The part about the inherent limitations of dialectis was really clever for me. Epiphanic. We allways hear about "the whole being bigger that the sum of the parts" but I've never heard before that the parts are smaler than their sum. When we admit that dialectis are more complex, we usually do it through the expansion of the summation, and not the diminishing of the subtraction.
the true problem arising from dialectics is that it supposes distinctions (or parts) in the whole, while any and all reactions to the whole or its parts is an inner manifestation of the whole itself with no consequence to anything outside the whole thus having no inherent meaning. An object IS only as related to being, if an object is all there is then being is not of any meaning. thus there is no object. This shows that even if A and B are true on their own. Together they negate each others foundation. at this point i have lost the comprehensive in its incomprehensiveness, yet the rattling of a malignant idea inside of a mason jar is entertaining still.
He keeps doing that. Almost every episode he creates a new existential crisis, that more often than not, has a wide reach across an array of demographics. They're nuanced too, so now not only you're intrigued and wanna analyze everything, you start to 'self' analyze. The unpacking can be unpleasant. Good thing he uses his power for good. As a DBT therapist he would be my 'get' if I could get him to certify as a dialectical behavioral therapist.
Somehow, every time I see a new CJ the X video appear, I simultaneously expect the conversation to be more shallow than it ends up being, and dread hitting play for three days knowing it in fact will challenge me more than I'm ready for
@@MaryweatherWA I would say it’s one of those movies that you don’t rewatch very often. I don’t even watch it annually, more like once every two-three years, but it always delivers a consistent experience and is great for what it is (because no one really hypes it up and it’s definitely majorly overlooked overall). I won’t put it on the same level as more famous and generally beloved movies (Lion King, Spider man into the spider verse, etc), because I watched all those together less times than I did Emperor new groove. The reason behind that is because I know damn well that they won’t hold up to the hype I created in my head (thanks to everyone yelling how great those are), I’ll start nitpicking, and the experience, as well as the movie itself, will be ruined. So I’m a coward that prefers a consistent “better than average” experience to “worse than great”
it's the same reason the best pirates of the carribean films are the first 3 where Will Turner is still the protagonist, the slow shift to Jack Sparrow as a protagonist actively lessens his role as the unreliable mentor and quirky comic relief
Kronk's value partially lies in his scarcity. He's just not a main character. He's perfect in small quantities. What would his arc be? he's already both enlightened and completely vacant
@Joli i think fantasizing about their deaths is like, thinking how it would go, what would be the death cause and how would their funeral be, etc. Is like when u ask ppl if they would cry if you die, yk?
I feel like its less 'why do you *really* make art?' and more 'why do you feel the need for people to see that art?'. I think I would have always written songs, poems and just created art no matter what but my 'secret contract' makes me want other people to see that I'm doing it. fuckin banging video CJ
yes exactly this! i certainly dont make art with the goal to show it to people. but i show my art to people because of the 'secret contract'. if i didnt care what people thought of me/it i wouldnt put in the effort to upload it anywhere
EXACTLY!! i actually stopped making stuff when i started posting it online. the shallow attention i received affected the joy i felt making it, but i felt like i had to post it in order for it to be worth my time and energy. and through that vein, i started making things that i felt other people would enjoy, and it was so much less intuitive and more like parroting the other things i was seeing online. holy shit haha
@@darling3259 This is the trap that I have seen art fall into time and time again. Whether it's a youtuber, an artist, or even a company producing a product. We start out with the childlike genuine love of the craft. Then we moved to a stage of adult responsibilities where we have to justify our time based on resources in order to survive. So instead of producing for the love of it we produce for the monetization of it and we push ourselves into blandness and inconsequentiality. We become lost in the masses because we become one of the mass and we no longer stand out. We lose our identity and we no longer care and we crush ourselves under the burden we created.
for me, my motivation for wanting to share things is the way you get to vicariously re-experience the things you like most about the things you share through the shared appreciation from the audience (even if it's implicit i.e. not overtly expressed to you but you know it exists), and there's a sense of connection there as an added bonus
@Envy_May I feel this way too, but I think it's important for me to remember not to.... sort of taint the way I make things in order to please others. For example me and my friends, for the most part, joke around, Id like to make more serious stuff but I know my freinds will be more likely to appreciate it if it's all jokes. Sometimes this factor distracts me from what I wanted to make in the first place. I like the funny stuff too but yknow
I might have been miraculously saved from the main character syndrome at a young age. In the series Eragon, Christopher Paolini utilised a side character who had incredible skill and knowledge, without any elaboration and appeared very rarely. I remember, as a kid, being completely avestruck with them (sadly the name escapes my mind after all these years) and wanting to know more, see more of the character. i wanted a whole-ass book, as any kid would. Instead, at the end of one of the books, was a letter from the author, explaining how if he caved in to the readers demands the caracter would loose their charm and purpose in the story. It stuck with me. A moment of humility in service of art, or just of competently restrained artistry. It made me grow up wanting to be that person who uplifts the lived stories of others instead of thinking i own the stage of teatrum mundi.
