Since I've been postponing my last Venomfang reply to the extreme, I've decided to write about something else just to take my mind off that little rat. I'll get around to it eventually, but for now I just need to write about something else. So here goes.
I was watching School Rumble the other day, and pretty much out of nowhere, a certain line owned me so subtly that it took me a while to register just what the hell happened. Without spoiling, I'll simply say that a guy is asked what he thinks love is; A huge question that has been asked by every single person throughout the ages, and that has caused many a sleepless night for me personally. I am sure that no matter who you are, you have thought a lot about this and undoubtedly tried to reach a simple truth that encompases every aspect of this strange and wondrous feeling. In other words, it's one of those questions that you can spend a damn long time thinking about, to the point of almost going insane. And yet here we have a bloody comedy anime that doesn't even make the attempt to be any more than superficial lol moments and romance comedy wherein, suddenly, the following line is spoken: (paraphrasing, since it's in Japanese and because I really don't want to spend a week finding the actual quote) "I may not know much about it, but when I see something beautiful like a sunrise I want to share that moment and that beauty with someone. That is was I think love is."
And god dammit, folks, that is exactly what I think love is. If the art of translating feelings into language is about finding words that trigger the desired emotions in someone when spoken, then that line is the absolute best attempt at explaining the feeling of love that I've heard in a very long time. Of course I am aware that those same words might completely fail to make others feel this way, but for whatever reason that line just really made sense to me when I read it. Why not simply put it that way? What's the need for all those complicated words to try and explain some incomprehensible and fleeting feeling that, in the end, doesn't even cover that which you originally intended to describe? Because here we have it, put in such a simple way that you can really only laugh at it, while at the same time you must stand in awe of the power that those few simple words hold.
After having that "wow" feeling for a while, I came to my senses and realized that a friggin COMEDY anime had just absolutely pwned me and made a mockery of all the time I've spent pondering over this question. In about 4 seconds, with a line spoken offhandedly and presented in such a way as if to say "well, it's not really a big deal.", the burned and mangled carcass of my dignity was left as a smoking pile on the battlefield. Dammit! Having philosophy in anime is great, and part of the reason why I watch anime to begin with, but... Please have the courtesy to deliver such truths in a more serious manner so as to not make the rest of us look like idiots for having spent countless hours late at night trying to find those same answers!
Another example that I can think of is in the anime Kyouran Kazoku Nikki (win anime, watch it for free awesome). This is a very fast-paced and generally insane comedy anime that utilizes the untameable forces of craziness to its fullest advantage. In other words: Not really an anime that requires much thought. Yet when confronted with the question of how she can love herself so much, the main female character answers: "How can you love others when you don't love yourself? This world is fun because you're the main character of your life."
Yet again I feel that, somehow, one of the most central questions of our existence has been answered in a completely nonchalant and offhanded way. Maybe it's my obsession with finding simple ways of relaying complicated thoughts that drives me to read more into the words than were intended, but the fact remains that they recalled those feelings in me that I admire musicians and other artists for being able to describe so accurately. And once again I realize that I'm watching a god damned comedy anime which almost requires you to have your brain switched off for the jokes to be funny. And it makes me feel sort of like >_>
It's kind of sad and yet funny at the same time when this happens, but I recognize that perhaps the reason why those lines made sense to me the way they did was due to the fact that I had already found my own answers. At least you have to have spent some time pondering these questions on beforehand in order to recognize the truth of those words. And I may also simply be seeing meaning that isn't there, which of course makes it more bearable for me.
But still... I can't help but feel pretty damn pwned whenever this happens to me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Hey Palle,
Trust me, "What is love?" is a question with thousands of answers. It can either involve other people (or things, animals, whatever..) or not. You can be so in love with someone and yet loathe yourself and vice versa.
But for me, true love is when you feel deeply for someone/something (normally it would be someone), more than you feel for others. Simply by looking at the person's face or hear his/her voice, or even reading something from them (such as text message, PM or email) really make your day.
And yeah, there were too many memorable, meaningful lines in anime that can move you, knock some sense into you, make you laugh and cry and you wonder, "Why didn't I think of that..?"
Hey Hagumi, didn't know you visit this blog too. Thanks for your thoughts :)
Yes I agree that no single answer will suffice for an emotion so profound as love. There are as many experiences of love as there are people on the planet, and as many asnwers to the other big questions as there are minds to ponder.
What I found strange/worrying, was that even though you can spend hours on end thinking about these things, you can still have a revelation from something said in a comedy anime. It's like reading the meaning of life on the back of a match box and realizing that they actually got it right, you know?
Maybe I should have mentioned this, and maybe I will in another entry, but what I find much more important than answers, is questions. Life really wouldn't be much fun if you already had the sollution, much like a chinese finger trap. I like to simply muse over these things and make up my life philosophy as I go along. After all, I am still only 21 so I know that one day I'll be a wise old geezer with a much better perspective on life (and an impressive bald spot, judging from my father and grandfather). So for the time being I find joy in asking myself the questions and not so much in the answers that I find.
One thing I'd like to argue for, however, is how one does need to "love" oneself in order to love others.. As you say, you can loathe yourself and still love someone. The meaning I read in the words "you can only love others if you love yourself," is that in the act of actually loving someone you momentarily push your feelings of self-loathe from your mind, as the mind simply cannot cope with both the feelings of love and hatred at the same time. This is my personal experience anyway. So maybe it's more accurate to say that you cannot love others if you do not forget yourself, and forgetting yourself is hard when you cannot take your mind off how stupid everything you do, is. Back when I was a pathetic, pathetic, suicidal, acne stricken, skinny teenager I recall getting almost cocky during the time I spent with the person I felt for. In my mind, accepting yourself is sort of a pre-requisite for cockiness.
It's puzzling how the mind works, for at the time I was quite depressed whenever I wasn't with that person, seeing as I still hadn't learned to put up with myself. Yet all those feelings of self hatred seemed to temporarily vanish whenever I spent time with her or even just thought about her. I'm sure other people have different experiences or thoughts on this, but this is propably the reason why the words spoken in Kyouran Kazoku rung a bell for me.
Damn, seems I went off on a ramble.. I tend to do that on this blog >_> Sorry for keeping you, and once again thanks for your input =)
Post a Comment