Honestly, those empty rooms of the shelter made me feel... desperation. Like, someone was so desperately hoping they would "need" this place. Especially some of the painted stuff... Let me put it this way. Imagine a neighbour. A sweet old lady, who always gives kids some candy at halloween, helps people, sometimes bakes cookies in social gatherings, and overall a good person who can give youngsters of neighbourhood some friendly advice. And, imagine this grandma, waiting for her grandchildren to visit. Maybe they died, maybe something terrible happened. She knows, but instead of carrying the pain, she tries to be "welcoming" and cleans her house, prepares the table, the dining room. Keeps the guest rooms clean. "They will need it!" She says. You can feel the sorrow from her cracked voice time to time. You can ask her about her family. "Oh they are fine! They are just busy. You know how city life is." The desperation is chasing her like a shadow. She carries a necklace holding image of her grandchildren, she started to forget their names. She knows, you can feel it. But she still keeps the necklace. It is clean. So... clean. This... Entire shelter... Made me feel that. Someone, so desperately, trying to cling into the hope and idea that, this place would be filled with people. It will become lively again. Children will run around in the hall. Adults will gather here, sit down and talk. Families, friends... They will come back eventually. They will need more chairs. They don't use a dirty furniture right? So keep them clean. Keep them clean. Brighten up the place right?! For the people. They will come... Eventually... They have to.
Considering The Labyrinth is, indeed, cosmic horror; it's wholly unsurprising that its visuals take inspiration from the ocean considering the progenitor of cosmic horror as a whole, HP Lovecraft, is pretty well known for his frequent oceanic themes and thalassophobia.
I love the idea of apocalyptic scenarios that aren't just "humanity nuked itself", "we polluted the world", or "robots started killing everyone". This is far more interesting!
It's what the Cthulhu stuff was for people in the early 1900s. A unstoppable entity with unknown goals so above you it probably doesn't even know you're there.
Simon Stålenhag has mastered atmospheric depth and lighting. His art lacks extreme fidelity, as it's not filled to the brim with extremely sharp textures, but it feels photoreal because of the way the light interacts with the world, and every single image has so much depth I feel like I could breathe in that very air. Absolutely amazing.
@@the64bitdragon It just makes me feel such a strange and deep feeling whenever I see it, reminds me of many Analogue horror series... but even more analogue.
"Yet cruelty does not vanish; it lingers, festering in the souls of those who wield it, and those whom it is wielded against" My jaw dropped from the quality of writing exhibited in that line.
@@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat Well.. "average" is, well, average. The baseline quality that can be expected from any work. That line is, so far as I'm concerned, well above average.
@@mirosymo3331 Isn't that just Shakespeare? Stories full of fancy/ poetic writing? Also, if an entire book is full of stuff like this, then suddenly it'll no longer be as special.
Y'know, that ending honestly made me pissed off. Like, what the hell was that? And WHEN it was done, too! That was the real gut punch that made me pissed. Did that WHILE being shown affection by the person that had that thing happen to them. I'm so happy that the character that did the thing I am describing above almost certainly ended up having the environment kill 'em. Like, it was more so for me this sort of angry hatred for that character when I saw what said character was doing. ESPECIALLY everything they'd been through with the character they were doing the above-described thing to. (I wrote this obtusely on purpose, to conceal the book's plot for any comment section scrollers)
@@Martial-Mat NGL, he did practically nothing dude. He did what he had to, and quite frankly, he did what he did to someone who's clearly not a good person. The ONLY bad thing he did is letting that brat live. He should've known the terrorism would've rubbed off on him.
Simon Stalenhag is one of the best artists i've ever came across, the level of detail, the style, creativity, he's just got them all. And one aspect that makes him different from all other artists is the immersion that applies to the viewer, almost like window into another world.
i happen to live in the same area Simon Stålenhag grew up. there are illustrations in his books that are literally areas/buildings in my local area, its very surreal to see his art and have it also be basically my backyard lol.
Great video. Reminds me very much of Lovecraft's masterpiece "The Colour Out of Space": There is something truly terrifying about an entity that causes death and insanity to humans, but cannot be classified as "evil" in any sense of the word, since it does not even comprehend the concept of "being alive".
What's really cool about this to me personally is the fact that years ago, in one of my writing classes, we did an exercise where we had to write a short story using stream of consciousness writing. No outline, no brainstorming, just put pen to paper, and start writing. The story I wrote was so eerily similar to this, right down to the details in color, the ash, the otherworldly atmospheres positioned againt common everyday things left behind, etc. Like, it was so similar to this that somebody would probably think I plagiarized it, even though at the time, I'd never even heard of this guy's work. Kind of makes me think that there's a real shared sense of terror of the unknown in our subconscious minds that seems to materialize in a lot of the same ways.
sounds kinda like the Upside Down from Stranger Things as well. Also reminiscent of games like Stalker and Metro. Maybe in our mind we all carry the image of all that we know brought to desolation and decay. We all know what it feels like to be a child in a darkened house in the dead of night- Familiar, but somehow hostile
That's such a fantastic thing to get people to do. I wish my teachers had tried that with us. I need to sit down and do it at some point. The unconscious is such an incredible thing, and I think any practice that allows a clearer expression of the unconscious should be given an almost religious status in our culture.
All you need is kill has a similar feel, alien terraforming devices changing the sea to a polluted soup, filling the air with elements not conducive to life on earth. It doesn't get a lot of focus but it's the cause behind the conflict in the story
One of the themes you mentioned Stålenhag using reminded me of a term. It’s the banality of evil, called such because bureaucrats can put evil actions into such neutral terms that the act of even genocide can be seen as banal
This reminds me of an episode of Stargate SG-1. In it SG-1 have helped a population of humanoid aliens relocate and establish a colony, only for another alien ship to arrive and begin planet-forming the world to a biosphere suited to the aliens in stasis inside it. Without viewing the episode, I can't say for certain what the biosphere actually was, but I believe it was sulfur based. The factor that made the planet suitable for the humanoids was the same for the aliens: the AI running the ship requested that the humanoids leave, unaware they had no space travel tech, and required a world with those specific factors to live on. To cut this short, SG-1's intervention ended with the ship locating the humanoid aliens' original home-world, and offering to cease transforming the planet to ship them home before returning to resume its task. Perhaps the spheres didn't recognise the life on Earth as life. In that, they are as short sighted as we are: after all, Earth is the only planet we currently know harbours living things. It's difficult to think that life may exist that may not need liquid water, or free oxygen. If we struggle to accept there may be other paths to life, why do we assume that aliens wouldn't have the same issues? Would an intelligent alien species realise life in an oxygen atmosphere is possible, when the only life they knew had arisen in an ammonia rich one? A final thing: when I saw the fan shaped structures, my fist thought was how much they looked clike the fins of a lion fish!
