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hopping up on my special interest soap box to say: i think we as a fandom should discuss the satire in danganronpa V3 more.
idk if it is just me but i have always viewed this game as a satire, if only just because of the ending. it exagerrates the formula set up by the previous games to criticize the current state of media and media consumption. i know a lot of people in the fandom don't like V3, and i think that is by design. it is ridiculous, it is over the top, the ending is a punch to the face, but it's all on purpose. you're supposed to be uncomfortable because it is a satire. (of course you don't have to like the game, i just think it is intentionally like that)
the whole theme of fiction vs reality is put in there intentionally to make fun of the fandomization of danganronpa, as well as to poke at game studios and companies that put out media in general. tsumugi, in my interpretation, is representative of danganronpa fans (hence why she's the ultimate cosplayer). she is the mastermind. you aren't supposed to like her. her insistence on the idea that "fiction doesn't affect reality" is a direct criticism of that exact idea in real life fandom. the idea that this is the "53rd" danganronpa is directly making fun of other pieces of media "jumping the shark" because fans insist upon it. this is not to say you can't like tsumugi, i think you absolutely can, i just think her character represents some key ideas relating to the satire of the game.
this is why everything in the game is SO over the top. kirumi being the prime minister, korekiyo both having DID AND being a serial killer in a reference to the first game, EVERYONE'S over the top backstories (gonta and keebo come to mind), it's all acting as an exaggeration of common tropes (albeit highly problematic in several areas, not trying to excuse those aspects by any means).
and then there's kaede. they set her up as a strong female protagonist, only to kill her chapter 1 to be replaced by a male protag. on paper this is very misogynistic, but in the context of satire it is an exaggeration of the danganronpa formula. of course we couldn't have a female protag in a main line game, of course it would have to be a man. shuichi having a secret ahoge only adds to this; it's making fun of the trope. the best part is that i truly do love both of these characters, and their role in the satire doesn't diminish the excellent writing that went into them and the story.
this entirely shapes how i view this game. it manages to tell an incredibly compelling story with very complex characters while making fun of itself at the same time (as a good satire should). i know a lot of people have said they feel like the writers of v3 must have hated danganronpa, and while i see exactly what they mean i don't think that's necessarily true. i think it was an intentional choice as a work of satire.
i can see an intense love behind the writing of this game. the characters are rich and the story is compelling. the ending just serves to send home the point they wanted to make. i think it adds a really beautiful perspective to the danganronpa series as a whole.
#hope this rant makes sense. i am so crazy about this game.#drv3#danganronpa v3#danganronpa v3 killing harmony#danganronpa#xe speaks!#look i really don't know if this is a common interpretation#and i'm not saying it's the only way to interpret it#but this is my current special interest and i must speak my truth#i would like to add that i am from the US and my perspective on this subject is likely unintentionally very western#and i'm sure i am missing cultural context#but i am trying to come at this from a literary analysis perspective#heart emoji <3#i could also talk about the treatment of queer characters but i fear i would need a lot more textual evidence so i will hold out#scared to post this y'all better be nice to me or i'll cry
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Let's have a little discussion.
Hi, this the page for my podcast, and for this week's episode, we were discussing the story of Victor Frankenstein, and it's central theme. In discussing that, I said that he is an example of what it means to be completely in love with the thought of creation, with no fore thought as to what the consequences of that creation would and the environment it would need to stabilize and be helpful to the environment and not a harm. With that being said, I am posing this question for all that see it, what do you think is the main message of Frankenstein? And more importantly, what scientist (in the real world) do you think reflects all the good and bad about the scientist?
#victor frankenstein#frankenstein#mary shelley#gothic literaturlit#literary discussion#and d be forreal#like i wanna have an interesting and honest discussion#I also think is a fascinating subject cause of all the places it could go#so tell me in the reblogs#or in my ask box#whatever makes you feel more comfortable#mwah love you guys
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I find it very funny that some people try to point at the "I wanted to be a good dragon" as being bad dialogue and proof Engage is badly written when it does the exact opposite.