Sorry to add a bad artistic memory related to Christopher Paolini, but I am still angry at him agreeing to use a book cover made with ai generated material for one of his most recent books. I barely can draw stick figures, but I am a reader who loves gorgeous book covers that invites readers to discover the story. I have a poor memory for most things and barely remember the plot of the first Eragon book even though I know I enjoyed reading all four books when they were still releasing. I still vividly remember loving how the book cover artist drew Saphira for that first book, and am just put off on the disrespect to other artistic disciplines that generative ai appears to uncover for some people Sorry for the rant and feel free to ignore!
Welcome to the ride! It's amazing, I love it and I hope you enjoy it too. I recommend to check out their other stuff, it's amazing too (in my opinion, obviously)! Have a good day :)
I just wanted a funny Kronk video, now I'm in a deep introspective state over whether I'm allowing insecurities to dominate what I create. This video has honestly been so helpful in realising that inner reason for why I create and to be able to then keep it at bay rather than ignore it entirely to hopefully better serve the creation process. Also this channel is absolutely the best channel.
This’ll probably get buried, but I just wanted to give you a sincere thank you. I stumbled across your channel and was so enthralled I couldn’t help but watch basically every video you’ve put out. You really inspired me to sit down and reconnect with myself, which wasn’t a positive experience, but it’s one I desperately needed to have. I’ve felt so aimless for so long in my creative endeavors because I was scared to just talk to myself and work out what was wrong and what I could do to fix it. I’m usually always listening to something, be it music or video essays or podcasts. I tell myself it’s cause I have severe tinnitus(which I do) and just hate the constant noise(which I do), but I also realized I just don’t wanna be alone with my own thoughts for too long. They’re chaotic and frantic and cruel and exhausting. Despite that, I challenged myself, sat in silence, and wrote shit down on paper with a pen like some sort of caveman. It was a really genuine experience, and I feel like I haven’t had a genuine experience with myself in a very long time. Obviously just doing it once won’t be enough, but it’s a start. So thank you for shouting at me through my phone screen until I felt inspired to just talk to myself for once.
"If I'm a side character, if that is what I'm destined to be, if that's where I'm best utilised, if the art is at its most optimal when I am in a supportive role, then I will be the best supporting role that I can be" - beautifully concluded
I am aggressively a side character. My sole desire in life is to be a creepy old witch questgiver so that I can watch the young scrappy heroes die and have existential crisis over something I could've done myself.
I also feel like this, I like to be the person people go after when they need to talk, and I'll be waiting with some food, drinks and advice... but some times I relapse into seeking validation and I circle around to return to the point of "I'm doing it for myself and profit" usually when I'm at this point is where people see me as the grandma friend because I'm just content to be a support character.
Kronk's New Groove may not be conventionally "good," but it has that one "Don't cry for me, Marge and Tina" pun. So I'm gonna have to give it an objective 10/10 score
I had to literally rewind the film because I was mouth aGAPE at that glorious pun that I needed to hear it again to confirm that it happened. Cringe culture is dead, this movie is a solid 10/10 for me.