I thought those where the tails of giant turkeys burrowing through the ash. It’s amazing what our minds can interpret when provided limited information.
@@Rono8741-m2o yes, the wiring in our brains is very complex, and the programming even more so. It's what makes us see the face of Jesus in the char marks on a piece of toast, or prayers to Allah in a cut tomato or egg plant. I wonder if there other things people have thought those fan structures resembled?
Nature (ie Chemistry) doesn’t try to make the most difficult, it just blindly makes the simplest things with what it’s got. Given that elements like oxygen, hydrogen and carbon etc are very common and have chemical properties that make life possible. Many scientists over the years have tried to imagine life based on Sulfur or silicon or whatever, but the chemistry just doesn’t work. Life, if it exists elsewhere is very, very likely to be at least vaguely like life on Earth.
There really is an unsettling feeling that accompanies an empty space that is designed to be occupied by many people. I used to be a maintenance guy at a factory that had about 200 employees working in it during the shift. On holiday weekends, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, it was my job to go around the facility and shut down the equipment for the long weekend, after the production staff had left the building. Traversing through the empty corridors and between the machinery was a very eerie and unsettling experience. It was a surreal feeling to enter an empty and lifeless work space that was normally occupied by a dozen people and the quietness of the silent machinery only amplified the unnerving sensations. People bring life to a place and in their absence a haunting atmosphere takes hold.
To some of us, that's actually a heavenly environment. I LOVED wandering the streets of Paris late at night when NOBODY was there. Some of us enjoy the freedom of solitude.
im really glad u cover more stalenhag. Hes a fantastic artist. No 3d (aside some perspective grids), no AI, just good painting, good storytelling, super great atmosphere. Just fantastic
another amazing work per usual both by Stålenhag and you. The deep nostalgia I have for these topics is so palpable, growing up on the Future is Wild and animal planet mockumentaries.
With CA posting videos for things like The labyrinth, SCP, Tales from the loop, The electric state and other worldbuilding projects I feel like the backrooms would be quite interesting to see (either the Kane Pixels or Wikidot version, maybe both even). The existential terror, liminal spaces and frankly absurd entities and environments would be perfect for him to cover at some point.
I’m very happy to know that your review of this book has arrived! Your commentary is very nice because it verbalizes what I felt in myself that I could not put into words, what I could not perceive. (I thought the contrast with the Shining was a very interesting perspective.)
I thought this video was about to discuss the Jim Henson movie, "Labyrinth". I was half-expecting those freaky puppets to show up. This was way better than what I expected. Great video.
I am reminded here of an old Thomas Disch novel called The Genocides. It’s about alien plants that overtake the earth. They are inedible to all animal life and are hyper competitive to the extent that they kill off all other plants. The book makes the point that if an alien invasion comes, humans might be far less to these aliens than aphids are to humans.
The poetic verve with which you are able to convey the works in the Altered Spaces section is simply incredible. I could not have asked for my mind to be more blown. An excellent explanation of Staulenhag's work.
This reminds me of 1971 novel Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers, aliens arrive and leave almost instantly leaving behind Zones. I feel like it has definitely inspired this book and many of the others mentioned here.
*this is the sort of story i appreciate...nothing overt or garishly violent or predictable and yet maintains the ability to progress in a logical manner within the context of the reality presented without the pretense or requirement of plot convenience to move the narrative forward* *excellent video well done...subscribed*
This artist just cant help himself from putting giant robots in things. Not complaining but i can just imagine them holding their wrist, sweating hard, while desperately trying not to put a twenty foot tall bipedal robot in a picture of a calm Scandinavian field.
The way you write feels reminiscent of Shirley Jackson and it really brings the videos to a whole new level! The somber telling of places that are just wrong is just so well done, keep up the great work.
Just finished the book CA, and you've definitely done it justice here! One of the reoccurring images that started really getting to me was that of ropes, or cables. The air hoses for the environmental suites, the cable on the cassette player, the cords that seemed to be associated with those mysterious bags...It was right near the end that I went back and re-read the passage in beginning about the cord being boiled to reduce elasticity, and that the part forming the noose being coated in paraffin... (That this statement is delivered by some random bureaucrat in a suite making all the more chilling!) It's horrible, it's beautiful, and it's awesome...I don't think I'm escaping it any time soon either...
Big fan of Simon Stålenhag’s work and have bought all four hardovers. 'The Labarynth' was the first one I read. Loved your exploration of it. Amazon's 'Tales From the Loop' was a worthy effort but fell short of capturing the magic of his original material. 'The Dark' comes much closer. Here's looking forward to more.
Chewy and thought-provoking. TY. :D I had come across Stalenhag's art decades ago, but only as individual pieces of art, and not displayed in their full form. :D
the overlook hotel and the labyrinth could be best described by the Term "liminal spaces." This is because they hold both super liminal and sub liminal aspects that convey a message using an unnatural environment that has been effected as a result of something that cannot be determined at first glance. the generally convey an unnerving, sad, or melancholic feeling. The use of liminal spaces in an apocalyptic setting such as this one is genius because they are extremely powerful tools for setting the mood of a piece, even if they can only be utilized in specific settings and are hard to pull off. if you haven't looked into liminal spaces I would suggest you do, they are an extremely complex and interesting phenomena. The earliest renditions of the Backrooms were based on the idea of liminal spaces as a psychological horror aspect, but that has sense been lost in favor of sensationalized easy to digest horror designed for and molded by the masses, thus losing it's liminal qualities.