I know you are tired of hearing it but allow me to repeat it. Just once more. Past Alear is someone who use hiragana, an alphabet use mainly by kids in anime and in jpn media.
That is what makes their dialogue in chapter 24 so unsettling. This shows that Past Alear has the emotional maturity of a child. This is a childish dialogue devoided of emotions, where the characteristic of the hiragana lacking the polysemy of kanji is making this dialogue feels even colder, even more robotic, mecanic, empty, devoided of emotions. Hiragana is used to show how broken past Alear is as a child whose innocence was completely destroyed.
However, in this cutscene of chapter 22, the use of hiragana is no longer to convey this feeling. This time, it's to convey a warm feeling, letting Alear's childish personality of that time shines as them showing their innocent side, their weaker and true side to Lumera. it's them dropping the facade, and finally revealing what they were concealing when we meet them in chapter 24 : an innocent, kind child. You don't even need to turn off Alear's voice and hear how the performance changed to realize that because you can see this from the models. How Past Alear's blank and emotionelss gaze in chapter 24 contrast to the one bright and tender gaze they gave to Lumera in chapter 22. The sentence they speak is no longer intended to be read as emtioneless because of this, because now the property of the hiragana as conveying the childish innocent feeling, like it does with Veyle, is the one aspect exploited in this scene. It's to show Alear's innocence and child like nature, their warmth. This immediately makes their "tadashii ryuu ni naremasen" all the more tragic. They speak this time with the tone matching the undertones of the hiragana, unlike how in the past they used that "childish" dialect with the tone of a robot. In fact, the change of tone in the voice shows the shift in tone despite how Past Alear still uses the same alphabet. All in context.
The same way Past Alear's politness express through the same conjuction and expression as current Alear but have a different nature because of the context, the same way Alear's incantations read as prayers/wish rather then commands/orders because of the context, the use of hiragana's meaning changes because of the context. This is no longer to express a broken child speaking, but to show Past Alear's innocence and to emphazize their love for Lumera by showing how they reveal themselves to her only.
#fire emblem engage#fire emblem#fe engage#alear fire emblem#fe alear#past alear#hiragana#lumera#bad dialogue my eye#repeat after me : dialogue having philosophical and “deep” subject doesn't equal to good writing#meta#meta ana#commentary#literary analysis#nictpicking#playing with semantics
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Every day I am haunted by the fact JJK could be amazing but it will be just idk Bleach or something
#I've seen a lot of people complaining about the fact that it's impossible to fit the ending of every unfinished arc#in the five chapters that remain for the manga to end for good#And it all just... legitimises my fear and apprehension haha#And it's a pity! It's a pity! The dynamics were so good! And yet nothing! Sukuna was so good! And yet nothing!#It was so nice how he seemed to play with the idea of transcending human categories and values but even the values of curses so to speak#Well beyond everything. Well beyond positive/creative nihilism even! He was not like Mahito#I wonder if Mahito is more a negative nihilism with a funny edge or a positive nihilism. For now it seems positive#with how he seems to have said something like 'nothing matters so we can do whatever we want and create what matters'#But Sukuna transcends all that! It could have been interesting to see how that developed in a way that wasn't just childish edginess#But no. And then there's all the idea of curses and sorcerers not being all that different#and so not really entirely possible to say one side is good and the other bad#There was the idea of the very source of powers with fear and love playing a role here in such a juicy way#And then there's the entire thing happening with Gojo as a concept and the very concepts he plays with which I could eat like an apple#but also I would let those very concepts eat at my heart as a worm inside an apple#Full of holes and rotting inside out and yet delighting at the sweetness#It could all be so good! And yet! Most of the manga is a few sketched dynamics and concepts and a very long fight with Sukuna#promising half finished arcs#WHY it could have been so good. And I don't think criticism is a matter of 'fans being spoiled! Go write your story!' or something#It's not a matter of things not going as fans would want them to be. It's a matter of not writing well#or cohesively things established by the author themselves. And I think that's a fair criticism#If we are to take manga as an art‚ which I wholeheartedly support‚#then we can subject mangas to artistic or literary or whatever you want to call it analysis. There are works that are better constructed#than others‚ and there are works that have good ideas but poor execution. And it's always a pity#In the case of JJK it's truly breaking my heart and the comments I see around about these five last chapters are not helping xD#God it could be so good. So good. And I'm not talking about in specific to me‚ which yes that too given the topics‚#but just so good in general. It could be so good. It could have been so good#And yet it's starting to look more and more like any other shonen. It truly breaks my heart haha#I talk too much#Jujutsu Kaisen#I used Bleach because I think that's one of the mangas that has been the most a let down to the friends I have who like shonen
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I just finished reading Neverwhere, and I’m about to fall into an intertextuality rabbit hole through Neil Gaiman’s tropes, themes and phrases.
