As a Kid I liked both Movies, and Years later in my late Teens I found the Book in a Corner of my Parents' House, I it was quite a Revelation to me how much more Depth the Book had, even in the first Half, but especially in the second. It has become one of my favorite Books (but admittedly, I am not a big Reader). The Book can reveal many different Layers depending on who reads it when in what mental State. I completely forgot about the second Movie's "Emptiness", but come to think of it, its Renaming of "Nothing(ness)" to "Emptiness" might be one of the biggest philosophical Blunders of that Movie. Michael Ende was himself a Christian, but also a Fan of Buddhism, and I think that both of these Things can be clearly felt in the Book: The Book literally ends on Bastian wishing for Love and then finding and carrying the "Water of Life" in an Attempt to find and share Salvation... it hardly gets any more Christian than that; and various Moments in the Book, like Speech you quoted from the Lion Graógramán, have a strong Buddhist Spin as well). With that in Mind, the Fact that Phantásia is being devoured by "Nothing" strongly echoes Christian Philosophy about Badness/Evil (and in a personified Way also the Devil) being a "Hole" of "Nothing" in the Fabric of God's basically good Creation (i.e. a "Privation of the Good"). But then the second Movie renames it to "Emptiness", which in Buddhist Terms would be a good Thing, nothing bad or destructive. So the second Movie really screwed up there. The Book's second Half also seems to contain a Commentary on the Difference between how St. Augustine and Aleister Crowley would have used the Phrase inscribed on the AURYN, which in German is quite literally "Do what thou wilt" ("tu was du willst"). Saint Augustine had argued -- long before Crowley even existed -- that you should "love, and then do what thou wilt", with the "love" Aspect being absent for Crowley. In a Sense, Bastian begins his Journey as a Child who grew up not really knowing Love, because his Father didn't know how to give him Love, so Bastian interpreted the Inscription on the AURYN in a quasi-crowley'an Way, and it was really destructive, because he did not love first -- the Augustinian Way of doing what thou wilt. I enjoyed this Video, and I really like your Channel so far, you have good Takes. Your Videos have even sparked Inspiration for my own Imagination to write down some Ideas. I hope your Channel will grow well.
Woah, this was a fascinating read! I haven't read The Neverending Story since I was a child. Now I look forward to a re-read with a whole new perspective on it. Thank you for sharing your insights 😊
You missed the one crucial difference between the book and the movie that was the most damning in the eyes of Michael Ende. As Gmork told Atréju, Phantasians can *never* enter the real world, except by becoming lies and delusions. And then... we see Fuchur/Falcor fly through the city chasing the bullies in the final scene. *That* was what, in Ende's eyes, made this movie utterly incompatible with the complex philosophy of the story he had told. I think he might have forgiven all the other changes, but that one was just a bridge too far. They broke the worldbuilding for a visual gag, and - understandably - he felt betrayed to the point of disowning the movie.
I sat on Fuchur when I was a kid :D Someone said just the eyes were left of the original one they used for the movie so I'm not sure which original parts I got to see, but I loved it. He was fluffy and all the animatronic was working. Those eyes are really what give him the life he has. I'm pretty shocked I couldn't remember the last third of the book except for the final ending :o Let me tell you, the German names sound so much better (which is rare ihmo). I remember reading the book when I was a kid - even tho I should have been sleeping. We had an hardcover edition with the snakes on it and it was printed in two colour: red and green. One for the real world one for Phantasia. (The light I had was also red so the red ink was almost invisible XD) Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I guess I have to reread this book after all :D
So cool, I'm a little jealous, I saw a picture of the Falkor/Fuchur setup at the Bavaria Studios while I was looking into the movie, and thought it looked awesome. I never even considered the eyes, but that makes sense. Also nice with the proper red and green printing of the book. I didn't even know the book had the red/green printing until I was doing research for this episode.