@@Man_Aslume agreed, I was referring specifically to the facility, which is where the aspect of liminal space is effectively used to set the mood and tone the second our character(s) step in.
The dandelion seeds blowing in the wind on the mural don't seem out of place to me at all. It seems metaphorical for the toxic fog spreading on the wind in the same manner.
You got me into Simon Stalenhag, I just got this book afew days ago! Who knew you’ve be making a video on this :D also currently got and still reading tales from the loop
5:36 This is literally a liminal space for swedish people. How do I mean with that? The thing is that most liminal space photos i have seen have not given off that famous eeire feeling. I think that is because most of them are based on american enviorments But this on the other hand filled me with a massive eeiree and creepy sense of familiarity. It looks practicaly rippen out of old eldercare houses or hospitals i have been to here in 🇸🇪
Thank you very much for sharing. I really ❤ the narrative you did about The Shining AND explaining the insane imagery. It's AMAZING how talented Simon Stalenhag is. Very well done. Thank you 🙏
While it may be ambiguous weather or not Jack abused his family, it is not ambiguous that Kubrick abused the hell out of Shelley Duvall. Her distress in that film is 100% genuine.
You know, I really appreciate that you don’t give the endings away. I’m much more compelled to look deeper into Stålenhag’s work because I don’t already know how it turns out
Your narration and insight into these are really nice. You really capture it well with words. Also thanks for including the movie references! Amazing movies!
While I enjoy the exploration of humanity through darkness sometimes, I feel books where they are subject to endless darkness are just books about how tortured people react to being tortured eventually. Just various forms of exploring how to hurt people. Slow violence. In any environment, hope exists. Even in the worst wretches life, there will be a moment of something good, because what is good is defined by perspective and context. The thing about books, is the narrator has the capacity to deprive their characters of the capacity to choose to have one of those moments. Thats why the books themselves feel sadistic. Like their underlying design is the needless torture of the mind by a mind that seeks to express its own untouchable pain. Because it is an art form of that pain, it can only be about pain. Thats not what people or reality ultimately is, and so all it ends up being is an exploration of a specific component of people. A robots analysis of a part of itself. Not about people at all. That was my problem with game of thrones. The people were pieces. The world was hell because the pieces they were, were made of pain and hell. Those books felt very sadistic. Almost all interactions meant to simulate goodness were clunky. LIke an outside observers impression of how life might be enjoyed. Although I did enjoy that the axe didnt come for everyone. Usually in books where everyone's in agony all the time, no one is allowed to be ok in the end. That would mean a part of the writer was somehow ok, which is not why they wrote the book. My opinion I guess. Im just trying to describe a feeling I get from these artworks.
I would argue with you but I have seen a lot of people in the comments promoting a pro-pedophilia comic series as the next one the channel should cover so now I think you may be onto something about these unrelentingly dark worlds. Also yay another person who wasn’t sucked in by game of thrones. 😂
Thank you for your investigation into The Labyrinth. I appreciate your insight. Great review! Makes me wonder what you would do the the film Undergods!
The Endless is genuinely one of my favorite movies of all time. While it's about a cult on the surface, I think it's themes on brotherhood definitely stuck with me most. I highly recommend people watch that move, or Spring by the same directors (Benson and Moorhead)
Also, just a broad comment on how great the media referenced on this channel is. I played Norco after seeing it here and it's probably the best game I've played in the past year
Awesome rewiev. I love Simon Stålenhag. It gives the same liminal feeling as The Backrooms. Something not quite recognizable, or obvious dangerous. But unnerving after all.
Brilliantly done. Simon’s work is incredible and those interested should absolutely pick up his books. I’ve been wait for a digital, English version of this one for a few months. Clearly it’s time to look again and see if it’s there!
The huge being at the 0:05 mark looks identical to Claymore's Riful of the West abysmal being. Or an Evangelion angel. I wonder if that's where he got the idea or inspiration from... Edit: That monster never made it into the book and that's probably why; he didn't want anyone to sue him for a copywrite infraction.
Another thing often overlooked in how unnerving the Overlook Hotel from the Shining was, is the barrenness. Large, empty spaces with nobody actually taking care of them. No peeling paint, no vacuum marks on the rugs, no stains or flaws, nobody actually keeping them up but they're still pristine. Still inviolable. They're too clean, and too empty. That barren quality gives the hotel a quiet terror all its own. Many abandoned places have that, but it's mitigated by the signs of previous occupation. Someone *was* here, and now they're not. But being in the Overlook, the only evidence that anyone was ever there at all is the fact that the building is there. Too perfect, and too empty.
The concept that to some incredibly advanced intelligence out there humanity is little more than what an ant infestation is to us and that wiping us completely for the sake of building a garden is completely justifiable for them is truly terrifying, but it's also sort of beautiful in a mesmerizing kind of way.
Simon Stalenhag is one of my favorite sci-fi/cosmic horror artists of all time. I have all of his art books and even the TTRPG of Tales From The Loop. He's such an immense inspiration to me
I’ve been following Simon Stalenhaag since I was 13, and I’m 26 now. I still have one of his oldest prints of a robot way off in the distance and a man sitting on the hood looking at the landscape. It’s an environment that’s inspired a ton of my creativity and music. If anyone wants to experience a game in that type of universe, there’s a pc game called generation zero, and the entire art style is very clearly inspired by Simon’s work, down to being set in Sweden.
Don’t. Made in abyss has a lot of gross pin-up style sexualization of kids in it. Like worse than average anime which is already bad enough. At least in other anime they’re meant to be older teenagers even if they look younger, in abyss the manga artist goes out of his way to emphasis the characters being presented as fap fodder are little kids over and over and over again 🤮
The moment you mentioned the Endless I had to come down and comment: watched it fairly recently and UGH, SUCHHHHH a good movie. One of my all-time favorites.
No matter how horrifying this is, nothing could be more *existentially* horrifying to a thinking person than the movie, Pan's Labyrinth. 😱 It is a film no one should ever see, unless you enjoy special-effects-driven movies about the meaningless horror of life.