Idk the swimming scene where the doll gets wet and the female camp leader gets *Serious Voice* angry was + is still hilarious to me, like kronk's immediate himbo reaction of "I mean it IS swim class......" - completely failing to read the room.... peak humour 👌🏻😅
Once I realized I’m utilized better and thrive better on being a supporting role in my field has actually been one of the best things to happen to me. In all my other jobs I was very good at being a leader and quickly (under a year) I was asked to accept higher and higher positions. I thought I was doing what I was meant to do because I had such quality work that was getting recognized so quickly. But my mental and physical health suffered immensely. A lot of people at my job now tell me all the time I should move up, I’m so smart, I’d be so good at it, and it’s all true, but I lose myself in that pursuit every time. I’m much happier and healthier being a supporting role and contributing to the over all success of my team. I have a home life balance, I produce quality work, and I’m recognized for it. Why would I pursue leadership when it turns my core rotten? My mom always raised me to be the best and get the highest role at any place I worked for, and I had this demented thought that if I didn’t achieve those roles and get the money that comes with it, that I’d be a failure. But I’m a failure when all I do is create. I need rest a lot more than the average person and I can’t tolerate the demand that comes from that. And that’s okay. It’s okay to get paid less. It’s okay to not have the highest title. It’s okay to just be the absolute best at the position that works best for how I function as a human being. I’m not settling, I’m thriving. It makes me sad my family doesn’t accept that or think anything good about it. I’m finally at my happiest and that’s my own goal, I don’t care if it disappoints others anymore.
I swear, I swear on my own pathetic life: Kronk's New Groove was my childhood movie. That one movie kids watch over and over again? Mine was Kronk's New Groove. NEVER in my 18 years of existence have I EVER seen anyone else refer to this film, and it has shaken me to my core. Thank you.
i LOVED this movie. everytime i mention it, people think i’m talking about Emperors new grove but i’m NOT. the raisin bread scene is the most perfect scene and the betrayal during the cheer off at the end is amazing and perfect
Yesssss, I loved it so much. Probably wouldn't have as much if I had seen Emperor's New Groove first. But I didn't. I saw it way later and it was less fun that way. Whichever you watch first is the better movie
thought i was going to get a standard video ripping apart a terrible sequel. instead got an essay getting me to reassess my motivations for making art and reframing my view of dialectics in a way i never anticipated. absolutely incredible. instant subscribe.
I actually loved Kronk's new groove. It was one of my favourite movies growing up because I wanted to see Kronk happy as well after unconsciously working for the bad guy.
The fact that asking “why do you make things” followed by “why do you really make things” is so universally understood in terms of what the answers should be like just proves this videos point so perfectly.
I liked Kronk because I was like 7 and he feels bisexual. This is the ultimate commentary and all naysayers should gaze upon their worthless souls and despair.
When it comes to the “Why do you create?” & “Why do you REALLY create?” I found myself giving basically the same answer. I like things. And when I like things, I think about them VERY intensely. I think about them often and I think about them deeply. Doesn’t matter if it’s an existing pice of media or something I made myself, I’ll end up thinking about it. It gets to the point where my thinking about the thing overrides my ability to do tasks or go places. The thoughts become a LOT, and they get in the way, but I love them and I don’t want to just forget them. Creating allows me to funnel out the thoughts and turn them into something I can actually look at and inspect. As I inspect I may come up with new thoughts that can then turn into a new artwork. This process allows me to function properly and do things with the added bonus of being very fun. I love to create things, and I love to look at the things I made and have them inspire new things. I like to look at something I created and go, “I made that!” And I asked myself the second question over and over but I genuinely couldn’t find another answer. I like to show people the things I make, but a good chuck of my creations are personal. Sure, likes and kind comments feel nice, but I very deeply love looking at things I created and knowing I created them; knowing I can take electricity from the oddity that is the human brain and turn it into something I can see. Who knows, I might be fooling myself, but if I love what I’m doing and what I’m making, I don’t know how much that matters. TLDR I guess: I create because there are a lot of creative thoughts that need to go somewhere or I don’t function right. Bonus points - its fun.
Unironically, as some who struggles with what I like to call “chronic side character syndrome”, Part 1 of this vid was unexpectedly really reassuring. Felt like a little therapy sesh to remind myself that I DONT have to be the main character, and that ppl need side characters just as much. Idk, it was just a nice little surprise reassurance ✊💖
oh fuck, the "justifying my existence and belaying the necessity of a suicide" part encapsulated my relationship with my own existence so perfectly. thanks.
i know this comment will probably get buried, but i think i can honestly say that you are one of my favorite content creators right now. i normally find most video essayists boring, and their actual commentary and topics they choose to talk about is something that has been done countless times by others. you always bring something new to the table. i never thought i'd be so thoroughly invested in a video titled "the kronk effect" but here we are. your ability to actually make me laugh out loud while watching all of your videos is so amazing to me. keep on doing what you do, cj
I discovered dialectics in college and it permanently changed my perspective, and this was such a fantastic development to that worldview. fuck you're good at this.
