A general response to the anti-intellectual cretins in my comment sections who keep hurting my feelings by callin' me a big ol' nerd. PATREON: / explanationpoint TWITTER: / expoint140
This is interesting to me, because a while back, I watched a video about Revue Starlight, and all the fine gears going on in that, and about halfway through I had to stop watching, not because I deeply disagreed with what was being said, but because I suddenly felt deeply stupid and empty. See, I have a mild form of autism, and though it rarely affects my day-to-day life, I'll never be able to truly know if my interpretation of art is different to other peoples', or if my ability to enjoy or create art is inherently flawed, and the revstar video brought that into razor sharp focus for me. The video in particular was on about Karen's fight with Hoshimi and how it's all so full of all these delicious bits of subtext, when I missed every single detail. I watched, confused to the extent to which any of it was real, enthralled by the spectacle, and any details I picked up were more to do with the fact Hoshimi was using every dirty trick in the book because of course she would, the moment that fight gets into close quarters it's game over. I picked up on Hoshimi's plight for sure - the fact she was never as good as the others and worked herself into the dirt trying to do everything Maya or Claudine did by instinct, through sheer rote memorisation - but the moment the fight happened, the sheer gulf between what's real and what's not just overpowered any other more coherent thoughts I could have. It's like I suddenly realised that maybe I don't enjoy what I enjoy for any deep reason, or that I enjoy things on a hollow surface level, and no matter how deeply I think about things, there could routinely be swarms of fine details that I'm missing and may never pick up on. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I understand where those "turn your brain off" people are coming from because I see almost none of the details you find, and wonder if I can actually digest anything below surface level, but at the same time, the idea of just turning one's brain off seems ludicrous to me, because if you have to manually dumb yourself down to enjoy something, then that thing is probably pretty awful.
As someone who also is mildly autistic, that's where media analysis really helped me. The perk of media is that most of the time, characters and even whole shows will just, like, tell you why they did it, in a way real humans won't. You can watch a show six times in a row, until you parse out body posture or intent or the tells in a character when they're lying. (I think it's why people like us are so drawn to animation, its tropes are exaggerated and well established so that even children can understand.) Once you get used to watching fiction critically, you can take what you learnt and apply it to real people. We're never gonna intuitively grok people, but we can learn how to make the observations and deductions on purpose when reflexes fail us.
Sleepless, if you allow me... the reason why Media / Art Analysis is a discipline that is taught is that most people -- hell, ALL people -- don't start out capable of noticing all the details you're talking about. Some people notice some of them from the very beginning, most don't -- but ALL people learn to notice things they had never noticed even in media they thoroughly enjoyed the first time they watched it. What you're describing sounds like what I feel sometimes -- not because of autism, which I don't have, but because I always feel dumber than "professional" media / art analysts who see metaphors and connections between things I didn't see. Even now, after having read several books on the topic and thought deeply about it, I can see there's a difference between my perspective and that of someone who spent years learning about the topic from others who also spent years thinking and teaching about it. I'm an amateur, and I will always be one, and that means I will always miss things, even though I have no autism, and even though I am not really dumb (quite the opposite actually, at least in the spheres of life that I have really studied hard). Rather, what makes it worthwhile for me to watch analysis videos like Explanation Point's here is that they open new perspectives. I prefer not to think "why didn't I notice it myself?" (which is often true -- he often talks about things I DIDN'T notice in the original anime), but instead "ah! and how do I feel / think about this new thing this guy/gal has noticed?" Going even beyond the "do I agree with his/her interpretation?", there's the "if I see it from this perspective, how different does the experience of rewatching the show become?". You see? I could decide to simply feel inferior to people like Explanation Point, or Digibro, or Eyepached Wolf, and others with analytical skills that I lack. But I prefer not to. Because, frankly, there is no reason for that. My own experience, and my own perception (or lack thereof), and my reaction to their perceptions as expressed in their videos, are perfectly valid in themselves. They're also enjoyable. And every now and then, I may even be able to make a point, or even notice something, that escaped the radar of these great people. And when that happens, isn't that something? :-)
I go out of my way to notice as much detail as possible and still end up missing vast swaths of incredibly interesting stuff. That's part of why I follow channels like this one, to fill some gaps in my viewing experience with their talents.
I don't think the whole missing small details thing is specific to autism. That's why analysts exist, to point out the small details that people might miss and how they impact the story. I'm autistic and when I'm really interested in something, I'll notice things that other people don't. If I'm not so interested, I'll completely miss huge details. Sometimes I randomly miss huge details in things I love too, because my brain is dumb.
On the other hand: Just because something is intentional doesn't mean there has to be much meaning behind it. Both in the positive ("art" just beeing "art" for the art itself) and in the negative way ("art" just beeing brainless shit).
"I'm not educating people in any meaningful way" Bullcrap your helping me and tons of other people become a better story writer! I have a playlist of like 70+ writing tutorial videos and more than five of those videos are yours! Your absolutely educating people.
@@jahithoms4022 honestly I dont feel comfortable doing that. Its private and I don't know why but releasing that to the public makes me feel kind of exposed.
@@jahithoms4022 I will say However that its dominated mostly by Totally Not Mark, Explination point, A closer look, Lessions from the screenplay, and others.
I see the phrase "turn your brain off" as defensive lashing out, that the analysis or critiques presented are interpreted as a personal attack of sorts, that they feel told "this thing is bad, therefore the media is bad and you are bad for liking it", prompting a defensive reaction which, more often than not, results in what's tantamount to the editorial equivalent of a lame comeback. At least, that's how I've been coming to terms with the concept and curbing my own reactions of that nature.
I wonder if there is also an inferiority complex in that response. If I just insult the interpretations that are complex and say they have less value than my own then I don't have to feel bad that my interpretation isn't as nuanced as theirs.
I understand the part "... and you are bad for liking it," even if it ultimately baffles me that anyone seriously thinks that far when a different opinion is presented, even if it's presented antagonistically. Sure it feels good to have your opinions validated, but if someone disagrees with my opinions on a work, why they disagree always overrules the fact they disagree. Maybe I just don't seek the base level validation and would much rather have an interesting disagreement over someone just nodding their head in blank agreement. I know some of it is that an unsettling amount of people genuinely cannot have a civilized argument because it turns into a shouting match and/or two people talking past each other, regardless of if it's something important or if it's about the silly cartoons about killing god with the power of friendship or whatever anime is these days.
this is exactly my viewpoint as well. if something can be analyized as art, then it is open to criticism, and a lot of people see the art they like as part of themselves and therefore criticizing it is criticizing them.
Another possible interpretation of "the light is off but the character is still smiling" story is that the protagonist has merely had such a wonderful experience (e.g. first kiss, finished a call with their partner, won the lottery, approved for a small business loan, etc.) and now not even absolute darkness could ruin their mood.
There is nothing wrong with being critical of media. And I disagree with one point. Art is basically an expression of self. I would call what you're doing art.
Art IS self-expression, but not just for the artist. Art is an inherently subjective medium, and while an artist sees their creation in one way, there's no guarentee that anyone else will see it the same way. Essentially, and artist's interpretation of their art is as good as anyone else's, because their interpretation isn't where their art ends.
Id say that's a very specific kind of art... Kinda like an abstract biography where you deconstruct a portion of your self to see what makes you tick before putting it back together... To me a more complete definition of art would be... A formulation and expression of an idea put to form so that can be more directly experienced and shared with others.
@@YourFaceisPretty Jahi's response above is a pretty succinct one. I need to think about it further to see if it needs tidying/extending/restricting but I think I agree with it on the surface
Missed opportunity to have the ExPoint character's "head" be red at the beginning of the video, and just never point it out. That way, the comments could draw their own interpretations. Is ExPoint-kun boiling over with anger from the comments, or is it meant to evoke a feeling that the video will be on a topic different from the channel's usual fare? Perhaps the change from Deku-Green means this video won't be about HeroAca, until the sudden change back before mentioning the Training Game fight. The possibilities are nigh endless, and that's literally the point of the video.
Why though? It's something that legitimately can be done. I watched Star Wars episode 9 yesterday and despite knowing 7 & 8 made no sense, and despite knowing as i watched it that the plot of 9 made no sense, I still enjoyed watching it because I just resolved not to think about the plot that much. I know that the plot of 9 is dumb and the majority of the movie makes no sense, but I still enjoyed it because I "turned my brain off" and just enjoyed the ride.
