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In Sun and Steel, Mishima also found it fruitless to write, almost equating it to a waste of time because it was a nocturnal pursuit. Words were white ants that ate away at experience, and words can only ever describe but never experience, etc. This realization was his paradox as a writer. This also makes him a nerd.
Yukio was deeply to his core was extremely insecure. It comes across in his writing constantly and his obsession with control and his lack there of I feel is what made him go nuts.
Can't say Ive read much of Kings books. But some of his short stories are quite weird, unsettling and well written. Thought the " The Stand" was fantastic. It's not high brow but it veers off into strange dark places.
Our reality is infinitely more interesting. Regardless of setting, any story worth existing does so to decipher some truth about our reality. Anything else should be considered a guilty pleasure
Good art makes you a fuller person who's more capable of engaging with the real world. Like with Aesop's fables, you learn truth through that narrative. Escapism only reinforces false, comforting beliefs about the real world to the point where people just want to stay in that illusion. But they can't because life will happen sooner or later.
Escapism can become a habit, one that directs away from the lived world and empowers laziness. It’s fine in moderation, but habits take on their own life if allowed.
"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!" - JRR Tolkien
@@ExpertContrarianTolkien was not only a great man and writer, he was a soldier in WWI. You're just a commentor online who likes to argue with strangers. I think most of us will take his word over yours
@kristopherhayes1957 Caveats. He makes a statement then makes conditions or modifiers that apply to that original statement. He creates tons of nuance within those caveats. Dont get me wrong, he is a great writer. Great writers create tons of nuance. Sometimes, they create so much you can't tell where its all coming from.
@@joelabel8260this video and Mishima sounds like that one idiotic IR theory called Subaltern Realism that prescribes some shit but then says “oh, except for my case, since I have justifications why that is the way it is.”
Mishima certainly did not use the word "nerd". The difference between "nerd" and "intellectual" or "academic" is pretty significant in this whole context. It's getting a bit mixed up here.
@@Harem__King Semantics that might be interesting to discuss - or not. In any case, Mishima most definitely used Japanese terminology of his time which wouldn't perfectly fit postmodern vocabulary and social phenomena of the Western world.
I subscribe to 'The Strong Story Hypothesis'. When I was in Boy Scouts on Maui in the fifth grade, we were playing capture the flag. During a lull in activity I started daydreaming a ninja was sneaking up on me, and when he lunged at me, I grabbed him and threw him over my shoulder. And it physically happened. Some other kid actually was sneaking up on me. He asked me where I learned to do that, and I told him I was just daydreaming. They tell you stories can't actually teach you how to do things that require physical experience, but if that were true, scientists would run random experiments before coming up with theories. Story always comes first. The original purpose of entertainment, why kittens play hide and seek, is preparation for real-life scenarios. And humans can do that on the page.
When my father was freaking out during Covid, at how surreal the world looked with everyone wearing masks, I said "You should have read more science fiction. Because to me, this isn't that weird."
Nah. Most people can't do a judo shoulder throw from memory. Its not impossible. If you remember how the technique is done you could potentially apply it but most people don't have the level of physicality. You are a rare exception. And well theories are just *potential* explanations to things you've already observed. Like gravity. Gravity existed before the theory for it came into being. Or Einsteins theories physics existed before any of his theories.
but that doesn't invalidate the point at all; in fact, it makes his point stronger. Nerds have recently been viewed as some kind of superior class just because the technology they happened to embrace gave them more financial opportunities and because they had more niches. But the nerd can't ever pull himself up and seek for magnanimity. There is a toxic insecurity deep inside that's eating him alive.
@rafaelgabrielgarlinidal-bo9496 no it does not. It only helps his cynical narrative of the wold which led him to his failed coup and suicide. It's really not that hard to figure out. Yall need to stop listening to radicals man. I been reading Mishima since like 12. I started with his novels and then his memoirs and finally books written specifically about him. He's a fucking nut yeah he makes some points but then you analyze everything else he said and it means nothing.
He was also laughed at in public when he tried bringing old Japanese samurai ways back in a public space in the 60s He was railing against nerds,but was pretty cringey himself tbh
I can appreciate a lighthearted story for its thrills and a profound, soul-crushing narrative for its beautiful portrayal of the human spirit. We don't have to choose between the two. I believe that exceptional writers, those who produce literature at the highest level, possess bigger souls. They grasp the human experience and intellect with greater depth and nuance. Their talent can't be replicated, no matter how hard one tries. Instead, we must strive to write with sincerity. Geniuses like Tolstoy or Dostoevsky are truly one in a million.
Yeah, I think for me one of the things I care about the most is just if writers are sincere in what they want to express, sometimes if it lacks in other aspects it might not resonate well with me but I can respect it. I hate shallow disingenuous writing. I once saw an interview of an author where he says he decides which character to kill based on how much the fans care about that character. That kind of malicious and spiteful way of making writing decisions as well as how petty and shallow it is ticks me off the most. Meaningful conclusions to characters mean nothing when shock value and a crappy attempt to evoke emotions out of an audience take priority. It just sucks. I'm sorry, this wasn't really that related to what you were saying. I was trying to stay on topic but I remembered a specific person that does what I mentioned and I really dislike how they handles their writing.
"All games infantilize, especially when you’re playing with your own psychopathy. You begin by dreaming of the Übermensch and end up smearing your shit on the bedroom wall." JG Ballard, Super Cannes
While this statement is bombastic, it is also manipulative. It implies that Nietzsche's madness was a consequence of his mindset. Which we know was not the case for Nietzsche. I've never read Super Cannes, but I hope there is more context to this quote.
So, the only “good” art is nihilistic art? Also, J.R.R. Tolkien would disagree with you and Mishima quite strongly about escapism. He said we wouldn’t begrudge a prisoner trying to find a way out of his prison.
@@TheThreatenedSwan Mishima was a nerd himself. Sure he was fit and a womanizer (also probably gay) but he was a nerd himself. Intellectual, obsessive nationalist, philosophical nerd.
@@sullivandmitry1416 True, but I was talking about Tolkien who complained about nerd culture in his own time. He absolutely did not like the kind of Marvelification of fantasy
Smirking irony is the lowest form of engagement with anything, imo. I noticed its prevalence during my BA in Creative Writing where in my workshops, the students diverted toward wit, quirk, and irony whenever they dealt with serious subjects. It was as if the idea of apprehending something complicated/nuanced/loaded in a serious manner was frightening and risky, whereas reducing that thing to something we could all chuckle too was the safer bet. It was a recurring theme in my feedback. The strange thing is many of the students didn't realize it was what they were doing. When I encouraged them to sincerely look at the character or subject they were mistreating, they tended to give it a shot and come back with positive news. Btw, this video kind of ties in with the dichotomy in Notes from Underground with the Underground Man and the "man of truth and nature."
This reminds me of how zoomers are tired of everything being a deconstructionalist narrative when all they want is meaning and signifiers. Sure, you can have great cinematography in "The Green Knight", but it's not hard to just look at something with meaning and say "nuh-uh!". Kinda why "Hereditary" went so big. It's a good, straight horror film that's actually new content based on proper reading of source materials. Books...yeah, finding good new books is hard. Maybe we'll be blessed with someone willing to write a "straight" epic soon.
@KnjazNazrath Sincerity is tough to get right because you have to empty yourself of the need for reciprocity. You have to be willing to bare a part of you that an audience may very well spit on. And the impact reverberates through your entire being. Imo it seems to take a certain kind of mental, almost spiritual training to pull off. It can easily be cringey if your ego interferes during the creative process. But it does seem to be a potent cure for irony. I think as people get more desperate to express themselves, whatever the cost, due to the realization that non expression is effectively the death of our human spirit, we'll see more straight art.
What's often regarded as a moral failing is a psychological one. Irony can be an expression of fear and/or despair, and empathy can expose and break it. Scratch a cynic and you'll find a disappointed idealist.
The same way many (not all) fantasy readers tend to be the antithesis of a hero in body and mind. The same way those who watch the most porn are the farthest from sex
@@batmann2723 because they supplant actual self development with the fantasy instead of using the fantasy to guide their journey of sef development, while having a false moral virtue the whole time
In my youth we all read escapistic stuff. We read the literature in school and went on to get a master in it (when it was not easy). We also played games all the time but it did only harm a few of us including me. I make six figures and most of my friends (former and current) make about 50-100% more than me. Don’t worry so much, guys- as long as you work, as you have stuff to achieve and create, you’ll be fine. Don’t fall for self pity and the drama of humanity unfolding in the world which you probably can’t change. Mishima is just a writer. There are thousands of writers- how many have you read? Writers sometimes have an awesome grasp on things but it was often for their own time and reality.
Mishima was very neurotic and his theories have to be viewed through that lens. He's an artist, not a philosopher, and the instability of his logic shows that. He was a brilliant writer, but he hated himself, so he came to hate being a writer. He had to come up with a reason for that. His grasp on things was very much for his own time and reality.
@@Saimlordy imo, one should not be a complete mindless follower. One should be open minded and free from all dogma, including popular philosophies. Be completely yourself. Flowers don't aspire to change colors or fit in, they simply bloom.
Ah, no? As an enjoyer of books that's a valid point but Mishima is talking about writers themselves not consumers. Think about doctors with real passion for it that are complaining about quack doctors.
@@khplaylistyt9729 I think the products of writers are much more subjective then those of doctors, so much so that they’re difficult to compare. What is he saying the writers are lacking?
