Modern Art in fiction
Moving on Rails
And the romance definition wars continue, as many tasteless casuals are still unable to comprehend simple concepts. Such as this one here who insists no word has only one meaning and that the way I describe romance is not correct. That doesn’t make it wrong you idiot, that only means I am using one of the different definitions that are using the same word. Unless for some retarded reason my topic on the subject of romance made you think it was about Greek legends or medieval tales of knights and kings.
A similar thing most say about my critique of a show is that anime is an art form, and art cannot be evaluated because it doesn’t have a specific definition or style. What appeals to one, does not appeal to another, so there is no way to offer a more objective look on it. That means the random doodles a baby draws are equally good as Leonado Da Vicci’s paintings.
We are going back to the, oh, so lovely concept of relativism, where nothing has a limited definition, anything can be about everything, and something can be black and white at the same time. And what is the obvious problem this sort of thinking has? There is no conviction. You can’t make a point because nothing has only one meaning. Do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth? They can mean anything you like.
The reason so many believe in this ludicrous idea is because if you narrow down the definition of something, you are generalizing anything you will say about it, to include all other definitions and all people in general. And as we all know, most people are unique individuals who are not following the public opinion, so it’s a mistake to put them all in the same group.
Going back to my topic, many didn’t even like my dopamine analogy, saying that it is a chemical that does everything. Just like definitions, it is not something limited to one thing, therefore my analogy was also wrong. Never mind how it was there to put it into context so you won’t think I am talking about Greek legends, or that I specifically mentioned there are more functions of it but I limit the topic to one thing.
Listen here you mindless drones of relativism. When you are thinking about something, you need to have a train of thought if you even want to reach somewhere. It’s a deduction procedure and if you don’t move on rails that move, with some sort of logic, from point A to point B, you are wasting your time and my patience. This does not make you narrow minded, it makes you focused.
For the same reason, I am not repeating myself all the time in my videos, nor do I contradict myself, if my train of thought is different and leads to different conclusions. It’s because the topic and the parameters I use are also different. Revisiting the same topic can also be about different things depending on the angle I approach it from. It doesn’t make it wrong as long as it stays in that specific angle.
This means that whatever I said about what is romance, why most anime are not about romance, and why most who like these not-really-romance-anime, stands true for everything and everyone who fulfill the criteria of what I am talking about. It doesn’t include the entire universe.
It wasn’t about Greek legends, it wasn’t about the one and only function of dopamine, and it wasn’t about $@#%#$^$%&^&(^%^&. So all you people who don’t have a word to group you with, can put your generalizations in that place you can’t define, and then jump off a place you can’t explain.
Sensational versus Inspirational Art
Being a mixture of music, drawing, and animation, anime is a form of art. But when it comes to the term art, what exactly is it, and what is its purpose? If you are one of those idiotic relativists we are so full of today, you will just say everything can be called art. And since everything is something, then there is no definition for it. This topic is not heading that way.
In a very strict definition, anything that is created by sentient beings, can be considered art, because it involves activities requiring imaginative or technical skill. The purpose of creation, is the fulfillment of some sort of need.
Human needs come in various forms, ranging from material things like food and water, to immaterial things, such as happiness and confidence. Audiovisual arts belong in the latter category, part of which is anime.
When it comes to the high arts, two of the largest psychological effects they have on their audience, is inflicting them with emotions, and inspiring them to do certain things. Inflicting emotions has to do with empathy, where a creation manages to make the audience feel in a certain way. Inspiration builds on that to also motivate said people to take certain actions based on how they feel. When you have both, art becomes a very powerful thing that affects the lives of people.
If you don’t have both, then art is not working at its fullest. If a piece of art tries to be inspirational without being sensational, then it fails to be either. If it tries to be sensational and inspirational without a sense of morality, it becomes sleazy propaganda. If it is sensational but not inspirational, then it simply exists to make you happy or sad just for the heck of it. It’s when people treat art as nothing but entertainment, existing solely to make them feel stuff. Without knowing what to do with said feels, they become depressed.
Something that is easily noticeable about modern art, is that it tries to be far more sensational than inspirational. By constantly simplifying itself, it tries to inflict as many emotions as possible with the least amount of effort, often neglecting technical perfectionism. A big part of inspiration has to do with making you feel like you need to reach the creator’s proficiency, something which is not that noticeable today when most of everything is stylized, cheap to make, and easy to replicate.