@@ArkhanTheMack I'm not saying that people can't enjoy what they want to enjoy, subjectivity is very important. If you're gonna watch a thing to enjoy it even though it might be a critical or analytical mess, I'm still going to encourage it. I guess I meant to say "I hate when the phrase 'turn your brain off and enjoy stuff' as a way to shut down critical analysis," I should have made that clear
@@ArkhanTheMack Well Helmut, it depends on what you're capable of enjoying too. If you can enjoy Star Wars 9 despite is glaring flaws, then you can enjoy it, and you're not "turning off your brain", you're just ignoring the negative things about it that you don't like and enjoying the positive things that you do like. It's a conscious decision to not care about the flaws, not a physical "turning-off" whereby you become incapable of seeing said flaws. To me, it's like going to a child's birthday party and enjoying the entertainer's show, even though it is obviously aimed at 6-year-olds and is thus full of flaws for grownups -- I just decide said flaws aren't that important in this context, and enjoy it through the eyes of the kids in the party and through my own memories of what I enjoyed as a 6-year-old. I hate the phrase "turn off your brain" because I think it has nothing to do with what happens when we allow ourselves to enjoy our "guilty pleasures" -- it's just a wrong description of the whole process. It's more like a decision to look one way or another way or to judge certain things differently than it is a "dumbification process" as the name implies.
@sinwithagrin Wow, another "If you hate this, you're clearly racist/sexist, because clearly no other reasons to dislike it exist" argument. Tell me, are you enjoying your winter break from 4th Grade?
It's especially annoying for me (and I'd imagine the OC) cuz I enjoy things *more* when I don't have to "turn my brain off" for it. Thinking and drawing connections is a pleasure.
I want to bash my head against the wall when people start talking about "Don't think about it so deeply." I WILL think about it deeply! THINKING ABOUT IT DEEPLY IS THE WAY IN WHICH I CHOOSE TO ENJOY THIS MEDIA. Like holy crap, if they aren't having fun in the discussion, then why take part? (That's what Media Analysis is I think, a discussion about what people got our of said media.) I don't think I should have to defend what I'm doing when the most obvious and simple answer for why I'm doing it, is that it's fun. *Also I hate it when I'm trying to talk about world building and someone chimes in with "It's not raining on the island because of the mountains, the author just wanted to set up a dark mood." That is not the actual topic of this conversation; if I'm talking about made-up fictional geology I don't care for authorial intent. If you want to talk about how that rain represents fear or love or whatever you can start your own conversation. Sorry if I came off aggressive but this stuff has me: impassioned.
One thing I find interesting about the "don't analyze media' crowd is that holding such a belief is itself an analysis of media. It's just one that says very little about media itself and says a lot about the person holding that belief.
R2Walker That’s entirely true, bigger than the person holding that belief is the people that hold that belief not just in entertainment media but everything in life, what does that say about the minds of people who exist in this world as a whole that when someone tries to think deeply about something or studies the deeper meaning of everything around them people tell the intellectual minded to “stop thinking so hard” “it isn’t that deep” it’s a shame how bad the mental condition of people and our society is today, are you as woke as you say you are? That “woke” s**t is nothing more than a hashtag to me.
LegendaryRQA I disagree. The author by all intents and purposes is “dead” so to speak. Meaning is not black and white in the sense that it’s either there or it’s not. It’s a spectrum. You can try to create meaning for a work in a way that you specifically intended but often times in the process accidental meaning is created, either adjacent to the intended meaning or completely replacing what you intend all together. Hence expo’s example of his highschool novel idea reading very badly and racially problematic despite the fact that he in no way intended it as such. In that same vain someone who is trying to create a work devoid of meaning can still create meaning in that work even if they never wanted it to be there in the first place. Simply stating as the author “this means this because this is what I meant” doesn’t give you a get out of jail free card to have your work critiqued in the exact way which you meant it to be seen. If that was the case bad media wouldn’t exist, Art would be extremely easy, and M Night Shyamalan would have 4 oscars and a full Avatar the Last Airbender cinematic universe
@@LegendaryRQA separation of art and artist is something I do for older artists. Kinda hard to enjoy say... HP Lovecraft when you know he is a huge xenophobe and antisemite. Or Pablo Picasso knowing he is a misogynist. Artists are flawed humans and to disregard them based on who they are and not what they do is silly.
"Your interpretation is going to be different from mine. Mine is going to be different from the artists." And I think that there is really the only reassurance most people needed. The reason there is such a kneejerk negative reaction to media analysis is that it can often come across as the analyst TELLING the audience what the "correct" interpretation is, and what the author "really meant". Which I'm sure you can agree would be very presumptuous. To both put words in someone's mouth and also to tell the audience how they're SUPPOSED to feel. I haven't at all gotten that vibe from you to be clear, but I suspect that a lot of the kneejerk reaction comes from people who HAVE had to deal with the kind of analyst that tells you how you're "supposed" to think and then have a visceral gut negativity when they see media analysis elsewhere.
This I agree with. Digibro,another YT anime analyst, comes off as a pretentious twat who's trying to force his own views of what's 'correct' in the anime medium down people's throats.Same with Mother's Basement too. I also don't care much for his constant beating a dead horse of SAO, which I honestly don't think is as horrifyingly bad as people make it out to be. To me, it's average at best and mediocre at worst. If a person comes across enough of these kinds of people,it can make them more inclined to shut out well intentioned criticism or analysis. Any audience doesn't like to be preached to,no matter how good your intentions might be. There's a reason why when it comes to the film industry trying to do shallow interpretations of 'diversity', people have started to catch on and started to get tired of people shoving their viewpoint in their face.
Absolutely true. Reviewers like Mauler, Joseph Anderson and even YMS to some extent have this problem where they come off incredibly authoritative, but at least Joseph Anderson had the good sense to make a video about this topic specifically. YMS I don't think means to come off this way, but considering how his channel got fame from the fact that he was tearing bad movies apart, he can come across as "I'm telling you what to think." Mauler, on the other hand, is a different wheelhouse. While he has made it clear in other videos that he doesn't think people should agree with him, when you consider his weird obsession with "objective reviews" and how his reviews seem to be based entirely on little nitpicks about very specific artistic choices, he comes off like an asshole.
@@beancheesedip8337 Mauler acts differently to his words. Despite him saying that you don`t need to agree with him he also feels free to betray you by attempting to make an "immaculate analysis" that only consists of "objective observations". It`s a very assanine way to go about analizing media because at this point the majority of people get alienated since not everyone is into 5h video analysis. The real kicker about this is that everyone has an subjective view of reality because nobody can decide what objective reality is. Like no one can dictate that you have to breathe oxygen, that´s just how it is. And here comes Mauler with his attempt to play objective reality. It´s like he is indirectly telling you: "feel free to form your conclusion BUT keep in mind I looked over this medium WITH AN OBJECTIVE VIEW THUS MAKING MY CONCLUSION OBJECTIVE AS REALITY ITSELF! Your Subjectivity is INFERIOR to my "OBJECTIVE" Perspective!" TL;DR Mauler makes his views bigger than they are. He is just a flawed human with his own subjective worldview, so are his videos conclusions: subjective. He might have valid points on some occaisions but this practice of his is just very childish. It´s like a child saying "my power level is infinite I win byebye" and trying to prove it by turning every single stone to keep that idea going.
That is my exact problem with some of these media analysts as you called. They use little to no objective evidence, often rellying on personal or subjective views of certain scenes or narrative points (maybe using poor data correlation at best). Now, what I said here, alone, isn't by itself an issue. But then they use these subjective methodologies to make an objective statement about the author or about the viewers, usually in the form of comments such as "If you enjoy/watch/read X, then it clearly proved you're Y." or "Scene X clearly proves the author is Y and thinks Z". It gets much worse when they extrapolate these "Y and Z" characteristics to how the person is in real life as a whole, instead of just the thoughts about that particular media. This is just straight up lying, and it is just as non scientific as astrology of things like that.