@@DeathSquared7 That's clearly just an illustration of where he's coming from. I am not exactly talking about doctors, replace that with "what makes a great writer", only the subjects will be different but what makes good writing will be the same across the board. That's the point. People tastes and standards are diverse so generally that's not a problem. But saying there's no objective criteria for great stories is just plain inaccurate.
@@khplaylistyt9729there aren't objective standards to it. That's kind of the point of art. I think you might be conflating objective standards with *mainstream* standards. If you're a good enough writer, there are so many unconventional and subversive routes to creating something good.
> Lived experiences This is patently silly and I won't bicker why is that. What other worlds have writers visited to dare write a fantasy novel? None; but they don't need to do that.
@@codingfreelybeyond875 True, but those worlds are molded by their experiences and knowledge base. Everything ever written has to be grounded in some sense of humanity otherwise it would be undecipherable.
@@lbsenior Yup, and if we ever come to live in a world where there's best selling child and teen authors, it'll be a very dark and scary world in which such is possible.
Reminds me of a Bukowski quote. I think it's a conversation with Celine in Pulp. He says: Writers use to live more interesting lives than they wrote, then they wrote more interesting lives than they lived, now their lives and writing are both uninteresting.
People, including Bukowski, romanticize the past. Who were these exciting writers with interesting lives that he referred to? Homer? Shakespeare? Balzac? Writers are desk jockeys, generally. To denigrate them for that is anti-intellectual and the mark of a man insecure in his masculinity.
A hostage taker and a terrorist, he died trying to overthrow democracy, in order to install a military dictatorship, all in the name of Shinto and a puppet Emperor. That was his thing. For Sartre, it was Stalin and communism. For Heidegger and Schmidt, Nazism. For Foucault, for some damn reason, it was the Ayatollah Khomeini. For all of them, their authoritarian temperament was a hundred times more determinative than their intellect. No, Mishima would have stepped on the neck of literature, if he had his way, just like every other free-evolving thing.
While any pursuit can become a rut, fantasy provides a framework to explore ideas that simply can't be realized or cleanly articulated in a meaningful way. Real life is very often monotonous, chaotic, and seemingly meaningless; and that's not even a bad thing. There's a time to make your life an adventure and then there's a time to keep things as stable as you can, often to preserve the treasure gained from the adventure. A little escapism helps people cope with lives that need to be stable and all the stress it takes to maintain that stability.
this is why i could never understand why people would call reading or watching movies as escapism, because for me reading is a aspect of living and not an escape from it.
This is the comment I can relate to. My life is a coherent whole, I can't just alienate and escape from it. Consequently, the art I prefer is the one that doesn't want to make me go to an imaginary and unrelatable world just for the sake of it.
As much as I hate Stephen King this once again proves the wisdom of “nerds are the most oppressed minority” it is not enough for the normies to push us to the fringes, they must expunge us from our own hobbies as well.
It's not that you shouldn't enjoy your hobbies, it's not that you shouldn't reject normie life in all ways - it's that it's reprehensible to be a nerd while doing it. A nerd is not a nerd because they enjoy X, Y or Z hobbies, nor is a nerd a nerd because they're different from the well-behaved majorities. A nerd is a nerd because they're a cynical weakling who has no right to his cynicism.
@@KingBuilder525 Looking at this again, I think there's a major fallacy in the thinking 'Nerds and normies' when nerds really are some of the worst and most aggressively normie-ish normies on earth.
I heard a commentator say that the reason that Hemingway and Thompson as examples are far and above many of the modern commercial writers is because they lived actual lives. I have had a bizarre life filled with rich, frightening, and isolating experiences that have pushed me far away from the popular stream or typical Zeitgeist. Maybe I am not the deepest of individuals, but I feel duty-bound to write by the sheer preponderance of unique experiences that I have. That is what grates on me when I read a lot of modern literature: it is not that modern authors do not write what they know, it is that their palette is so narrow that I don't want to see phenomenal masterworks in monochrome for the sole reason that those are the only colors available to the creator.
I like Stephen King, but SO many of his protagonists are novelists, it's a bit embarrassing. Similarly, I feel there's something missing with Neil Gaiman, who is admittedly stylish and clever, but never quite made me fall in love with his stories -- he only ever had one 'normal' job for a short while, and even that was writing for a local paper. If you don't know what it is like to work in warehouses or shops or admin or a school or hospital or day centre, then like you say, there's less 'real life' to draw on. (It's not enough, Gaiman style, to have interviewed a few such people). I think lots of young people fall in love with the idea of 'being' a writer -- its lifestyle, status, cool-factor -- but few of them have stories they're burning to tell.
How common is the hollow life now? How common is the life that is so filled with propaganda and distraction? If people are so filled to the brim with the shallow political ideas of others (or think tanks), how are they going to be expressive alive writers? They have already been filled with something else.
Have you tried Hegel? He didn't have an actual life, so what's the problem? Was Virgil any different? What about Emily Dickinson? Lovecraft? Mary Shelley? Merton? Sienkiewicz? Słowacki? Pushkin? Nicolás Gómez Dávila? Proust? Pynchon? Beyond intellectual exchange and his artistic pursuits, did Norwid's extensive travels significantly impact his work? And if you want an example from the working class, what about Darger? What about John Creasey? The richness of one's inner world can often yield more profound insights than the mere accumulation of experiences. Thinking fuels writing. That's it. Life is painful on its own. The true test lies in the ability to transform your observations. Do you believe that farming would enhance the writing skills of the authors I mentioned? You would simply tire them out.
Mishima is a beautiful example of paradox. He lived his life as a lie, as a rigid prison cell of his own making, almost ashamed at himself and ashamed at the world. He writes of the loss of the old ways, and I agree, but at the same time was as much a product of the modern era as anyone else. Possibly gay, he punished himself by workout and seeking out women. He was ashamed of the loss of conformism and the rise of expressionism, yet was expressionistic and an outlier in society. He speaks of escapism as a lie in modern literature but used literature as an escape from his life. Paradox.
I'm really interested in the quotes attributed to Yukio Mishima that were discussed here, especially the ones about 'nerds' and their impact on literature. I've been trying to find the exact sources of these phrases in Mishima's works, but haven't had any luck so far. Could you please clarify exactly where these quotes are from? Are they directly from his writings, or are they an interpretation or paraphrase of his ideas? Thanks!
In Brazil and Portugal we are proud about the greatest writer of portuguese language, Luis de Camões. He was an actual >warrior< that even >>lost an eye in battle
In my opinion hes almost alongside Homer, Ive read the original text (since Im Brazilian) and its incredible how he manages to narrate such great events at the same time that he always maintains the same rhyme structures and with such poetical beauty.
Camões was garbage. You just can't compare him to Homer. There is a reason why everyone knows Don Quijote, the Divine Comedy, Shakespeare and Pantagruel, but no one talks about the Lusiads. It's so puffed up that it's borderline unreadable.
this is probably the most important video i have been recommended by youtube. Incredibly important topic. Not because of nerds, but because of lack of sense in media, and the question that is left behind it, what are the most important questions, and answers.
Currently working on a kind of autobiographical allegorical narrative. I, in a sense, came out of the ivory tower after seeing the bodies piling up on the ground. I appreciate your work. I'm consciously allowing optimism to guide my hand and vision towards a new literary landscape - no new tower, instead a bivvy on the plain of shared human experience.
It’s Seppuku. Cmon man you really think he took his life with a puzzle game. If you’re going to comment on a video about literature, at least use the proper wording please.
@seppuku- he's using RUclips speak, sudoku is code word for seppuku like this phrase: that guy is going to get shot someday....in Minecraft, it's a byproduct of youtube rules if what you can say
The only problem is that nerds are nerd critical and think they are not nerds because they are critical of nerds. They will condemn cynicism and that happily participate within it
I just stumbled upon your video and I am very impressed about your movement idea. I'm trying to rekindle my writing hobby after many years of being physically disabled with all the trauma and pain that entails. I'm trying to get back on my purpose of writing after years of brain fog. I am still on a self improvement path currently but I will be sure to stay tuned in to your videos from now on. Very impressed so far. ❤️🔥✝️
Good discussion here. One unfortunate reality I’ve noticed in the modern geek community is this situation where you have a large portion of the community being comprised of individuals with high intellect but low emotional understanding and health, low physical fitness, and little to no spiritual connection.
The national spirit of my country has been corrupted and sold out to foreign filth. The only real spiritual and emotional connections left are familial.
It doesn’t have to be this way. As men, I think we have an innate need to fight for something. We love war games. We love being the hero. We can fight for ourselves and fight against evil forces in any way we can.
Man, this is a seriously high quality video. I can't believe you met one of those reddit bugmen in real life. Every reddit user I've run into IRL is embarrassed of using it.
I think this thesis (it's more like a take tbh) is absolutely destructive for the very art it's trying to save because it misses the point. Judging on individuals while ignoring the structures that oppress them to end up in the places that they end up is like blaming a plant for dying in the winter. Instead of snobbing about the transcendence of literature and crying about online negativity in a self-shutting effort of finding enlightment we should be welcoming others to the world of art and trying to build something with it, trying to get everyone to express themselves in a way that contributes to our collective thoughts and shared culture. Mishima here is missing the point completely by blaming this on individuals and not in the very structures that we choose to maintain that cause this mass of soulless tired negative people with opinions derived from the need of complaining about our terribly unfair lives. Life is unfair. YOU are not the problem, YOU can't do shit about it. WE are the problem and WE can do a lot about it. If you feel that you can do things completely by yourself to improve life that are effective, this is just you ignoring your privileges. Most people don't have the chance to do so. Weak/strong or easy/difficult is an illusion that we built to keep our individualistic neurotic atomizing greedy self-destructive system pushing forward. Meritocracy. Ending this means being humble. We need a compassionate and humble world that right now we are denying daily up to the point of self-termination as a species. Individulist enlightment is absolutely not the answer. Never has been, this is a problem as old as western capitalist society and it's only going to get worse as long as we don't shut the f up about ourselves being better as others as individuals.