@@Chichichihuahua It's the last few seconds of it that should suddenly render an otherwise interesting film horrific. Can you tell me what happened in those last few seconds and what it meant?
@@Chichichihuahua SPOILER ALERT for anyone who hasn't seen Pan's Labyrinth: Correct me if my memory has faded since 2007, but early in the film Ofelia has kidnapped her baby brother, but at the moment she's discovered (or about to be?) the faun helps her and her brother escape into the Labyrinth. At the end of the movie, we come full circle back to that moment, but then Ofelia is shot dead, revealing that the entire story had taken place between the moment before her death and after, where we see her dead on the ground. This meant to me that everything that happened in the movie was merely a moment-before-death fantasy, and none of it meant anything. If there was a flower blooming it certainly didn't mean anything to me at the time.
@@genepozniaktrue, but, it doesnt mean that her experience in that moment was meaningless. similar themes are explored, though better, in Jacobs Ladder, where the final revelation is like a learning moment, the soul finding peace and resolution. Jacobs Ladder was done in an age where the existence of the soul was an understood idea, and seeing del Toros politics, i wonder how postmodern he is. i highly recommend Jacobs Ladder, both for its nightmarish qualities, and its reflection on the meaning of suffering upon the individual life. reminds me of Victor Frankl.
@@nyarlat2609 Although agnostic, I was caught up in the fantasy and accompanying hope it brought in the middle of such a horrific historical moment, only to be shown in the last few seconds that the entire movie was a lie and that there was ONLY fantasy and that there was NO hope, only cold death of her body on the ground. People with stronger belief systems than I will impose their own biases on it, and Del Toro can give his confusing explanations, but I saw what was on the screen.
Spoilers for Stray (the cool cat game): At the near end of the game after you, the cat climb to the top of the underground city the game takes place in you come to the entrance/lobby of the city, completely locked and separated away from the rest of the city. The city below is old, dirty, abandoned, and full of the now conscious robot assistants that you meet along the way. The lobby however is like you mentioned, a bug trapped in amber. It’s like time froze. It’s perfectly sterile in the lobby, the walls are spotless and the power still works, as it’s being tended to by the robot assistants that don’t have their free will and are just robots. When you covered the frozen in time research station that’s what immediately popped into my head, but in the case of stray, it’s not very scary at all and more just sad
Every time I expect these art books to be boring, I'm pleasantly surprised with clever concepts and movving art that convey more emotions and information than most books nowadays.
Honestly, those empty rooms of the shelter made me feel... desperation. Like, someone was so desperately hoping they would "need" this place.
Especially some of the painted stuff...
Let me put it this way.
Imagine a neighbour. A sweet old lady, who always gives kids some candy at halloween, helps people, sometimes bakes cookies in social gatherings, and overall a good person who can give youngsters of neighbourhood some friendly advice.
And, imagine this grandma, waiting for her grandchildren to visit. Maybe they died, maybe something terrible happened. She knows, but instead of carrying the pain, she tries to be "welcoming" and cleans her house, prepares the table, the dining room. Keeps the guest rooms clean.
"They will need it!" She says. You can feel the sorrow from her cracked voice time to time. You can ask her about her family.
"Oh they are fine! They are just busy. You know how city life is."
The desperation is chasing her like a shadow. She carries a necklace holding image of her grandchildren, she started to forget their names. She knows, you can feel it. But she still keeps the necklace. It is clean. So... clean.
This... Entire shelter... Made me feel that. Someone, so desperately, trying to cling into the hope and idea that, this place would be filled with people. It will become lively again. Children will run around in the hall. Adults will gather here, sit down and talk. Families, friends... They will come back eventually. They will need more chairs. They don't use a dirty furniture right? So keep them clean. Keep them clean. Brighten up the place right?! For the people. They will come... Eventually... They have to.
You nailed it.
This hurt my heart for how real it is
nice analysis
it's people trying to create a void that they hope will be filled.
I felt this a few times but meh to my feelings, i re really don't need that shet
Considering The Labyrinth is, indeed, cosmic horror; it's wholly unsurprising that its visuals take inspiration from the ocean considering the progenitor of cosmic horror as a whole, HP Lovecraft, is pretty well known for his frequent oceanic themes and thalassophobia.
hay did you do all this? balls filling the atmosphere with poison... sounds familiar doesn't it?
@@БранимирНиколов-ж7ф It does - but not to purple haze. It calls to mind the Color Out of Space, actually.
I love deep dark foreboding water
Move over Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft is new king of the goths
Jesus loves you
I love the idea of apocalyptic scenarios that aren't just "humanity nuked itself", "we polluted the world", or "robots started killing everyone". This is far more interesting!
Indeed. I am tired of people criticizing humanity, especially when they do so from the comfort of their homes by using the internet.
this is just "The unexpected happens, boo", I expected things to go down very or somewhat gradually without seeming so out of touch as an apocalypse
It's what the Cthulhu stuff was for people in the early 1900s.
A unstoppable entity with unknown goals so above you it probably doesn't even know you're there.
It's still a narrative of Humanity killing itself through inhumanity, just different from the usual methods.
Well yeah stories are always better than reality.
Simon Stålenhag has mastered atmospheric depth and lighting. His art lacks extreme fidelity, as it's not filled to the brim with extremely sharp textures, but it feels photoreal because of the way the light interacts with the world, and every single image has so much depth I feel like I could breathe in that very air. Absolutely amazing.
That air is *thick*
right? Like even just looking at the phones hanging on walls, the shawdows around light switches its really fantastic
I was wondering just what about his work gives it that touch - you hit it right on the head
I love everything Stålenhag makes, especially The Labyrinth.
@@the64bitdragon It just makes me feel such a strange and deep feeling whenever I see it, reminds me of many Analogue horror series... but even more analogue.
@@therizinosauruscheloniform2162 you mean analog right?
I love everything he does except the Labyrinth. Doo depressing with no glimmer of hope.
