!

Madoka makes her wish…

What I learned from Madoka was not what you might expect. True, the Messianic parallels are pretty strong in episode 12, but so too are the Buddhist threads, and I think I was equally struck by all that is not Christlike with that episode—by which I mean not so much Madoka’s wish itself, which is full of grace, but the way it transforms her into a transcendent concept, distant from the world and forgotten by it (I’ll explore the controversial implications of this, as played out in the sequel movie, Rebellion, in my post tomorrow).

No, instead what gave me pause was Madoka’s conversation with Sayaka, when she explains why she did not simply wish for a cosmic Control+Z and undo the entire magical-girl-wish-to-witch-curse cycle. Madoka wants to preserve Sayaka’s wish and “all the hard work you did for it,” she explains, because it is “precious.” Something good came of the magical girls’ wishes, and so instead of dismantling the system, Madoka seeks to inject it with grace by bearing the burden of the curses personally. The magical girls still pay with their lives, but they die in peace, their legacies untarnished.

This conversation helped me to see the fall of humanity in a completely different way.

But before I explain, let me walk it back for a moment: How exactly does God speak through anime? There are of course loads of different ways that he helps us to understand something about him, ourselves, and living out our faith through the stories brought to life in anime. Sometimes, it’s a line of dialogue that is exactly what you needed to hear in that moment, maybe an encouragement, a challenge, or a pearl of wisdom. Or maybe something that you disagree with so strongly that it causes a situation in your own life to come into sharp focus, and you suddenly know what not to do. Sometimes, it’s a plot arc or character development that parallels a challenge you have faced yourself. Seeing it play out on the screen—and maybe in an alternate world!—can give you the perspective you need to see your own situation with fresh eyes; or maybe it just helps to smooth away the anxiety, knowing you’re not the only person ever to face such things. Anime is rich in allegory and metaphor—which I kind of think are the original language of the Bible!—and sometimes its symbolism and parables can have a personal meaning for us that speaks volumes that may not have been intended by the studio, but were woven into the fabric of the show by the greatest Author (and Editor) of all. Sometimes, it’s the tenderness and beauty conveyed in a show’s artistry that speak comfort, love, and hope when you need it most (Violet Evergarden, Non Non Biyori, Laid-Back Camp, I’m looking at you). There are even a few anime that feature Christian characters (and not all are villainous) and quite a few more that quote or paraphrase scripture, sometimes even helpfully (PsychoPass, Le Chevalier d’Eon, ViVid Strike). These are all powerful ways that the Holy Spirit can use this beautiful medium to touch our hearts and strengthen our souls, as he speaks a language that we know and love—the language of anime.

In conversation with Sayaka…

There’s another way too, that anime can draw us closer to our God, and that’s through prompting us to ask him questions. So often, we are reluctant to question God because we’re afraid that it is a marker of unbelief, but that’s not the case at all. He welcomes genuine questioning (e.g. Isaiah 1:18). After all, questions are how we get to know someone, and often they’re how we lead up to pouring out our own hearts. We ask questions because we want to hear the answers, but also because we want to be heard ourselves. Questions are core to building relationship and growing in intimate friendship.

Madoka’s conversation with Sayaka made me ask God some questions.

It made me wonder why God didn’t simply reset everything at the very beginning, in the Garden after the fall. I mean, he did to some extent in Noah’s day, but it wasn’t a hard reset; more of a reboot. The implications of that illicit feast of fruit persisted. But why didn’t he scrap Humanity 1.0? I began to wonder if God had a reason like Madoka’s.

Madoka confronts Walpurgis with grace. (Note the cross that seems to emanate from Madoka…)

When I did, I realized that I’ve misunderstood the purpose of the trees in the Garden. You know, the Tree of Eternal Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (the forbidden fruit tree!). I’ve always taken for granted that they were there to be a temptation, a test. After all, “love isn’t love unless there’s a choice,” right? With the trees and God’s command not to eat their fruit setting up the choice for humanity—the chance to choose to love and trust God. Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s truth in that, but it’s only part of the story—one I’d never bothered to ask God about for myself. As a result, I saw the trees only in terms of the potential for their misuse, their abuse. I saw them as sin waiting to happen.

But God does not create for that purpose. How could something that had only destructive, devastating potential—that is, to sever the relationship between humanity and its creator—be considered “good” by God, as indeed it was? (Genesis 1:12) No, there must have been some purpose to these trees in the Garden that I had overlooked.