I think you are also completely missing the point that he is also merely expressing his stand on the matter. He has different goals than what you've mentioned and that's also okay.
This is such a terrible take. No mate it doesn’t matter how good society actually was, these misanthropic types of people would always exist. True enlightenment can only exist for the individual because inherently the vast majority of people simply are not capable of attaining it or even desiring it. Through cultivation of yourself foremost and those around you, you can become a much healthier and happy person whose mind will inherently desire helping others and making change. Any person that insists that humanity can reach utopia swiftly if we all just abruptly work together is an idiot at best or a charlatan at worst.
@@doronaznible7298 that is not only not true but also extremely dangerous. No matter how much personal enlightment you reach, you can't do shit about big corpos and nations engulfing this world ablaze for profit and power. Ofcourse a balanced approach would be the best, to cultivate ourselves as individuals and also as a society. But thinking that self enlightment leads to inherently being predisposed to helping others is so wrong that you even contradict yourself in your argument saying that you are always going to get misanthropic people anyways. Individuality leads to individuality. Colectivist principles like complementarity are WAY healthier.
@@nimlouth Yours comes across as the individualistic attitude. People high in only the individualizing moral foundations have this group think mob attitude and blown out moral circles. They take the accepted morality and push it a little further for individual status society be damned. People who whine about everything and want to make everything state owned and who try to make themselves seem like extreme bleeding hearts are bad people with bad motivations.
You know how you know that you've been online way too much? When you're reading a book and for a split second the thought enters your mind, I'm going to write a comment beneath this. Haha if that's not a wake-up call I don't know what it is
I liked what you framed up here with Mishima's quotes and your added points. I do find it hard to trust writers who have not been punched in the face or lashed out in a fit of rage yet attempt to write about it in their books. Good writing should be based on experiences and having been out on the front lines seeing it for yourself. If you want to know bright light you have to know, at least been subject to deep darkness, and as you say, live to share it.
I like a good amount of his work, predominately Forbidden Colors and The Sound of Waves. I didn't know much about him when I went of a Japanese kick in my late teens after high school, but the man is a man, flawed like the rest of us. People like what they like. Who am I to assign a value on something beyond myself?
I think Mishima could be warning about how some people are spinless and can be influenced by other people, media, literature etc. To give an example, he's warning about not becoming someone that adopts an idea just because it was presented in a book. And the pull is powerful and constant: How can you be a literature nerd and not like 2666? Or how can you dare to read Atlas Shrugged if you are lit nerd? Etc etc Doing physical things and interacting with the world gives you the distance and confidence to ditch the "lit nerd" label and do and think as you genuinely feel. I think this is what he could be warning against, his solution? Wholesome sincerity
You should totally look into Orthodox Christianity. You'd get a lot out of that, and I think you'd ironically find what Mishima is looking for and trying to describe.
Lovely video, thank you for Mishima's quotes. He is a great, insanely brave (as also his death showed) author. Writing short stories myself, looking forward to following your community and videos.
It does seem to be a pitfall tied to post modern deconstruction: that instead of taking to heart the lesson of not over indulging in escapism, deconstructions that espouse that lesson simply become a persons preferred thing to escape into.
You can look at this as a negative comment or a bit of meager constructive criticism, but patting yourself on the back for never leaving a negative comment on a video while having no problem creating a negative, clickbait thumbnail to promote your own video is hardly enlightening. As far as I can tell, this video wasn't satire, so hypocrisy is hardly the best way to get your point across.
One of your best videos. I would like to know if you would make any videos about Denis Johnson, Ray Bradbury, Joseph Conrad and Italo Calvino among many others.
My friend, it is not the Nerds, it is the normies, the midwits. It is democracy. The early internet was entirely "nerds", and compared to today, it was paradise. High IQ introverted people have enormous powerhouse potential, and high IQ extroverts were on the internet too, doing things as well. Democracy, where people value everyone's opinions (even the midwits and redditor types) has destroyed what was once good with ugliness and evil.
The concept of writing in the artistic form is to feed the masses intellectually with a sense of higher thought through a story, or a parable, with a simple plot. Now, it's just "likeable" characters with not discernible center, and "world building" with no real concept. It's stuff happening for a fanbase.
Podrías poner los textos de este, y otros autores, en otro formato que no sea blanco sobre negro. Los subtítulos en español también son blancos sobre fondo negro y se hace muy difícil leer la traducción. Enhorabuena por el contenido. Te sigo desde España.
Not quite the same thing but slightly related: movie director Alexander MacKendrick. He noted that many young artists were afraid to learn anything. Hence, why they went into the arts.
I agree. I'm not sure, but I think Mishima might have been saying that with a beautiful presentation that doesn't shy away from human depravity, the reader will naturally elevated to what he calls "religion" but what you refer to as "the heights." I'm not sure its a dichotomy. I think in the complexity of novels, the full dimension of height and depth can be explored; it just needs to be honest and well executed.
@@eskybakzu712 I was speaking historically, not personally. In my opinion, our elite culture has been wallowing in the depths for a very long time. Perhaps there's some depth deeper than any found by the whole spectrum from McCarthy going back at least to Baudelaire, but I have my doubts. We've been discovering and rediscovering that man is irredeemable for two centuries. I don't think rediscovering it yet again is the work this age asks of us.
I heard once that the problem was not nerds, but geeks, they are probably interchangeable terms, but the idea is as follows: to be a nerd, you had to study a lot and excel, in sciences and math for example and have some intellectual depth. On the other hand, a geek can be someone who lacks any academic achievement and is generally obsessed with videogames and anime. You can reason with a nerd, but a geek is basically an NPC. I might be wrong but it's a difference I've noticed.
That is what I have been taught too during the anime saga I had during the 2000's A nerd is into sciences and math A geek is obsessed with comics and other forms of escapism But many movies often mix these two together because it makes stuff more sellable. But during my trips through animecon I realized that there is a diffirence The issue is, the Nerd came first The Geek came later as a insulting slang during the 90's highschool times 😮
@@encouraginglyauthentic43 the search for happiness is not a thing to be demonized, what this writer who's been discussed in this video did was trying to "fix" himself in his obsession of an impossible ideal created in his mind and rejected of his own self, things that leaded him to political extremism and to end his own life. Be wary of the message if you don't know who send it.
I considered The Road a true fantasy when I read it. It felt like a dream, a portent. I hadn't felt that way since Lonesome Dove or The Lord of the Rings (or The Lord of the Flies for that matter). It was beautiful and dire, most of all heart-breaking.
@@DrDurango The child is the father of the man. Every adult personality was built on that universal template. If the Norman's hadn't invaded England in the 11th century, there wouldn't have been a commonwealth to invade Normandy in the 20th. Your life is suffused with meaning. You emerged from the warm glow of a never-ending cataclysm.🤣
depends on what you mean by "meaningful life", or if you believe that all good writing must come from personal experience. I think you can make something excellent and profound without having to step outside your door. A Columbian man could write a novel that's riveting and important about the life of a Japanese girl in the Edo period. There are many factors and no objective answer to this subjective quantifier.
Or, for that matter, come up with a meaningful "bumper sticker" ?? 🙄 I have lived a life though with enough mean people, but as far as the meaning of the mean people....????.... I'm still working on that. Currently collaborating with "Brian Griffith" (yes, THAT Brian) on both a novel and a screenplay 🙄🤣
Not everyone can be the hero. Some are bakers, craftsman, farmers, artists, jesters, or judge's. The meaning of your life is dependent on what metals you pour into the crucible of life, which determines the quality of the sword you carry during your time here. The path you travel is the path you carve with your sword.
I think the distinction between nerd and geek needs to be clear. Geeks geek out, perfect things and work to create without alterior motives. The nerds masturbate to that stuff, intellectually or otherwise, and occasionally emulate it. The geeks are disgusted by them, rightfully. It's a very appropriate criticism being made by Mishima. The most current form of this comes from "comedy nerds," who are wholely unfunny people but study funny people nonetheless. They critique art like a sport with rigidity, and it only serves to poison everything.
Funny thing his believe came true, square enix created a game where yukio mishima's art was twisted into lucifer destroying half of all life to save it, and modern movies sucking its dick.
There came a crisis mode when I mainly decided to read old books to condition understanding of the past, even if those books are not relevant to average lives. But that's just me.
As a suggestion, if you seek to do something in the world to reflect upon your literature, one possible route- if you're near enough to apply it- is to join or form a SAR Team, or Search And Rescue Team. It is a worthwhile endeavor.
I think there are two critiques here. One is of commercial literature, which is much stronger than in Mishima's time. I don't know what you choose to read, but currently commercial literature is pretty much softcore pornography for women. That's why women have taken over the industry suffocating every little flower of creativity that could blossom in its way. Pornographic fanfiction has become the pipeline to a career in the publishing industry and softcore 50 shades of grey type things have become the driver of the industry. The other critique is of the one who seeks to elevate himself through literature. He is point at the fakeness of such elevation.
