Fruck
Lacks all conviction
Fruck is just this guy, you know?
User ID: 889
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
16hr ago
My perspective on the Irish part of it is that it is part of this movie's attempt to subvert the typical blacksploitation narrative. The villains are white, but vampirism eliminates the racial divide. The Irish are pop culture's whitest victims, so making the vampires Irish redeems their whiteness. Vampirism is not exclusively evil in the film - Stack and Mary are happy at the end.
But it's Irish through a black American lens - no division of North and South - every Irish person is a rebel obsessed with Dublin, always. An ancient vampire could be so old he pre-dates Christianity but also he gets kicked around by the English no matter what - because he's Irish. What @Tanista said about Americans larping as Irish on Saint Patrick's day is on point - that's the version of Irish in the film.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
I don't understand how you can call immersion pre-critical, pre-reflective, or pre-self-consciousness then (I would drop immaturity from the conversation entirely if you want to avoid getting people's hackles up). While it can be that, you personally have to willingly suspend your disbelief to cry during a VN (which VN btw?) - your immersion isn't pre-critical, you deliberately gave that up to engage with the story.
And you are right that the connection between art and emotion isn't clear. But it is definitely strong. And of course Adorno is right about kitsch (imo), but I was looking at it from the other direction - an artist shouldn't try to manipulate the viewer, what they should do is try to express themselves, express their vision. Because if they can get their vision out, the person who connects with it - who can't not connect with it - will be moved to tears. It feels like you are trying to intellectualise that away by referring to 'emotions', but that would just be diminishing yourself.
That's why we hold up auteurs, even as movies rack up thousands of staff members - we respect the auteur because it's his vision, and he has demonstrated the ability to connect with us emotionally. Sometimes that's not because of the auteur, but he or she is usually our best guide. Sure Marvel can put out a dozen capeshit flicks and manipulate the audience with clinical precision - I would call that kitsch. But someone with an actual vision, who puts it on the page or film or score sheet, they might use camera techniques or bass heavy music to manipulate the audience, but it isn't kitsch when it's done in the service of connecting the audience to the inside of the auteur's head. The challenge in my view, is finding auteurs and other authentic artists. Sure we are all trapped in the same post-modern hellscape constantly trying to push us towards slop - even the auteurs are, blurring the lines - but true vision can still cut through.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
Immersing yourself in the media is not switching your brain off though. I would like to think my post history proves that critical analysis of media is one of my primary passions, I am not trying to shit on it - by prioritise I didn't mean to imply they were exclusive.
What I took @wingdingspringking to mean by truly enjoy media, particularly with their comments about struggling with it as they age, is immerse yourself so fully that you forget you exist outside of the media. That is a transcendent experience when it happens, and maybe this is just wingding and me (or maybe just me?) but once you have done it, critical analysis just doesn't compare.
Usually when I find media like that I obsess over it, and then I analyse it endlessly.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
Yeah I strongly disagree that critical analysis is more fun. It is a different type of fun, almost too different to compare, but definitely not more fun than immersing yourself in the media you are consuming. I think, based on your first paragraph in particular, that you have not sufficiently suspended your disbelief. Maybe suspension of disbelief isn't for you? But also maybe you have been poisoned by the media analysis framework. And it is a poison, because embracing suspension of disbelief is not pre-critical or pre-reflective by necessity, that's just critical analysis promotion, the willing, deliberate and conscious suspension of disbelief is a sacrifice the viewer makes to fully engage with the story's world and emotions. It is prioritising emotional connection over intellectual dissection and emotional connection is the heart of good art.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
I think what will really swing things is if white people can find plausible alternative justifications for it. If they can convince themselves they aren't being racist they'll go for it. So I anticipate a lot more think pieces about dog whistles in the future.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
Yeah the movie was a bit of a mixed bag, but that scene was incredible. Spoilers for the movie from here on out.
One of the reasons it was so compelling in my view is the way it subverted my expectations - up until then it had been following a pretty typical 'blacks defiant against cruel whites' blacksploitation narrative, an 'a celebration of black music and culture' narrative, with the only non-black song being the world's creepiest bluegrass rendition of a black song (that was another good scene though). Then they sing the Rocky Road to Dublin. And it starts off sounding a bit freaky like Pick Poor Robin Clean, with the main vampire calling out:
'Then off to reap the corn,
to leave where I was born,
I cut a stout blackthorn,
for to banish ghosts and goblins'
like a funeral dirge - slow and sombre, echoing hauntingly, drawing out words to throw the listener off balance. The tension builds with every second, and you wonder what heinous evil shit these kkk vampires are about to get into... And then the fiddle starts up. And maybe it's my Irish blood, but I found it impossible to not start tapping along with it, it's such a catchy tune. And not only are all of the turned people getting into it, they are enthusiastically getting into it, even Stack and Mary are joyfully singing and dancing along. It changes the entire dynamic of the film - gone is the manichean blacks vs whites narrative that the first act sets up, now things are more complicated. The vampires actually offer a form of salvation - by embracing the NRx philosophy, submitting to a philosopher king, Stack and Mary and co have gained both community and freedom.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
3d ago
I kind of see activists in a posiwid sense - yeah nothing is ever good enough for them, their job depends on it. What I find truly frustrating is that even after a decade of this, many people still somehow think progressive lip service is fine or even morally just - they will even joke about how useless activists are in one breath before condemning conservatives for racistly not want to throw money away on performative bullshit in the next.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
3d ago
I would absolutely do community service at the bridge - it seems like doing community service at the bridge is my lot in life anyway.