Don’t wait me up, children. This is going to take some time.
I’ll just say that I've just read about an angel living in a trendy district with antique shops and places to eat, who is named after a place, who drinks a very fancy wine… And he is a perfect bastard who loves old music. If you haven’t read or listened to Neverwhere, you don’t need any more spoilers.
No. Not a single thought in my head, really. I won’t spoil anything more. I guess that I’ll spend part of my “birthday holiday” writing this (and reading some more stuff, obviously).
#good omens#aziraphale#anthony j crowley#neverwhere#neil gaiman#intertextuality#literary analysis#i’m already searching for papers on the subject#such a pity i’m not part of Academia#not really#but this would make quite a nice paper#the ocean at the end of the lane#the graveyard book#coraline#i won’t be able to finish American Gods for this tho#but i’ll probably check out some short stories#transforming the brainrot into writing#help me someone
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Me: Hmm it's been awhile since I've been to reddit and it's not always terrible so let's see the jjk discussions being had
The discussion:
Me: ....oh nothing interesting right now, I'll check back later
#sorry this is just a boring way to interact with media? and the examples given lmao#not even a big toji fan but just starts off with a shallow interpretation of his character and role in the story#takes something nanako and mimiko said in jjk 0 i think as proof that there are no good quotes to dig into?#yeah them saying “black is white and white is black” isn't interesting because of the actual saying#IT'S WHY THEY'RE SAYING IT THAT'S THE INTERESTING PART#and then complains about the gojo line like ok whatever lol#why does this have 1.4k upvotes???#even battle shonen manga can be subjects of literary analysis#sorry this is the first thing i opened up on my homepage and it's so stupid#jjk#jujutsu kaisen
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#philosophy#quotes#David Hume#Essays Moral Political and Literary#Hume#beauty#subjectivity#perspective#awareness#aesthetics
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"Goodbye My Danish Sweetheart" and "Love Like You": The Poetry of Envy
by Mitski and Rebecca Sugar respectively
"Comparison is the thief of joy," and "Of all the seven deadly sins, only Envy is no fun at all." In the moment, envy is all the pain of humbled pride and none of its glamor, with only schadenfreude as a reprieve.
But what if you sat with that envy and accepted the humbling, instead of praying for someone else's downfall?
What if you grew to love that which you envied? What if they loved you back? What if you humbled yourself and matured past that petty need?
Well, there's pain in that, too.
Mitski and Rebecca Sugar know it well. They approach it from completely different angles, but it's surprising how closely they match in conclusion: There's a special kind of drama in the pain of disappointing someone you think is better than you.
(And behind it all is self-hatred.)
Goodbye My Danish Sweetheart by Mitski
This song is an apology for ever failing to appreciate someone (or cheating on them), and as you listen to each verse, Mitski is singing in real time on how she's learning to humble herself.
Unlike the soulful croons of Bruno Mars's "When I Was Your Man," which is an ode to the break-up regret caused by feeling lonely again, like he's begging to come back now that he's seen you with someone else, Mitski's verse is less a reaction to her own loneliness and more self-flagellation, like we're listening to a therapy session wherein she explains why she treated you wrong in the first place.
Maybe this is why Miley Cyrus wrote a girlboss anthem ("I can buy my own flowers") in response to Bruno ("I should've bought you flowers") and not Mitski ("You can see how it's blossomed for you")/s.
