Post by Brometheus on May 12, 2013 4:50:45 GMT
I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that once you know how to "normally" socialize and handle the affairs of life, watching anime is superior to interacting with other people 99% of the time.
Why?
In anime, elaborate social and physical structures are a huge underlying theme - no, the foundation upon which everything is built. Take your pick. Arbitrarily I'll throw out Inuyasha because that was one of the first (and shittiest) anime I ever saw. In that show, there is an existing highly organized society in modern day Japan, which revolves around militaristic schooling and then a transition into a version corporate cronyism that pervades all non-academic elements of society. There is a clearly defined power structure and the main character is getting the ass end of it, which is why nerds begin to find it compelling as soon as they are magically whisked away into a fantasy land in which luck would have it that the main character is actually SUPER IMPORTANT rather than a useless dogshit nothing who nobody cares about.
Even so, when the main character is taken into magic fantasy land in which they are magically important, other structures exist. Strange creatures exist and have a highly ordered relationship to other strange creatures and then towards normal human. There are rules everywhere dictating everything. Everywhere there is order, brilliant order - even if it is retarded it is orderly!
As Japanese shows progress, characters tend to learn about themselves and make peace with social/cultural orders, even new and strange ones, and then take their places in them. This is in stark contrast to Western shows, in which the plot usually starts with a similarly high grade of order but revolves around the main character being the first to rebel against and destroy that order, breaking down walls and leading the way to "freedom." The "Truman Show" is one notable example of this, but the cinemas are littered with it - so much so that I stopped watching movies several years ago and thus cannot provide examples more recent than about 2005.
Ultimately, the West is an entropic and self hating environment. Its entire culture at this point in history revolves around tearing down "antiquated" notions of gender, class, etcetera - tearing down all order. Because of this every part of the United States is starting to become interchangeable, with the average street block in the Midwest being little different from the average street block in the Northeast except perhaps for scale and age of buildings. The same stores on every corner, the same retarded Occupy Wall Street rhetoric filling every university, the same idiotic dream of revolution against fictional enemies in a sad attempt to give meaning to otherwise useless lives.
This is the modern West: gaining individual importance by participating in a revolution against oppressive tyrants and their antiquated standards, and if none exists then we create one.
Imagine for a minute that the Inuyasha universe did not clearly separate demonic supernatural creatures and modern humans across a magic portal in a well. Imagine that the demons began campaigning for the right to live in human towns and cities, patronize human businesses and restaurants, receive human medical care. Imagine that modern humans campaigned for the right to travel through the well and live in ancient Japan, rubbing elbows with these demons - and also demanded that all violence between humans and demons be ceased immediately and forever.
Ask yourselves: would this result in a more interesting universe and a better plot?
FUCK NO.
That type of thinking is why modern daily existence looks a lot more like scrounging through a dump looking for flecks of useful material and making sure your stash stays safe and hidden from the other shaved monkeys with car keys.
There is no beauty, grace or meaning to it because all order is broken down. We oppose anyone who says they would prefer to separate themselves from the rest of the herd and practice a different way of life, we get together in a herd and bleat at them until somebody finally labels them a Hitler and we tear them and their earthly estates (read: stash of scrounged goods) apart like hyenas in a giant cannibalistic bloodbath, continually circlejerking and self congratulating ourselves for having become Revolutionaries for the Cause of Equality and thus individually important.
Anime and other fantasy genres become compelling because they have more order built up than real life would-be revolutionaries would ever tolerate. The existence of a benevolent power structure that effectively carries out society's necessary functions is a blessing, not a curse: by taking our place in it and doing our jobs well, we find meaning in our lives and become a useful part of a well organized and well functioning society.
If we become mad monkeys and fling poo at the power structure until it crumbles, we have nothing left to do but buy a cat for companionship and masturbate in our apartments all day.
Tell me, moderner, from where do your people derive meaning in your lives?
"What do we do for entertainment, you ask? Why, we watch anime and other fantasy movies and salivate over the splendor of the social structures we just destroyed. So nice to not have to deal with them directly, however! Well, that's not satisfying enough so we play World of Warcraft. In real life my rank might just be "scavenger" like everybody else I've ever met, but in WoW I'm a gladiator!"
