#leo marionette lb

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ACTUALLY. HOLY SHIT okay it's soooo topical that i was studying victorian literature this year because. there was a huge debate in the victorian era around the "condition of england" debate as it related to industrialization and art and its so unbelievably fucking applicable to what's happening with valkyrie during the war, with shu's view of art and perfectionism

so a big talking point during the victorian era was about industrialization and the role of the working class and how, effectively, they were being turned into materials or machines for the sake of "progress" - namely, the progress or benefit of the elite few at the cost of their humanity. this eventually extended into art . there's this guy john ruskin that wrote an entire thing called the stones of venice about the debate of perfection/imperfection in art, and how he believes that imperfection in art is necessary, because perfection in art/artisan craft (as was prized during the victorian era and in england) was achieved by "geniuses" at the cost of the humanity and individual creative spirit of "regular" people who could help them achieve this perfection in their craft by splitting the load. effectively, turning these humans into tools or machines for the "genius" creator to wield in order to achieve the perfect art.

sound familiar?

some quotes from ruskin's stones of venice:

"Understand this clearly: You can teach a man to draw a straight line, and to cut one [...] and to carve any number of given lines or forms, with admirable speed and perfect precision [...] but if you ask him to think about any of those forms [...] he stops; his execution becomes hesitating; he thinks, and ten to one he thinks wrong [...] he makes a mistake [...] but you have made of him a man for all that. He was only a machine before, an animated tool.

And, observe, you are put to stern choice in this matter. You must either make a tool of the creature, or a man of him. You cannot make both. Men were not intended to work with the accuracy of tools, to be precise and perfect in all their actions. If you will have that precision out of them [...] you must unhumanize them."

ruskin also has a few paragraphs talking about the idea that art or goods can be made both genuine and perfect by having a gentleman or artisan or genius design the form of the art/goods, and "common workmen" do the actual creation process, allowing for "design and finish". ruskin challenges this, saying that it's founded on "two mistaken suppositions" that 1) one person's thoughts can be accurately executed by another person's hands and 2) that the kind of manual labour necessary to actually make the finished products is a downgrade from the creative work of design

"We are always in these days endeavoring to separate the two; we want one man to be always be thinking, and another to always be working, and we call one a gentleman, and the other an operative. [...] As it is, we make both ungentle [...] and the mass of society is made up of morbid thinkers, and miserable workers."

"It seems a fantastic paradox, but it is nevertheless a most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect. [...] For since the architect, whom we will suppose capable of doing in all perfection, cannot execute the whole with his own hands, he must either make slaves of his workmen [...] or else he must take his workmen as he finds them, and let them show their weaknesses together with their strength, which will involve [...] imperfection, but render the whole work as noble as the intellect of the age can make it."

and finally: "But, accurately speaking, no good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand of perfection is always a sign of misunderstanding of the ends of art."

"but leo! shu makes all the costumes and songs and stuff for valkyrie the argument you make isn't true because it's not like shu ISN'T doing the work" I MEAN. OKAY. SURE shu IS doing a lot! but also it isn't necessarily the creation of the songs or the costumes or the choregraphy that's the focus here, the final "product" to be consumed. its the PERFORMANCE.

and mika and nazuna, during the exvalk days, essentially function like tools. their goal is to be honed to perform perfectly by shu's hand, in order to present the completely perfect final product that shu wants for his art. the analysis through ruskin's view of tools and perfection still applies, i think

anyways. i dont know if akira meant This much of an anything but it's really interesting to connect shu's victorian aesthetic of valkyrie and perfectionism at all costs to actual discourses happening in victorian england around art and perfection and industrialization and dehumanization. i hope it was meant as this much of a something i think that's a really fucking smart way to incorporate victorian debates into valkyrie and shu's characterization and i had fun pulling all this apart and putting things together

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say what u will about the anime but seeing this scene animated was so . clenches fist grabs chest

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the tomoya-wataru dynamic is so not the point of marionette at all but ohhh i'm nothing if not a sucker for theatre club. yes wataru tell me more abt tomoya mashiro i want to know so much more

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pins this to that board i was making during my element read about themes of childhood/adulthood

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this line makes me want to eat glass. just start swallowing it whole. you know how it is

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sits here

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ough... i should rotate kuro and shu in my brain more

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the thing is i've watched the anime So many times. it's interesting to see what they left out or couldnt adapt into the anime just due to time constraints though... fun to compare it i did this while reading element too . it does mean that i don't have much to say for parts that are pretty similar because ive already seen a version of it 10 times

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makes the most pathetic little noise

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FIVE ECCENTRICS THE WORLDDDD

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cries so hard

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ough.... shu's perfectionism sure is something huh

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waugh ... five eccentrics the world

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waugh ....

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help

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SO not the point of this entire nazuna internal monologue but this sorta succinctly summarizes this . kind of earnestness that shu has when it comes to art? if that makes ANY sort of sense. he really cares about art and creating art that he's satisfied with and that will impress other people with its artistry and . it's just a very earnest love of art and valkyrie. dunno