Edit: also I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, great job.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
3d ago
This is my biggest problem with rlhf aside from my free speech bullshit - due to the way llms work, rlhf means hallucination is impossible to solve - it is baked in.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
I'm being hyperbolic of course, because I was making a joke - it's a minor thing, but it actually physically hurts when you go from darkness to bright light. Like after taking off sunglasses or getting high beamed on the highway.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
I remember there are themes every time I get logged out and my retinas are seared. Dark mode has spoiled the shit out of me.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
I can't find the interview now I'm afraid, I think it was an extra on one of the season box sets, but this was part of the reason Vincent D'onofrio lost interest in Law and Order Criminal Intent. He tried to get Balcer and Wolf to incorporate more stories where the cops or attorneys fucked up or where it just didn't matter, justice was thwarted before they even began, but Wolf was strongly opposed. Fuck I will try and find the interview, it was fascinating. If you make an effort post on this topic please let me know.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
I thought it was bad in Brisbane, but then I went to Sydney. Everyone down there has a partner, everyone has a child - it felt like I was talking to aliens.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
I like to use neoliberal to refer to things about the establishment domestic policy I don't like, and the more I dislike them the more neoliberal they are. For the establishment foreign policy I use neoconservative.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
10d ago
Sorry, when I said triggered by pot I meant it made them (according to them) overly paranoid or dip into psychosis and they hated it. Isn't that what you meant when you said:
but the latter? If you have some kind of genetic predisposition, such as to schizophrenia, that will fuck you up
?
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
10d ago
Like you say though, the dose makes the poison, and there's always a risk. I had a bit of a similar experience with pot to your experience with mushrooms. For a long time I followed the advice of the doctors - I'd always refuse it when offered because of its well recognised effects on people like me. But about a decade ago my depression felt overwhelming and that was around the time psychedelics were showing promising results (ecstacy was also being trialled at the time in Australia, I wonder why it didn't take off like psilocybin?) so I wanted to try mushrooms or LSD, but I didn't know anyone who had access and couldn't get into a trial due to my condition. So in a desperate move to just feel something different, I tried pot.
It has basically fixed me. Ok it was probably the CBD and that's hyperbole, I still have the paranoia and the over inclusive reasoning and holistic bias, but I regret not trying it sooner with all my heart. I have stability, a community I love and who has my back, and I no longer need anti-anxiety, anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication. But I was never taking massive doses - even when I wanted to get high I'm too paranoid to tolerate the cognitive impact.
Also I don't blame the doctors or anything - they were doing the best they could with the information available to them, and people are unique. But like prima said, it's under-researched. In fact to counter balance what I just said, my brother (who is mentally healthy) also avoided pot for the same reason, but accidentally ate an edible while visiting our uncle and came close to disassociating completely and reckons it took him half a year to get over it. And I've met plenty of schizophrenics who were triggered by pot. It's not a gamble I'd suggest others take.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
11d ago
Did you ever play Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter? That had a really cool meta progression system tied to it, but the gameplay didn't really get fun until you got dragon powers - like 15 hours in. I wish more games did stuff like that though, Dead Rising lost so much charm when it dropped the time limit (although I still enjoyed the fourth game in a mindless way.)
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
11d ago
Watership Down is a fantastic book. It does such a fantastic job of anthropomorphising the characters while still keeping them grounded in the reality of life as a rabbit. The British animated film is a pretty good adaptation too, although the death rabbit scared the everliving shit out of me as a kid. Plus it gave us Art Garfunkel's only excellent solo work - Bright Eyes.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
11d ago
I can see how you interpreted what I wrote as being about the level of testosterone, but that was not what I meant. I was talking about the sensation being overwhelming - if it makes you feel like Grug the caveman you'll inevitably end up somewhere other than here imo, no matter why it's overwhelming. It is just a guess, but I will stand by it.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
12d ago
Could you explain what you mean by compatibilism? Or link me to it if you've already done so? I know what compatibilism is and I can see it's merits, but I'd like to know how you view it personally.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
12d ago
Yeah I was going to say, a lot of men don't get this these days either, it just manifests differently. I didn't for a long time. Society really wants people to be narcissists.
I would back up this perspective (I didn't know Coogler said that though, that's cool) and while I found it disjointed and highly variable in quality, I would also recommend it. I think it shies away from easy narratives - there aren't supposed to be clear good guys and bad guys, which is why the protagonist - Smoke/Stack is on both sides. It's over-indulgent and maybe a bit amateurish, but I prefer that to hyper polished formula any day.
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