Redemption in action.

As I thought about God’s nature as a creator of only good things, I realized that the trees and their fruit of knowledge and eternal life were originally intended as a blessing for humanity. But that there was a particular timing attached to that blessing—they weren’t for straight away, at the beginning of humanity’s journey and relationship with God. Instead, the blessing of the trees was meant to come in time, at God’s invitation, and in a context of deep friendship with him. I think that is in part what God was doing when he came to walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening: He was preparing humanity, building a bedrock of trust that could one day support the weight of his glory, the glory of godly knowledge and understanding, without separating us from the source of that knowledge, namely, himself. Because separated out and isolated from him, knowledge can kill. It can lead to all kinds of arrogance, but also to fear and shame. It can be used as a weapon to harm others or protect yourself in ways that leave you alone and cynical. It can split the atom and design a way to weaponize that discovery.

But knowledge is also a thing of beauty. It’s one of the characteristics of God himself! And in Ephesians 1:8-9, Paul explains that God’s grace is at work to release in us all forms of wisdom and practical understanding, and that in Christ, God’s plan from the beginning is revealed, with all its secrets and mystery. There are hints about it, too, along the way in the Old Testament, with Solomon and his encouragement in Proverbs that we seek wisdom and knowledge. And Bezalel, the first person in the bible to receive the Holy Spirit—for the sole purpose of gaining the knowledge to craft beautiful things.

Homura hearing the gospel of Madoka in the heavenly realms…

But God’s plan for the trees is revealed most succinctly in John 3:16 and 17:3, which tell us that his intent for us is eternal life—the fruit of the tree of life—and that eternal life is knowing him and Jesus whom he sent—the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The two trees were there all along, in the center of God’s plan for blessing us.

By telling Adam and Eve to forego the fruit, God wasn’t trying to keep humanity in ignorance, but rather to determine the right timing and conditions under which knowledge, discernment and wisdom, and eternal life were released to humanity. It was supposed to happen in the context of personal relationship with God, by his initiative, for those whom he’d prepared to be able to handle it well. It wasn’t a test at all—those trees were a promise.

But Adam and Eve rushed the plan.

As a kid, I used to think I would have done a much better job in the Garden. That maybe humanity wouldn’t even have fallen. I had no desire to usurp God—who would want the responsibility? Well, I may have been a pretty obedient child, but I was also impatient. I was born breach and prematurely, and used to joke that I kicked my way out because I was fed up of waiting. And it was, in part, that kind of impatience that led to the fall. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve—yes, to disobey God, to mistrust him, but also to take matters into their own hands and act out of impatience, rather than to trust God with their “destiny and its timing” (Psalm 16:5 TPT). Maybe I wouldn’t have saved humanity after all.

Gaining the knowledge of good and evil happened out of season for humanity, which is what rendered it harmful—a lot like how the magical girls’ wishes, though well-intentioned and objectively good, fed into curses and ultimately transformed them into witches: they were impatient to fix things according to their own judgement. In their case, it was the interference of an alien race that turned their wilful acts into destructive curses. Kyuubey and the Incubators are very much the serpents in the garden of these young women’s lives. But Madoka, like God, chose to pay a personal price to redeem rather than reset. She rewrites the laws of the universe to make redemption possible, in an attempt to overwrite the rule of balance (curses for wishes; destruction for miracles) with the reckless imbalance of grace. She seeks to throw off the tyranny of karma—a yoke that our savior, too, lifts away from us. In so doing, she transforms the legacy of the magical girls, preventing it from becoming bitter and destructive.

Jesus did the same with the legacy of the trees and the fruit that shouldn’t have been eaten when or how it was. In him, we have the ability to receive knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and a mind and spirit strong enough to handle them without it turning into a curse—the mind of Christ himself (1 Corinthians 2:16). In him, we have eternal life. He redeems the trees and that original mistake, just as Madoka redeems the magical girls’ wishes. Because they were all actually intended for good.

I’ll always be grateful to Madoka for teaching me this—for prompting me to ask my God a question and discover a piece of his heart that I never suspected was there.

And so my journey with God through anime began. Little did I know what an adventure I was in for! And it’s been made all the richer for having learnt to ask this all-important question every time I start a new series: “God, will you watch this one with me?”