@@ghfudrs93uuu I don't think commercial literature is much stronger than other forms of media today, than in Mishima's time, which is my point. If you make the point in absolute terms, then yes, more people are reading commercial literature today because the reading market is much larger. However, film and television have long surpassed commercial literature in this regard. You mention Twilight. The fanfiction for that franchise is even more extensive for the movies than the novel.
It is not nerds who Mishima is talking about, it is entitled brats.You see those in every aspect of lif, but they like to live especially on social media.They are not nerds, they are people who never really had any difficulties in life nor any challenge, and were just given everything, so they arrived at a point in life in which they feel guilty for that and they project that onto others, they take a moral highground by saying that they fight for other people's rights and that they are better than you because they see everything with cinicysm and spite.
I feel like this take is a little misguided, no single book changes you as a person not even a single thing changes a person. It’s how you interpret those experiences personally. Especially with art, there is many ways to interpret most art, some people read books like “No Longer Human” and walk away with the lesson that they are not alone , whatever struggles they have are not only personal to them ! Other people just take it as motivation not to SPIRAL FURTHER than they already have , and some hate it just because it’s SUPER DARK and that’s all they got , and in the end it’s all valid but none of it was written to teach you ANYTHING! it was simply a final passion project but a legendary author.no more and no less
Just out of curiosity, what is your thoughts on Charles Portis? I know True Grit is his most recognized, but Norwood and Dog of the South is well written and hilarious.
I can't be the one laughing my ass off. The quote at the start of the video is just trash talk with an attempt at philosophical prose. And it comes from a guy who killed himself. At least those nerds have enough meaning in their lives to see it through to the end.
@@darkoale3299 Great leaders in the history of makind have killed themselves in order not to be caught by enemies and give them the satisfaction of killing them. Were they weak? You know nothing about life.
Steven king isn't searching for life goals or morality in literature, whereas Mishima was. Neither is he mocking anyone, whereas Mishima is. An embarrassing suicide after failing an objectively crazy plan for a national coup is about the greatest dissatisfaction in real life I can imagine. People like Mishima and Wallace were lonely and self hating, they should be read with caution lest their self loathing is conveyed. Steven king you read on the plane as your real life moves along from one real experience to the next. For literary art that doesn't damage your sense of well being, go to eco, tolstoy, kawabata, montaigne, almost anywhere else. Find someone who was a real man and took care of his family, as a start, or else what are we talking about?
I have impression that King changed in recent books, it's just preaching all the time. I prefer his earlier books. That being said, one can't compare his writing to Mishima's. Mishima was a genius. King is ok, not bad, but Americans have better writers. For example I love John Fante. He is the one you can compare to Mishima.
@@The_Custos In his literature or on his twitter? Do you think Mishima is talking about twitter confusing art? Whether King (or Mishima) is a repulsive human being in real life is a completely different story. Unless you completely buy into Mishima's art is life shtick. Which I certainly do not.
Same thing happens with anime and video games. Shigeru Miyamoto was inspired to make Zelda from his explorations of Japanese caves when he was a kid. The creator of Pokémon was this Aspie/Autistic guy who had a love for collecting bugs. Osamu Tezuka, the father of anime, made his works from his own experiences and made some legendary stuff. Same with Hayao Miyazaki. Nowadays games are made by rich nerds that never struggled for real in their lives. Anime is made by Otakus that never struggled in their lives. It's all woke stuff and mediocre high school aged characters. The last anime that made an impression on me was Vinland Saga. The mangaka for that had a love for the Viking Culture and it shows.
While I think you're right in identifying this happening in video games and that most games are made by rich kids, I think you forget to mention that early games worked because their scope was incredibly small. Everyone who's in the gaming industry now grew up in the mid to late 2000s playing big budget console games of the time. Arcades were dying, and "gaming culture" was becoming more culturally acceptable to get into. The problem here, in my estimation, is not the nerds, it's the pretenders who get into production not to make something interesting, but to simply be a part of the ongoing discussion around games.
But if we don't 'adapt,' we won't survive. It's already hard to live as a creator and artist who has to cater to people's wants. Can you imagine if we just did 'Art'? If there's time to create Art without any audience expectations, it would be doable, but rarely do we have time for anything since we're trying to survive or take care of other people (ill, old, disabled, kids, etc.). Life is just overwhelming for some, and nobody can be very creative when they're at the bottom of the Maslow pyramid. It's almost a "nerd-or-die"... And here we go with genre fiction.
I just want to write a book that can help me have a self sustaining life. So I don’t have to work for fast food or corporations again. I would love if my book could transform someone’s or be a great part of their journey. Yet I can’t be pretentious enough to pretend. To know exactly what will happen in the future.
The psychedelic analogy is great. I've never had a more important experience than the multiple dmt trips. But when you are back, you only have memories of representations of the experience. I realized it was cheating, that it would take decades of work to reach the same places.
You are an imperfect vehicle for this mission. When I see you, I am reminded of the scene in Good Will Hunting when Chuckie is attempting to hit on Skylar and her friend.
I mean escapists fantasy like a lot of trashy isekai novels have become the same exact story with the slightest of differences like "Mc Donalds" consistently the same stuff (There are acceptions Mushoku tensei and re zero are good examples of plainly put fantastic lit from the isekai genre) I stopped writing my isekai webnovel because I wanted to make something no one else could and have some sort of impact one people and there for the world
Best advice I can give is become a lifelong learner History, philosophy, the occult,stories,human nature, symbolism If you keep absorbing information about these and other topics there's a chance you'll discover something that interests you and is obscure enough to be utilised in a story. I have a similar goal and this is my approach, I also recommend developing critical thinking, some make stories based on their values and that can work in some instances but one has to try avoid a value contraditing a fact in that instance. Storytelling is a strange art it's a singular art onto itself yet requires so much understanding of other things.
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Mishima and colleen hoover walk into a bar, the bartender walks out.
What is your opinion about Colleen Hoover !!!
@@guruprasadf07 she romanticises abuse. Don't wanna waste my time reading any of her novels.
Lol
In Sun and Steel, Mishima also found it fruitless to write, almost equating it to a waste of time because it was a nocturnal pursuit. Words were white ants that ate away at experience, and words can only ever describe but never experience, etc. This realization was his paradox as a writer. This also makes him a nerd.
Yukio was deeply to his core was extremely insecure. It comes across in his writing constantly and his obsession with control and his lack there of I feel is what made him go nuts.
Go figure lol
Thats why this guy is so funny to me
@@y_magaming9798 he was mogged too many times in life it broke him inside
Please don't way the N-Word
@@redline841 Nocturnal?
My literature prof once said that, "Good stories entertain. Great stories ENNOBLE."
Have not seen the use of this word in a long time !!!
Ahhh, The Gospels.
Can't say Ive read much of Kings books. But some of his short stories are quite weird, unsettling and well written. Thought the " The Stand" was fantastic. It's not high brow but it veers off into strange dark places.
History and Autobiographies for the win! Success leaves clues.
ur prof was a nerd 💀
I never understood why escapism was bad in any art. If art doesn’t make you go somewhere more interesting what is it good for ?
Our reality is infinitely more interesting. Regardless of setting, any story worth existing does so to decipher some truth about our reality.
Anything else should be considered a guilty pleasure
@@l2084 I think it's a kind of escapism but one that allows you to see reality on some other way
Good art makes you a fuller person who's more capable of engaging with the real world. Like with Aesop's fables, you learn truth through that narrative. Escapism only reinforces false, comforting beliefs about the real world to the point where people just want to stay in that illusion. But they can't because life will happen sooner or later.
Escapism can become a habit, one that directs away from the lived world and empowers laziness. It’s fine in moderation, but habits take on their own life if allowed.
Can't escape forever.
"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!" - JRR Tolkien
What a badass! :D
@@ExpertContrarianTolkien was not only a great man and writer, he was a soldier in WWI. You're just a commentor online who likes to argue with strangers. I think most of us will take his word over yours
@@achilleuspetreas3828 Expert-of-Nothing just deleted and ran.
@@DaviRenania It flew over your head miles.
@@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115 Okay, this time I'm the redarded one lol
He makes so many caveats that he is basically just saying: The things I like to read are the best."
Is it more caveats or nuances?
@@kristopherhayes1957They don't care either way
@kristopherhayes1957 Caveats. He makes a statement then makes conditions or modifiers that apply to that original statement. He creates tons of nuance within those caveats. Dont get me wrong, he is a great writer. Great writers create tons of nuance. Sometimes, they create so much you can't tell where its all coming from.
@@joelabel8260this video and Mishima sounds like that one idiotic IR theory called Subaltern Realism that prescribes some shit but then says “oh, except for my case, since I have justifications why that is the way it is.”
Mishima certainly did not use the word "nerd".
The difference between "nerd" and "intellectual" or "academic" is pretty significant in this whole context.
It's getting a bit mixed up here.
Mishima would've been an epic nerd hating legend though, if he was around for the Nerd Ascendance
Got you clicking and engaging!
Nerd is the new modern day version of intellectual individuality. Most nerds are geeks but not all geeks are nerds .
@@Harem__King
Semantics that might be interesting to discuss - or not.
In any case, Mishima most definitely used Japanese terminology of his time which wouldn't perfectly fit postmodern vocabulary and social phenomena of the Western world.
@@cougar2013
Sure.
Good thing!
The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.
I subscribe to 'The Strong Story Hypothesis'.
When I was in Boy Scouts on Maui in the fifth grade, we were playing capture the flag.
During a lull in activity I started daydreaming a ninja was sneaking up on me, and when he lunged at me, I grabbed him and threw him over my shoulder.
