This is one of the best articles I’ve read. I know little about anime because (a) I’m an oldhead, having been 24 in 2005 and (b) I like women, but the way you tied in the story of Tamers with the phenomenon of deconstruction was brilliant. Amazing what one can do with these tropes when you’re actually a good writer like Mr. Konaka. He truly seems like one of our guys.
Thank you, that's very high praise! I consider being able to write about niche topics and still having broad appeal to people outside of the narrow audience for it to be an accomplishment. But, uh... what are you implying with your second point, there? :P
Haha, I know, I was just giving you grief. One of these days I'd like to do an examination on how the status of being a "super fan" has, in many ways, become fashionable. It's quite a bizarre reversal.
I remember Lain, vaguely - my own brain was getting eaten by the Internet at the time. Weren't there Knights Templar in night vision goggles or some shit?
"Before Ryan Gosling became literally me in Drive and Blade Runner 2049"
Any chance you could do a piece on Blade Runner 2049? That one hit at precisely the right time for me. It seemed like a perfect snapshot of my inner life in 2017.
I feel the same way about Blade Runer 2049 because, as you said, it was one of those "right time, right places" to make a huge impact when I saw it. And, of course, Ryan Gosling is literally me.
But he's an interesting character that I've wanted to do a bit of a deep-dive into as a person and a creative. His first (and as of now, only, I believe) movie as director is a real fascinating piece of media and, while I wouldn't say that I would recommend it or that I even like it all that much, it reveals a shocking amount of Gosling's own personal convictions that stand at very stark odds against his public image. He seems to be a very... strange individual that you wouldn't think would be relatable as a fabulously wealthy actor and one of the most widely desired men in Hollywood, but when you read between the lines and see the art that he makes... you'd be surprised what you find.
I haven't, no, but whenever I get around to this hypothetical Ryan Gosling deep-dive spectacular, I'll check it out. Not saying I want to watch every movie he's ever been in, but a brief look at the synopsis shows that it certainly is... interesting.
Stuck Culture is one of the stranger, more confusing facets of modern pop culture. On the one hand, the how and why of it are clear - the ossifying grip of the Cathedral demands ever more-perfect agreement from all media even as the rate of doctrinal evolution increases; the society it has created is spiritually incapable of making new, beautiful things. On the other hand, it's such a viscerally frustrating and absurd phenomenon to witness, and it's obnoxiously difficult to explain the the unaware. Yes, Boomer, Indiana Jones and Batman being in theatres at the same time yet again does mean something more than "audiences lazy"!
Also, damn, the man who wrote Big O, Hellsing (though I must say I like Hellsing Ultimate more), and Serial Experiments Lain did a season of Digimon? I may just have to check that out
Honestly, Mark Fisher's writings are some of the most insightful on the subject of stuck culture that I've found - his works were the primers that helped me understand and be able to articulate my own thoughts on the subject. It's one of those things where it's, like, people don't even know what they don't know about it, and they need a whole textbook worth of primer on the subject just to catch them up to speed, or even give them the language to be able to SAY they have a problem. It's like the vocabulary or concepts that succinctly describe the whole phenomenon... if people don't know how to describe what the issue is, how will they be able to sufficiently figure it out?
Unfortunately, Mark Fisher was so left-leaning that - and I may be misremembering this - he was an avowed communist, but, at the same time, he was a smart guy and was able to accurately sum up the issues of culture in a hyper-consumerist society, regardless of what his politics work. Sadly, if you want to see where his conclusions led him... well, just go look at his wikipedia article. It's pretty grim.
That being said, I'd actually recommend it, if you have the time. It's only one season, maybe fifty something episodes if I remember correctly. I re-watched it a few years back with an ex of mine and I can say that it holds up. I've only ever watched the dub and... yeah, it has its silly moments, and I've heard the original Japanese script is more serious, but even the English dub, which sanitized a lot for a younger audience, is still solid overall. Though, if you like Hellsing, and you haven't seen it already, I might recommend Drifters more. It's a manga by the same mangaka who did Hellsing and it's pretty entertaining. Not some great statement on the human condition, but the same schlocky, action-packed, ludicrous fun of Hellsing in a different setting, especially if you want to see samurai fight an evil Joan of Arc. Crazy shit.
This is one of the best articles I’ve read. I know little about anime because (a) I’m an oldhead, having been 24 in 2005 and (b) I like women, but the way you tied in the story of Tamers with the phenomenon of deconstruction was brilliant. Amazing what one can do with these tropes when you’re actually a good writer like Mr. Konaka. He truly seems like one of our guys.