To tell this story, Mitski uses repeating refrains to contextualize the previous, recreating the experience of maturing enough to see your past mistakes and taking advantage of the structure of songs.
The most important repeated line within the song is "There's nobody better than you."
It opens the song, is directed at her ex-lover, and it contradictorily sounds like she's questioning their worth.
Because that is a BOLD statement.
Really Mitski? There's nobody? Nobody at all better than 'you?'
Mitski admits to this boldness with the next line: "It took me a while 'til I knew."
That there is what she's apologizing for—a failure to appreciate them. A microcosm of the song in the first two lines.
Her mistake is direct contrast with her lover, who "knew from the start it was us, didn't you?"
This is how Mitski characterizes what makes her lover the best.
The undisputed number one person whom no one can be "better than" is simply someone who had faith in 'us,' in Mitski.
All the while Mitski makes excuses: "It just took me a while 'till I knew"
The ambiguity of the phrase is useful. Not “took too long” but just “a while.”
“Just” is also an excusatory statement. I just forgot. I just didn’t notice. Just protects pride. This is a prideful thing to say, to be in the position to judge someone (and failing to judge them correctly)
Skipping to the chorus, the refrain is:
And I don't blame you
If you want to bury me in your memory
The first time you hear this, it's Mitski describing the pain of understanding why someone would want to forget you.
I'm not the girl I ought to be, but
"Ought" is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, implying a failure to do good.
Maybe when you tell your friends
You can tell them what you saw in me
And not how I turned out to be
This ‘saw in me’ transforms "bury me in your memory" from a line about forgetting Mitski to a line about only keeping alive the memory of what Mitski could’ve been—her lover's idealized version of her.
In effect, she wants to kill and bury that part of herself that failed to justify her lover's faith in her, the part that disappointed them. Self-hatred!
Thus, "ought to be" and "not how I turned out to be" become lines about failing to meet their expectations. This last line is the one that changes meaningfully with each refrain, recontextualizing the previous. In the next chorus, she sings:
And not the way I am
Instead of "not how I turned out to be."
With "Turned out to be" in the past tense and "I am" in the present tense, the changing of lines indicate a progression of time.
Not only a progression of time, but growth over that time as well, since "I am" creates the sense that Mitski is actively accepting that she was at fault for the break-up, while "turned out to be" created the sense that she was distancing herself from that before through its passive voice.
With the introduction of "I am," she demonstrates, in comparison, how much "turned out to be" protected her pride, recreating the experience of maturing enough to see the past clearly.
In the last chorus, she sings:
But could we be what we're meant to be?
I'm just about to beg you, please
And then, when you tell your friends
You can tell them what you saw in me
And not the way I used to be
With the last refrain of the chorus, she's begging to come back and be the couple her lover believed in, but it's to demonstrate that she's changed for the better, not just because she's lonely or jealous.
This is because the focus is on how, instead of "way I am," it's "way I used to be." She's recontextualizing herself as having matured, once again, past her previous mindset.
In this case, she's saying it'll be different this time because she's buried who she "used to be," or the self that didn't appreciate them as she should've. And she proves it with the last line that bookends the song:
'Cause there is nobody better than you
In effect, the whole song is a thesis on why there really is "nobody better than you," and THAT in itself proves that she's changed! It's a song about the lowering of herself and her pride, of recognizing that they're better than her, and of recognizing the pain of having disappointed them because of how much better they are.
Love Like You by Rebecca Sugar
One of the best parts about this song is the way it truly works as an ED song to Steven Universe. It, in effect, is the theme of the whole show, and therefore it works to embody the ...theme of the whole show, which is the transformative power of love.
This song can basically represent the relationship between any two characters in the show in BOTH directions—Rose Quartz and Greg Universe, Greg and Steven, Steven and the Gems, Steven and The Diamonds, etc. And it's such a poignant message as well, managing to create depth with nuances like how self-hatred affects your ability to love, the importance of connection in healing from trauma, and even the limiting nature of only having one perspective—again, all those being themes within the show itself.