“Art is God incarnate and we’re manifesting Heaven on Earth”. Your video about Wandavision has been pivotal in helping me understand my own behavioral patterns as an addict, it has been a crucial contribution to my sobriety, and has helped keep me alive. I have no choice but to wholeheartedly agree.
The incredible thing about the interviews at the end is that _everybody immediately knew what you meant_ when you asked "Why do you _really_ make things?" All creators are already aware of that dialectic reality inside themselves (otherwise I don't think they'd have the self awareness to create in the first place) but they don't always acknowledge it.
It’s cool that these interviewees got it quickly, but I don’t think all creators are aware. (I believe everyone’s a creator!) The fear side is absolutely enough to drive creation-and sometimes the product is quite good, though that’s rarely sustainable. I think the moments when we are most afraid of acknowledging the hidden fear-based contract are the moments we most need to stop and engage. (If quality is the goal. Sometimes it is not, and for good reason.)
I think I remember Daniel Radcliffe saying in an interview once that all actors are lowkey intrinsically narcisists, because if they weren't they wouldn't really be able to act with confidence, and confidence is of course vital to creating a convincing character.
As someone with the same two wolves inside me, the whole question of trauma creating art can actually be easily answered by some old Beatles documentary I saw. They were talking about drugs leading to creativity and the documentary concluded (correctly in my opinion) that drugs can give you an experience but any art created from that experience is created from your creativity not the experience. You can have all the experience but no creativity and your art would suck. You can also have little experience (no one really has no experience in my opinion but that’s another argument) but a lot of creativity and make great art. See also the Michael Fassbender movie Frank.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston is another good text here. There’s a real temptation to say Johnston’s schizophrenia contributed to his creativity because it influenced everything he made. However you know at the end of the day you know that Daniel Johnston was just an incredibly talented singer songwriter who happened to have schizophrenia. He had the same experience over and over again day in and day out and so all his creativity was devoted to rendering musically this one experience. But if Johnston wasn’t having this experience he would just aim his creativity at some other experience.
currently 2 minutes into the video, which I thought was gonna be about Kronk’s New Groove, scrolled down, and got absolute whiplash from this comment. looks like I’m in for a wild one lmao and that’s how you know you’re watching a CJ video
I recently had a really bad breakdown about feeling my artistic output isnt good enough, this video sorta came at the perfect time for me-it was really a wake up call. I think for a while a part of me lost track of why I create and both my art and mental health were suffering because of it. So yea, just wanted to say thanks, this really helped me a lot today!
Same, real bad spiral recently, felt my efforts had no value or worth to anyone, started to climb out of it, and then watched this video. CJ says what we need to hear, and by we I mean me specifically
i love how these videos start with something funny easy to get into and then quickly dive into like picking apart your understanding of yourself and the world and how those things interact w each other and gives u something really meaningful and interesting to think about BUT then it also still circles around to being somewhat about the entry point :) its such a masterful and clever way to talk about something fun and easily accessible AND bring up things that might be like hugely world-shattering to think about, all while managing to be extremely entertaining bc i was out here analyzing my own reasons for why i create but i did also laugh really hard every time the "kill yourself" wolf was on screen
Same! And I think a lot of things that are true about art are also true about science. The desire to understand and describe the world around us is as inherent as the drive to create and connect through art.
The third Aladdin film was my favorite as a kid and there was a part of my life where I started to wonder if it was a fever dream because nobody else knew about it. I found a vhs at a thrift store and the rewatch didn’t fully remove the feeling because the parts I loved actually got very little screen time.
I did acting for 9 of my 12 years of school and then during my last performance as a background character I realized I had so much more fun that year than any other because due to my small role on stage I could involve myself so much more backstage. I realized the reason I enjoyed theatre so much wasn't because I had attention for 2 hours (that turned out to be the worst part actually) but because I was part of creating something, part of saying something to an audience. And from backstage I could concentrate on the show as a patchwork of pieces rather than just having to focus on my own real time contribution while under direct scrutiny. Theatre is my personal favorite form of art and I have learned to appreciate it so much more from my new role as "side character" to the point of actively pursuing a career in stage management
As a professional theatre "side character" I commend your new goal. I'm paid shit and often my work is least acknowledged when it's at it's best, but it is deeply satisfying ultimately to be in the service of art and contributing my strongest skills to the creation of it.
this person fascinates me on a philosophical level. genuinely having one of those moments where something so logically obvious is suddenly pointed out to you in a language that doesn’t try to advertise what it means to be creative as some sort of moral or ethical or spiritual transaction between you and the universe. i STARTED creating because i was a lonely autistic child who could only fully understand the things i imagined and wanted them to be tangible. and i CONTINUE creating partially because of that, but mostly to prove to myself that i actually HAVE a skill and im not simply here to be called a walking encyclopedia by people who hear me speak about bats or public transit for ten uninterrupted minutes. everyone else around me had a skill. being able to create art feels more valuable than memorizing useless facts that give me happiness.