Man I love when you go into detail with symbolism and stuff, I'm sorry that some of your other fans believe that it isn't important but I think it's not only entertaining but also allows people who care about it to have a deeper more thoughtful understanding of the stories they love TL,DR: I hope you continue to analyze this sort of thing with your content. I love your stuff
Creating stories is wild because when you revisit stuff you made, a lot of the times you find SO much stuff that's SO clearly there, and if it was made by someone else you would think it was %100 intentional but also you know the author didn't conciously put in there because YOU are the author and you know you didn't! Like, for example, I once made this character that had a lot of braids on her hair, and one of those braids went over her neck, why? because I thought that hairstyle looked cool, as simple as that. However this specific character kills herself in the story, and her suicide is very, very important for the plot. One day I was drawing her when I noticed "Holy shit that braid over her neck looks a lot like a hangman's noose" and that was just... So fucking cool, it blew my mind. So when I continued the story I did it with that in mind, and when I later drew her in a flashback, way before she started having the problems that led her to kill herself, I drew her in a different hairstyle, and now the braid over her neck was very clearly a representation of the problems she had that ended with her taking her own life. Not only that but I had already stablished the protagonist thought she looked prettier with her hair down (This was actually before I even noticed the potential symbolism) and my god that was so perfect, because now it was not only a "Hah, I guess the prota likes girls with their hair down." but rather "The prota wanted her to be happy and feels guilty for not helping her, or maybe even pushing her further towards the edge" (The prota used to help her tie her hair, this, again, was stablished before I even noticed the symbolism). In my experience, most if not all the symbolism I put in stories happens that way, I stablish something, and then further down the line suddenly realize "Holy fuck I can use this!" and then keep writing with that in mind. So yeah, I think stuff is there independent if authors notice or not.
Yeeeeeees. That's exactly what happened in my book, A Treasure Made of Death. (Not the hair symbolism, specifically, but the general adding of symbolic details.) After I finally got it published and started reading through my personal, physical copy, I just kept getting blown away by all the little details that I seeded into the narrative without realizing it.
I wonder if, when creating something, the subconscious mind makes connections between different things that the conscious mind is creating/thinking of -- say, between the color of a character's socks & shoes and what kind of a persona the character shows to society -- and, well, subconsciously adds those details while the conscious mind isn't really paying attention to that particular detail. Does that make sense? I mean, I feel I could've explained it better, but I'm not really sure how...
@@lumas825 I mean, I KNOW I add stuff straight from my personal experiences into my writing without even noticing, because so many times I've revisited something I made and be like "Oh goddamnit, this is about my relationship with my mother isn't it?!" So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we can get to that level in which we don't even notice adding stuff that very obviously reflects our life experiences (sometimes very personal ones, even!) Then it's not too much of a stretch to think our subconscious mind can also go "Huh, this character's fun and quirky around close friends but tries to act cool and detached when in public, this character wears funny colorful socks under plain black shoes!"
Lumas825 I had this same thought after noticing stuff in my own writing. Specifically when I decided to take a character and increase her importance to the overarching plot and endgame, and realized that stuff already established in her fit in with foreshadowing her importance and her connections to the other endgame characters. And since the story in particular had a meta-narrative aspect about it too, I ended up having her character embody the idea of the story sometimes “coming to life” on its own via writing itself; whereas another endgame character is a foil to this by “coming to life” because the author forced them to, but deep down not really being alive because in essence the author is still puppeteering them and once the audience realizes that then the illusion of “coming to life” goes away.
i... may or may not have written around half of an entire novel without really realizing what my main characters amnesia means in a broader context because i was writing it more as a character dive and less about saying things about society, so when i took a look back and realized it actually said a huge thing about society it shoot me to my godamn core lmao
I think the problem most people (that have problems with these analyses) have with this kind of analysis stems from English teachers who, instead of analysing the story for what the detail shows in the story, analyse the story and say that, "Absolutely everything was entirely intended by the author and I don't care if the author didn't intend it, the author intended it anyways"
Personally, I think it stems more from the idea that we're taught at a young age to read meaning into things and interpret every aspect of the story, which is all well and good, but despite the fact that interpretations of media are highly personal, tests and exams teach us that there is *one* correct interpretation and anything outside of that interpretation is a "failure to interpret the story." It also doesn't help that the fake stories tests will give you to interpret are like, the most obtuse shit in existence, where it's either four, really dry, sentences describing a pineapple sitting on a table with no embellishments or personal style to any descriptions, or some dogshit melodramatic paragraph about a young girl's quest to find her father's grave, and then multiple choice answers will be like, "The pineapple represents the duality of man and the table represents the truth of life as a steady constant in reality." That's what I think leads people to say, "It's just a pineapple!" Because it kind of is just a pineapple. It's designed to be a thought experiment intended to get you to think about it, but because there's no personal connection or relatable aspect about the stories given, there's nothing that makes you *want* to interpret the story, or more importantly, care enough to want to.
Personally I think English should stem away from just fucking books, not get rid of them but how about try different forms of literature. Some are good at poems, some novels, but those who prefer anything visual like a movie, light novel, comic/manga or anything of the sort should apparently shut the fuck up. Like why, why is always God damn books, many like myself find books boring as hell and then you proceed to wonder why I don't give a shit about your class, but maybe if we did something else I might actually give a fuck to put in some effort. Hell why not just let us do our own thing. I don't know about you but I'd rather write a essay or a few paragraphs every month over something I personally enjoy rather than write an essay every month on something I couldn't give less of a shit about only reading out of obligation and not interest
That speaks so much about lazy English teachers wanting regurgitation of knowledge rather than critical thought. One of my English teachers made an effort to never tell anyone in the class their opinion about the book and forced people to come up with their own interpretations and it was great for me, but this was a general education class not an AP course so it became pretty clear about halfway through the presentations who copied who and who actually attempted to deep dive into the material.
My read on RU-vid is that people (like me) watch videos (like yours) to have their feelings about other media (games anime TV netflix) confirmed. If the feelings/emotions are not confirmed though, this creates an emotional dilemma that they either deny (usually the easiest, first reaction, sometimes well thought out) or confirm and incorporate into a newer emotional response to both the original media as well as your content. It's why I enjoy these responses almost more than original content, I think.
Well, self validation is most definitely one of the reasons I watch this kinda stuff, but I also like learning about all the little bits of subtext I missed (and theres always some cuz I'm oblivious as fuck)
I think it’s not just confirmation that we’re looking for. Sometimes, you find something that you do or don’t like and you can’t quite figure out why. Then you’ll find an analysis or a review of it and it’ll help you understand your own impression of the work
As a writer who loves to cram subtle stuff into as much of my work as possible, it's nice to see people explain the value of deeper analysis. Thank you.
10:19 "If you're an artist, the best thing you can do to improve your art is to find the truly great works of your field and UNDERSTAND what makes them so good.". This is honestly such good advice, this mindset is incredibly important to success. To find success, you have to understand how and why other people or things are successful. What worked and what didn't, and why? 10:49 "Studying trends and how certain ideas are conveyed in different media gives cultural anthropologists and historians a clearer understanding of how we thought during those times" CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT!!!!! having the context of the time period, region, political landscape, culture, religion, beliefs, ect. Is vital to appreciating art.
I'm very glad that you made this video at this time. I was talking about the themes of a movie (Frozen 2) the other day when I was asked to just turn my brain off and watch movies. But that doesn't feel right to me, entertainment doesn't exist just to be consumed, it exists to be thought about. At least, I think the good stuff is, anyways.
Tbh it seems like most people's problem with it really amounts to "Why can't I just have fun" Because they know that ignorance is bliss and they think that the things they just like having fun.. The idea that because you watch madoka you can't go back to the childish love of card captors sakura.. or for me.. wanting enjoy a 3 chord pop punk song after sitting through tons of experiential art. A Beatles song is still pretty even after hearing trout mask replica and can still love childish stories after reading the books consisted masterpieces.. You just got to be old enough to read fairy tales again
I really wish the phrase "ignorance is bliss" would completely fade from the public subconscious. People keep acting like that phrase existing is the only defense they need to justify themselves being uninformed about things that matter, or something. It's like the concept of "being intelligent/mature *_and_* happy" doesn't exist to those people or something.
Art analysis is important because art is important. You really hit the nail on the head when identifying that the best way to improve as an artist is to find out why good art is good. Without an audience, the dialogue of art is incomplete. Further, not paying attention to *all* the aspects of a piece of art is like only half listening to a conversation. You'll get the gist, maybe, but miss some of the details that could have really made the talk worthwhile.
As someone who is big dumb and can barely think past what excuse I’m going to use to not get out of bed I appreciate the hours of work that you smart people do by researching, analyzing and interpreting art that I’m two lazy and normie to seek out myself. Thanks guys
Yknow... this is the best I think anyone has ever argued this shit. Side note your ability to mic drop every end of your video essays makes me endlessly jealous. Holy shit.
as an artist, I can tell you that the end result of making art _isn't_ the art itself, but what the viewer experiences when viewing it. As such, a viewer putting down an analysis of their own experience is a _goldmine_ of feedback that allows the artist to not only verify what worked and what didn't, but also to reflect on what was deliberate, what was incidental and what can be leveraged from the analysis to make even better things in the future. I really, really believe in the importance for art to speak for itself.
