Body and Mind, Network and Ghost.
A very interesting Youtube video that I've watched more than a dozen times. It's a video essay about our evolving identities, and how we are very much one and the same in the collective spaces that we're always building for ourselves. And to top that off, this Youtuber used Ghost In The Shell as the case study. You really can't go wrong with this masterpiece!
"The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed."
―William Gibson, Neuromancer
Gurdjieff on Objective Art
Extract from In Search of the Miraculous
by P. D. Ouspensky
"Do such works of objective art exist at the present day?" I asked.
"Of course they exist," answered G (G. I. Gurdjieff). "The great Sphinx in Egypt is such work of art, as well as some historically known works of architecture, certain statues of gods, and many other things. There are figures of gods and of various mythological beings that can be read like books, only not with the mind but with the emotions, provided they are sufficiently developed. In the course of our travels in Central Asia we found, in the desert at the foot of the Hindu Kush, a strange figure which we thought at first was some ancient god or devil. At first it produced upon us simply the impression of being a curiosity. But after a while we began to feel that this figure contained many things, a big, complete, and complex system of cosmology. And slowly, step by step, we began to decipher this system. It was in the body of the figure, in its legs, in its arms, in its head, its eyes, in its ears; everywhere. In the whole statue there was nothing accidental, nothing without meaning. And gradually we understood the aim of the people who built this statue. We began to feel their thoughts, their feelings. Some of us thought that we saw their faces, heard their voices. At all events, we grasped the meaning of what they wanted to convey to us across thousands of years, and not only the meaning, but all the feelings and the emotions connected with it as well. That indeed was art!”
In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching,
Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1950
Very interesting text - Lookin up the book now - it's this yeah? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_the_Miraculous
I haven't studied much about past cultures and such, this may be the beginning of it, thanks @onceuponatime - I've also watched the video you linked me up a week or two ago which is David Icke's The Solution. Turned out to be a very interesting watch. So much that I started writing something on the subject :)
The book is actually quite old - first published in 1949 I believe. It is an extremely interesting read, at least it was for me, and has flavored much of my subsequent life since first reading it.
Old book, no problem - found it! http://www.gurdjieff.am/in-search/index.pdf
I had a period back in early 2010s when I went through reading older books and watching BW movies, and I'd say they're every bit as profound if not more than recent stuff.
Also audio is available on youtube:
Awesome! Lol youtube really has everything
Dude this is perfection. Thank you so much for sharing this, seriously. The aspect-to-aspect narrative is fascinating. The future-urbanism of the film immediately reminded me of a book by Adam Frampton who beautifully illustrated super complex diagrams of Hong Kong's connective walkways, tunnels and other infrastructure. Here's a link in case you're interested, cheers! - http://www.archdaily.com/352543/cities-without-ground-a-hong-kong-guidebook
HK seems like the perfect fit for the typical cyberpunk sprawl . Awesome link! Thanks man. Check out nerdwriter's other videos. I've been tryna contact him to get on board on Steemit. Would be easier with a phone number :)
I really need to watch "Ghost in the Shell" - I hear so much about it. Can I watch the video without spoiling it?
Better to watch the series / movie before this video analysis, although I'd say that it's not much of a spoiler!
OK I will. I keep getting people being shocked I haven't seen it because I'm such a scifi nerd! I will see if I can find it.
Great analysis. Gave me an idea how to make page 12 of my comics.
Aspect-to-aspect style? :)
Well, that too, yes. I like the analysis, but the interlude scene actually plays through the themes of the film in many more ways, which kind of got me on the track for my own stuff. In the interlude there is also an existential angle, sort of the opposite of the identity construction angle. All the mannequin dolls (one with the majors face), the person looking exactly like the major in the restaurant, the dirty opaque water, the rain (water is used symbolically many times in the movie) the movement from day to night, and - yes - the bodylike functions of the city... Actually I always read the scene completely different from Nerdwriter, but always good to hear other ways of understanding such things... Great thing about things like this beautiful image poem is that opposite things can be true at the same time.
In my comic I just think that it was this existential angle (in a rather more silly and humble version) that should do the rude awakening of my hero... That came out a bit messy. But, yes, Aspect to aspect :)
Difficult for me to comment because I'm still pretty new to writing fiction, especially if character driven. But it sounds like you've found something to work on :) In many ways I think the existential angle would fit well, although I think it'll be way harder to write without any antagonists being involve in that angle (assuming it's more reflection-triggered than character)
My head was (i guess) just bubbling with thought yesterday. Like you say, the existential angle is basically to see the world from only one angle: your own, so it is kind of organically connected to fiction with one antagonist like both Phill from my comic or the major in Ghost in the Shell. Her fear of losing herself, of melting into the other(s) - which she finally does - is to me what the scene is about.
Anyways, thank for the link. I love when the internet once in a while come up with some quality analysis.
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