Video by Let's Talk Cartoons that talks about this theory that it's about Rose. This theory is right, but misses the point that EVERYONE deals with this in the show lol not just Rose.
If I could begin to be
Half of what you think of me
These two lines are a microcosm of the song, as Mitski's first two lines were, and, like Mitski's song, it's about the disappointment of someone who has faith in you. Someone better than you, as implied by the next two lines.
I could do about anything
I could not put this any better than Rebecca Sugar has already put it, which is characteristic of good poetry!
They think of you so highly that achieving even half of their expectations would be hanging the damn moon! What I'd like to bring your attention to is that it's the same characterization that Mitski used for her lover—part of what makes them so amazing is simply how much faith they put in you!
Within Steven Universe, everybody has had experiences with betrayal of trust and the resulting fear of ever putting your faith in someone again. So this kind of earth-shattering faith can seem naive, but doing so with full knowledge of its pain reveals a kind of invulnerability and confidence that would make someone seem someone god-like, hence your idolization of them.
I could even learn how to love
This line is the one that gets recontextualized over the course of the song, like Mitski's "There's nobody better than you." The idea that someone loves poorly or can't love, though I will say, is beautiful and relatable.
The next refrain of it:
I could do about anything
I could even learn how to love like you
"Like you" is the magic phrase!
Because while they have a god-like faith in others, being on the receiving end of it—that's buoying, too! Much like people have "faith" in god, your idolization of them represents your own earth-shattering faith in the opposite direction! It's a mutual idolization! You're loving "like them." It's a faith that spurs you to do better in return!
But better than what? That's where the verse comes in:
I always thought I might be bad
Now I'm sure that it's true
'Cause I think you're so good
And I'm nothing like you
Comparison is the thief of joy, and unfortunately you've compared yourself to them and found you don't measure up. You're using your faith in them for your own self-deprecation. But, this is tempered by the next lines.
I just adore you
I wish that I knew
What makes you think I'm so special
The last one is a conflict resolving line. It reveals that this painful, comparison-based self-hatred isn't just something you're doing, but something they could be doing as well, as it highlights that the faith is mutual. That although you think they're special, they think you are, too!
And therefore that—since you're so alike—that they could also be struggling with the pain of thinking they're not enough. It's this mutual aspect that makes this song sing, why it works so well to connect basically all the characters of the show in any combination.
This is further supported by the next refrain:
I would do about anything
I would even learn how to love
When I see the way you look
Shaken by how long it took
I could even learn how to love like you
The fact that the "Love like you" refrain follows this "mutual" revelation then implies that loving IS truly "seeing" them by seeing yourself in them, and the way this relationship/self-hatred/revelation is mirrored on this other side.
You're both shaken by how long this took!
Love like you
Love me like you
And this line is the natural end of this line of thought. You can't learn to love without loving yourself first, but being loved and loving in return can teach you how to love yourself. You can learn how to love yourself by following their lead.
But also-- in this song, to love someone else means you see yourself in them—and therefore you learn to love the part of you that's in them.
Comparative Analysis
Mitski's "nobody better than you" and "took me a while 'till I knew" and Sugar's "nothing like you" and "love like you" are repeated throughout the song as symbols of their object of envy.
They're better than you because of their faith in you, in contrast to your own disappointment in yourself. To reach their level, you have to learn to have faith, either in them (Mitski) or yourself (Rebecca Sugar).
There are slight differences. While in Sugar's version, their faith in you helps you respect yourself, Mitski's is about learning to reciprocate her lover's faith to restore her faith in herself, as she's starting the song from a place of unfaithfulness and regret. Her self-hatred is less self-destructive and more a motivator to improve. In Sugar's song, the threat of disappointment/unfaithfulness looms in the background, but the singer didn't actually disappoint. Or if they did, their 'idol' is strong enough to still have faith in them, in spite of that.
In the end, it's a healing of envy, of the sin of comparing yourself to others. Because the answer isn't taking them down, or stewing in your own self-hatred, it's learning to accept yourself where you're at.