@therizinosauruscheloniform2162 how do you rank his stuff? Only getting started
I am in fear of what a terror film directed or a novel written by Stålenhag would look like
There is a TV series adaption of tales from the loop. If you like Sci-fi dramas you might like it.
@@nirudangaragoda5286 Really? I've never heard of it
@@Terran123rd Thanks for the info i will probably check out
Apparently Netflix is making an adaptation of The Electric State, I surely can't wait for that
@@zakyjauhariel7804 Honestly if it's from Netflix it has the potential to be really good or really bad. Or never be released at all
"Yet cruelty does not vanish; it lingers, festering in the souls of those who wield it, and those whom it is wielded against"
My jaw dropped from the quality of writing exhibited in that line.
We really are just battered and bruised from the expressly average stuff
@@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat Well.. "average" is, well, average. The baseline quality that can be expected from any work. That line is, so far as I'm concerned, well above average.
Very poetic I want books that are filled to brim with funk like that
@@mirosymo3331 Isn't that just Shakespeare? Stories full of fancy/ poetic writing? Also, if an entire book is full of stuff like this, then suddenly it'll no longer be as special.
@@TheEpicGalaxy21 true, i just like being shaken by words
This book is absolutely incredible. Another utterly heart breaking gut punch ending like The Electric state. Super, SUPER dark.
What's the name of the book?
Were can i download it online?
@@jalilbalirmo1654 its in the title. and the author is simon stahlenhag
Y'know, that ending honestly made me pissed off. Like, what the hell was that? And WHEN it was done, too! That was the real gut punch that made me pissed. Did that WHILE being shown affection by the person that had that thing happen to them. I'm so happy that the character that did the thing I am describing above almost certainly ended up having the environment kill 'em. Like, it was more so for me this sort of angry hatred for that character when I saw what said character was doing. ESPECIALLY everything they'd been through with the character they were doing the above-described thing to.
(I wrote this obtusely on purpose, to conceal the book's plot for any comment section scrollers)
@@TDOPB The "victim" absolutely deserved his fate. Trying to make amends does not negate what he did to warrant it.
@@Martial-Mat NGL, he did practically nothing dude. He did what he had to, and quite frankly, he did what he did to someone who's clearly not a good person. The ONLY bad thing he did is letting that brat live. He should've known the terrorism would've rubbed off on him.
Simon Stalenhag is one of the best artists i've ever came across, the level of detail, the style, creativity, he's just got them all. And one aspect that makes him different from all other artists is the immersion that applies to the viewer, almost like window into another world.
i happen to live in the same area Simon Stålenhag grew up. there are illustrations in his books that are literally areas/buildings in my local area, its very surreal to see his art and have it also be basically my backyard lol.
Great video. Reminds me very much of Lovecraft's masterpiece "The Colour Out of Space": There is something truly terrifying about an entity that causes death and insanity to humans, but cannot be classified as "evil" in any sense of the word, since it does not even comprehend the concept of "being alive".
Ironic how it is the one with the lack of comprehension. We just need to know "get out of its way. Or else.".
Annihilation is an adaptation of that story, but you probably already knew that.
What's really cool about this to me personally is the fact that years ago, in one of my writing classes, we did an exercise where we had to write a short story using stream of consciousness writing. No outline, no brainstorming, just put pen to paper, and start writing. The story I wrote was so eerily similar to this, right down to the details in color, the ash, the otherworldly atmospheres positioned againt common everyday things left behind, etc. Like, it was so similar to this that somebody would probably think I plagiarized it, even though at the time, I'd never even heard of this guy's work. Kind of makes me think that there's a real shared sense of terror of the unknown in our subconscious minds that seems to materialize in a lot of the same ways.
sounds kinda like the Upside Down from Stranger Things as well. Also reminiscent of games like Stalker and Metro. Maybe in our mind we all carry the image of all that we know brought to desolation and decay. We all know what it feels like to be a child in a darkened house in the dead of night- Familiar, but somehow hostile
That's such a fantastic thing to get people to do. I wish my teachers had tried that with us. I need to sit down and do it at some point. The unconscious is such an incredible thing, and I think any practice that allows a clearer expression of the unconscious should be given an almost religious status in our culture.
All you need is kill has a similar feel, alien terraforming devices changing the sea to a polluted soup, filling the air with elements not conducive to life on earth. It doesn't get a lot of focus but it's the cause behind the conflict in the story
"Common objects take on a cadaverous quality" is absolutely fantastic. Well done, sir!
Your IPhone starts to bleed!
I’m so glad you mentioned “The Endless”, it was such a fun, engaging watch!! It had some of the best film depictions of cosmic horror I’ve seen
Sucks that the writers were wasted for moon knight
One of the themes you mentioned Stålenhag using reminded me of a term. It’s the banality of evil, called such because bureaucrats can put evil actions into such neutral terms that the act of even genocide can be seen as banal
Another piece of work by Simon Stålenhag! Simon has such an interesting artstyle! I love it!
This reminds me of an episode of Stargate SG-1. In it SG-1 have helped a population of humanoid aliens relocate and establish a colony, only for another alien ship to arrive and begin planet-forming the world to a biosphere suited to the aliens in stasis inside it. Without viewing the episode, I can't say for certain what the biosphere actually was, but I believe it was sulfur based. The factor that made the planet suitable for the humanoids was the same for the aliens: the AI running the ship requested that the humanoids leave, unaware they had no space travel tech, and required a world with those specific factors to live on. To cut this short, SG-1's intervention ended with the ship locating the humanoid aliens' original home-world, and offering to cease transforming the planet to ship them home before returning to resume its task.
Perhaps the spheres didn't recognise the life on Earth as life. In that, they are as short sighted as we are: after all, Earth is the only planet we currently know harbours living things. It's difficult to think that life may exist that may not need liquid water, or free oxygen. If we struggle to accept there may be other paths to life, why do we assume that aliens wouldn't have the same issues? Would an intelligent alien species realise life in an oxygen atmosphere is possible, when the only life they knew had arisen in an ammonia rich one?
A final thing: when I saw the fan shaped structures, my fist thought was how much they looked clike the fins of a lion fish!