I honestly watch your stuff (and Geoff's, but honestly not as much) BECAUSE you see what I'm not as trained to see. Watching your videos has helped me start to analyze media more for myself, to the point where (I'm a little embarrassed to say) that when I do these rants in my head, its framed like one of your video's. I will always love media with simplistic ideas (it infuriates my brother) but now I have more knowledge to form ideas about media in my own way.
I see we're still keeping the worm references up. **Excellent**. As someone who 100% almost went into English as their major, I can appreciate it. Keep up the good fight.
@@Argusthecat As much as I'd love to, it's just not logistically feasible. Not only is Worm way, way too long to do an in-depth analysis of (in a timely fashion), it has no visuals, so I don't know what I'm supposed to put on-screen while I'm talking about it.
@@ExplanationPointAnime Psssssssh. Just find other anime characters with similar powersets. For the Endbringers grab some of the baddies from Attack on Titan and doodle on them in different colors. Then play it completely straight.
never been a fan of the phrase 'just turn your brain off'. mostly cause I found some of the best shows work great on a 'brain off' level, but taking a moment to look at it with your 'brain on' makes it better.
God bless you for this. I've been trying to get people to understand this for years. As someone who has been slaving over a comic for years trying to make it as awesome as possible, it kind of offends me when people just assume that art is just something people 'do' and completely disregard the craft and heart of it, like it isn't hard work. I absolutely love your content and I wish you the best, man. Thanks for making my day better with this stellar upload. It's so cathartic hearing someone articulate your own beliefs so poignantly.
God I cant even put to words the amount of effort I go through before I even put pen to paper that it almost astounds me that people think that everyone just barfs out entire stories out of the blue when they "have an idea"
@@jahithoms4022 Tell me about it. Just the first paragraph of the first draft of the beginning of a concept represents like a week or two of brainstorming and spreadsheets lol. It's insane. And then people who have never tried to do any of this before act like we're crazy for trying to analyze and study this stuff so we can get better at it and learn how to be more efficient and effective.
@User Great Sometimes it does, yeah. Ultimately though, I've come to realize that I have my own style and I'm never going to be able to do what they did because that's not the style of art I want to make. When I see masterful works closer to what I want to do I get excited and inspired - there's a whole new work for me to study and learn from!
@User Great Exactly. Never feel bad about your inability to achieve someone else's path; study it as a means to determine how to properly walk yours. We all partake of the human experience, so by experiencing as much as you can you empower yourself to find what makes yours unique. Expressing this uniqueness of self is fundamental to practicing art, as it forms the intentions that wield the craft. The better you understand yourself, the better you can intuit what to say/put into your work. Least that's how I see it.
Ya know. This actually helps me to understand the analysis we do in highschool. I used to being the camp that hated the analysis of books and thought the teachers were being pretentious. But the way you show it. Yeah. It's a wonderful way to get us to think in new ways, to analyze patterns, hell to just think. Thank you mate
Though there is a bit of an issue about high school analysis that the stereotypical overzealous english teacher that wants students to draw deep symbolism from literally everything, but also specifically regurgitate THEIR interpretation of the text (or the interpretation that the class gave them to work with) causing kids to assume it's all pretentious garbage is its own issue.
Me: comes home late, buying Christmas stuff, tired, wanna watch some youtube stuff. Explanation Point Guy: does video good. Me: entertained for video, wanna make a comment. Comment: nice
I disagree with the whole "author intent doesn't matter" thing. I agree it may not always be the best simply due to biases or incompetence or whatever it is, but I do believe it's something to take into consideration if for no other reason than providing context. There also is such a thing as looking too much into thing or just objectively wrong interpretations. Sometimes intentionally for the sake of pushing a narrative. Like if a 3 year old draws a picture of a blue bird, you're free to try to interpret racism or misogyny from it, but anyone with even a fraction of a brain cell is going to call you a fucking idiot. Or to use real life examples, the shitstorms with the Nessa "whitewashing", Shield Hero, and Demon Slayer "nazi earrings". Aside from those, I really enjoyed the video and agree with what you said. I see this stuff a lot and it always gets on my nerves. I like being able to have a deep understanding of why I like or dislike something or why other people like or dislike something as well as what makes things good or bad. I've been drawing all my life and I'm a game design student who also wants to try writing, so this kind of media analysis helps a lot in getting me to think about things. It's also confusing because everyone technically does this on some level. Hell, that's essentially what reviews are and if you have any type of opinion on something, even if it's really basic, you have reasons for why you like or dislike it. Analysis videos are the same thing, except they go a lot deeper into why they think something is good or bad.
The problem is that the whole "author intent" argument is used to imply that any derived meaning besides what the author intended has no value and isn't worth considering. Author intent definitely matters a lot on the whole, but it has zero impact on the validity of different interpretations. And no, no amount of overthinking things will let you arrive at meaning that truly isn't there. That's called pulling shit out your ass with no basis in reality and screeching when people call your bullshit, such as usually is the case with shrieking about racism and misogyny these days.
The Random Dude For the forst part, I agree author intent isn't the be all end all; my point is just that it's not completely irrelevant and that it and outside interpretation have merit. For the second part, I'm not sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing.
>"There also is such a thing as looking too much into thing or just objectively wrong interpretations. Sometimes intentionally for the sake of pushing a narrative. Like if a 3 year old draws a picture of a blue bird, you're free to try to interpret racism or misogyny from it
@@FraserSouris The fact that one could argue about something, doesn't mean that the argument is coherent to what is actually seen in reality. There are things that are objectively wrong. In fact, most things do. If I were to analyse a game, the technical problems (glitches, camera, control-response) are either present or not. I can't "interpret" something with this without being objectively wrong. You can try to analyse something superficial to give possible reasons for it's occurrence, such as you commented. But this attempt may lead to objectively incorrect conclusions, a.k.a, conclusions that do not correspond to observable and /or measureable events of reality. Or sometimes limited conclusions that can't be extrapolated. A lot of these analysis, and a lot of "explanations" in human sciences fall under these due to the inappropriate usage of statistics, achieving conclusions based on some measured data either without a proper data collection to begin with or without understanding of the inherent limitations of data interpolation methods (limitations that are mathmaticly proven).
To be fair, bade movies made in Hollywood usually fall into two categories. 1) Work for hire projects where there's a script laying around, so producers will hire people to make a movie out of the script, regardless of the quality of the script or the artistic vision, talent, or care of the ones making the movie, mostly because the script could be made into something that trend surfs. 2) People who genuinely care about making a good movie, but just don't have the talent, skill, knowledge, or budget/artistic freedom to make something good. I know you're comment was sarcastic, but I just felt the need to say this.
The value of media analysis is not to show people another light in which they can view media. The comments are exceptions, but, thanks to the RU-vid algorithm those who like and subscribe usually share the same views. There are many, many popular media reviewers (MauLer, Critical Drinker, etc.) that you probably have not heard of, let alone posted their images on the series of reviewers. That is a testament to this point. The value of media analysis is not to inspire people to create better content? Does it? Certainly. Sure. Out of the thousands of viewers, one or two get inspired to create things of their own. Of those one or two, none of their work ever reaches the consumer. After a year of my book's publishing, for example, to my knowledge, I have one confirmed sale. And I'm the fortunate one. I don't have remote access to Hollywood or Tokyo, so my work will probably never come to light. Unless you have Japanese subtitles, I doubt your work will either. The value of media analysis is the media analysis in and of itself. You are able to take garbage content, or even quality content, and add to that content in an entertaining manner. Look at the Star Wars "Legends" Universe if you want any proof that something can be made out of nothing. The content made by the analyst has value merely be existing. It is work hours directly translated into collective years of entertainment, adding all the views. And I personally think that's something very special. So thank you for making your content, Explanation Point. I might not agree with half of it, but I certainly enjoy its value.
@@lmbusiness5300 "Mines of the Sister World." If you look it up on Google, Barnes and Noble and Kindle both have reading samples. You can read the first dozen or so pages without buying it, if you want to delve further. Sorry, I would give you a free copy, but that'd require sharing contact info, which I'm not fond of doing.
I get what are you saying but when I see shit like "Philosophy of Goku vs Jiren" I'm thinking that there is a simpler answer. Goku's SSGSS form is blue because they already used red, yellow, and green and they are trying to pretend that it isn't just canon SSJ5. Goku's hair turns white when he achieves Ultra Instinct Mastered because they already used Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and no hair color change and transformations is easier to make merchandise, moves in the video games, or trading cards. "Turn Ur Brain Off" shouldn't be an excuse for glaring flaws.