Whether it's by embracing your flaws and improving, or loving the part of you that you see in them.
#analysis#music analysis#metas#comparative analysis#envy self-projection love hatred#lyric analysis#i didn't even get to all the fun life/death motifs in danish sweetheart T_T#this juxtaposition square is a subject I've always been obsessed with#you can see it in teruki hanazawa's relationship with shigeo kageyama in Mob Psycho 100#obviously rose quartz has the strongest echoes of this in her relationships#love like you#envy#writers on tumblr#self love#self hatred#steven universe#goodbye my danish sweetheart#rebecca sugar#mitski#literary analysis#writeblr
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no one exhibits more restraint than i do when i open up this app to write some absolutely vitriolic hater shit and then realize i’m an adult with bills to pay and a fulfilling life outside of social media
#teddy.txt#every day i am a literary scholar forced to be subjected to fandom takes#only xavi gets to enjoy my academic discourse about fandom media literacy and that’s how it will stay
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We are exquisite coral reefs, Dying when exposed to strange Elements.
Hafez, Why All This Talk?
#Hafez#Hafiz#Why All This Talk?#The Subject Tonight is Love#coral reef#anxiety#environment#poetry#poetry quotes#Persian literature#quotes#quotes blog#literary quotes#literature quotes#literature#book quotes#books#words#text
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@coquelicoq tagged me to list 5 topics i can talk on for an hour without preparing any material.......... fascinating!! thank you
animal care at this point i still retain most of the info i learned for my last job. if i had to narrow it: i never got very intimately familiar w small mammals. lizards confused me and have such a wide range of needs per species. invertebrates dont need enough care to talk about for an hour LOL. but almost certainly i still know enough about fish husbandry and tank maintenance to fill up an hour easy peasy without even going in depth on any of it. (or dog/cat food nutrition but only from a 'collating data' viewpoint and not a 'having confident opinions about any of it' one)
the intersection of thematic elements and real-world production circumstances of a small unrelated circle of media lol. the hs-gintama-orv-umi-twig venn diagram that lives in my head at all times.
i transcribed a lecture on baroque and rococo architecture that charmed me enough that i did attempt to replicate it for my roomie. transcribed material was always like. i understand it while working on it but lose it once i try to convey it to someone else lol so it wouldnt be very Coherent but it would be Impassioned. and for top lectures to vicariously listen to its between this one and the biology class one about the function of hormones from pregnancy to birth to childhood to adulthood to old age, and i have an easier time remembering architecture details
hmmmm riffing on yours. put any amv in front of me and i could talk about its choice of song/scenes/editing an hour easy.
ICE OVA
tagging @arytha @istherewifiinhell @yamameta-inc if yall want bc im interested in what ud pick and ofc as always anyone who thinks this'd be fun to do :)
#honorable mentions i used to be able to do this for: the academic literature i was reading about PDs/psychosis spec psych for fun.#john adams and associated. the r/tionalist movement. the history of eugenics and race science <- god i want to get back in here#obvious embarrassing contenders: my elaborate exorcists postcanon mental palace. the career of ishida-san.#wildcard contender no one would ever care about: hotarubi.#topics i would find it so funny to become this: philosophical and literary analysis subjects ive learned about solely to talk about gintama
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The Philosophy of Hermeneutics
The philosophy of hermeneutics is the study of interpretation, particularly of texts, language, and symbolic expressions. Hermeneutics originally developed as a method for interpreting religious scriptures, but it has expanded to encompass broader issues of understanding and meaning in various contexts, including literature, law, art, and social sciences. Central to hermeneutics is the idea that understanding is not a straightforward process but involves complex interpretive acts influenced by history, culture, and the interpreter’s perspective.
Key Themes in the Philosophy of Hermeneutics:
Origins and Development:
Biblical Hermeneutics: Hermeneutics began as the art of interpreting sacred texts, particularly the Bible. Early thinkers like Augustine and Origen developed principles for understanding scriptures, focusing on the need to uncover deeper, often allegorical, meanings.
