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feel like being sappy so prepare for a long thread on art and hope and humanity and love (spoilers for bojack horseman, silent hill, dark souls, fire punch, and chainsaw man. no this isnt a bit)
been thinking about bojack horseman again. thinking about how it ended and how people wish it ended with bojacks death or that the final episode is a figment of his dying mind. i really hate these readings personally. it feels like they spit in the face of the shows themes.
cause bojack isnt a happy show, but i also dont think its a sad show. not on the whole at least. its dark and dirty and horrible sometimes but so is life. life can be brutal and gross, both internal and externally. in our minds and in the world around us.
people are complicated and no one is perfect. we mess up. sometimes with ourselves. sometimes to those we care about. sometimes theyre small mess ups. sometimes theyre horribly irreversibly bad. bojack horserman DOES NOT shy away from that. its uncomfortably real.
but i think theres a beauty in that. it shows how terrible life can be but that we can still overcome that. that we can still be better. even if takes years and years and six seasons to even take your first real step towards being better isnt it amazing that youre able to at all?
i think bojack horseman has a deep deep love for humanity. that despite how rough and broken people can be that our connections with one another is beautiful and profound and can change us for the better.
and i really value media and stories like this. stories that are dark and scary reflections of ourselves and the world around us, not to pass judgement but to show how amazing it is that we can overcome that darkness. find value in this messed up planet and in one another.
its a big reason it upsets me people think the "in water" ending of silent hill 2 is the one that fits bet. that it makes sense for james to take his own life when everything is revealed. its hard for me to find meaning in this ending.
to me silent hill is about a town that reflects the worst parts of humanity and how the best in us can survive it. 1 is about a fathers love for his daughter winning against the nightmares of a daughter who grew up without love.
3 is about a girl learning to love and accept herself inspite of the tragic circumstances that surround her very existence.
and so to me 2 isnt about a man succumbing to his darkness and accepting there is no hope for him. its about a man accepting that he can not right his wrongs but that he can still do right by those he loves.
james should never forgive himself for what hes done. but i think he can stop pitying himself. stop self-flagellating and stewing in that darkness. he can give light to lauras life. a light he chooses to carry on from his wife. its why "theme of laura" is the main theme.
dark souls shows us a dying and rotting world. a stagnant world spiraling further and further into darkness. a world made to be brutal and to kill you. but its a world we overcome together. through soapstones and jolly cooperation and even wikis.
we're meant to die in dark souls but we're more than that meant to overcome those challenges hand in hand. you may get invaded by some but i think the community behind the souls games is incredible. the game is unforgiving but we dont have to be.
i love the "end of fire" ending of 3. the world is plunged into darkness but we can claim that darkness together, lit by the combined light of our small flickering embers. we dont need gods we just need each other.
meanwhile fujimotos fire punch and chainsaw man both show how amazing it is that we're able to find meaning, purpose, and togetherness in a world that provides us with so little. that tragedy will happen to all of us but that we always need to find a reason to keep going.
denji is one of my favorite recent protagonists for this reason. his life was complete garbage so his reasons for living range from humble to stupid. decent food. a warm bath. a girlfriend. boobs. hes willing to fight for basic human rights and teenage fantasies.
but isnt that good enough? isnt any reason to live a good reason? and along the way the people around us will become important and friends will be made and they become a reason to keep going too. denji, aki, and power start out butting heads but end up a family.
this has been long and rambley but whatever. just want to close with the final exchange from bojack. an exchange that sums up how i feel about these stories and how i love humanity despite how bad it can get:
"Well what are you going to do? Life's a bitch and then you die, right?"
"Sometimes. Sometimes life's a bitch and then you keep living."
"Yeah."
"But it's a nice night right?"
"Yeah. This is nice."
Love you all. Have a nice night.
"Sometimes. Sometimes life's a bitch and then you keep living."
"Yeah."
"But it's a nice night right?"
"Yeah. This is nice."
Love you all. Have a nice night.