While I'd tend to agree that certain color or style choices can be just that: color and style choices, designed to either look cool or for merchandising, that doesn't necessarily exclude it from being interpreted deeper. I mean, just to use your example, the Goku vs Jiren fight has a lot of thematic resonance if you take into account every aspect of it, from their initial bout which ultimately triggers Goku's first use of Ultra Instinct to Universe 7's final attempt to defeat Jiren. On top of that, the individual hair colors of the different forms may have more meaning if you consider how Japanese culture views color. Often times, white is considered pure in Western society, but in Japan, white is often associated with death and strife. It could also be a way of linking UI to the angels, like Whis, when you consider that every angel uses UI without a problem, just by their very nature, which mastered UI is meant to symbolize Goku's "true" ascendance into godhood, if you will, especially when you take into account Vegeta's line, "Trespass into the realm of the Gods" (or something like that). Tl;dr while yes, I agree that sometimes certain aspects of media can be decided by the rule of cool or for marketing/merchandising purposes, that doesn't also necessarily preclude it from having a deeper meaning. If that were true, we wouldn't have some of the best superhero stories, whether it be in movies or comics.
Just gonna bookmark this to link every time a STEM major tries to claim that my field is bullshit... And thank you for making this! You hit a lot of the major points of the importance of dissecting art, and I hope you lean more into this style of melding anime and analysis!
Fun fact! Never actually seen Rent! Just used it because Idina Menzel played a character, and that character is referenced (along with Elsa and Elphaba) by Menzel's character in If // Then.
Every time i watch your videos i'm always so humbled, entertained, inspired and in most cases including this one speechless.The way you think,the words you choose and how you say them have such and impact on me i had to say something.
EP, I just wanted to take a minute, just sixty seconds out of my day to tell you that I always appreciate your work. You always feel like you have something meaningful to say about the things you cover, and you help me to appreciate certain works I consume moreso that I would without you. If I had known you had a patreon, I would have taken 8 years of college, gotten my degree in theoretical physics, reconciled Einstein's theory of general relatively with quantum mechanics, built a time machine, and gone back to the exact moment of it's construction. Godspeed
Amazing video Ive noticed that people who are passionate about making things are almost always people who go beyond surface level to see what makes the things they like so great
Honestly I think most of the backlash against these kind of interpretations of art is the blame of public schools. I think the negative experience of being forced through dull english classwork makes some people lash out at things like this.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick The US Educational System is SHIT. That is not Anti-Intellectualism, that is "The way we teach children new information about the world is fundamentally broken and creates a generation of kids who despise reading and literary analysis"
@@aquamarinerose5405 Yeah, but that’s not a problem inherent to exclusively public schooling. That’s a problem with the entirety of the American academic institution. As somebody who’s currently working to become a public school teacher, and very much agrees that the American school system sucks balls, I don’t think it’s fair to simply put all the blame on educators. Every part of contemporary American society is made to wear down people’s media literacy. Putting the blame on “dull English class work” instead of “the interpolation of ideology into every aspect of American society” is a cop-out.
I saw the Worm reference in this one and I want to personally thank you for mentioning it in one of your previous videos, because it is easily one of my favorite reads of the whole year.
This is straight up my favorite video on youtube. Defend your passion. Do what you love. You are damn good at it. Don't let the schmucks, for even a moment, make you think it's not worth it.
me: To sum up the intro to this video, to deny symbolism in media is to subjugate it into the role of being nothing more than a toy Roommate: Yeah but he's funnier
This reminds me of something MauLer mentioned ( I think it was in his 5-hour video essay on the last Jedi) about analyzing art. He mentions that the value in dissecting what makes bad media bad provides contrast to allow you to more enjoy those which are good. You showed the other side of this, focusing on things which are good, but in mentioning your high school project, you create a similar situation. When it's analyzed, you realized the issues it had (or had them explained to you) and this gave you tools to watch out for it in the future, or notice and enjoy it's absence. In the words of Red: so, yeah.
I will never understand why people who make the "Why can't I just have fun" comment think they can't do both. I can acknowledged fairy tail as a shit show and still enjoy it and am currently doing that with fire force.
@@Yal_Rathol Its allot of fun but as far as season one is considered the cast (save for 3 or 4 people) is still largely flat, largely annoying and the plot mostly takes a dip when it shifts from its focus on the infernal's and the tragedy behind them to a shonen villain cult who want to destroy the world, the fan service is awful (I don't normally get my narc on with fan service but when it A. breaks the flow of the story/events and B.makes me think the girls would be sexier without most of it then its a complete failure) tamaki is just the worst and the 2 blondes are so stupid that it stops being funny and just makes me feel they shouldn't be outside without supervision. there are things that I think are good, animations nice , I like like the theme of abuse going on with the cult members are hero's want to save (would be better if I cared about most of our heros), the captain of the 8th and his second in command is great and maki is amazing but yeah thats about it.
@@fictionarch by "two blondes" i assume you mean arthur and iris. and here's the thing, i can understand how and why a lot of the stuff in fire force would turn people off of it, but as i am shonen trash, i love everything about the psycho death cult, i find the fan service tolerable and i personally enjoy the characters. my only complaint about it is the simple sentence "that is not how a fire works", which is pretty weak as far as complaints go. also, if you have that much of a problem with it, don't go through soul eater. it's made by the same person who made fire force and is basically the same kind of series.
@@Yal_Rathol been a long time since I last saw Soul Eater but I really liked it (hated the ending though) Soul Eater just had a stronger overall cast for me.
@@fictionarch the anime ending is bad, they caught up to the manga. the manga has a completely different ending, and also BREW works completely differently.
I... Honestly hadn't thought about finding meaning for the sake of yourself rather than for the sake of artist intent as a valid thing. I've got a lot to consider now, thank you!
Honestly this video is a good point to say I love everything about this channel, from the analysis to the humor and the style. I'm going to school for media and while I dream of producing things, my lack of confidence gets in the way. But media analysis, even if not produced like how you create things, is something so personal and expressive that I love it. Plus, when people write or paint or create art, with enough practice, they often introduce patterns and meanings without intending to. Media analysis is how those patterns get seen and elevate works to higher levels. Thank you for the awesome channel and the stuff you create.
I don't believe anyone turns their brain off when watching something. If you like something it's because something about the show resonated with you or because the angle at which you watched something showed you hidden greatness. If you actually have to ignore what art is saying to you then your probably not having as much fun as you think
7:19 Nice reference, but, in this particular case, is it wrong that the more I hear the word "analysis" in the context of discussing Wildbow's works, the faster I close the web page? Maybe that has to do something with me being a Spacebattles denizen, but usually I see people say "interpretation doesn't have to be intentional" and "I found it, it's mine" when they mean "author should open his mouth wider, so we can put words in there" and "I've got a keyboard, therefore I decide which parts of the context matter". Sometimes the issue overthinking things, it's making logical "shortcuts" to validate a preconceived notion: the character's opinion is that of the author, a supposedly unrealistic detail is meant to enable a fantasy of his or comes from an unacceptable social background, a reviewer bending the truth in categorical expressions is "being essentially right". Rejecting that kind of argumentation isn't anti-intellectualism, it's natural discussional hygiene reflexively applied by everyone who doesn't want to spend hours upon hours quibbling over each dishonestly formulated argument the likes of which can be effortlessly thought up by the hundred. Even if the situation itsel doesn't apply to you, who puts effort and actual thought into his videos, I'd say the reaction to a rejection of your interpretation should instead be moving on, either to the next point or to the next collocutor. Sorry for the rant; must be the siren song of somebody being wrong on the internet.
I almost never comment but I'll leave one for this video. I watch a lot of analysis and essays on RU-vid and I think you just clarified (at least in part) why I like them so much. Delving into the mechanisms of anything is really fun ! Your videos in particular are precious to me. When I first watched watamote it really resonated with me but I never really understood why, watching your videos on it gave me a sense of closure after years of thinking about it for years! I'm not really able to develop my thinking when it comes to media because I often think "but that's not true that's just my opinion and bias..." hearing you confirm that, yes it is a valid way to analyse it really helps ! Thank you for all you do.
This EXACT video is a conversation ibe had time and time again. Every segment of it was something that I've tried to explain to others in some capacity, and you've made (what I PERSONALLY think is) Art that properly reflects every point and ascendance I've uttered for the sake of those explanations. I think your videos are art because the scrutiny they provide and the amount of effort to produce a cohesive explaination paired with interesting, comedic, and related imagery that ties everything together is a truly difficult thing to do, and is only done by those who can understand and appreciate the reasons to do so. I think the best part about watching your content and remembering the meaning things ive watched, but catching new things I missed because you brought it to light. I feel like I've found someone else who consumes media the same way I do when I watch your videos and that's always been tough for me. Thank you!