=====

Puella Magi Madoka Magica can be streamed on Netflix, Funimation, and Crunchyroll. And I really recommend that you do it.

#Anime #Christianity #Puella Magi Madoka Magica #Madoka Kaname #Articles #Author: cajk2

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art-saga-blog · 5 years

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Damien Hirst on Death

Death has always been an enigmatic subject to me, as I could never truly wrap my head around the phenomenon. Its existentialist qualities are likely the reason why I find a special affinity for the work of Young British Art (YBA) Damien Hirst. His artwork, which includes large scale bronze sculptures, tanks full of formaldehyde and animal carcasses, and screen prints on paper, creatively explores the emotional and intellectual impact of death, from grief to its physical unfathomability. These works are confrontational in how they challenge us on our expectations about death and whether or not we are ready for the truth of it to be revealed to us, which is its unavoidability.

Pharmacy (1992); Tate Museum

Up until early 2018, I was apart of circles and subcultures with ties to a philosophical concept called “Transhumanism”. Transhumanism, on its most basic level, requires the leveraging of science and technology to assist the human being in transcending their basic form. This transcendence could involve the evolution beyond all barriers from gender to material form to baseline abilities, but popularly it is about the achievement of immortality by 2045 thanks to the progression of medicine. Utopian Pharmacology, a term coined by David Pearce in The Hedonistic Imperative (1995), is a hallmark of Transhumanism, and a hallmark of the fight for immortality.

Despite the efforts going into utopian pharmacology, I cannot help but see the fight for immortality as a fruitless goal ultimately rooted in the fear of dying. Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy (1992) is something I like to reference as an early criticism of the concept. In the Pharmacy, a person is allowed free rein over the pills they select. Specifically, a person is allowed control over their health and immortality, as this is what these pills are for. They do not have to answer to a gatekeeping pharmacist that would restrict their access to the pills, and perhaps in the end they will not have to answer to the Grim Reaper either. However, Hirst’s Pharmacy is not a safe haven from an inevitable end, as he does not believe that science or modern medicine can prevent death. I see this pharmacy as a physical allegory. The person is allowed to mull around and select whatever they are certain will prevent a certain death, allowing a sense of empowerment that is soon taken away. Though the pharmacist is not visible, they still exist in this place. The illusion of the Pharmacy is soon shattered.

The Last Supper: Corned Beef (1999)

Another criticism of utopian pharmacology I have found of Hirst’s is his The Last Supper (1999) series. In The Last Supper, Hirst had designed screen prints that mimicked the packaging of pills, and had labelled them with the names of common foods, which include corned beef, salad, sandwiches, and more. Again, we see the potential attempts of someone to use medicine to cheat death. Here food is reduced to its barest form, which is sustenance to provide the body enough energy to keep going. There is no true material experience with nourishment. Normally meals are used to facilitate social interaction among others. Being used merely as a way to escape death, perhaps in trying to transcend core elements of the human experience, which is death, people may transcend a sense of humanity altogether. Again, the illusion of having found a medical solution to the disease of human mortality is easily shattered. The Last Supper references both Damien Hirst’s Catholic education (with him regularly incorporating Catholic symbols, tales, or parables into his work) and of course the death Jesus after The Last Supper. It also references again the inevitably of death. These pills could sustain the body and their medicalized appearance lends even more to their illusionary potential. However, the person who takes them will still die. One of these pills will be their last supper.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living (1991)

Most people find mortality to be too strong of a force to reckon with, whether it is on an intellectual or emotional level. Damien Hirst offers the viewer a chance to confront it nonetheless. The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living (1991) is a sculpture that involves the carcass of a tiger shark suspended in formaldehyde in a tank. It has a distinctive power within it, with the tiger shark seemingly being alive but very much deceased. From all angles of the tank, we can formally recognize that in any other circumstances in which the shark was living, we would be in mortal danger. But here we are not. And so the sensation of danger, the adrenaline and the fear, it all subsides. With those physical ailments out of the way, we are now viewing death from a nearly objective, intellectual perspective. We can understand that the shark is dead and that its animated state is an illusion. Our death is an impossibility to us in this moment as the shark is not alive. This realization is an important aspect of this experience as implied by the title of the work, as even as we process mortality, our own and the mortality of other living beings, we are not experiencing death. Not only are we not dead by a shark bite, but because we are alive, the physical experience of death is beyond us. And it always will be as the living cannot intellectually or physically experience death, as “dead” and “alive” are two fundamentally different modes of existence that are irreconcilable.