And it physically happened. Some other kid actually was sneaking up on me. He asked me where I learned to do that, and I told him I was just daydreaming.
They tell you stories can't actually teach you how to do things that require physical experience, but if that were true, scientists would run random experiments before coming up with theories.
Story always comes first. The original purpose of entertainment, why kittens play hide and seek, is preparation for real-life scenarios.
And humans can do that on the page.
When my father was freaking out during Covid, at how surreal the world looked with everyone wearing masks, I said "You should have read more science fiction. Because to me, this isn't that weird."
This.
Nah. Most people can't do a judo shoulder throw from memory. Its not impossible. If you remember how the technique is done you could potentially apply it but most people don't have the level of physicality. You are a rare exception.
And well theories are just *potential* explanations to things you've already observed.
Like gravity. Gravity existed before the theory for it came into being.
Or Einsteins theories physics existed before any of his theories.
Might have also helped if you were 62 pounds and he was 51 pounds 🤣
Nerd talks about a Nerd on How Nerds destroyed a Nerd hobby.
"Damn nerds, they've ruined nerddom!"
True. And still true today. The cycle will always repeat.
Wasn't Mishima a Nerd first and then later ( after writing for years) tried bulking up and being a martial artist?
@@JimAndAJayne Bingo. Like Nietzsche, he was an invalid, but unlike Nietzsche, he got jacked and put together a team of extraordinary individuals. 😑
@@FrancisGo.And then reality slapped him in the face.
but that doesn't invalidate the point at all; in fact, it makes his point stronger. Nerds have recently been viewed as some kind of superior class just because the technology they happened to embrace gave them more financial opportunities and because they had more niches. But the nerd can't ever pull himself up and seek for magnanimity. There is a toxic insecurity deep inside that's eating him alive.
@rafaelgabrielgarlinidal-bo9496 no it does not. It only helps his cynical narrative of the wold which led him to his failed coup and suicide. It's really not that hard to figure out. Yall need to stop listening to radicals man. I been reading Mishima since like 12. I started with his novels and then his memoirs and finally books written specifically about him. He's a fucking nut yeah he makes some points but then you analyze everything else he said and it means nothing.
He was also laughed at in public when he tried bringing old Japanese samurai ways back in a public space in the 60s
He was railing against nerds,but was pretty cringey himself tbh
I can appreciate a lighthearted story for its thrills and a profound, soul-crushing narrative for its beautiful portrayal of the human spirit. We don't have to choose between the two. I believe that exceptional writers, those who produce literature at the highest level, possess bigger souls. They grasp the human experience and intellect with greater depth and nuance. Their talent can't be replicated, no matter how hard one tries. Instead, we must strive to write with sincerity. Geniuses like Tolstoy or Dostoevsky are truly one in a million.
Yeah, I think for me one of the things I care about the most is just if writers are sincere in what they want to express, sometimes if it lacks in other aspects it might not resonate well with me but I can respect it. I hate shallow disingenuous writing. I once saw an interview of an author where he says he decides which character to kill based on how much the fans care about that character. That kind of malicious and spiteful way of making writing decisions as well as how petty and shallow it is ticks me off the most. Meaningful conclusions to characters mean nothing when shock value and a crappy attempt to evoke emotions out of an audience take priority. It just sucks.
I'm sorry, this wasn't really that related to what you were saying. I was trying to stay on topic but I remembered a specific person that does what I mentioned and I really dislike how they handles their writing.
@@rixdespo9144is that writer Gege Akutami by any chance? The creator of jujutsu kaisen?
@@Alex-he9mc Bingo.
"All games infantilize, especially when you’re playing with your own psychopathy. You begin by dreaming of the Übermensch and end up smearing your shit on the bedroom wall."
JG Ballard, Super Cannes
Ballard clearly had no friends to play uno with
And he missed that all societies are in essence games for adults. 🤷♂️
While this statement is bombastic, it is also manipulative. It implies that Nietzsche's madness was a consequence of his mindset. Which we know was not the case for Nietzsche. I've never read Super Cannes, but I hope there is more context to this quote.
So, the only “good” art is nihilistic art?
Also, J.R.R. Tolkien would disagree with you and Mishima quite strongly about escapism. He said we wouldn’t begrudge a prisoner trying to find a way out of his prison.
He complained about nerd culture happening in his lifetime
@@TheThreatenedSwan Mishima was a nerd himself. Sure he was fit and a womanizer (also probably gay) but he was a nerd himself. Intellectual, obsessive nationalist, philosophical nerd.
@@sullivandmitry1416 True, but I was talking about Tolkien who complained about nerd culture in his own time. He absolutely did not like the kind of Marvelification of fantasy
Smirking irony is the lowest form of engagement with anything, imo. I noticed its prevalence during my BA in Creative Writing where in my workshops, the students diverted toward wit, quirk, and irony whenever they dealt with serious subjects. It was as if the idea of apprehending something complicated/nuanced/loaded in a serious manner was frightening and risky, whereas reducing that thing to something we could all chuckle too was the safer bet. It was a recurring theme in my feedback. The strange thing is many of the students didn't realize it was what they were doing. When I encouraged them to sincerely look at the character or subject they were mistreating, they tended to give it a shot and come back with positive news.
Btw, this video kind of ties in with the dichotomy in Notes from Underground with the Underground Man and the "man of truth and nature."
This reminds me of how zoomers are tired of everything being a deconstructionalist narrative when all they want is meaning and signifiers. Sure, you can have great cinematography in "The Green Knight", but it's not hard to just look at something with meaning and say "nuh-uh!". Kinda why "Hereditary" went so big. It's a good, straight horror film that's actually new content based on proper reading of source materials.
Books...yeah, finding good new books is hard. Maybe we'll be blessed with someone willing to write a "straight" epic soon.
@KnjazNazrath Sincerity is tough to get right because you have to empty yourself of the need for reciprocity. You have to be willing to bare a part of you that an audience may very well spit on. And the impact reverberates through your entire being. Imo it seems to take a certain kind of mental, almost spiritual training to pull off. It can easily be cringey if your ego interferes during the creative process.
But it does seem to be a potent cure for irony. I think as people get more desperate to express themselves, whatever the cost, due to the realization that non expression is effectively the death of our human spirit, we'll see more straight art.
@@bjwnashe5589 Art is problematic because art imitates life.
@@bjwnashe5589 The great stories don't laugh at themselves.
What's often regarded as a moral failing is a psychological one. Irony can be an expression of fear and/or despair, and empathy can expose and break it.
Scratch a cynic and you'll find a disappointed idealist.
The comic book guy archetype has overtaken literature. A pretension created from a powerlessness in their personal lives
The same way many (not all) fantasy readers tend to be the antithesis of a hero in body and mind. The same way those who watch the most porn are the farthest from sex
@@maxwindom1200 why is that inherently bad though
@@batmann2723 how is either not bad?
@@batmann2723 because they supplant actual self development with the fantasy instead of using the fantasy to guide their journey of sef development, while having a false moral virtue the whole time
Which doesn't describe Mishima at all
In my youth we all read escapistic stuff. We read the literature in school and went on to get a master in it (when it was not easy). We also played games all the time but it did only harm a few of us including me. I make six figures and most of my friends (former and current) make about 50-100% more than me. Don’t worry so much, guys- as long as you work, as you have stuff to achieve and create, you’ll be fine. Don’t fall for self pity and the drama of humanity unfolding in the world which you probably can’t change. Mishima is just a writer. There are thousands of writers- how many have you read? Writers sometimes have an awesome grasp on things but it was often for their own time and reality.
Mishima was very neurotic and his theories have to be viewed through that lens. He's an artist, not a philosopher, and the instability of his logic shows that. He was a brilliant writer, but he hated himself, so he came to hate being a writer. He had to come up with a reason for that. His grasp on things was very much for his own time and reality.
One shouldn't take other's viewpoint, literature, or even oneself so seriously.
I once took Ayn Rand pretty seriously. 😶
@@JebidiahKrackedyetagain-xv9hc Ohh, I keep hearing about her. I'll have to take a look at her stuff.
I have the impression that too many people don't know how to take anything serious anymore.
That might be an even bigger problem.
Why not?
@@Saimlordy imo, one should not be a complete mindless follower. One should be open minded and free from all dogma, including popular philosophies. Be completely yourself. Flowers don't aspire to change colors or fit in, they simply bloom.
Well next to a guy who commits seppuku, we’re all nerds😅
Sad but true
Is it a criticism of escapism? That’s literally the point of art for me. It sounds to me like Mishima’s criticizing art for not being propaganda.
You nailed it
Ah, no? As an enjoyer of books that's a valid point but Mishima is talking about writers themselves not consumers. Think about doctors with real passion for it that are complaining about quack doctors.
@@khplaylistyt9729 I think the products of writers are much more subjective then those of doctors, so much so that they’re difficult to compare. What is he saying the writers are lacking?
@@DeathSquared7 That's clearly just an illustration of where he's coming from. I am not exactly talking about doctors, replace that with "what makes a great writer", only the subjects will be different but what makes good writing will be the same across the board. That's the point. People tastes and standards are diverse so generally that's not a problem. But saying there's no objective criteria for great stories is just plain inaccurate.
@@khplaylistyt9729there aren't objective standards to it. That's kind of the point of art.
I think you might be conflating objective standards with *mainstream* standards. If you're a good enough writer, there are so many unconventional and subversive routes to creating something good.