I really liked the comparison you gave. It made me think about 2 things. First, I can see why they made a villain in the second movie because, by the book, he was given the Auren by the empress which caused him to lose his memories, And that sound like a mean thing to do to their savior. Also, you talk about them going to meet the empress in the last half of the book, but she is missing. Did she ever show up again?
new subscriber, found you a few days ago, really enjoy your content, thank you! Plus this is my favorite book/movie..... you made a tough week a little easier xo
The movie and the book were my absolute favorite as a kid! Love your video analysis! but I have to say, please no more AI art. It really does a disservice. There are tons of amazing human artists who have done beautiful fan art for the book using human understanding of the material .
OK, strap in! I'm writing this comment before watching the video because I've had a rant in my head about this book for YEARS. YEARS!!!! Ready? Fantastica is a goddamn scam. There. I said it. Bastian was SPECIFICALLY told he needs to make wishes in order to bring Fantasica back to life. Is he told he's going to lose memories by doing that? Of course not! Fantastica is a predator and human children are it's food. It's been doing this for eons (see: the city where humans end up when all their memories are gone). It's evil. Bastian tried to get out of it; he wished for wisdom. True wisdom would have him realize what was going on, or at least that Atreyu was trying to help him. Instead Fantastic decides wisdom is just being good at riddles??? WTF! Anyway, I am solidly on team nothing/ empty; Fantastica is a scourge and must be destroyed. Now to watch the video and see if any of this is addressed!
I didn't address it in the show, but yeah, the fact that the Childlike Empress kept back that one very important detail that wishes drain memories absolutely did seem kind of suspicious. I took it as symbolic of the way people lose themselves when they attain wealth and power. But then you have the city of lost emperors. As much as I want to disagree, the concept that The Neverending Story is a Demon book that eats children is ...really good. I feel like I have to disagree, and say it was just symbolic, but that idea is lodged in my brain now. Thanks @wyrdgrrl.
Your voiceover and summary of the story is wonderful and I can tell you truly love both the book and the original movie. However, I really hope you can move away from the use of AI-generated images as visuals for your videos. It's distracting, inaccurate and frankly, really ironic, given the point of the book is how important creation is meant to be for human beings. I will subscribe and like the video, but I think if you remade it with simplistic hand drawings, properly credited art, the original illustrations from the author or just stills from the movies, it would be infinitely better.
Hey, thanks for Subscribing. This is an excellent opportunity to highlight the Rose Colored Movies podcast. I release all my episodes on Google Podcasts, so you can get them to go. My show was created as a podcast, and then later I decided to add video, but it works fine with audio only. If you find video distracting, try it as a podcast. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the artistic ability to illustrate all the books I cover, and I personally enjoy having a visual reference for the books, however crude. So I'm going to continue using generated images. I was very happy with some of the images this time, I've never seen the Night Forest of Perilin before, or the castle shaped like an egg, and so I was absolutely thrilled that the image generator could cobble something together for these.
@RoseColoredMovies I clicked on your video essay out of curiosity because as an 80s baby I grew up on these movies and read the book in college when I had the chance, and I haven’t come across anyone discussing this particular book vs the movie. But seeing all of that AI regurgitated garbage was so off putting, and reading your excuse for using it even more so. Auto dislike. If you want to use visuals in your work, finding artwork created by actual artist (instead of pale imitations of their work) should be treated as another step of doing your research. Plus giving credit to artists you like would help grow the community for a book/movie you supposedly enjoy. And just as @Yaldabaoth413 said, this book was literally written about the importance of fostering creativity and imagination, your flagrant use of AI images casts you as an agent of the Nothingness. Do better😒
As a Kid I liked both Movies, and Years later in my late Teens I found the Book in a Corner of my Parents' House, I it was quite a Revelation to me how much more Depth the Book had, even in the first Half, but especially in the second. It has become one of my favorite Books (but admittedly, I am not a big Reader). The Book can reveal many different Layers depending on who reads it when in what mental State.
I completely forgot about the second Movie's "Emptiness", but come to think of it, its Renaming of "Nothing(ness)" to "Emptiness" might be one of the biggest philosophical Blunders of that Movie.