Philosophical Hermeneutics: Over time, hermeneutics expanded beyond religious texts to include general principles of interpretation. Friedrich Schleiermacher, often considered the father of modern hermeneutics, argued that understanding any text requires insight into both the author’s intent and the broader cultural context.
Hermeneutic Circle:
Part-Whole Relationship: A central concept in hermeneutics is the "hermeneutic circle," which describes the process of understanding as a circular relationship between the whole and its parts. To understand a text (the whole), one must interpret its individual elements (the parts), but understanding each part requires an awareness of the whole.
Prejudices and Preconceptions: The hermeneutic circle also highlights that interpretation is influenced by the interpreter’s preconceptions. Understanding is thus seen as a dynamic process where initial assumptions are continually revised in light of new insights.
Key Figures in Hermeneutics:
Friedrich Schleiermacher: Schleiermacher emphasized the importance of understanding the author’s psychological context and argued for a universal approach to interpretation that could apply to any text, not just religious ones.
Wilhelm Dilthey: Dilthey extended hermeneutics into the human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften), arguing that human experience and history could only be understood through interpretive methods, contrasting with the natural sciences’ emphasis on explanation.
Hans-Georg Gadamer: Gadamer, a leading 20th-century philosopher, developed a concept known as "philosophical hermeneutics." He emphasized the role of history and tradition in shaping understanding and argued that interpretation is a dialogical process, where the interpreter engages in a conversation with the text.
Paul Ricoeur: Ricoeur introduced the idea of a "hermeneutics of suspicion," where interpretation involves uncovering hidden meanings, often related to power, ideology, or unconscious motives. He also explored the interplay between explanation and understanding in interpreting texts.
Interpretation and Meaning:
Text and Context: Hermeneutics stresses the importance of context in interpreting meaning. A text cannot be understood in isolation; it must be seen within its historical, cultural, and linguistic context. This idea is crucial in both literary criticism and legal interpretation.
Meaning as Process: Hermeneutic philosophy views meaning not as a fixed entity but as something that emerges through the interpretive process. Meaning is constructed in the interaction between the interpreter and the text, shaped by both historical tradition and the interpreter’s unique perspective.
Understanding and Language:
Language as Medium: In hermeneutics, language is seen as the medium through which understanding occurs. Gadamer argued that language shapes our experience of the world and that all understanding is mediated by language. This leads to the view that interpretation is always situated within a linguistic and cultural tradition.
Fusion of Horizons: Gadamer introduced the concept of the "fusion of horizons," which describes how understanding involves merging the interpreter’s perspective (horizon) with that of the text or author. This fusion allows for a new, shared meaning to emerge, transcending the limitations of both the text’s original context and the interpreter’s preconceptions.
Hermeneutics and Phenomenology:
Influence of Heidegger: Martin Heidegger, a major influence on hermeneutic philosophy, argued that understanding is a fundamental aspect of human existence (Dasein). He shifted the focus from the interpretation of texts to the interpretation of being itself, emphasizing that our understanding of the world is always interpretive and situated within a particular historical and cultural context.
Existential Hermeneutics: Heidegger’s ideas led to the development of existential hermeneutics, which explores how individuals interpret their own existence and the world around them. This approach emphasizes the subjective and situated nature of understanding.
Applications of Hermeneutics:
Literary Criticism: Hermeneutics is a foundational approach in literary theory, where it is used to analyze texts, uncover deeper meanings, and explore the interplay between author, text, and reader.
Legal Interpretation: In law, hermeneutics is applied to interpret legal texts, such as constitutions, statutes, and contracts. It involves understanding the intent of the law, the context in which it was written, and how it applies to contemporary situations.
Historical Understanding: Historians use hermeneutic methods to interpret historical texts and events, recognizing that understanding the past involves reconstructing the perspectives and contexts of historical actors.
Critiques and Challenges:
Objectivity vs. Subjectivity: One critique of hermeneutics is that it can lead to relativism, where all interpretations are seen as equally valid. Critics argue that this undermines the possibility of objective knowledge. However, hermeneutic philosophers like Gadamer counter that interpretation is not purely subjective but is guided by tradition and shared norms.