I thought those where the tails of giant turkeys burrowing through the ash. It’s amazing what our minds can interpret when provided limited information.
@@Rono8741-m2o yes, the wiring in our brains is very complex, and the programming even more so. It's what makes us see the face of Jesus in the char marks on a piece of toast, or prayers to Allah in a cut tomato or egg plant. I wonder if there other things people have thought those fan structures resembled?
Lion fish is also known as a Turkey fish.
Nature (ie Chemistry) doesn’t try to make the most difficult, it just blindly makes the simplest things with what it’s got. Given that elements like oxygen, hydrogen and carbon etc are very common and have chemical properties that make life possible. Many scientists over the years have tried to imagine life based on Sulfur or silicon or whatever, but the chemistry just doesn’t work. Life, if it exists elsewhere is very, very likely to be at least vaguely like life on Earth.
I've been waiting so long for a new video on the work of Simon Stalenhag and here it is. Thank you very much
There really is an unsettling feeling that accompanies an empty space that is designed to be occupied by many people.
I used to be a maintenance guy at a factory that had about 200 employees working in it during the shift. On holiday weekends, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, it was my job to go around the facility and shut down the equipment for the long weekend, after the production staff had left the building. Traversing through the empty corridors and between the machinery was a very eerie and unsettling experience. It was a surreal feeling to enter an empty and lifeless work space that was normally occupied by a dozen people and the quietness of the silent machinery only amplified the unnerving sensations. People bring life to a place and in their absence a haunting atmosphere takes hold.
I know that feeling well. I've worked at many manufacturing facilities, and had to be there when they were entirely vacant.
To some of us, that's actually a heavenly environment. I LOVED wandering the streets of Paris late at night when NOBODY was there. Some of us enjoy the freedom of solitude.
You experienced what is known as Kenopsia. The eerie or forlorn feeling associated with a place that is normally occupied but is now empty of people.
@@Intrepid_Crusader1096 Interesting, thank you for sharing that.
@@newdefsys Your welcome. There's also liminal spaces which are transitional areas from one place to another, such as hallways, tunnels or corridors.
Cosmic Horror has definitely become my favorite flavor of horror over the last few years, thanks for another great recommendation!
im really glad u cover more stalenhag. Hes a fantastic artist. No 3d (aside some perspective grids), no AI, just good painting, good storytelling, super great atmosphere. Just fantastic
“But The Labyrinth has no villains, not really. Just people who had to make terrible decisions, and people who can’t let go”-such a raw line
I'm inclined to disagree. The level of petty vindictiveness required to achieve the ending of the book is 100% a villain thing to wield.
Mountains of skulls is inherently Swedish!
Love that you're continuing to chronicle Stålenhag's work :)
another amazing work per usual both by Stålenhag and you. The deep nostalgia I have for these topics is so palpable, growing up on the Future is Wild and animal planet mockumentaries.
With CA posting videos for things like The labyrinth, SCP, Tales from the loop, The electric state and other worldbuilding projects I feel like the backrooms would be quite interesting to see (either the Kane Pixels or Wikidot version, maybe both even). The existential terror, liminal spaces and frankly absurd entities and environments would be perfect for him to cover at some point.
I was going to mention The Backrooms series (Kane Pixels) too. Fantastic stuff.
I’m very happy to know that your review of this book has arrived!
Your commentary is very nice because it verbalizes what I felt in myself that I could not put into words, what I could not perceive.
(I thought the contrast with the Shining was a very interesting perspective.)
The artwork is stunningly and nicely framed and narrated in the video. Thanks for this!
Bro Stålenhag is the GOAT of complex revelation and very unique horror art!
I love Simon Stahlenhags work! Amazing video!!!
I thought this video was about to discuss the Jim Henson movie, "Labyrinth". I was half-expecting those freaky puppets to show up. This was way better than what I expected. Great video.
YES! I was really hoping you would do this artbook too. Thank you!
God the concept of aliens terraforming earth to suit their own needs is just stellar.
I'm just imagining a _different_ group of aliens rolling up, going "wot's all this then?" and jamming the terraforming system.
exploring the shimmer in both the Annihilation movie and the books they came from deserve to be a video of it's own
I am reminded here of an old Thomas Disch novel called The Genocides. It’s about alien plants that overtake the earth. They are inedible to all animal life and are hyper competitive to the extent that they kill off all other plants. The book makes the point that if an alien invasion comes, humans might be far less to these aliens than aphids are to humans.
I love how the vintage maze commercials are edited in. Adds to the atmosphere of the video
The poetic verve with which you are able to convey the works in the Altered Spaces section is simply incredible. I could not have asked for my mind to be more blown. An excellent explanation of Staulenhag's work.
This reminds me of 1971 novel Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers, aliens arrive and leave almost instantly leaving behind Zones. I feel like it has definitely inspired this book and many of the others mentioned here.
*this is the sort of story i appreciate...nothing overt or garishly violent or predictable and yet maintains the ability to progress in a logical manner within the context of the reality presented without the pretense or requirement of plot convenience to move the narrative forward*
*excellent video well done...subscribed*
This artist just cant help himself from putting giant robots in things.
Not complaining but i can just imagine them holding their wrist, sweating hard, while desperately trying not to put a twenty foot tall bipedal robot in a picture of a calm Scandinavian field.
The way you write feels reminiscent of Shirley Jackson and it really brings the videos to a whole new level! The somber telling of places that are just wrong is just so well done, keep up the great work.
Just finished the book CA, and you've definitely done it justice here!
One of the reoccurring images that started really getting to me was that of ropes, or cables. The air hoses for the environmental suites, the cable on the cassette player, the cords that seemed to be associated with those mysterious bags...It was right near the end that I went back and re-read the passage in beginning about the cord being boiled to reduce elasticity, and that the part forming the noose being coated in paraffin...
(That this statement is delivered by some random bureaucrat in a suite making all the more chilling!)
It's horrible, it's beautiful, and it's awesome...I don't think I'm escaping it any time soon either...
The feeling in the abandoned research facility you're trying to describe is Liminal. It's a liminal space. Look that up, liminal spaces. Fascinating.