Concise summary:
Lived experiences are a necessary foundation for Tier 1 Literature that changes the world.
That’s the message of the video.
Thank you
> Lived experiences
This is patently silly and I won't bicker why is that. What other worlds have writers visited to dare write a fantasy novel? None; but they don't need to do that.
@@codingfreelybeyond875 True, but those worlds are molded by their experiences and knowledge base. Everything ever written has to be grounded in some sense of humanity otherwise it would be undecipherable.
Thanks, I didn't feel like finishing the video. And that is very true. That's why books from around 1900 are so damn awesome.
@@lbsenior Yup, and if we ever come to live in a world where there's best selling child and teen authors, it'll be a very dark and scary world in which such is possible.
Reminds me of a Bukowski quote. I think it's a conversation with Celine in Pulp. He says: Writers use to live more interesting lives than they wrote, then they wrote more interesting lives than they lived, now their lives and writing are both uninteresting.
People, including Bukowski, romanticize the past. Who were these exciting writers with interesting lives that he referred to? Homer? Shakespeare? Balzac? Writers are desk jockeys, generally. To denigrate them for that is anti-intellectual and the mark of a man insecure in his masculinity.
A hostage taker and a terrorist, he died trying to overthrow democracy, in order to install a military dictatorship, all in the name of Shinto and a puppet Emperor. That was his thing. For Sartre, it was Stalin and communism. For Heidegger and Schmidt, Nazism. For Foucault, for some damn reason, it was the Ayatollah Khomeini. For all of them, their authoritarian temperament was a hundred times more determinative than their intellect.
No, Mishima would have stepped on the neck of literature, if he had his way, just like every other free-evolving thing.
wish I could like it at least a thousand times.
While any pursuit can become a rut, fantasy provides a framework to explore ideas that simply can't be realized or cleanly articulated in a meaningful way. Real life is very often monotonous, chaotic, and seemingly meaningless; and that's not even a bad thing. There's a time to make your life an adventure and then there's a time to keep things as stable as you can, often to preserve the treasure gained from the adventure. A little escapism helps people cope with lives that need to be stable and all the stress it takes to maintain that stability.
The key word is "a little"
this is why i could never understand why people would call reading or watching movies as escapism, because for me reading is a aspect of living and not an escape from it.
This is the comment I can relate to. My life is a coherent whole, I can't just alienate and escape from it. Consequently, the art I prefer is the one that doesn't want to make me go to an imaginary and unrelatable world just for the sake of it.
Exactly. I don't escape, I incorporate.
As much as I hate Stephen King this once again proves the wisdom of “nerds are the most oppressed minority” it is not enough for the normies to push us to the fringes, they must expunge us from our own hobbies as well.
It's not that you shouldn't enjoy your hobbies, it's not that you shouldn't reject normie life in all ways - it's that it's reprehensible to be a nerd while doing it. A nerd is not a nerd because they enjoy X, Y or Z hobbies, nor is a nerd a nerd because they're different from the well-behaved majorities. A nerd is a nerd because they're a cynical weakling who has no right to his cynicism.
@@ExpertContrarian "I don't understand, would you please clarify?" is the phrase you're looking for.
@@KingBuilder525 Looking at this again, I think there's a major fallacy in the thinking 'Nerds and normies' when nerds really are some of the worst and most aggressively normie-ish normies on earth.
It seems like you are the normie
@@DaviRenania Don't try that with me. I've been complaining about woke in media since before it was called that.
I heard a commentator say that the reason that Hemingway and Thompson as examples are far and above many of the modern commercial writers is because they lived actual lives. I have had a bizarre life filled with rich, frightening, and isolating experiences that have pushed me far away from the popular stream or typical Zeitgeist. Maybe I am not the deepest of individuals, but I feel duty-bound to write by the sheer preponderance of unique experiences that I have. That is what grates on me when I read a lot of modern literature: it is not that modern authors do not write what they know, it is that their palette is so narrow that I don't want to see phenomenal masterworks in monochrome for the sole reason that those are the only colors available to the creator.
*Kafka has entered the chat*
Good luck.
I like Stephen King, but SO many of his protagonists are novelists, it's a bit embarrassing. Similarly, I feel there's something missing with Neil Gaiman, who is admittedly stylish and clever, but never quite made me fall in love with his stories -- he only ever had one 'normal' job for a short while, and even that was writing for a local paper.
If you don't know what it is like to work in warehouses or shops or admin or a school or hospital or day centre, then like you say, there's less 'real life' to draw on. (It's not enough, Gaiman style, to have interviewed a few such people).
I think lots of young people fall in love with the idea of 'being' a writer -- its lifestyle, status, cool-factor -- but few of them have stories they're burning to tell.
How common is the hollow life now?
How common is the life that is so filled with propaganda and distraction?
If people are so filled to the brim with the shallow political ideas of others (or think tanks), how are they going to be expressive alive writers? They have already been filled with something else.
Have you tried Hegel? He didn't have an actual life, so what's the problem? Was Virgil any different? What about Emily Dickinson? Lovecraft? Mary Shelley? Merton? Sienkiewicz? Słowacki? Pushkin? Nicolás Gómez Dávila? Proust? Pynchon? Beyond intellectual exchange and his artistic pursuits, did Norwid's extensive travels significantly impact his work? And if you want an example from the working class, what about Darger? What about John Creasey? The richness of one's inner world can often yield more profound insights than the mere accumulation of experiences. Thinking fuels writing. That's it. Life is painful on its own. The true test lies in the ability to transform your observations. Do you believe that farming would enhance the writing skills of the authors I mentioned? You would simply tire them out.
Mishima is a beautiful example of paradox. He lived his life as a lie, as a rigid prison cell of his own making, almost ashamed at himself and ashamed at the world. He writes of the loss of the old ways, and I agree, but at the same time was as much a product of the modern era as anyone else. Possibly gay, he punished himself by workout and seeking out women. He was ashamed of the loss of conformism and the rise of expressionism, yet was expressionistic and an outlier in society. He speaks of escapism as a lie in modern literature but used literature as an escape from his life.
Paradox.
I'm really interested in the quotes attributed to Yukio Mishima that were discussed here, especially the ones about 'nerds' and their impact on literature. I've been trying to find the exact sources of these phrases in Mishima's works, but haven't had any luck so far. Could you please clarify exactly where these quotes are from? Are they directly from his writings, or are they an interpretation or paraphrase of his ideas? Thanks!
"NERDS!✊🤬" - Yukio Mishima, June 20 1953
the irony of you complaining about irony, and then accusing "nerds online" of being judgmental is immense.
subscribed.
In Brazil and Portugal we are proud about the greatest writer of portuguese language, Luis de Camões. He was an actual >warrior< that even >>lost an eye in battle
In my opinion hes almost alongside Homer, Ive read the original text (since Im Brazilian) and its incredible how he manages to narrate such great events at the same time that he always maintains the same rhyme structures and with such poetical beauty.
Camões was garbage. You just can't compare him to Homer. There is a reason why everyone knows Don Quijote, the Divine Comedy, Shakespeare and Pantagruel, but no one talks about the Lusiads. It's so puffed up that it's borderline unreadable.
this is probably the most important video i have been recommended by youtube.
Incredibly important topic. Not because of nerds, but because of lack of sense in media, and the question that is left behind it, what are the most important questions, and answers.
Currently working on a kind of autobiographical allegorical narrative. I, in a sense, came out of the ivory tower after seeing the bodies piling up on the ground. I appreciate your work. I'm consciously allowing optimism to guide my hand and vision towards a new literary landscape - no new tower, instead a bivvy on the plain of shared human experience.
Yukio Mishima is a bit nut though. This guy committed sudoku!
he must have been real hardcore about his sudoku
@@nguyenhs9800 Seppuku.
It’s Seppuku. Cmon man you really think he took his life with a puzzle game. If you’re going to comment on a video about literature, at least use the proper wording please.
@seppuku- he's using RUclips speak, sudoku is code word for seppuku like this phrase: that guy is going to get shot someday....in Minecraft, it's a byproduct of youtube rules if what you can say
@@williamsova9313 Maybe some people are just more intense about their sudoku sessions than others. In Japan they play to win.
The only problem is that nerds are nerd critical and think they are not nerds because they are critical of nerds. They will condemn cynicism and that happily participate within it
Maybe in some cases, but even Mishima here is talking about himself.
This is pretty much a case of if you consume a lot of media this is you
I just stumbled upon your video and I am very impressed about your movement idea. I'm trying to rekindle my writing hobby after many years of being physically disabled with all the trauma and pain that entails. I'm trying to get back on my purpose of writing after years of brain fog. I am still on a self improvement path currently but I will be sure to stay tuned in to your videos from now on. Very impressed so far. ❤️🔥✝️
Good discussion here.
One unfortunate reality I’ve noticed in the modern geek community is this situation where you have a large portion of the community being comprised of individuals with high intellect but low emotional understanding and health, low physical fitness, and little to no spiritual connection.
The national spirit of my country has been corrupted and sold out to foreign filth. The only real spiritual and emotional connections left are familial.
All of your statements are true for me
Yep
It doesn’t have to be this way.
As men, I think we have an innate need to fight for something. We love war games. We love being the hero.
We can fight for ourselves and fight against evil forces in any way we can.
Man, this is a seriously high quality video. I can't believe you met one of those reddit bugmen in real life. Every reddit user I've run into IRL is embarrassed of using it.
I'm not and I don't really understand why people despise it and despise themselves for using it, as long as it isn't the only thing you ever do.