Some things work without thinking too hard about them, and that's fine. The most important part of entertainment is to entertain, giving a moral or intricate plot is more of an amplifier to how fun it is. Still, for some people half the fun is seeing the hidden meaning or applying lessons from art to your own life. Ya know, the benefits of having a brain. When a story does this right and I notice it that makes me enjoy the work so much more. I always enjoy hearing others interpretations and may agree/disagree with their findings, but if it comes down to the curtains were green cause they were green then I'll either try to find a more thoughtful explanation for why the author wrote it that way or dismiss them as a bad writer with theme in mind. Even rough writers can accidentally set up a theme or symbolism based on ideas they had for a scene, bad writers or a bad adaptation will just skip over setting up themes and stick to very basic ideas. Worse if there are unfortunate implications to why the curtains are green and turning off your brain is just grading art on a curve. Analyzing art makes for better people and hopefully better art. Just saying to watch SAO and turn off isn't just disrespectful to anime and what it could be, but also the writer who made some amateur work about how the digital world is becoming more tied to the real world, and discarding that and anyway to notice it just makes it all the more worse.
Damn. May the algorithm bless you, you amazing person. Seriously thanks to videos like yours and Mother’s Basement’s and many, many others, my eyes have been opened to a completely new way to engage with stories. This whole thing has got this Damien Bloodmarch quote rolling around in my head, so I’ll just leave it here: But I think it takes a critical mind to to truly appreciate something to the fullest - to be cognisant of its flaws and love it all the same.
Analysis videos are kind of my jam. I love watching a show and then watching just about every review I can get my hands on to fill the void. You learn fun things about what you love and incidentally learn what chekhov's gun means :p among other things. Love your videos dawg
He could only do maybe 1 chapter for the length he sticks to though. A full analysis of an arch would probably be longer than Lord of the Rings to watch. I'd watch it but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on this one.
@@SomeGuy1117 I mean, sure, but who says he has to dissect an entire arc or even chapters? There's lots to talk about in regards to Worm, not just chapter or arc analysis.
Love your stuff, existential point. Personally, videos like yours that go into in depth analysis help me try to process information and media that I consume in a critical way (fine tuned critical, not negative critical), which ultimately increases my enjoyment of it. So thanks, yo.
I really enjoy your videos. I study literary analysis and media criticism as a hobby and encounter many people making similar claims as the ones expressed in the video. I am very glad that you made this particular video, as I can always come back to it and remember why I love what I do. Thanks.
Okay Explaination point, as someone trying to make art their livelihood I will tell you something, if you see me use a motif inside the work, yes analyze to your hearts content when I bring it up again, as you are right I care too much about the actual symbolism of that motif for you numbskull to say “lol arbitrary” but I will tell you, I do have details simply made to make a room memorable so I don’t need to describe it every time I need to use it. Much of those details can be arbitrary or at least purely subject to my aesthetic whims. It may be because I DM as well as write, but at times the lights will go out to symbolize my characters’ existential dread, and sometimes it’ll be due to Jerry plugging in one too many coffee makers and tripping the breaker.
Maybe, but Jerry's clear dependence on caffeine could be highlighted in that scene to show how society often normalizes an addiction to coffee, using it as a joke, or treating it lightly, despite the fact that it IS a drug and IS addicted. Or perhaps Jerry is plugging these machines in for use by his friends. Could the breaker tripping be symbolic of how he gives so much of himself away in order to please his friends? Could the failure of the electronics to function properly show how he is unable to perform well in social situations, giving an explanation as to why he tries so hard to be friends with people, giving them the "coffee" of his compliments and small gifts while receiving none in return due to his social standing in the group?
Huit Lang or it could be because the electrician routes too many outlets on a single fuse and they should see to get some work done to mitigate the load on them
@@huitlang931 The fact that something "could" be, doesn't mean that it is correct or even coherent to say it actually is, especially while basing yourself on insufficient or sometimes nonexisting evidence. And the fact that sometimes it ended up being correct, doesn't mean that it will always be, especially when there is no coherent methodology to begin with. If you want to state something as a fact, then you should be scientificly coherent at least.
your one frame analysis was brilliant and gave me a deeper appreciation for using subtle elements to paint a picture and tell a story. From the bottom of my heart thank you.
Media analysis to me is like a screwdriver. It can be a tool that will help you understand how fiction works outside the superficial elements or it can become a stabbing weapon to try to put other people down for not liking media the way you like it. Use media analysis as a tool and not as a weapon. Your media experience will improve for the better.
I honestly forgot these people existed. I'm so absorbed in talking about the intricacies in various anime, movies, TV shows, etc that I forced these people from my mind after I started getting invested in story-telling. I absolutely love discussing and, even more importantly, thinking about any story that I find interesting(be it positive or negative). Not only has it made me a better person overall and give me something to be outwardly interesting to other people, but is also plain fun. Despite me not encountering these people anymore(albeit by sub-conscious choice) I can point out multiple people who go into EVERY STORY with the mindset of "turning off your brain". My mom is most likely the best example for me, because she is incapable of paying close attention to a complex fictional story. She thinks a story with flashy action and 1 dimensional characters are good because she can easily understand the cash-grabbing stories thrown at her textbook-consumer mindset. It just kind of aggravates me when people(like my mother) attempt to critique a movie despite never having any interest in relating it to any outside knowledge or experience. I remember when Black Panther came out and I was disappointed with the quality of the narrative. Not only was it just a boring plot, but I also guessed the entirety of the movie based on the first few minutes. I was later surprised, after exiting the theater, to find that the overall consensus of my family was positive. When I explained how bad the movie was to them they didn't really understand where I was coming from and indirectly told me my analysis ruined the experience(and by extension I should've just "turned my brain off"). Keep in mind, I only just entered high school at this point and was a bit of an ass, but now I can proudly say that you may hold whichever opinion you wish. But even with a healthy mindset on varied opinions, I still think the latter comment by my family was just inherently wrong, as this video proves. Sure, my analysis may have *spoiled* the movie, but it was the job of the writers and director to prevent that from happening. Making a predictable story after only looking below the very surface-level is not the fault of the audience, but of the writer, and blaming a simple consumer for pointing out such obvious faults is the exact wrong mindset to have about a movie. There are many things in this world that I understand, even if I don't necessarily agree with them, but this one opinion is something I don't think I will ever understand. Not only is the concept of me just "turning my brain off" very stupid, but also goes against my nature as someone who tries to better themselves in even the most mundane situations. I might sound a bit pretentious, but I really think I put in the effort to better myself every opportunity I get, even when watching a simple movie. I feel lost turning my brain off for anything, and it only brings less enjoyment to my experience overall. So much so that I can't believe it's possible for people to find greater enjoyment in "turning their brain off" than not. It is one of the many mysteries of man, but one of the only things that will get me to write a full, three paragraph essay in a fucking youtube comments section that no one will read anyway, completely wasting a good 20 minutes... unless?.. haha jk... unless?
So, have not watched the whole video, only a minute in, but I do want to say something because I feel it needs to brought up before going any further (and idk if it'll be talked about or not): It's way too easy to make claims of themes/symbolism on stuff in media that aren't valid because they aren't supported by said pieces of media, it's also possible to put lots of effort into something and still make something bad (example that springs to my mind is Star Wars The Last Jedi - lots of work and money thrown at it, people love projecting themes and symbolism as a defense of the movie that don't fit with what's there, and overall the movie just doesn't fit together logically enough to function on surface level or with deep thought). Themes and symbolism are not an indicator of quality, because people can basically find/project that sort of thing onto any form of media if they try hard enough - hence the whole "Curtains were blue" commentary - but it is okay to analyze this stuff and have fun with it as long as it's based in hard evidence from the piece of media being analyzed and the people talking about or analyzing said media are okay with being corrected if some error in understanding or communication has been made. Analysis can lead to greater understanding and enjoyment of media in general, but it has to be done well to ensure people aren't just making shit up to save a badly made piece of media, lest we get to a point where it isn't really possible to analyze media mechanically or critically because, "Themes are good and it has themes," or something along those lines. Not sure if that makes sense, this is kind ofa ramble, please respond if there's something you disagree with or want elaborated on!