Michael Ende was himself a Christian, but also a Fan of Buddhism, and I think that both of these Things can be clearly felt in the Book: The Book literally ends on Bastian wishing for Love and then finding and carrying the "Water of Life" in an Attempt to find and share Salvation... it hardly gets any more Christian than that; and various Moments in the Book, like Speech you quoted from the Lion Graógramán, have a strong Buddhist Spin as well).
With that in Mind, the Fact that Phantásia is being devoured by "Nothing" strongly echoes Christian Philosophy about Badness/Evil (and in a personified Way also the Devil) being a "Hole" of "Nothing" in the Fabric of God's basically good Creation (i.e. a "Privation of the Good"). But then the second Movie renames it to "Emptiness", which in Buddhist Terms would be a good Thing, nothing bad or destructive. So the second Movie really screwed up there.
The Book's second Half also seems to contain a Commentary on the Difference between how St. Augustine and Aleister Crowley would have used the Phrase inscribed on the AURYN, which in German is quite literally "Do what thou wilt" ("tu was du willst"). Saint Augustine had argued -- long before Crowley even existed -- that you should "love, and then do what thou wilt", with the "love" Aspect being absent for Crowley. In a Sense, Bastian begins his Journey as a Child who grew up not really knowing Love, because his Father didn't know how to give him Love, so Bastian interpreted the Inscription on the AURYN in a quasi-crowley'an Way, and it was really destructive, because he did not love first -- the Augustinian Way of doing what thou wilt.
I enjoyed this Video, and I really like your Channel so far, you have good Takes. Your Videos have even sparked Inspiration for my own Imagination to write down some Ideas. I hope your Channel will grow well.
Woah, this was a fascinating read! I haven't read The Neverending Story since I was a child. Now I look forward to a re-read with a whole new perspective on it. Thank you for sharing your insights 😊
You missed the one crucial difference between the book and the movie that was the most damning in the eyes of Michael Ende.
As Gmork told Atréju, Phantasians can *never* enter the real world, except by becoming lies and delusions. And then... we see Fuchur/Falcor fly through the city chasing the bullies in the final scene.
*That* was what, in Ende's eyes, made this movie utterly incompatible with the complex philosophy of the story he had told. I think he might have forgiven all the other changes, but that one was just a bridge too far. They broke the worldbuilding for a visual gag, and - understandably - he felt betrayed to the point of disowning the movie.
As a child I loved the movies and the book. When I read the book again I had no idea how deep it is. I only can truly recommend everyone to read it
I sat on Fuchur when I was a kid :D Someone said just the eyes were left of the original one they used for the movie so I'm not sure which original parts I got to see, but I loved it. He was fluffy and all the animatronic was working. Those eyes are really what give him the life he has.
I'm pretty shocked I couldn't remember the last third of the book except for the final ending :o Let me tell you, the German names sound so much better (which is rare ihmo). I remember reading the book when I was a kid - even tho I should have been sleeping. We had an hardcover edition with the snakes on it and it was printed in two colour: red and green. One for the real world one for Phantasia. (The light I had was also red so the red ink was almost invisible XD)
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I guess I have to reread this book after all :D
So cool, I'm a little jealous, I saw a picture of the Falkor/Fuchur setup at the Bavaria Studios while I was looking into the movie, and thought it looked awesome. I never even considered the eyes, but that makes sense. Also nice with the proper red and green printing of the book. I didn't even know the book had the red/green printing until I was doing research for this episode.
I really liked the comparison you gave. It made me think about 2 things. First, I can see why they made a villain in the second movie because, by the book, he was given the Auren by the empress which caused him to lose his memories, And that sound like a mean thing to do to their savior. Also, you talk about them going to meet the empress in the last half of the book, but she is missing. Did she ever show up again?
Great job! Love the analysis, I definitely look forward to revisiting and reading again!
Fantastic work!
i had nightmares with the idea of nothingness. i had the book but never read it 🙃 i wasn't expecting this would turn into dune. thank you for this.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And I completely understand a fear of the Nothingness.
new subscriber, found you a few days ago, really enjoy your content, thank you!