The audience today doesn’t seek technical proficiency as it seeks cheap thrills, resulting to the most popular anime YTbers being everything that makes anime fans look bad. The majority has being brainwashed into considering lazy, grotesque, and shallow, as just another form of art, which has lost any meaning because everything is relevant. As a result, everybody who wants to be popular is trying to be like these guys. Not like me. Which I actually like since that makes me special, BUT STILL…
By being addicted to sensationalism, you bring your standards to such lows that become emotions for the sake of emotions, with no vision, no inspiration for something better. Anime are not just DEM FEELZ and effortless chapter reviews. Get over your fucking PADS and be creative godammit.
Separating the Artist from the Art
Many people believe you should always separate the artist from the art if you want to properly experience any work of fiction. If you don’t do that, your preconceptions of the artist will get in the way and blind your judgment. For example, when you watch Neon Genesis, you should be able to get its message without knowing about the psychological issues Hideaki Anno was going through during its production. Art should be able to speak to you, without the name of the artist slapped on it.
On the other hand, art is not made on its own. People made it, based on their vision of how they wanted something to be like. Without that something, there is no context for why it was made in the first place. Knowing the time and place of when something was created helps us to understand why it was made the way it did. To put it in a different way, everything is a product of its time and trying to see it outside the era it was made in, blinds us from understand the cultural impact it had, or the circumstances under which it was created.
Some say that this is not a bad thing. Being completely unaware of who, when, and where, allows you to evaluate art based solely on your personal criteria. Without context, you are forced to reach to your own conclusions, which can be completely different from the intentions of the artist. This is known as the death of the author effect. With this mindset, nothing has a global meaning, it can be different for every individual.
This in effect makes art an abstract concept. It doesn’t mean something specific on its own; you are the one who adds meaning and content to it. It is not trying to tell you a message but rather to motivate you into finding a message. It’s all up to personal interpretation. Also known as relativism.
I find this way of thinking to be a very autistic concept. Despite being social creatures, personal experiences cannot be shared with others this way. Your knowledge, wisdom, and emotions mean something completely different for everyone else. Your creations are expressions of your psyche, but nobody is trying to understand your point of view because they are busy finding messages based on their own point of view. So why bother sharing anything in the first place?
This is why our world is described as post modern. Everything is meta, it begins in a vague way, and through arbitrary thinking it gets as many explanations as there sentient people on Earth. Nothing is considered educational as much as an excuse for self-indulgence. This is the essence of pretentious over-thinking. You pretend to know what you are talking about, when in reality your train of thought starts from and ends in completely random locations.
Art for Art’s Sake
Relativism strikes again as the voice actor of Samurai Jack defends the terrible finale by essentially saying bullshit like, art was made for the sake of art, the original creator got the ending he always wanted, and thus there is no reason for anyone to complain. Here are the wonderful conclusions one can make out of this statement.
If art is made for art’s sake then the voice actor is a fucking relativist, thus whatever he says has no value because everything to him is relevant.
If the original creator got the ending he always wanted, means he was never a good writer, since time resets are the ultimate fuck you.
If you can’t judge something, unless you were part of its creation, then what’s the point of sharing said creation with others? The studio could have kept it to itself and be proud about it, since only what they feels matters. Why share it with others when you don’t care about what they have to say about it?
Samurai Jack was not made for free distribution and will not go away without trying to make some profit. The consumers are entitled to judge a product many are going to pay money for.
Did any of these guys expect a show that was being overhyped for a dozen years by thousands of people to not cause some sort of reaction? The anticipation alone raised the bar a million times higher than it would have with any other show that had no fanbase or history behind it. How is it possible to not have a backlash when you state bullshit claims like the show is not made for the fans and they have no right to judge it, although it was part of their favorites for a dozen years? What kind of an asshole would demand such a thing from its own fanbase?
And thus plebs and plebettes, I proved to you how not only Samurai Jack was never a good series, but now even the people who made it were never good either. Got the ending he wanted all along. I told you it would be a reset and you didn’t listen. Tasteless casuals.