I don't understand what "hard evidence" you can expect to find in a subjective analysis of a subjective medium open to subjective interpretation. I don't think it's right to gate-keep the ideas in what is at its core a divergent mode of thinking. Literary analysis is not science, and not seeing the meaning that someone else sees in a work invalidates neither your point nor theirs. I want to make something clear in case this comment ever gets read: a "bad", flawed, thematically dissonant piece of media can still have meaning. I say this because that throne room fight scene in the Last Jedi made me scream when I saw it. I say this because that scene towards the end when Admiral Holdo activates the hyperdrive against the Supremacy, I felt this indescribable feeling of awe and sadness at her sacrifice, at the way her entire character got put into a different context. Holdo's actions the whole movie through made absolutely zero sense, yes. But if that was what it took to deliver that feeling to me, I'll take it. I loved the idea of Rey coming from nothing, because then her story parallels Luke's more resonantly than any familial relationship with him would've. I love when stories not only deny characters what they want, they also make them question why they wanted it in the first place. Rey wanted to be more than a nobody, and the way she sought that was by having a family. But her actions have already elevated her beyond obscurity, far more than a familial relationship would've. She already realized her wish - just not in the way she wanted it realized. I think there's something very resonant in that. I think it's wrong of you to dismiss these feelings as projections - I think that's a very surface-level analysis of that analysis - and I hope watching the rest of the video helped you understand my point of view a little better.
@@JugalJainEzekiel666 I must apologize, because I think my original comment in response to yours was eaten by virtue of me not reloading the page/saving my post. I spent at least an hour or two writing the blasted thing, and had to spend time rewriting it from scratch (which means it might not be as long or as detailed a response as it was previously - apologies if I fail to address a certain point, I am literally doing this over again and might've simply missed it because of my frustration)... Also, apologies, this will come in two posts because it got so long. "I don't understand what "hard evidence" you can expect to find in a subjective analysis of a subjective medium open to subjective interpretation. I don't think it's right to gate-keep the ideas in what is at its core a divergent mode of thinking. Literary analysis is not science, and not seeing the meaning that someone else sees in a work invalidates neither your point nor theirs. " When I refer to hard evidence, I am talking about the actual text, script, or scenes inherent to a form of media - that means the book/movie/manga chapter in question and any preceding or succeeding books/movies/manga chapters and what actually happens in each panel, each visual scene, each paragraph or sentence and the context surrounding each of those things. Mediums are not wholly subjective - if it is possible to do something poorly or well, and if it is possible to set a clear criteria for judging how something is done poorly, then that means that thing can be objectively analyzed with regards to the medium in question. This is a completely separate talk compared to talking about subjective feelings or interpretations, yes - that being said, it is possible for subjective feelings or views on a subject to be based on incorrect information or an incomplete understanding or misunderstanding of what actually happens in a form of media, and that ishould be corrected or taken into account when evaluating said feelings or views Take, for instance, My Hero Academia. If one's subjective view of the series is that it promotes heroism in many different forms - especially using the promotion of the main character Midoriya - one could support this view by pointing at various examples of Midoriya being heroic (ex: him saving Bakugo at the beginning of the series, working to save Bakugo later in the series after breaking his body trying to save Koda on his own) and support that view, lending credence and validity to the view and making it easier for others to understand the view and look at the series from that angle. Conversely, if one’s subjective view of the series is that Midoriya is the main *villain* of the series who is secretly undermining the very fabric of the society he lives in by pretending to be a hero, one can use the previous examples as counterpoints to show why that view of the series is not valid or credible. The idea that one cannot see the meaning someone else sees neither invalidates one’s point or another’s is in essence promoting the idea that both of the views I just presented are valid - it is highly disingenuous and dangerously ignorant at best and actively promoting a lack of critical thinking at worst, because if both of the previous points are valid then there is no discussion to be had in the first place. Everyone is right, no one can be wrong and no one can be given no information to alter or change their views in spite of the evidence given in the work itself (as I pointed out in the previous paragraph) because everyone is right - which is a highly disturbing point of view to me and renders the original work meaningless in addition to the discussion. What I am asking for is not gate-keeping, nor is it really a divergent form of thinking - what I am asking for is fact checking with regards to ones views and to be open to taking in and assessing new information with regards to analyzing media, and to avoid over-analyzing or misinterpretations of the media in question.
"I want to make something clear in case this comment ever gets read: a "bad", flawed, thematically dissonant piece of media can still have meaning. I say this because that throne room fight scene in the Last Jedi made me scream when I saw it. I say this because that scene towards the end when Admiral Holdo activates the hyperdrive against the Supremacy, I felt this indescribable feeling of awe and sadness at her sacrifice, at the way her entire character got put into a different context. Holdo's actions the whole movie through made absolutely zero sense, yes. But if that was what it took to deliver that feeling to me, I'll take it. " You are correct in that bad/flawed/dissonant media can have meaning - said media is vital for understanding the ins and outs of how stories can be constructed, what works, what doesn’t, and what can be improved in storytelling and writing overall. It is absolutely okay to enjoy a piece of media for the feelings it can invoke - but it is not okay to justify the poor storytelling involved with such scenes purely because said scene invokes those feelings. To use the Holdo scene as an example, it invoking feelings of awe and sadness at the sacrifice and changing the context of her behavior for you specifically is fine on its own - but saying, “Holdo's actions the whole movie through made absolutely zero sense, yes. But if that was what it took to deliver that feeling to me, I'll take it.” Is highly irresponsible and ignores the possibility that said scene could’ve done the same thing but been made better overall. It’s dangerous because that attitude tells would-be writers looking at your response for reference something along the lines of, “It’s okay to do something poorly rather than try to do better and iron out all of the kinks in a story, people won’t care about logic or story or characters as long as they feel things,” which is hilariously reductive and lazy and can hurt the quality of the story they are trying to show to others - and by extension, turn away viewers they could’ve had invested in the writer’s tale due to the lack of care shown. There are thousands of possible methods of executing the buildup to Holdo’s sacrifice that could’ve invoked the same emotions without any of the cognitive dissonance inherent with the current version - not bothering with trying to learn or understand what went wrong or what could’ve been done better is laziness and a willful ignorance that is anti-ethical to the desire for improvement and understanding inherent in analysis in the first place. "I loved the idea of Rey coming from nothing, because then her story parallels Luke's more resonantly than any familial relationship with him would've. I love when stories not only deny characters what they want, they also make them question why they wanted it in the first place. Rey wanted to be more than a nobody, and the way she sought that was by having a family. But her actions have already elevated her beyond obscurity, far more than a familial relationship would've. She already realized her wish - just not in the way she wanted it realized. I think there's something very resonant in that. " It is fine if you like the ideas and when stories deny characters they want - no one is saying you cannot feel this way. That being said, it should be noted that there are some facts those views are based on that are partially incomplete or lacking in context. For instance, Rey’s desire to be more than a nobody is something that was not present in Episode 7 - there, her character was based around simply having a family who will come back to her, not that her family was famous or anything of the sort. It was why she kept wanting to go back to Jakku in spite of everything going on around her - she wanted to make sure she could meet her family, whoever they were, if they ever came back in spite of the years she spent on her own there indicating they weren’t coming. Again, it is okay if you liked the ideas and thought there was resonance in her story and Luke’s, or that she became a “somebody” through her actions without realizing it - but said views should at least take into account some of the facts of the movie and its context are poorly executed, and should not be used to excuse such poor executions at all. I am not saying that is what you are doing, just trying to make clear what I am asking for. "I think it's wrong of you to dismiss these feelings as projections - I think that's a very surface-level analysis of that analysis - and I hope watching the rest of the video helped you understand my point of view a little better." This is a misunderstanding of what I am asking for or saying - to be clear, I am NOT dismissing your feelings as projections. I never said that I was, nor was that my intention to do so. What I am trying to dismiss and/or criticize is the misinterpretation or misunderstanding of a piece of media, intentional or otherwise, to support a faulty view of the media. To use an example to be clearer - enjoying the feelings generated by watching The Room by Tommy Wiseau is absolutely fine and a blast to do, but saying The Room is a well-made piece of media by conventional standards because the acting and directing are phenomenally executed and saying no one can refute such a view because it is a subjective view is irresponsible because it normalizes poor acting, directing, script and character writing and encourages writers to avoid improving their craft. Similarly, enjoying something like TLJ is fine and dandy - but claiming Holdo is a military genius who should’ve been listened to from the beginning is ignoring information to the contrary, such as the general lack of communication that leads to a demoralized, dwindling crew that mutinies or the glaringly obvious outs to the whole thing like simply talking and being clear with Poe or doing the hyperspeed ram earlier, outs anyone who thinks for five minutes can come up with. I genuinely want to see writers improve their work and continue to get better at what they do, and I want to see well-crafted, well-executed tales with characters that are beloved and few storytelling flaws to be named. I do not want people in general to just stop trying to improve, because there is *always* something to improve and it’s a joy in and of itself to keep doing that and to analyze something to see what works and what doesn’t - and to me, simply leaving it at, “I liked this thing and no one can tell me otherwise,” gives nothing interesting to talk about. And I want to talk about stuff like this, cause it’s fun and I like learning/improving.