Mother and Child (Divided) (1993)

Despite death being an impossibility in the mind (and body) of the living, I have heard many people in my life say of themselves that they have “experienced the death of a loved of one”. I ask myself how that could be so when they are still standing and inhaling oxygen on this earth; the truth is they have experienced grief, a natural consequence of death in the mind of the living. Damien Hirst has works that explore this element of the mortal experience. A great example would be Mother and Child (Divided) (1993). This sculpture follows the same formula as The Physical Impossibility…, with the carcasses of slaughtered animals being suspended in formaldehyde in a tank. They are mother cow and child calf, bisected, with their halves placed into two separate tanks. Though these animals were clearly subjected to some level of carnage, they are sterilized and made mellow in the blue. There is no redness of their guts or anything like that. Therefore, we can once again push to the side our natural physical reactions to dead bodies, but instead approach the concept from an intellectual and now emotional perspective.

One of the most difficult aspects of death to the living is how it fractures us and our relationships. Grief is possibly one of the most destructive emotions, and to be apart from someone for an eternity, it’s tough. No one wants to have to endure this. In looking at the Mother and Child (Divided), the viewer can see the physical and perhaps spiritual fracturing of a relationship we recognize as especially influential in our lives, which is mother and child. The deceased are divided from themselves, with their bodies staying behind and withering away while their spiritual essence has departed from the material form and material world. The living and grieving are departed from them as well, divided. People can relate to the mother and child dynamic, and thus can perhaps simulate grief in seeing these symbols.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (Decaying)

In the end, death as existentialist concept is perhaps something that can never be understood. I might always have questions about it. Luckily I have been exposed to Damien Hirst’s conceptual works, which inform me both of the fact that I don’t have to understand and that death is inevitable for me as a human. He does not depict death in violent ways that compel for us to be afraid, but instead as a very sterilized and perhaps spiritual event that is waiting for us. His most landmark works merely expose that no matter how much we attempt to hold onto life in the face of death, it will all come apart.

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guillaumebottazzi · 6 years

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This is your brain on art: A scientist’s lessons on why abstract art makes our brains hurt so good

Kandel’s took a Nobel-winning scientist who specializes in human memory to break new ground in art history

The greatest discoveries in art history, as in so many fields, tend to come from those working outside the box. Interdisciplinary studies break new ground because those steadfastly lashed to a specific field or way of thinking tend to dig deeper into well-trodden earth, whereas a fresh set of eyes, coming from a different school of thought, can look at old problems in new ways. Interviewing Eric Kandel, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, and reading his latest book, "Reductionism in Art and Brain Science," underscored this point. His new book offers one of the freshest insights into art history in many years. Ironic that it should come not from an art historian, but a neuroscientist specializing in human memory, most famous for his experiments involving giant sea snails. You can’t make this stuff up.

I’ve spent my life looking at art and analyzing it, and I’ve even brought a new discipline’s approach to art history. Because my academic work bridges art history and criminology (being a specialist in art crime), my own out-of-the-box contribution is treating artworks like crime scenes, whodunnits, and police procedurals. I examine Caravaggio’s "Saint Matthew Cycle" as if the three paintings in it are photographs of a crime scene, which we must analyze with as little a priori prejudice, and as much clean logic, as possible. Likewise, in my work deciphering one of most famous puzzle paintings, Bronzino’s "Allegory of Love and Lust," a red herring (Vasari’s description of what centuries of scholars have assumed was this painting, but which Robert Gaston finally recognized was not at all, and had been an impossible handicap in trying to match the painting with Vasari’s clues about another work entirely) had to be cast aside in order for progress to be made.

Ernst Gombrich made waves when he dipped into optics in his book, "Art and Illusion." Freud offered a new analysis of Leonardo. The Copiale cipher, an encoded, illuminated manuscript, was solved by Kevin Knight, a computer scientist and linguist. It takes an outsider to start a revolution. So it is not entirely surprising that a neuroscientist would open this art historian’s eyes, but my mind is officially blown. I feel like a veil has been pulled aside, and for that I am grateful.