@@corneliahanimann2173 AYYYYY okay SO: bats are one of the most specially diverse mammals in the world!!! and theyre super ubiquitous - found on every continent except for Antarctica. Theyre generally split into two main categories (with exceptions): fruit bats and insectivores. The former tends to be larger, with more dog-like faces. In fact, the largest bat in the world (the flying fox, look em up theyre cute and stinky) is a fruit bat and has a wingspan of up to five feet i believe (from what i remember). I had an insectivore bat living in my attic for a few months too - contrary to popular belief, bats are only harmful if you eat them, and even then, not all bats carry ebola. They barely ever bite humans and when they do the most damage they can do is maybe like a minor infection. Less than one percent carry rabies :) so i was pretty safe (sidenote this lil guy would sleep on my mosquito net during the day. I used to be homeschooled, so i would jsut do my schoolwork with him napping a few metres away. They also dont always sleep upside down - this one slept in a fetal position with his face facing the material). They also LOVE warm dark locations, and few species migrate during the colder climate and may hibernate or go into torpor (kinda like hibernation lite) instead. Also, unlike birds who are catagrammatically (not sure if this is a word) quite far away from humans and other pentadactyl creatures, a bats wing is sort of like a giant webbed hand. Many bats have a lil claw at the top of their wings which acts as a kind of finger. Also i read somewhere that insectivores will eat up to 300 insects every minute while hunting, not sure if that number is correct, but i dont find it unbelievable lmao. Their metabolism is speedy as fuck. OH AND THE SMALLEST BAT is called the bumblebee (or kittys hog nosed) bat and is very puny. Like most insectivores it looks a bit like a goblin and i find that very enjoyable. Speaking of goblins vampire bats are also a thing but theyte actuslly not at all deadly creatures. They have the sharpest teeth in the mammal kingdom and cause zero pain when they bite (and they only ever bite horses, cattle, goats, things like that so dont worry). Most bats also roost for life, instead of mating for life. This means they will often live in the exact same place… forever. Which is why its so difficult to get a bat out once theyre in your house. Because in their head theyre like “huh? but this is MY house :(“. Lots of bat species live together in MASSIVE colonies too. In fact, i think the biggest colony ever found was in south america. It was well over a million little guys. Also theyre fantastic for the eco system and one of the main nocturnal polinators! Insectivores are great for farms and their shit is used for fertilizer lmao Point is bats get a bad rep but theyre just smelly little flying goblin dogs who like to cuddle with eachother and eat.
@@panadocoughsyrup Okay I just read it all, I looked up the flying fox and the bumblebee and they're super fucking cute! I never knew bats have a bad reputation but I also never lived in a location where bats are a problem or get bigger than your hand, so that could be a factor... It's super cute that you had a little bad in your house with you, I'd love to have had that, it truly explains how you got the fascination for bats in the first place! I myself don't have autism, or believe I don't have it but I have a massive fascination with parrots, and I used to have 2 quaker parrots, so I always end up on tangents about how amazing parrots are, I relate to this fascination for animals. Thank you for sharing this with me, I appreciate it and I think I learned a thing or two
Damn, I've been in a wretched art slump for years due to the psychological barrier between secretly and internally recognizing why I really did art, and the shame that came with that, because I seemed to be surrounded by nothing but performative people who do art for art's sake. Your words fucking cured me and reminded me of why I ever did art to begin with. This was exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks, dude.
I used to think a person could either be very eloquent or talk really fast, and that nobody could ever combine bitchin vocabulary with a rapid speaking pace. And then I found your channel.
When I got COVID recently I was sleeping 16 hours a day and barely able to move from muscle aches and migraines; CJ is out here deliberating the meaning of life with themself through the axis of Kronk
You give me "person I met at a party once but I was so drunk that I forgot to exchange info with them so I will never speak to you again but think of you forever" vibes
Thank you for having some of the genuinely best video essays on art that I’ve had the pleasure to watch-this and the Objectively Bad Art video just light up my brain, I appreciate it a ton 💜💜
can i just say how grateful i am that SOMEONE on this God-forsaken hellscape of a platform accepts their secondary status to the concept of art? i swear the title of "creator" gets to people's heads and makes them start believing that they are the gods of their created universe rather than mere prophets sent to convey artistic messages. CJ, i appreciate your humility, because without it, both the love and the fear drive would consume us all.