I think this thesis (it's more like a take tbh) is absolutely destructive for the very art it's trying to save because it misses the point. Judging on individuals while ignoring the structures that oppress them to end up in the places that they end up is like blaming a plant for dying in the winter.
Instead of snobbing about the transcendence of literature and crying about online negativity in a self-shutting effort of finding enlightment we should be welcoming others to the world of art and trying to build something with it, trying to get everyone to express themselves in a way that contributes to our collective thoughts and shared culture. Mishima here is missing the point completely by blaming this on individuals and not in the very structures that we choose to maintain that cause this mass of soulless tired negative people with opinions derived from the need of complaining about our terribly unfair lives.
Life is unfair. YOU are not the problem, YOU can't do shit about it. WE are the problem and WE can do a lot about it. If you feel that you can do things completely by yourself to improve life that are effective, this is just you ignoring your privileges. Most people don't have the chance to do so.
Weak/strong or easy/difficult is an illusion that we built to keep our individualistic neurotic atomizing greedy self-destructive system pushing forward. Meritocracy. Ending this means being humble. We need a compassionate and humble world that right now we are denying daily up to the point of self-termination as a species. Individulist enlightment is absolutely not the answer. Never has been, this is a problem as old as western capitalist society and it's only going to get worse as long as we don't shut the f up about ourselves being better as others as individuals.
Best addition to this discussion imo
I think you are also completely missing the point that he is also merely expressing his stand on the matter. He has different goals than what you've mentioned and that's also okay.
This is such a terrible take. No mate it doesn’t matter how good society actually was, these misanthropic types of people would always exist. True enlightenment can only exist for the individual because inherently the vast majority of people simply are not capable of attaining it or even desiring it. Through cultivation of yourself foremost and those around you, you can become a much healthier and happy person whose mind will inherently desire helping others and making change. Any person that insists that humanity can reach utopia swiftly if we all just abruptly work together is an idiot at best or a charlatan at worst.
@@doronaznible7298 that is not only not true but also extremely dangerous. No matter how much personal enlightment you reach, you can't do shit about big corpos and nations engulfing this world ablaze for profit and power. Ofcourse a balanced approach would be the best, to cultivate ourselves as individuals and also as a society. But thinking that self enlightment leads to inherently being predisposed to helping others is so wrong that you even contradict yourself in your argument saying that you are always going to get misanthropic people anyways.
Individuality leads to individuality. Colectivist principles like complementarity are WAY healthier.
@@nimlouth Yours comes across as the individualistic attitude. People high in only the individualizing moral foundations have this group think mob attitude and blown out moral circles. They take the accepted morality and push it a little further for individual status society be damned. People who whine about everything and want to make everything state owned and who try to make themselves seem like extreme bleeding hearts are bad people with bad motivations.
I now want to read Mishima. I've heard him praised so many times, and now I am interested.
First video of yours buddy, thanks for the content. Just subbed
We live in the era of Revenge of the Nerds. Being picked last in kickball has lasting consequences.
You know how you know that you've been online way too much?
When you're reading a book and for a split second the thought enters your mind, I'm going to write a comment beneath this.
Haha if that's not a wake-up call I don't know what it is
I liked what you framed up here with Mishima's quotes and your added points. I do find it hard to trust writers who have not been punched in the face or lashed out in a fit of rage yet attempt to write about it in their books. Good writing should be based on experiences and having been out on the front lines seeing it for yourself. If you want to know bright light you have to know, at least been subject to deep darkness, and as you say, live to share it.
I like a good amount of his work, predominately Forbidden Colors and The Sound of Waves. I didn't know much about him when I went of a Japanese kick in my late teens after high school, but the man is a man, flawed like the rest of us.
People like what they like. Who am I to assign a value on something beyond myself?
I think Mishima could be warning about how some people are spinless and can be influenced by other people, media, literature etc.
To give an example, he's warning about not becoming someone that adopts an idea just because it was presented in a book. And the pull is powerful and constant: How can you be a literature nerd and not like 2666? Or how can you dare to read Atlas Shrugged if you are lit nerd? Etc etc
Doing physical things and interacting with the world gives you the distance and confidence to ditch the "lit nerd" label and do and think as you genuinely feel.
I think this is what he could be warning against, his solution? Wholesome sincerity
You should totally look into Orthodox Christianity. You'd get a lot out of that, and I think you'd ironically find what Mishima is looking for and trying to describe.
I understand this as saying that the point of is not to escape from life but to be inspired to live.
You're saving my life right now and this is the only comment I've ever left online
BRO I LOVE YOUR CHANNEL. SO INSPIRED.
Lovely video, thank you for Mishima's quotes. He is a great, insanely brave (as also his death showed) author. Writing short stories myself, looking forward to following your community and videos.
Man brother this video was waaayyyy better than I expected. Appreciate you and your hardwork
It does seem to be a pitfall tied to post modern deconstruction: that instead of taking to heart the lesson of not over indulging in escapism, deconstructions that espouse that lesson simply become a persons preferred thing to escape into.
You can look at this as a negative comment or a bit of meager constructive criticism, but patting yourself on the back for never leaving a negative comment on a video while having no problem creating a negative, clickbait thumbnail to promote your own video is hardly enlightening. As far as I can tell, this video wasn't satire, so hypocrisy is hardly the best way to get your point across.
Ian, where does the cited fragments come from?
One of your best videos.
I would like to know if you would make any videos about Denis Johnson, Ray Bradbury, Joseph Conrad and Italo Calvino among many others.
My friend, it is not the Nerds, it is the normies, the midwits. It is democracy. The early internet was entirely "nerds", and compared to today, it was paradise. High IQ introverted people have enormous powerhouse potential, and high IQ extroverts were on the internet too, doing things as well. Democracy, where people value everyone's opinions (even the midwits and redditor types) has destroyed what was once good with ugliness and evil.
The concept of writing in the artistic form is to feed the masses intellectually with a sense of higher thought through a story, or a parable, with a simple plot. Now, it's just "likeable" characters with not discernible center, and "world building" with no real concept. It's stuff happening for a fanbase.
Podrías poner los textos de este, y otros autores, en otro formato que no sea blanco sobre negro. Los subtítulos en español también son blancos sobre fondo negro y se hace muy difícil leer la traducción. Enhorabuena por el contenido. Te sigo desde España.
Not quite the same thing but slightly related: movie director Alexander MacKendrick. He noted that many young artists were afraid to learn anything. Hence, why they went into the arts.
I like Mishima, and he's on to something, but I submit that our challenge is more the heights than the depths. We have to risk, and survive, vertigo.
I agree. I'm not sure, but I think Mishima might have been saying that with a beautiful presentation that doesn't shy away from human depravity, the reader will naturally elevated to what he calls "religion" but what you refer to as "the heights." I'm not sure its a dichotomy. I think in the complexity of novels, the full dimension of height and depth can be explored; it just needs to be honest and well executed.
This disagrees with many mythologies, but only partly. First comes the depths, then the height
@@eskybakzu712 I was speaking historically, not personally. In my opinion, our elite culture has been wallowing in the depths for a very long time. Perhaps there's some depth deeper than any found by the whole spectrum from McCarthy going back at least to Baudelaire, but I have my doubts. We've been discovering and rediscovering that man is irredeemable for two centuries. I don't think rediscovering it yet again is the work this age asks of us.
I heard once that the problem was not nerds, but geeks, they are probably interchangeable terms, but the idea is as follows: to be a nerd, you had to study a lot and excel, in sciences and math for example and have some intellectual depth. On the other hand, a geek can be someone who lacks any academic achievement and is generally obsessed with videogames and anime. You can reason with a nerd, but a geek is basically an NPC. I might be wrong but it's a difference I've noticed.
That is what I have been taught too during the anime saga I had during the 2000's
A nerd is into sciences and math
A geek is obsessed with comics and other forms of escapism
But many movies often mix these two together because it makes stuff more sellable.
But during my trips through animecon I realized that there is a diffirence
The issue is, the Nerd came first
The Geek came later as a insulting slang during the 90's highschool times 😮
What a joyless way to view life, and books.
true but there's some value to be taken away from it, at least as a writer. great escapism is transcendent.
Joy is temporary
@@encouraginglyauthentic43everything is temporary.
@@Nightmare704RY Right and chasing joy all day will leave you messed up in the Long run
@@encouraginglyauthentic43 the search for happiness is not a thing to be demonized, what this writer who's been discussed in this video did was trying to "fix" himself in his obsession of an impossible ideal created in his mind and rejected of his own self, things that leaded him to political extremism and to end his own life.
Be wary of the message if you don't know who send it.
I considered The Road a true fantasy when I read it. It felt like a dream, a portent. I hadn't felt that way since Lonesome Dove or The Lord of the Rings (or The Lord of the Flies for that matter). It was beautiful and dire, most of all heart-breaking.
How do you write something meaningful if you haven’t lived a meaningful life?
@@DrDurango The child is the father of the man. Every adult personality was built on that universal template.
If the Norman's hadn't invaded England in the 11th century, there wouldn't have been a commonwealth to invade Normandy in the 20th.
Your life is suffused with meaning. You emerged from the warm glow of a never-ending cataclysm.🤣
depends on what you mean by "meaningful life", or if you believe that all good writing must come from personal experience. I think you can make something excellent and profound without having to step outside your door. A Columbian man could write a novel that's riveting and important about the life of a Japanese girl in the Edo period. There are many factors and no objective answer to this subjective quantifier.