Ask your average person walking down the street what sort of art they find more intimidating, or like less, or don’t know what to make of, and they’ll point to abstract or minimalist art. Show them traditional, formal, naturalistic art, like Bellini’s "Sacred Allegory," art which draws from traditional core Western texts (the Bible, apocrypha, mythology) alongside a Mark Rothko or a Jackson Pollock or a Kazimir Malevich, and they’ll retreat into the Bellini, even though it is one of the most puzzling unsolved mysteries of the art world, a riddle of a picture for which not one reasonable solution has ever been put forward. The Pollock, on the other hand, is just a tangle of dripped paint, the Rothko just a color with a bar of another color on top of it, the Malevich is all white.

Kandel’s work explains this in a simple way. In abstract painting, elements are included not as visual reproductions of objects, but as references or clues to how we conceptualize objects. In describing the world they see, abstract artists not only dismantle many of the building blocks of bottom-up visual processing by eliminating perspective and holistic depiction, they also nullify some of the premises on which bottom-up processing is based. We scan an abstract painting for links between line segments, for recognizable contours and objects, but in the most fragmented works, such as those by Rothko, our efforts are thwarted.

Thus the reason abstract art poses such an enormous challenge to the beholder is that it teaches us to look at art — and, in a sense, at the world — in a new way. Abstract art dares our visual system to interpret an image that is fundamentally different from the kind of images our brain has evolved to reconstruct. Kandel describes the difference between “bottom up” and “top down” thinking. This is basic stuff for neuroscience students, but brand new for art historians. Bottom up thinking includes mental processes that are ingrained over centuries: unconsciously making sense of phenomena, like guessing that a light source coming from above us is the sun (since for thousands of years that was the primary light source, and this information is programmed into our very being) or that someone larger must be standing closer to us than someone much smaller, who is therefore in the distance. Top down thinking, on the other hand, is based on our personal experience and knowledge (not ingrained in us as humans with millennia of experiences that have programmed us). Top down thinking is needed to interpret formal, symbol or story-rich art. Abstraction taps bottom-up thinking, requiring little to no a priori knowledge. Kandel is not the first to make this point. Henri Matisse said, “We are closer to attaining cheerful serenity by simplifying thoughts and figures. Simplifying the idea to achieve an expression of joy. That is our only deed [as artists].” But it helps to have a renowned scientist, who is also a clear writer and passionate art lover, convert the ideas of one field into the understanding of another. The shock for me is that abstraction should really be less intimidating, as it requires no advanced degrees and no reading of hundreds of pages of source material to understand and enjoy. And yet the general public, at least, finds abstraction and minimalism intimidating, quick to dismiss it with “oh, I could do that” or “that’s not art.” We are simply used to formal art; we expect it, and also do not necessarily expect to “understand it” in an interpretive sense. Our reactions are aesthetic, evaluating just two of the three Aristotelian prerequisites for art to be great: it demonstrates skill and it may be beautiful, but we will often skip the question of whether it is interesting, as that question requires knowledge we might not possess.

We might think that “reading” formal paintings, particularly those packed with symbols or showing esoteric mythological scenes, are what require active problem-solving. At an advanced academic level, they certainly do (I racked my brain for years over that Bronzino painting). But at any less-scholarly level, for most museum-goers, this is not the case. Looking at formal art is actually a form of passive narrative reading, because the artist has given us everything our brain expects and knows automatically how to handle. It looks like real life.

But the mind-bending point that Kandel makes is that abstract art, which strips away the narrative, the real-life, expected visuals, requires active problem-solving. We instinctively search for patterns, recognizable shapes, formal figures within the abstraction. We want to impose a rational explanation onto the work, and abstract and minimalist art resists this. It makes our brains work in a different, harder, way at a subconscious level. Though we don’t articulate it as such, perhaps that is why people find abstract art more intimidating, and are hastier to dismiss it. It requires their brains to function in a different, less comfortable, more puzzled way. More puzzled even than when looking at a formal, puzzle painting.

Kandel told The Wall Street Journal that the connection between abstract art and neuroscience is about reductionism, a term in science for simplifying a problem as much as possible to make it easier to tackle and solve. This is why he studied giant sea snails to understand the human brain. Sea snails have just 20,000 neurons in their brains, whereas humans have billions. The simpler organism was easier to study and those results could be applied to humans.