> MFW
Why?
In anime, elaborate social and physical structures are a huge underlying theme - no, the foundation upon which everything is built. Take your pick. Arbitrarily I'll throw out Inuyasha because that was one of the first (and shittiest) anime I ever saw. In that show, there is an existing highly organized society in modern day Japan, which revolves around militaristic schooling and then a transition into a version corporate cronyism that pervades all non-academic elements of society. There is a clearly defined power structure and the main character is getting the ass end of it, which is why nerds begin to find it compelling as soon as they are magically whisked away into a fantasy land in which luck would have it that the main character is actually SUPER IMPORTANT rather than a useless dogshit nothing who nobody cares about.
Even so, when the main character is taken into magic fantasy land in which they are magically important, other structures exist. Strange creatures exist and have a highly ordered relationship to other strange creatures and then towards normal human. There are rules everywhere dictating everything. Everywhere there is order, brilliant order - even if it is retarded it is orderly!
As Japanese shows progress, characters tend to learn about themselves and make peace with social/cultural orders, even new and strange ones, and then take their places in them. This is in stark contrast to Western shows, in which the plot usually starts with a similarly high grade of order but revolves around the main character being the first to rebel against and destroy that order, breaking down walls and leading the way to "freedom." The "Truman Show" is one notable example of this, but the cinemas are littered with it - so much so that I stopped watching movies several years ago and thus cannot provide examples more recent than about 2005.
Ultimately, the West is an entropic and self hating environment. Its entire culture at this point in history revolves around tearing down "antiquated" notions of gender, class, etcetera - tearing down all order. Because of this every part of the United States is starting to become interchangeable, with the average street block in the Midwest being little different from the average street block in the Northeast except perhaps for scale and age of buildings. The same stores on every corner, the same retarded Occupy Wall Street rhetoric filling every university, the same idiotic dream of revolution against fictional enemies in a sad attempt to give meaning to otherwise useless lives.
This is the modern West: gaining individual importance by participating in a revolution against oppressive tyrants and their antiquated standards, and if none exists then we create one.
Imagine for a minute that the Inuyasha universe did not clearly separate demonic supernatural creatures and modern humans across a magic portal in a well. Imagine that the demons began campaigning for the right to live in human towns and cities, patronize human businesses and restaurants, receive human medical care. Imagine that modern humans campaigned for the right to travel through the well and live in ancient Japan, rubbing elbows with these demons - and also demanded that all violence between humans and demons be ceased immediately and forever.
Ask yourselves: would this result in a more interesting universe and a better plot?
FUCK NO.
That type of thinking is why modern daily existence looks a lot more like scrounging through a dump looking for flecks of useful material and making sure your stash stays safe and hidden from the other shaved monkeys with car keys.
There is no beauty, grace or meaning to it because all order is broken down. We oppose anyone who says they would prefer to separate themselves from the rest of the herd and practice a different way of life, we get together in a herd and bleat at them until somebody finally labels them a Hitler and we tear them and their earthly estates (read: stash of scrounged goods) apart like hyenas in a giant cannibalistic bloodbath, continually circlejerking and self congratulating ourselves for having become Revolutionaries for the Cause of Equality and thus individually important.
Anime and other fantasy genres become compelling because they have more order built up than real life would-be revolutionaries would ever tolerate. The existence of a benevolent power structure that effectively carries out society's necessary functions is a blessing, not a curse: by taking our place in it and doing our jobs well, we find meaning in our lives and become a useful part of a well organized and well functioning society.
If we become mad monkeys and fling poo at the power structure until it crumbles, we have nothing left to do but buy a cat for companionship and masturbate in our apartments all day.
Tell me, moderner, from where do your people derive meaning in your lives?
"What do we do for entertainment, you ask? Why, we watch anime and other fantasy movies and salivate over the splendor of the social structures we just destroyed. So nice to not have to deal with them directly, however! Well, that's not satisfying enough so we play World of Warcraft. In real life my rank might just be "scavenger" like everybody else I've ever met, but in WoW I'm a gladiator!"
> MFW