It's very liminal and you either find them scary or not
This is a good representation of what other species on earth experience with humanity running the place.
I have all of his books and I absolutely LOVE them all. The way he crafts his stories through text and imagery is awesome!
"The end of the world begins with a whisper"
Something about that phrase scares me!
istg i love this guy's videos, his voice is so relaxing and the stuff he talk about is exactly what i downloaded youtube for.
Big fan of Simon Stålenhag’s work and have bought all four hardovers. 'The Labarynth' was the first one I read. Loved your exploration of it. Amazon's 'Tales From the Loop' was a worthy effort but fell short of capturing the magic of his original material. 'The Dark' comes much closer. Here's looking forward to more.
Chewy and thought-provoking. TY. :D
I had come across Stalenhag's art decades ago, but only as individual pieces of art, and not displayed in their full form. :D
the overlook hotel and the labyrinth could be best described by the Term "liminal spaces." This is because they hold both super liminal and sub liminal aspects that convey a message using an unnatural environment that has been effected as a result of something that cannot be determined at first glance.
the generally convey an unnerving, sad, or melancholic feeling. The use of liminal spaces in an apocalyptic setting such as this one is genius because they are extremely powerful tools for setting the mood of a piece, even if they can only be utilized in specific settings and are hard to pull off.
if you haven't looked into liminal spaces I would suggest you do, they are an extremely complex and interesting phenomena.
The earliest renditions of the Backrooms were based on the idea of liminal spaces as a psychological horror aspect, but that has sense been lost in favor of sensationalized easy to digest horror designed for and molded by the masses, thus losing it's liminal qualities.
Labyrinth is ĵust too chaotic, the only thing I see the facility as liminal, Shining is a liminal space
@@Man_Aslume agreed, I was referring specifically to the facility, which is where the aspect of liminal space is effectively used to set the mood and tone the second our character(s) step in.
I discovered Simon’s work way back, and he keeps just nailing it for me
Love his work more than any other artist
The dandelion seeds blowing in the wind on the mural don't seem out of place to me at all. It seems metaphorical for the toxic fog spreading on the wind in the same manner.
There is literally nothing on youtube better than Curious Archive's explanations of Stalenhag.
I love this man's work, especially the Electric City.
You got me into Simon Stalenhag, I just got this book afew days ago! Who knew you’ve be making a video on this :D also currently got and still reading tales from the loop
This would make an awesome movie.
The intercut vintage ads are PERFECT!!!!!
5:36 This is literally a liminal space for swedish people. How do I mean with that? The thing is that most liminal space photos i have seen have not given off that famous eeire feeling. I think that is because most of them are based on american enviorments
But this on the other hand filled me with a massive eeiree and creepy sense of familiarity. It looks practicaly rippen out of old eldercare houses or hospitals i have been to here in 🇸🇪
Thank you very much for sharing. I really ❤ the narrative you did about The Shining AND explaining the insane imagery. It's AMAZING how talented Simon Stalenhag is. Very well done. Thank you 🙏
I did not expect to see Dig Dug used as an unspoken example of cosmic horror, but I'm here for it.
Or the Cameramen
Your observations about these stories is so deep and well spoken my dude. Well done.
While it may be ambiguous weather or not Jack abused his family, it is not ambiguous that Kubrick abused the hell out of Shelley Duvall. Her distress in that film is 100% genuine.
I love that in between pages there's commercials of retro games and old toys from back in the 1980's
I started listening to this video thinking it was about the David Bowie movie and it took me 5 minutes to realize it wasn't
You know, I really appreciate that you don’t give the endings away. I’m much more compelled to look deeper into Stålenhag’s work because I don’t already know how it turns out
I'm the opposite. I feel like I just wasted my time.
The Final Architecture book trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky reminds me of this! Similar unfeeling insurmountable enemy that warps space.
What a relaxing, beautiful deep dive into this eerie world. Thank you!
I love the Art of Simon Stalenhag
Your narration and insight into these are really nice. You really capture it well with words. Also thanks for including the movie references! Amazing movies!
While I enjoy the exploration of humanity through darkness sometimes, I feel books where they are subject to endless darkness are just books about how tortured people react to being tortured eventually. Just various forms of exploring how to hurt people. Slow violence.
In any environment, hope exists. Even in the worst wretches life, there will be a moment of something good, because what is good is defined by perspective and context. The thing about books, is the narrator has the capacity to deprive their characters of the capacity to choose to have one of those moments. Thats why the books themselves feel sadistic. Like their underlying design is the needless torture of the mind by a mind that seeks to express its own untouchable pain. Because it is an art form of that pain, it can only be about pain. Thats not what people or reality ultimately is, and so all it ends up being is an exploration of a specific component of people. A robots analysis of a part of itself. Not about people at all.
That was my problem with game of thrones. The people were pieces. The world was hell because the pieces they were, were made of pain and hell. Those books felt very sadistic. Almost all interactions meant to simulate goodness were clunky. LIke an outside observers impression of how life might be enjoyed.
Although I did enjoy that the axe didnt come for everyone. Usually in books where everyone's in agony all the time, no one is allowed to be ok in the end. That would mean a part of the writer was somehow ok, which is not why they wrote the book.
My opinion I guess. Im just trying to describe a feeling I get from these artworks.
I would argue with you but I have seen a lot of people in the comments promoting a pro-pedophilia comic series as the next one the channel should cover so now I think you may be onto something about these unrelentingly dark worlds. Also yay another person who wasn’t sucked in by game of thrones. 😂
Thank you for your investigation into The Labyrinth. I appreciate your insight. Great review! Makes me wonder what you would do the the film Undergods!
The Endless is genuinely one of my favorite movies of all time. While it's about a cult on the surface, I think it's themes on brotherhood definitely stuck with me most. I highly recommend people watch that move, or Spring by the same directors (Benson and Moorhead)
Also, just a broad comment on how great the media referenced on this channel is. I played Norco after seeing it here and it's probably the best game I've played in the past year
You have a fantastic knack for eloquently horriffic narration.
Awesome rewiev.