@@ShroudedStriker I cannot address everything you've written, but thank you for such a detailed response. "Conversely if one’s subjective view of the series is that Midoriya is the main villain of the series who is secretly undermining the very fabric of the society he lives in by pretending to be a hero..." This is a purposely disingenuous take that ignores that Midoriya did in fact get powers, and is learning to use them responsibly. He *would* be a threat to the society he lives in if he continued to pursue being a hero like All Might without those powers. His involvement with the slime monster, while heroic in a vacuum, endangered himself, Bakugo as well as All-Might. There are so many other ways for an unpowered individual like pre-hair-ingestion Midoriya to be useful. I can see this being a valid take after watching just the first episode however - it would've been a cool direction for the story to take. But that path was closed in the very next episode when All Might takes him on as a student. To play devil's advocate, let's fast forward to season 4 of MHA. Nighteye tells Midoriya that if it hadn't been for him, Mirio would've gotten All-Might's powers. This of course, puts the onus on Midoriya to prove his worthiness. Imagine a world (where this isn't a shounen anime where the future is already written in the manga) where Midoriya actually fails to do so. Wouldn't this take then be valid, that he actively endangered society by taking powers away from someone more worthy of wielding them? I've been a Midoriya stan since day 1 though, so of course this isn't my actual opinion. But I can frame a reality where this perspective would be valid - which isn't the same as blindly validating that perspective. I think it's important to engage with different viewpoints, try to imagine a reality where that viewpoint may be true - to try to understand *why* exactly this may be a logical endpoint for someone else. I think that's what true critical thinking is. "I do not want people in general to just stop trying to improve, because there is always something to improve and it’s a joy in and of itself to keep doing that and to analyze something to see what works and what doesn’t - and to me, simply leaving it at, “I liked this thing and no one can tell me otherwise,” gives nothing interesting to talk about. And I want to talk about stuff like this, cause it’s fun and I like learning/improving." I agree with all of this. I do hope my expressing appreciation for a flawed work of art doesn't discourage people from removing those flaws - because I think you and I both agree that they are flaws. What we disagree on is whether or not those flaws should color one's perception of the entire thing. Your response to the movie is laudably measured and holistic, but there was a visceral thrill in certain individual moments that belies a much better movie. I don't think one exists without the other. You wouldn't be this disappointed if the movie hadn't shown you that it could be better than its worst bits. It wasn't complete and utter trash - as a lot of the discourse online has described it. It wasn't the best it could've been either. But there were moments when it was sublime. If some things had been fixed, then it would've appealed to a wider range of people. You watch Nando v Movies right? If you haven't I'm very glad I get to introduce you. He does precisely what you're talking about, suggesting improvements to popular movies.
So... nothing you've said is wrong. But it comes very close to a bunch of bad implications about how logical arguments function. Generally, I gather what you're saying is "there's a wrong way to critique and analyze art". 100% with you there. I believe the "right way" to make arguments is with valid logical reasoning. But that's where you get problems when you demand "hard evidence." Most people have trouble following another's argument. You can "correct someone on a mistake" if it's objective, but not if it's subjective. And you can't avoid subjectivity in these things. Critique is about how art "should" be. And analysis (broadly) is about how art relates to how reality "should" be. These are norms, which are subjective. You can mix subjective statements into a logical argument. It just means your conclusions become subjective. And because analysis and critique always start with some kernel of subjective premise, the conclusions are also subjective. Full stop. Doesn't matter how much objective textual evidence you bring to the table. It doesn't make the conclusion less subjective (just less supported, convincing and fun to play along with.) Basically, interpretations aren't binary the way a purely factual arguement and conclusion are. And people know that, but they still get defensive and try to defend their own pet interpretations (as if contradiction even applied to subjective statements, which it doesn't.) Interpretations aren't mutually exclusive the way contradictory facts are. So what's the harm suspending your disbelief to hear out the themes someone else drew?
I’m not good at thinking about stories with a good brain, so it’s damn awesome that you are here so I can see at things with a bit more depth then a weeb, thanks for doing the thing that you do, makes me very happy.
8:55 But more often than not the only thing readers do in this case is infer author's intent and use that to skew their view, not view the work for what it "objectively ended up being". That's why learning as much as you can about author''s life or the rest of their body of work can cloud one's judgement just as easily as it can bring clarity. Not to mention that the connection built up that way and layed at the foundation of individual interpretation can be logically flawed. I prefer to stick to what I see as a middle ground: respect the craft of literary analysis and the validity individual interpretation while giving the preferential treatment to things stated unequivocally by the author. With the exception of objective facts contradicting their story.
I stand by what I said, MothersBasement overanalyzes and frankly projects his on views far too much for me to enjoy him. I used to like his content but over time it became less analysis and more justification for his own presupposition.
I’ve previously watched your one-frame analysis. I found the idea of analyzing a single frame of an animation to be fascinating. When you analyze a painting, you typically only have what is on the canvas to examine. With animation, there’s so many individual frames that analyzing a single one of them to the extent you did was amazing. Seeing the amount of symbolism you were able to wring out of only a single frame was a pleasure to watch. I’ve been sincerely hoping you would make it a series, if possible. I’ve always enjoyed your work, please continue to do what you do.
The funniest part about that is depending on how deeply you read into the culture of shit posting, the argument can still apply. Shitposting inherently has a goal behind it, it wants to achieve something, even in the poster themselves might not be critical of that intent. To truly "shitpost without caring" would be to intentionally make a piece of media that is designed to be so utterly ignore-able that it gathers no interest at all, yet you can see almost the exact opposite with shitposting in reality, where the intention is subvert, mock, or in some way gain attention to something. Thats the best part about all of this, is even if you aren't doing it on purpose people care about the art they make. They have hopes, from the greatest of paintings to just some shitty meme designed to subvert feelings.
Well... NO. >;D Anyway, one of the sort of issues with "author's intent" is when a community of millions of interconnected human beings start to attribute intentions to the artistic work that were in no way part of the original vision. Think when these 1000s of assumptions are shared, build upon and refined, this behavior has the effect of elevating the author to a god like degree of super intelligence... which is not fair. See that "videogame auteur" as a good example.
It was actually your Single Frame Analysis O Maidens video that convinced me to check the anime out. I'm admittedly a sucker for looking for deeper meaning, seeking the symbolism in a show, and especially the cinematography (anime-tography? How a scene or frame is set up). All the little hints in character position, background, props, even how a scene is colored all fascinate me. So hey, thank you for making these videos and helping me see even deeper. Also thanks for introducing me to cool new anime!
So, I found your channel a few days ago after your videos on SAO Abridged were recommended to me because I had just gone back and re-watched it again. It's my favorite abridged series (with DBZ-A being second) so I decided to give your video a try and what I saw immediately drew me in. From the get go you had me hooked, from the way you talked and explained things to the way you edit the video and add visuals for what you're saying, whether they actually match the things you're talking about or if they're just for funnies. Just that in itself made me enjoy the video, but everything you were saying about the genius that is SAO-A is exactly what and how I had interpreted it. From the jokes, both simple and long winded, to how in depth they make the characters made me enjoy every second I was watching and made it a better show for me, and hearing you agree with that and talk about it the same way I thought it made me feel so validated. I overthink things, sometimes too much, and it causes me to get caught in my head letting my mind run a mile a minute before I actually get to say what I wanted to say, and that especially becomes hard when speaking out loud. My brain starts to jumble words and I fumble my sentences and I start to lose how I wanted to word something. Talking ends up being easier online or through text because i'm able to keep my head focused on what I want to say; that being said I'm always looking for more whether it's a deeper meaning, something hidden on screen, or just to have a better understanding of things; my brain is constantly working and that makes it hard for me to accurately explain why it is that I like something. This isn't meant to be a brag about "haha look at me, I big thinker" but more of me saying that you did what I couldn't do. You took exactly what I was thinking, exactly how I saw this thing that I really enjoyed, and was able to accurately put it in to words so they were easy to understand. With the first video you captured my attention and I've enjoyed every video I have watched since because you really have a gift for speaking. To be honest, I'd be cool to be friends with you in real life. (also this kind of got away from me for a bit, I had a lot to say but every time I typed a new sentence I kept drifting off on everything else I wanted to say so it kinda got jumbled, sorry)