“This is reductionism,” he said, “to take a complex problem and select a central, but limited, component that you can study in depth. Rothko — only color. And yet the power it conveys is fantastic. Jackson Pollock got rid of all form.”

In fact, some of the best abstract artists began in a more formal style, and peeled the form away. Turner, Mondrian and Brancusi, for instance, have early works in a quite realistic style. They gradually eroded the naturalism of their works, Mondrian for instance painting trees that look like trees early on, before abstracting his paintings into a tangle of branches, and then a tangle of lines and then just a few lines that, to him, still evoke tree-ness. It’s like boiling away apple juice, getting rid of the excess water, to end up with an apple concentrate, the ultimate essence of apple-ness. We like to think of abstraction as a 20th century phenomenon, a reaction to the invention of photography. Painting and sculpture no longer had to fulfill the role of record of events, likenesses and people — photography could do that. So painting and sculpture was suddenly free to do other things, things photography couldn’t do as well. Things like abstraction. But that’s not the whole story. A look at ancient art finds it full of abstraction. Most art history books, if they go back far enough, begin with Cycladic figurines (dated to 3300-1100 BC). Abstracted, ghost-like, sort-of-human forms. Even on cave walls, a few lines suggest an animal, or a constellation of blown hand-prints float on a wall in absolute darkness.

Abstract art is where we began, and where we have returned. It makes our brains hurt, but in all the right ways, for abstract art forces us to see, and think, differently.

#art #contemporary art #artcontemporain

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dieverdediger · 7 years

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Why the Biblical Creation story is Allegorical

Keep in mind that I intend for this piece to develop over time as I add more depth and more sources.

That the Biblical creation account, described mostly in Genesis 1, is describing a literal 24-hour period is a view taken for granted both by Christians and atheists. This view is simply in error.

For this discussion I will divide the post into three sections: scriptural reasons to reject a literal reading, responses to scriptural criticism, and responses to myths about the issue. I am - for the most part - adopting a reductio ad absurdum approach: I am taking everything more literally than even the young earth creationist would want me to.

Scriptural reasons to reject a literal reading

I’m going to use the creation story itself, from Genesis 1:1 to 2:4 to show that it should be read allegorically. As many YECs are also King James Onlyists, I will use the King James. The first and the most important argument to show that it is not meant to be taken literally is the wide usage of the word “day”, which has 3/4 DIFFERENT definitions.

Consider verse 5:

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Here we have our first two definitions for the word “day”. In the one definition the word “day” refers to the light itself. The second definition refers to the period between “evening and morning”. What is interesting about this second one is that the period between “evening and morning” is... can you believe it? NOT 24 hours, but rather half a day, more or less 12 hours. Some might say, “oh, but surely that is just figurative language to describe an entire day”. Sure I would agree with you, but then YOU are the one NOT reading the passage literally. You accuse us of putting our own meaning into Genesis, yet here you want to do the same? No. If you want to read the passage literally with no room for symbolism or idioms (how dare you?!), then you would come across half a day.

Now consider Chapter 2:2-3

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

There is no closure for the seventh day, no “evening and morning”. I know some young earth creationists, like Kent Hovind, simply ignore the significance of this fact. Was the Genesis author too stupid to realise his mistake? Here the definition of a “day” is uncertain. It would seem that here “day” refers to an unspecified period of time.

Now for the next few paragraphs I am setting aside my strict literalist view. The significance of the seventh day not having closure is very rich in symbolic meaning. It is to mean that we are still IN the creation day, that we have not moved on to some “new week”. That would have been absurd. Think about it: if the passage said: “And the evening and the morning were the seventh day” then we would assume that we are living in some new week, in a “day 8″ or a new creation week. That would seem incredibly absurd.

With this in mind, it makes a lot of sense that the seventh day does not have closure. Rather, Christ’s crucifixion signified the symbolic ending of the creation week. What was it that the Apostle John said about Jesus in John 1:1 again?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Here John is blatantly referencing Genesis 1:1. Now what does John record Jesus said at his death?

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

“It is finished”. At last, the creation week is finished. Few Christians realise the importance of his words here, though some like Chesterton and Lewis do: at last, the old has passed away and now we are new creations in Christ - in a way, a new creation week has dawned upon us! It is no coincidence that Christ rose on the first day of the week.

The Genesis author NOT giving closure to the seventh day cries out for some deeper meaning.