Plus this is my favorite book/movie..... you made a tough week a little easier xo
Cool video, thank you for your work
I kinda appreciate the abomination that was the 3rd movie wasn't even acknowledged in this video but the DOS/Amiga game was.
Great, now I've got the chiptune version of the song stuck in my head. Just gonna have to watch all your other vids until it's gone.
Just stumbled across this channel. New sub here. Great work⭐
Awesome, thank you!
The movie and the book were my absolute favorite as a kid! Love your video analysis! but I have to say, please no more AI art. It really does a disservice. There are tons of amazing human artists who have done beautiful fan art for the book using human understanding of the material .
For future reference: Michael in German is pronounced MI-shah-ale, rather than mi-KAH-el
Sorry Germany, I (clearly) don't speak any German, and I picked up that pronunciation from somewhere. Thanks for pointing it out.
I...i...didn't even know there was a book. I'm ashamed of my ignorance 😢
OK, strap in! I'm writing this comment before watching the video because I've had a rant in my head about this book for YEARS. YEARS!!!!
Ready? Fantastica is a goddamn scam. There. I said it. Bastian was SPECIFICALLY told he needs to make wishes in order to bring Fantasica back to life. Is he told he's going to lose memories by doing that? Of course not! Fantastica is a predator and human children are it's food. It's been doing this for eons (see: the city where humans end up when all their memories are gone). It's evil. Bastian tried to get out of it; he wished for wisdom. True wisdom would have him realize what was going on, or at least that Atreyu was trying to help him. Instead Fantastic decides wisdom is just being good at riddles??? WTF! Anyway, I am solidly on team nothing/ empty; Fantastica is a scourge and must be destroyed.
Now to watch the video and see if any of this is addressed!
I didn't address it in the show, but yeah, the fact that the Childlike Empress kept back that one very important detail that wishes drain memories absolutely did seem kind of suspicious. I took it as symbolic of the way people lose themselves when they attain wealth and power.
But then you have the city of lost emperors. As much as I want to disagree, the concept that The Neverending Story is a Demon book that eats children is ...really good. I feel like I have to disagree, and say it was just symbolic, but that idea is lodged in my brain now. Thanks @wyrdgrrl.
Your voiceover and summary of the story is wonderful and I can tell you truly love both the book and the original movie. However, I really hope you can move away from the use of AI-generated images as visuals for your videos. It's distracting, inaccurate and frankly, really ironic, given the point of the book is how important creation is meant to be for human beings. I will subscribe and like the video, but I think if you remade it with simplistic hand drawings, properly credited art, the original illustrations from the author or just stills from the movies, it would be infinitely better.
Hey, thanks for Subscribing. This is an excellent opportunity to highlight the Rose Colored Movies podcast. I release all my episodes on Google Podcasts, so you can get them to go. My show was created as a podcast, and then later I decided to add video, but it works fine with audio only. If you find video distracting, try it as a podcast.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the artistic ability to illustrate all the books I cover, and I personally enjoy having a visual reference for the books, however crude. So I'm going to continue using generated images. I was very happy with some of the images this time, I've never seen the Night Forest of Perilin before, or the castle shaped like an egg, and so I was absolutely thrilled that the image generator could cobble something together for these.
@RoseColoredMovies I clicked on your video essay out of curiosity because as an 80s baby I grew up on these movies and read the book in college when I had the chance, and I haven’t come across anyone discussing this particular book vs the movie. But seeing all of that AI regurgitated garbage was so off putting, and reading your excuse for using it even more so. Auto dislike. If you want to use visuals in your work, finding artwork created by actual artist (instead of pale imitations of their work) should be treated as another step of doing your research. Plus giving credit to artists you like would help grow the community for a book/movie you supposedly enjoy. And just as @Yaldabaoth413 said, this book was literally written about the importance of fostering creativity and imagination, your flagrant use of AI images casts you as an agent of the Nothingness. Do better😒