I always liked what David Lynch had to say on art, trauma, and meditation: Interviewer: But what about artists who need turmoil to create? I hear creative people say all the time, ‘I can only make work when I’m depressed. I can only make work when I feel awful, when I’m calm and peaceful nothing happens.’ Lynch: Yes, yes, because that’s when calm and peaceful becomes a state of passivity, then nothing happens. But this experience of transcendence, this unleashes an unlimited amount of not only creativity but energy and focus and edge, and actually I would say that if a person is suffering then they’re creating in spite of that. Not because of that. If you have a very bad headache, you have to create in spite of the headache. If you’re so depressed you can’t get out of bed, you have to create in spite of that.
thank you for always showing the most amazing and creative sides of the topic/examples discussed and making it your own, no one could explain and create art the way you do!! adored this
"secret contract" is a really good way of describing this. I've been thinking about it a lot recently though it was hard putting it into words. I've proclaimed I want to pursue a PhD for the past 5 years, but now that I'm finishing up my masters I have started to realise that my motivations for wanting to do a PhD were not because I wanted to do a PhD _per se_, but because I felt like my studies (and, therefore, my academic accomplishments, and subsequently my existence) only had worth if I did anything with them and there aren't many options to do smth with medieval English lit. I'm slowly realising that I don't necessarily have to do smth with what I studied, and can just use the general skills I learned (properly and clearly arguing my point, researching, presenting, etc etc) in a stable career which allows me to pursue happiness rather than academic accomplishments
Saaaaaaaaaame!!! I’ve spent 10+ years post undergrad preparing for med school and now im just like….. do I really wanna do this or is it just for my ego? Lately I’ve found my true passions and happiness in reading novels, sewing, spending time with my animals… and im grappling with should I really “throw” all those years away for things that are seemingly so basic like a thread and needle… Gahhhh still have a lot of thinking to do 😖
@@EvitaGlez it's certainly not throwing time away! Just bc I'm not going to do anything w/ medieval & early modern English lit doesn't mean they the skills I learned (proper argumentation, source identification, critical thinking, close reading, conveying difficult information in easy and clear language, academic language usage, proper English in professional settings [not in youtube comments bc I'm too lazy 😂], general insight on the human condition etc) are also useless! You lean so much more when studying medicine than just healing. You lean how to have difficult conversations with people, how to "read" people and calm them in stressful situations, you know how to work hard and long and stay motivated and precise throughout, not to lose sight of the details even during hectic times, how to be empathetic....
@@ActualOphelia awww thank you for that perspective and for your writing (typos and all hehe)!!! I def didn't see it that way but that makes sense! I think the indoctrination of "time is money" and "mustn't waste time!" def has me punishing myself at such a subconscious level worrying about time passing by and it not being productive. Something I'm still working on challenging on a daily basis 😓
I've always thought of myself as a background character and was content with it. Never had aspirations to be the center of attention or in a position of power, only to do good work, help people, and be part of a whole. In a world where everyone seems to want to be the main character, it always felt like I was missing a fundamental part of the human condition. It's good to know that people like Kronk exist and enjoy what they do in the background instead of having higher aspirations. I think I relate to him a lot.
Same. I've always compared it to my being far more valuable as part of a choir than as a soloist. I would detract from art as a soloist, but I think I add "blending" power to a choir: I don't stand out, I don't overstep, I sound like everyone else, just on a different note. You get enough of us and we make a pretty great sound overall. Nothing wrong with not being front-and-center.
I remember being asked "if you were part of a movie, what kind of character would you be?" and I remember answering that I'd be the Yoda - the weird old character who lives in a swamp and gives other people training and advice and then dies peacefully in the next movie. so far it's been shaping up alright
Genuinely, this is so helpful for me as a creative who was diagnosed with BPD. I'm not swinging between those extremes of emotion quite as much these days, but listening to you explain your experience with these behavior patterns in conjunction with creative endeavors has clarified a lot for me. Thank you thank you thank you
I often talk in a frantic, fragmented way at anyone who will listen about any topic I am passionate about.... This channel is how I wish I sounded on my spiraling rants at my unfortunate friends and family. The reality is far from it but it is what it is. The mention of the book on Dialectics made me REALLY curious what kind of books CJ reads...and I would love a list of book reccs because I feel like, with a brain like this, there'd be some gems on there.