Thank you, that's very high praise! I consider being able to write about niche topics and still having broad appeal to people outside of the narrow audience for it to be an accomplishment. But, uh... what are you implying with your second point, there? :P
With the second point I was referring to those Japanese super-fans you wrote about.
Haha, I know, I was just giving you grief. One of these days I'd like to do an examination on how the status of being a "super fan" has, in many ways, become fashionable. It's quite a bizarre reversal.
Remember when admitting to liking, say, anime or D&D, or even comic books and video games would get you made fun of at school? I sure do.
Loved this. Was just talking about Digimon the other day and tried to explain how wild and dark it was compared to Pokemon.
I remember Lain, vaguely - my own brain was getting eaten by the Internet at the time. Weren't there Knights Templar in night vision goggles or some shit?
"Before Ryan Gosling became literally me in Drive and Blade Runner 2049"
Any chance you could do a piece on Blade Runner 2049? That one hit at precisely the right time for me. It seemed like a perfect snapshot of my inner life in 2017.
I feel the same way about Blade Runer 2049 because, as you said, it was one of those "right time, right places" to make a huge impact when I saw it. And, of course, Ryan Gosling is literally me.
But he's an interesting character that I've wanted to do a bit of a deep-dive into as a person and a creative. His first (and as of now, only, I believe) movie as director is a real fascinating piece of media and, while I wouldn't say that I would recommend it or that I even like it all that much, it reveals a shocking amount of Gosling's own personal convictions that stand at very stark odds against his public image. He seems to be a very... strange individual that you wouldn't think would be relatable as a fabulously wealthy actor and one of the most widely desired men in Hollywood, but when you read between the lines and see the art that he makes... you'd be surprised what you find.
Ever seen The United States of Leland?
Very surprising choice for a young Gosling to make. Reminds me of Joseph Gordon Levitt starring in Mysterious Skin.
I haven't, no, but whenever I get around to this hypothetical Ryan Gosling deep-dive spectacular, I'll check it out. Not saying I want to watch every movie he's ever been in, but a brief look at the synopsis shows that it certainly is... interesting.
Stuck Culture is one of the stranger, more confusing facets of modern pop culture. On the one hand, the how and why of it are clear - the ossifying grip of the Cathedral demands ever more-perfect agreement from all media even as the rate of doctrinal evolution increases; the society it has created is spiritually incapable of making new, beautiful things. On the other hand, it's such a viscerally frustrating and absurd phenomenon to witness, and it's obnoxiously difficult to explain the the unaware. Yes, Boomer, Indiana Jones and Batman being in theatres at the same time yet again does mean something more than "audiences lazy"!
Also, damn, the man who wrote Big O, Hellsing (though I must say I like Hellsing Ultimate more), and Serial Experiments Lain did a season of Digimon? I may just have to check that out
Honestly, Mark Fisher's writings are some of the most insightful on the subject of stuck culture that I've found - his works were the primers that helped me understand and be able to articulate my own thoughts on the subject. It's one of those things where it's, like, people don't even know what they don't know about it, and they need a whole textbook worth of primer on the subject just to catch them up to speed, or even give them the language to be able to SAY they have a problem. It's like the vocabulary or concepts that succinctly describe the whole phenomenon... if people don't know how to describe what the issue is, how will they be able to sufficiently figure it out?
Unfortunately, Mark Fisher was so left-leaning that - and I may be misremembering this - he was an avowed communist, but, at the same time, he was a smart guy and was able to accurately sum up the issues of culture in a hyper-consumerist society, regardless of what his politics work. Sadly, if you want to see where his conclusions led him... well, just go look at his wikipedia article. It's pretty grim.
That being said, I'd actually recommend it, if you have the time. It's only one season, maybe fifty something episodes if I remember correctly. I re-watched it a few years back with an ex of mine and I can say that it holds up. I've only ever watched the dub and... yeah, it has its silly moments, and I've heard the original Japanese script is more serious, but even the English dub, which sanitized a lot for a younger audience, is still solid overall. Though, if you like Hellsing, and you haven't seen it already, I might recommend Drifters more. It's a manga by the same mangaka who did Hellsing and it's pretty entertaining. Not some great statement on the human condition, but the same schlocky, action-packed, ludicrous fun of Hellsing in a different setting, especially if you want to see samurai fight an evil Joan of Arc. Crazy shit.