Shounen popularity contests
characters which are not popular enough must be killed, literally, or by omission There is this kind of economic force shaping the narrative
Selling Out
Character Marketization
the writer of spy x family:
Tatsuya Endo originally used his character design of ... in Rengoku no Ashe that one shot also has mirrored themes of darker themes (slightly dark), romantic tragedies, and found family
“I gave up on what I originally wanted to draw and drew what the world wants to see, not myself, so I have no attachment to the characters (laughs).”
market or audience pressures inevitably have an effect on the end product of any art.
an efficient market is where everyone is 'sold out'
am I forcing this connection?
The free market wants slop
- define slop
a characteristic of slop is also the transparency of the contract between you and it. it doesn't pretend as if it's straightforward; there is no pretense, and it isn't pretentious
people have written about how art-product-of-its-age
It's an interesting fantasy of mine that an artist could communicate the most specific emotion given enough craft
It would take an insane amount of proprioception and mental maturity to self-diagnose ones' values and establish a body of work an audience member could consume to educate them on the sensibilities it took to feel that specific emotion
one of my friends coined the word 'slippage' to define the difference in vision and end product and the sibling word 'craft' as the skill to reduce slippage
its rare that an artists' vision aligns with the palette of their target audience.. audience-palettability [[unusable-artists
artists convert chaos into something understandable art-is-negentropic
audiences need some anchoring to things they've seen before, as they are not creators themselves and so cannot be expected to be as thematically or artistically literate as the author
if audiences lack anchoring, they will just see random noise and will ask questions like what's the point?
so what is the point of popular media?
What is the point
(of popular media)
... but with popular media, the relationship is more...
Shounen is inherently populist transparent honesty
boldness and straightforwardness is part of why we can open ourselves to it
Does depth require some level of conceit
Sincerity
Pop fiction as something to evoke real world simulated tribalism
Pop fiction as a socialization vehicle
Stuck on Arcade level strategizing
Pop fiction can be an interactive medium, if you let it.
suspension of disbelief
"Turn your brain off" Suspension of disbelief Theory crafting, fanfiction Why does losing yourself in the sauce look so pathetic and cringe?
immature art
Shounen means 'young man' in japanese.
roguelikes and other 'infinite' genres have exploded in popularity
it's interesting to see that people are interfacing with art not as a vehicle for contemplation or growth. mediums like that - short stories, poetry - are largely on the decline.
instead people are interfacing with art which is becoming more and more immersive.
when people are not satisfied with what they've been given of a story and demand more and more content - is that a sign of escapism?
The audience of the genre is largely immature, why?
- because shounen manga also has elements of
fantasyandwish fulfillment
is skepticism really mature?
- no