Lol idk if you’ll see my comment this late but I believe CJ’s patreon contains a book club sorta thing they did with their patrons in June I think. I think if you’re able to subscribe to it, you’d find at least a couple recs and him even dissecting one of the books. 🤷🏿♂️
lately i've been doing this thing where i actively try to make art that makes me uncomfortable. especially art that i love, but am embarrassed to make myself. i'm working on things that are uncomfortably intimate, or overwhelmingly complex, or time wasters, or obtuse, or tropey and cliche as hell. weirdly enough i think it's even making me a more open person. i feel like i laugh more. i get mad more. yeah art's some good shit
Replying to this comment as a reminder to try the same... I draw so timidly, I've known that for years. There's this mountain of fears I've been skipping around for years, I know if I'm to ever accomplish my goals I'll need to climb it...
Okay, my original plan for tonight wasn’t getting drunk, watching this, crying my eyes out for being seen so unnecessarily hard by CJ, while eating just a bowl of mini marshmallows and also feeling spiritually cleansed somehow… but here we are.
I've been trying to explain to people my whole life that I am definitively a follower and work better as one. I'm very comfortable with my role as an enhancer but I've never had someone tell me that I'm right or that it's OK. So thanks haha
I've known all my life that i'm better at following directions than telling others what to do, but school seems to have this idea that everyone has to be a leader and even emphasize this by urging you to join leadership clubs and i've never jived with that.
@@connorbeith3232 See, I’m very weird about this. As a person I am always going to be better having written down directions that I can look back to, as apposed to verbal instructions. It just so happens that most project rubrics satisfy my written instruction requirements so (because I am generally an outgoing, outspoken, out-of-the-box thinker) I typically end up becoming a leader in school situations where I wouldn’t in an actual job. If you were wondering why the system is set up in a way that leads to this situation, I find it useful to think of schools as basically emblematic of capitalism. They are made to funnel people into the workforce, but with so many ‘entry level’ positions requiring more and more experience/technical proficiency, the education system is becoming increasingly less effective. Necessitating a focus on the subject matter, and individuals, which are likely to result in expected outcomes for later occupations. This is why they keep trying to shove everyone into leadership positions - that is the most likely avenue for people to actually use any of the lessons they try to teach.
@@connorbeith3232 Pretty ironic school forces "leadership" nowadays when the very school system itself is founded on creating submissive factory workers...
this is one of the first times I've really felt like I was witnessing genius while simutaneously witnessing extremely raw humanity - he's managed to create and entire channel around a dialectic concept: what is a super polished video essayist was simutaneiously a raw honest panicked self examination monologue. they aren't the first one to do that but the full a true commitment to quality and discovering originality in the moment is expanding what the channel can do and create. we're literally watching that process through all of his art. beautiful.
CJ, as you've brutally reminded me many times, I don't know you. I only know the persona you've projected through this medium. Your only worth to me is through your art. Sorry bout that, but it's the only part of you I will ever know. Good thing for both of us that you're really fucking good at it.
