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Jan. 9th, 2023 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lhexanA comment on Syconium, an arc of the webcomic Nature of Nature's Art. Content warning: that particular arc abounds with (non-pornographic) sexual content, of such variety that I can't give a more specific warning.
When I was young, I thought I would be the one with fans, and that I would struggle to treat them with patience, firmness and understanding without hiding from them or exploiting them as most famous creators do. But no, it turns out it's the other way around. I'm the fan, and my task (outside physics) is to provide intellectual support for others.
When following this story, I and many others experienced it as a series of thesis statements, each sophisticated enough to supplant the previous one, but each newly sinister in its own way. Thus I regarded the graduate student's thesis with particular excitement, for here was a compassionate, intelligent, academic, but nonetheless subtly rotten thesis. Surely it was the next to last -- surely it could not be the last, if only because it was presented by an outside savior figure, because it had not been presented by the protagonist herself. But then, in his disastrous attempt to explain himself, Braun admitted that this was his thesis too, disappointing many of us. However, I've come to think that Egress did, in fact, present a new thesis, sufficient to supplant and overpaint the graduate student's. The problem for us as readers, and Braun as a writer, is that Egress' thesis is wholly visual, where we were yearning, and remain yearning, for one that can be expressed in words.
To guide my future work in the comments of this story, I'll leave a slogan. *grins* Ditch the author, date the text.
When I was young, I thought I would be the one with fans, and that I would struggle to treat them with patience, firmness and understanding without hiding from them or exploiting them as most famous creators do. But no, it turns out it's the other way around. I'm the fan, and my task (outside physics) is to provide intellectual support for others.
When following this story, I and many others experienced it as a series of thesis statements, each sophisticated enough to supplant the previous one, but each newly sinister in its own way. Thus I regarded the graduate student's thesis with particular excitement, for here was a compassionate, intelligent, academic, but nonetheless subtly rotten thesis. Surely it was the next to last -- surely it could not be the last, if only because it was presented by an outside savior figure, because it had not been presented by the protagonist herself. But then, in his disastrous attempt to explain himself, Braun admitted that this was his thesis too, disappointing many of us. However, I've come to think that Egress did, in fact, present a new thesis, sufficient to supplant and overpaint the graduate student's. The problem for us as readers, and Braun as a writer, is that Egress' thesis is wholly visual, where we were yearning, and remain yearning, for one that can be expressed in words.
To guide my future work in the comments of this story, I'll leave a slogan. *grins* Ditch the author, date the text.
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Date: 2023-07-01 05:52 pm (UTC)One thing that has stuck out to me, now that I've finished it, is the division made between the Wild and Society. XX (well, she's struggling against her Fig persona) and Other XY take the side of Society, but frame themselves as opposed to Green XY, who represents the Wild. It's true that the sexuality Green XY is associated with is associated with the Wild, but Green XY cannot experience sexuality during the time period he's in the comic. And interestingly, while sexual violence is common among wild animals, the form of sexual violence Green XY is committing are not Wild things, they are things of Society too. Green XY uses sex as a tool of power and control, and I'd argue that's profoundly civilized rather than wild.
This makes me question whether or not the conflict being represented is really one between Wild and Society, and if Green XY is really as much a creature of the Wild as he seems to present himself as. I mean, think about what he does. His concern for sex is a concern for making sure other people mate, with the intensity and devotion he feels is appropriate; he sticks guards all over the place to make sure no one thinks about anything else. He uses poison, manipulation, or alembics to kill rather than his own teeth. He's obsessed with symbology and domination, rather than focusing on survival or immediacy.
It seems to me he's more an exemplar of a corrupted form of Society, which tries to root itself in primal forces but ultimately cannot understand them. His need for control reflects Society more than the Wild, and this makes me see the story less about the dichotomy between wildness and civilization and more about how the worst elements of civilization will try to warp elements of nature to their own ends.
I'm pretty sure this was intended. Other people might've picked up on it, but I haven't seen them talk about it if so--and maybe there's context I missed, but it just stuck out to me.
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Date: 2023-07-15 05:08 pm (UTC)Also, hello! Welcome to my Dreamwidth account! I've been looking for new people to follow so I have more reason to spend time here, so you're an obvious add.