I love Simon Stålenhag. It gives the same liminal feeling as The Backrooms. Something not quite recognizable, or obvious dangerous. But unnerving after all.
Brilliantly done. Simon’s work is incredible and those interested should absolutely pick up his books. I’ve been wait for a digital, English version of this one for a few months. Clearly it’s time to look again and see if it’s there!
The huge being at the 0:05 mark looks identical to Claymore's Riful of the West abysmal being. Or an Evangelion angel. I wonder if that's where he got the idea or inspiration from... Edit: That monster never made it into the book and that's probably why; he didn't want anyone to sue him for a copywrite infraction.
This video would not have had the same impact on me without your narration.
It's not Kung Shall. It's Kungs hall. In English, King's hall.
ever since ive watched your videos from this artist ive been a big fan of their work!! thank u for talking about them !!!
Another thing often overlooked in how unnerving the Overlook Hotel from the Shining was, is the barrenness. Large, empty spaces with nobody actually taking care of them. No peeling paint, no vacuum marks on the rugs, no stains or flaws, nobody actually keeping them up but they're still pristine. Still inviolable. They're too clean, and too empty.
That barren quality gives the hotel a quiet terror all its own. Many abandoned places have that, but it's mitigated by the signs of previous occupation. Someone *was* here, and now they're not. But being in the Overlook, the only evidence that anyone was ever there at all is the fact that the building is there. Too perfect, and too empty.
Stalen back at it again with a banger
Could you stop making me dread the future Evan more than i already do?
This was a phenomenal vid. Thanks for making.
The concept that to some incredibly advanced intelligence out there humanity is little more than what an ant infestation is to us and that wiping us completely for the sake of building a garden is completely justifiable for them is truly terrifying, but it's also sort of beautiful in a mesmerizing kind of way.
Simon Stalenhag is one of my favorite sci-fi/cosmic horror artists of all time. I have all of his art books and even the TTRPG of Tales From The Loop. He's such an immense inspiration to me
Yeah, but this Labyrinth doesn't have David Bowe in tights 😢
I’ve been following Simon Stalenhaag since I was 13, and I’m 26 now. I still have one of his oldest prints of a robot way off in the distance and a man sitting on the hood looking at the landscape.
It’s an environment that’s inspired a ton of my creativity and music.
If anyone wants to experience a game in that type of universe, there’s a pc game called generation zero, and the entire art style is very clearly inspired by Simon’s work, down to being set in Sweden.
Attempt #16
*Pretty please do a video for the ecosytem from "Made in Abyss".* 💚
+1
Liking this so it'll get noticed
Don’t. Made in abyss has a lot of gross pin-up style sexualization of kids in it. Like worse than average anime which is already bad enough. At least in other anime they’re meant to be older teenagers even if they look younger, in abyss the manga artist goes out of his way to emphasis the characters being presented as fap fodder are little kids over and over and over again 🤮
I love how Simon's work is always giving me "Roadside Picnic" wibes
Ah, so this is an scp 001 proposal basically
The moment you mentioned the Endless I had to come down and comment: watched it fairly recently and UGH, SUCHHHHH a good movie. One of my all-time favorites.
Is it an actual readable book, or just images?
I was a kickstarter backer and this book still haunts me.
Have you played the game Kenshi ? I think a deep dive into its world would make an interesting video.
Thank you! Love you videos! Health and happiness!
Ok now do a video on the 'Children of Time' trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Thank you for the video! I love your work
No matter how horrifying this is, nothing could be more *existentially* horrifying to a thinking person than the movie, Pan's Labyrinth. 😱 It is a film no one should ever see, unless you enjoy special-effects-driven movies about the meaningless horror of life.
@@Chichichihuahua It's the last few seconds of it that should suddenly render an otherwise interesting film horrific. Can you tell me what happened in those last few seconds and what it meant?
@@Chichichihuahua SPOILER ALERT for anyone who hasn't seen Pan's Labyrinth: Correct me if my memory has faded since 2007, but early in the film Ofelia has kidnapped her baby brother, but at the moment she's discovered (or about to be?) the faun helps her and her brother escape into the Labyrinth. At the end of the movie, we come full circle back to that moment, but then Ofelia is shot dead, revealing that the entire story had taken place between the moment before her death and after, where we see her dead on the ground. This meant to me that everything that happened in the movie was merely a moment-before-death fantasy, and none of it meant anything.
If there was a flower blooming it certainly didn't mean anything to me at the time.
@@genepozniaktrue, but, it doesnt mean that her experience in that moment was meaningless.
similar themes are explored, though better, in Jacobs Ladder, where the final revelation is like a learning moment, the soul finding peace and resolution. Jacobs Ladder was done in an age where the existence of the soul was an understood idea, and seeing del Toros politics, i wonder how postmodern he is.
i highly recommend Jacobs Ladder, both for its nightmarish qualities, and its reflection on the meaning of suffering upon the individual life. reminds me of Victor Frankl.
@@nyarlat2609 Although agnostic, I was caught up in the fantasy and accompanying hope it brought in the middle of such a horrific historical moment, only to be shown in the last few seconds that the entire movie was a lie and that there was ONLY fantasy and that there was NO hope, only cold death of her body on the ground. People with stronger belief systems than I will impose their own biases on it, and Del Toro can give his confusing explanations, but I saw what was on the screen.
Spoilers for Stray (the cool cat game):
At the near end of the game after you, the cat climb to the top of the underground city the game takes place in you come to the entrance/lobby of the city, completely locked and separated away from the rest of the city. The city below is old, dirty, abandoned, and full of the now conscious robot assistants that you meet along the way. The lobby however is like you mentioned, a bug trapped in amber. It’s like time froze. It’s perfectly sterile in the lobby, the walls are spotless and the power still works, as it’s being tended to by the robot assistants that don’t have their free will and are just robots. When you covered the frozen in time research station that’s what immediately popped into my head, but in the case of stray, it’s not very scary at all and more just sad
Every time I expect these art books to be boring, I'm pleasantly surprised with clever concepts and movving art that convey more emotions and information than most books nowadays.
His calm voice makes it so much scarier