Or, for that matter, come up with a meaningful "bumper sticker" ?? 🙄
I have lived a life though with enough mean people, but as far as the meaning of the mean people....????.... I'm still working on that. Currently collaborating with "Brian Griffith" (yes, THAT Brian) on both a novel and a screenplay 🙄🤣
Not everyone can be the hero. Some are bakers, craftsman, farmers, artists, jesters, or judge's. The meaning of your life is dependent on what metals you pour into the crucible of life, which determines the quality of the sword you carry during your time here. The path you travel is the path you carve with your sword.
Meaning is made up, so everyone has it
I think the distinction between nerd and geek needs to be clear. Geeks geek out, perfect things and work to create without alterior motives. The nerds masturbate to that stuff, intellectually or otherwise, and occasionally emulate it. The geeks are disgusted by them, rightfully.
It's a very appropriate criticism being made by Mishima. The most current form of this comes from "comedy nerds," who are wholely unfunny people but study funny people nonetheless. They critique art like a sport with rigidity, and it only serves to poison everything.
Yukio Mishima is very right. Have a good day.
I just found this channel, and I am unsure where my mind is going as I listen.
Funny thing his believe came true, square enix created a game where yukio mishima's art was twisted into lucifer destroying half of all life to save it, and modern movies sucking its dick.
I hate nerds, and I hate oversocialized liberal nerds like King most of all
There came a crisis mode when I mainly decided to read old books to condition understanding of the past, even if those books are not relevant to average lives. But that's just me.
As a suggestion, if you seek to do something in the world to reflect upon your literature, one possible route- if you're near enough to apply it- is to join or form a SAR Team, or Search And Rescue Team.
It is a worthwhile endeavor.
I find this to be more indicative of television and movies today, which provide more of a fantasy escape than reading does.
I think there are two critiques here.
One is of commercial literature, which is much stronger than in Mishima's time.
I don't know what you choose to read, but currently commercial literature is pretty much softcore pornography for women. That's why women have taken over the industry suffocating every little flower of creativity that could blossom in its way.
Pornographic fanfiction has become the pipeline to a career in the publishing industry and softcore 50 shades of grey type things have become the driver of the industry.
The other critique is of the one who seeks to elevate himself through literature. He is point at the fakeness of such elevation.
@@ghfudrs93uuu I don't think commercial literature is much stronger than other forms of media today, than in Mishima's time, which is my point. If you make the point in absolute terms, then yes, more people are reading commercial literature today because the reading market is much larger. However, film and television have long surpassed commercial literature in this regard. You mention Twilight. The fanfiction for that franchise is even more extensive for the movies than the novel.
@@ramonalejandrosuare it makes a lot more money, that's what I meant
It is not nerds who Mishima is talking about, it is entitled brats.You see those in every aspect of lif, but they like to live especially on social media.They are not nerds, they are people who never really had any difficulties in life nor any challenge, and were just given everything, so they arrived at a point in life in which they feel guilty for that and they project that onto others, they take a moral highground by saying that they fight for other people's rights and that they are better than you because they see everything with cinicysm and spite.
Great channel, glad I discovered it
I feel like this take is a little misguided, no single book changes you as a person not even a single thing changes a person. It’s how you interpret those experiences personally. Especially with art, there is many ways to interpret most art, some people read books like “No Longer Human” and walk away with the lesson that they are not alone , whatever struggles they have are not only personal to them ! Other people just take it as motivation not to SPIRAL FURTHER than they already have , and some hate it just because it’s SUPER DARK and that’s all they got , and in the end it’s all valid but none of it was written to teach you ANYTHING! it was simply a final passion project but a legendary author.no more and no less
Just out of curiosity, what is your thoughts on Charles Portis? I know True Grit is his most recognized, but Norwood and Dog of the South is well written and hilarious.
I can't be the one laughing my ass off. The quote at the start of the video is just trash talk with an attempt at philosophical prose. And it comes from a guy who killed himself. At least those nerds have enough meaning in their lives to see it through to the end.
The video touched a nerve for you.
You sound very hurt and triggered and if you think that ending his life makes someone weak, you're even much worse.
@@candide1065 You only have one shot at life. Ending it prematurely does make you weak.
@@darkoale3299 Great leaders in the history of makind have killed themselves in order not to be caught by enemies and give them the satisfaction of killing them. Were they weak?
You know nothing about life.
@@joaosampaio5387 Suicide is one of the worst cliches a writer can commit.
Great video man. Try not let the online nerds get to you haha
He was so stupid he is a Tekken character now
Steven king isn't searching for life goals or morality in literature, whereas Mishima was. Neither is he mocking anyone, whereas Mishima is.
An embarrassing suicide after failing an objectively crazy plan for a national coup is about the greatest dissatisfaction in real life I can imagine.
People like Mishima and Wallace were lonely and self hating, they should be read with caution lest their self loathing is conveyed. Steven king you read on the plane as your real life moves along from one real experience to the next.
For literary art that doesn't damage your sense of well being, go to eco, tolstoy, kawabata, montaigne, almost anywhere else. Find someone who was a real man and took care of his family, as a start, or else what are we talking about?
I have impression that King changed in recent books, it's just preaching all the time. I prefer his earlier books. That being said, one can't compare his writing to Mishima's. Mishima was a genius. King is ok, not bad, but Americans have better writers. For example I love John Fante. He is the one you can compare to Mishima.
Night Flier, King does a great deal of mocking: tabloids, editors, journalists, fat people.
@@The_Custos In his literature or on his twitter? Do you think Mishima is talking about twitter confusing art? Whether King (or Mishima) is a repulsive human being in real life is a completely different story.
Unless you completely buy into Mishima's art is life shtick.
Which I certainly do not.
Stephen King just seeks social acceptance while looking for drugs and young hot babies.
Same thing happens with anime and video games. Shigeru Miyamoto was inspired to make Zelda from his explorations of Japanese caves when he was a kid. The creator of Pokémon was this Aspie/Autistic guy who had a love for collecting bugs. Osamu Tezuka, the father of anime, made his works from his own experiences and made some legendary stuff. Same with Hayao Miyazaki.
Nowadays games are made by rich nerds that never struggled for real in their lives. Anime is made by Otakus that never struggled in their lives. It's all woke stuff and mediocre high school aged characters.
The last anime that made an impression on me was Vinland Saga. The mangaka for that had a love for the Viking Culture and it shows.
While I think you're right in identifying this happening in video games and that most games are made by rich kids, I think you forget to mention that early games worked because their scope was incredibly small.
Everyone who's in the gaming industry now grew up in the mid to late 2000s playing big budget console games of the time. Arcades were dying, and "gaming culture" was becoming more culturally acceptable to get into. The problem here, in my estimation, is not the nerds, it's the pretenders who get into production not to make something interesting, but to simply be a part of the ongoing discussion around games.
But if we don't 'adapt,' we won't survive. It's already hard to live as a creator and artist who has to cater to people's wants. Can you imagine if we just did 'Art'? If there's time to create Art without any audience expectations, it would be doable, but rarely do we have time for anything since we're trying to survive or take care of other people (ill, old, disabled, kids, etc.). Life is just overwhelming for some, and nobody can be very creative when they're at the bottom of the Maslow pyramid. It's almost a "nerd-or-die"... And here we go with genre fiction.
Cervantez realized that stuff 500 years ago and wrote El Quijote after.
I just want to write a book that can help me have a self sustaining life. So I don’t have to work for fast food or corporations again. I would love if my book could transform someone’s or be a great part of their journey. Yet I can’t be pretentious enough to pretend. To know exactly what will happen in the future.
Oh man I'm glad I found this channel
Mishima: NEEERRRDDDDSSS!!!
are we just gonna pretend we’re not all nerds here
Realest take in this whole comment section.
Funny you mention the little anecdote. I had an impulse to comment that particular youtuber a minute into the video lol
Mishima also predicted, ACCURATELY, the decline of post-war Japan.
🇯🇵 💧😩💨
The psychedelic analogy is great. I've never had a more important experience than the multiple dmt trips. But when you are back, you only have memories of representations of the experience. I realized it was cheating, that it would take decades of work to reach the same places.
So basically the best way to become a great writer is by living an interesting life?
You are an imperfect vehicle for this mission. When I see you, I am reminded of the scene in Good Will Hunting when Chuckie is attempting to hit on Skylar and her friend.
This was a great example of what great literature is and what we should look for in literature
Yukio Mishima? Is that another secret son we never knew about?
I find escapism less enjoyable the better my life gets. Consistent exercise does wonders for mental health.
I mean escapists fantasy like a lot of trashy isekai novels have become the same exact story with the slightest of differences like "Mc Donalds" consistently the same stuff
(There are acceptions Mushoku tensei and re zero are good examples of plainly put fantastic lit from the isekai genre)
I stopped writing my isekai webnovel because I wanted to make something no one else could and have some sort of impact one people and there for the world
Best advice I can give is become a lifelong learner
History, philosophy, the occult,stories,human nature, symbolism
If you keep absorbing information about these and other topics there's a chance you'll discover something that interests you and is obscure enough to be utilised in a story.
I have a similar goal and this is my approach, I also recommend developing critical thinking, some make stories based on their values and that can work in some instances but one has to try avoid a value contraditing a fact in that instance.
Storytelling is a strange art it's a singular art onto itself yet requires so much understanding of other things.
Anime and manga are sinking deeper and deeper into lack of creativity and escapism.
“the nerds online are shitty and judgemental” oh the irony
I was an English major in the long ago and did not fall into the Slough of Despond. Thank God I was so lazy.