The Role of Power: Hermeneutics has been challenged by critical theory, particularly by thinkers like Jürgen Habermas, who argue that hermeneutics often overlooks the role of power and ideology in shaping meaning. This critique has led to more critical approaches that incorporate an awareness of social and political factors in interpretation.
The philosophy of hermeneutics is a rich and complex field that explores how we understand texts, language, and human experience. It reveals that interpretation is not a straightforward process but is shaped by history, culture, language, and the interpreter’s perspective. Hermeneutics challenges us to recognize the situated nature of understanding and the dialogical process through which meaning emerges. Whether in literature, law, history, or everyday communication, hermeneutics offers profound insights into the nature of meaning and the act of interpretation.
#philosophy#epistemology#knowledge#learning#education#chatgpt#ontology#Philosophy of Hermeneutics#Interpretation Theory#Hermeneutic Circle#Friedrich Schleiermacher#Hans-Georg Gadamer#Wilhelm Dilthey#Paul Ricoeur#Fusion of Horizons#Text and Context#Language and Understanding#Philosophical Hermeneutics#Existential Hermeneutics#Historical Interpretation#Legal Hermeneutics#Literary Criticism#Phenomenology#Subjectivity and Objectivity#Critical Hermeneutics#hermeneutics#interpretation#psychology
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Trust me when I’m done with all my uni essays I WILL be writing long tlt meta about the book of John (the bible) and how it relates to Jod and the themes of love in the books.
#I’ve lured you into my blog with art#you WILL be subject to Biblical allegory. in the name of understanding space lesbians.#this is why you get a degree in literature actually#literary analysis loml#jp rambles#the locked tomb
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Just 2 AM thoughts: Theory crafting is just another form of writing fanfiction, you cannot change my mind.
#I think there is this misconception that crafting theories and doing literary analyses means you are only like#spewing facts and looking at facts and everything is fact fact fact#when in actuality that is far from the case#even if you were to take a piece of work#and have two people use the same literary criticism to analyze that work#you will get two very different analyses on the same work#Sometimes these analyses can even be contradictory in nature#but both interpretations are valid and have their own merit#this is why I don't like posts that are like “Ew I hate it when people write characters as OOC”#because while yes I do despise me some certain interpretations of my favorite fictional works#I don't discredit their existence#I don't say with my whole chest that they are truly wrong and need to rethink their interpretations#Someone could have a very different interpretation of a character than me and that is perfectly valid#but I digress#Theory crafting is a creative art not a science#Everyone has their own flare to add to theory crafting#Their own personality#their own meaning#their own biases#their own self#and that is exactly like how people write fanfiction#you do research on subjects you want to know more about before writing about#you interpret a character in a certain way and write about them in that way#and you know#I think more people need to realize that#because then you'd get a lot less people going “your theory is canon/your theory is bad and not canon”#and realizing that theory crafting is another form of creative art
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love leaving encouraging notes for my future self in google docs 🫶
#wrote this last night and read it just now and said yeah. i am a sad little fool.#anywayssssssss maybe literary devices do mean something 🙄🙄 whatever.#just bc i do it doesn’t mean all authors do it. right. right?#🙄 <- me when the subjects i love actually make sense and my teachers are actually right#🫧🪴
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I was watching someone cover the MiA manga who mentioned Bondrewd’s weapon, sparagmos, being an ancient greek term. For ritual sacrifice via dismemberment.
It’s foreshadowing.
#made in abyss#oh so the exact thing he does to get his curse repellent#so fucked and fascinating how his experiments double as sacrifices. his lab is even built on a ritual site#really plays into the paradox of him. seeing them as test subjects=clinical indifference. but a sacrifice can imply#something emotionally or even spiritually significant. he’s also his own white whistle and a bit spiritually dismembered himself#in terms of his consciousness be shared/split(?) among the umbra hands#DAMN i hate his organ harvesting ass he’s a literary analysis dream
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