Our last verse to consider regarding the definition of the word “day” is verse 2:4:

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens

Now suddenly the word “day” refers to the entire creation week. Not one day, but a long period of time. It is like saying “in my young day at university we did this and that”.

So thus far we have four definitions for the word “day”, NONE of which refer to a 24-hour period but which, especially if you look at the third one given, cries out for a symbolic meaning.

The second aspect of my argument refers to the composition of the creation. As John Lennox pointed out, it is very interesting that the first three days are creation: the heaven, earth, sea, and land. The next three concern the fulfillment: plants, animals, birds, stars. Creation and fulfillment. Very clearly we are dealing with a figurative work here.

All in all, look at it like this. If you picked up a book with dry, meaningless facts, you would arguably take it to be factual and historical. But the moment you read something with blatant symbolic messages - such as the story of the tortoise and the hare - THEN you are justified in changing your interpretation to one of allegory. Why? Because the CONTENT ITSELF screams for a non-historic reading. The same applies with the creation account.

Possible responses

One response is that the original Hebrew shows different usages of the word “day” in the creation account. Yes, you are right, but you are still wrong. In three of the cases the word “yō-wm“ is used. Only my definition of chapter 2:2 is different (bay-yō-wm). I admit total ignorance of Hebrew, but I thought it necessary to point this out. For the the King James Onlyist, not only are you wrong (three of the four definitions still have the same Hebrew word), but you are wrong: YOU are the one who always stick to the King James, sometimes claiming it better than the original. If you appeal to different translations, then YOU are the “guru”, to use Hovind’s words, trying to teach people something that they would not otherwise have read. The literal reading of the Genesis account, as I discussed in the previous section, does not lead you to suppose a 24-hour day creation. The moment you refer to other verses and other translations, you are tacitly admitting that Genesis 1-2:4 does NOT teach this by itself.

I challenge anyone to use the creation story itself to show that it refers to literal 24 hour days.

Another objection is referring to Genesis 20:11

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

YECs often point to similar verses. First off, I’d like to point out that by pointing out this verse you are, as I said in the previous objection, now trying to use other verses to show a 24-hour reading of Genesis because by then you tacitly admit that you cannot use the Genesis account itself to prove 24-days. That being said, this passage above does not necessarily refer to 24 hour days. The most obvious thing to point out was that God was talking symbolism here: you Israelites will work six days as a symbolic reflection of the six days of creation”.

The Genesis 20:11 verse does not necessarily refer to 24-hour days. The Jews wandered in the desert for 40 (literal) years. Did they therefore have to celebrate it each year for fourty years (if that even makes sense?), or fourty days at least? No. The Jewish Sukkot is held for 7 days - seven days to commemorate a fourty year event. This shows that the length of the celebration is not necessarily tied to the length of the actual event. As such, God telling people to work for six literal does NOT therefore mean the actual event being celebrated lasted six literal days.

Therefore this objection is rendered moot. You can only pursue it further by insisting the existence of some literal linkage, but you don’t have proof.

Responses to myths

One chief myth the average YEC and the average atheist may have is that reading Genesis allegorically is new, that Christians have always taken it to mean 24 days, that only in response to evolution did we change our views and that taking it allegorically is only an ad-hoc response. You are wrong.

Famous Christian theologians, like Augustine (it is important to read the link), and Origen before him, have taken the creation account to be allegorical or at least non-literal. As such, taking the creation story as non-literal is not simply a Christian saying “Oh no! Science says the earth is old! We better reinterpret the Bible!”. Instead, the Christian can say “Science says the earth is old. So what? The Bible doesn’t comment on the matter”.

This issue was a serious problem for me. Only on learning that an allegorical understanding is not simply some ad-hoc response did I finally let go of my young earth creationism.

I repeat my challenge to the YEC: try to read the creation account itself and show me where it mentions a literal 24-hour period and explain the blatant symbolic messages. The moment you have to appeal to other verses in distant passages you are admitting that you can’t do it. Nevertheless, if you have such verses, send it to me and I’ll look at them anyway.

There are a couple more issues I’ll add to this over time, but for now what I have said will suffice.

For more info

John Lennox - Seven Days that Divide the World

#apologetics #christianity #creation #creationism #atheism #evolution #yec #young earth creationism #young earth creation #young earth #creationist #genesis

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