Incredible how in a 26 minute long video on the emperor’s new grove I have received more philosophical and psychological advice than in hundreds of “self help” videos
Honestly I make art for myself and never others, and I decided to do this years ago. With out getting too into it I grew up watching TV and consuming as much as I could from the media growing up, since I didn't go out very much. These shows, movies, and what have you kept telling me how great being popular is or how you should be popular, and the attention from others is something everyone wants. But due to how I look, acted, and my art skills growing up where negative in a sense. I was never seen as a girl, and the moment I realized I was trans. I was told by my loved ones no I am not for years from so many people in my life, that my feelings do not matter. And I am oddly okay with that, cause what is the point of giving art, my work, or myself to people who don't even deserve it. My art that I drew as a child I mostly did to see if I could draw it, and I could, and I was happy just to see if I could just draw a pokemon, a house, animals, anime, and anything really. I was happy over stuff like that as a kid. But my mom used my art to better herself around her older siblings by making me her trophy child, the friends I once had in highschool I was really deeply caring for used my art, clamed it as there own, all for a moment to get praised from people in there group, and for that art to be thrown away or given to by others like the trash it is. But uuhhhhh..ahahaha. Thank got for writing my name and dates on the back of each of my works, since they where exposed for that shit real quick. But then I found out that the art I was told didn't mattered or got much attention by others would get stolen by random people online. Thank goodness that was years ago and a lot of these people kept getting found out, exposed, and just went offline due to there actions. To add to the things that are my life I also got negative attention from people from them just looking at me, and they would talk to me in such a way that it would lower my self in a way I don't think I can ever recover from. "Why don't you look like your mom? Are you adopted? Why are you not pretty like her?" "You are a girl, why don't you act like it? Stop acting like a boy! You are 10 now." "You are dating now so are you pregnant yet? AHAHAHA! You are not ace. That's not a real thing." "You are so ugly. Why don't you fix that?" "You are not trans. You are just saying that." "Stop crying! You look ugly when you cry so stop it!" So because of how I am viewed and seen I hated the fact for years of others looking at me, and if It was positive I know it would be because others would want something from me in that negative light. All for themselves then then caring about me. Because of these factors I just really hate people. Don't get me wrong I did meet some wonderful people through out my years, but the negative outweighs the positive. Not so much the effects, but me having nothing but mostly negative things happen to me by other people. So much so that if anytime I make anything that is my art. All my art is never for others. It's all for me. I will never show my art unless I have a way to protect it and make sure others don't get a profit from stealing it, and calming it as there own. It's something I like and want to draw, and I want to say this. And want to end this whole thing by saying this. After bring my self down, after all the shit I was given through out my growth, and up bringing, and how I am stuck living in Texas with no real way to ever get out or change my body to FTM, due to family never wanting me to grow, and me having no way to do that. As odd as this sounds. The video you made "No Way Home Was Kind of Sexist", where you talked about your worth, your skill, and your body and how to treat it. Was so powerful and moving that I needed to hear it. Like...I was never told that, and it meant so much to me that I started to draw again after thinking about stopping again. And I am going to keep making art for myself, and if others like it, then great, but over all I am not doing it for other people, or have a drive to prove myself to strangers, but to make my art so I can grow my skills, and be in a place with my art where I can be happy with it.
I know that I am just an internet stranger whose words you are reading on a screen, but I really hope that you will obtain the freedom you desire and that you will happen upon the people who will love you and value you not for what you can contribute, but for the wonderful person that you are. Don't stop stoking the fire within you that drives you to create, even if it is just for your own sake.
CJ, you're the reason I'm still creating. I've had this tremendous fear of making something. But your videos and mindful approach towards the creation of art help to remind me to keep at it and in a more meaningful way. Thanks for creating for us and for the art of it, even while you're sick. Take care and get well soon!
@@Ondohir of course that the reasons why they create art must be more complicated than what they mention, but damn man, the way you phrased your comment makes it seem like purely cold criticism- like being inspired by CJ to try & find meaning through art isn’t a valid enough reason to create it. CJ is fking awesome, & I bet this dude is too, so why not let them appreciate CJ without implying that they’re being nongenuine?
My whole new philosophy in the past few years has been to worship and serve love and art. This video is sending me - WE ARE ON THE SIDE OF ART great work as always cj 🥰
If you've any interest in art that acknowledges it is dying within the text, The Owl House is doing this as its second season comes to a close. It's way more satisfying than when shows get cancelled but refuse to acknowledge the botched ending. Not exactly related to the video, but art-related and existential so I thought I'd make this comment exist.
i do hate that it got cut short but i can't not love how the way that major events happen so close to one another as the characters innocently mention that their inevitable demise is coming just a bit sooner than we think. it feels like the same situation that steven universe went through (they also got cut short for having a queer relationship) but instead of rushed it feels anxious
Oh my gosh, why is this absolutely flawless? My brain feels weird. Mission accomplished, CJ. Dang. I need to sit down, oh crap, I am sitting down. I need to stand up so I can sit down.
The thing that watching cj the x videos does to my brain is like what i imagine using a massage gun with nitrous on the highest setting would do to my back
Fuck! I swear I watch your videos over and over again not just because they’re good but also because they’re like a necessary pep-talk that I need as a depressed artist who’s always unsure if her contribution to the world is even needed.. Hearing someone so passionately talking about quality and the quality of art gives me so much motivation - you have no idea! Thank you so much!
I know this video is a year old; I've probably already "watched" it. You have a beautiful mind, and I love your content. Thank you for continuing to share at your own pace. I needed to hear this.
