![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Misc media crossposts: Sense8 as id-fic; Gunnm as formative media
Sense8 as id-fic
I suppose the Wachowskis have always written id-fic. Bound is noir lesbian crime id. The Matrix is you—yes, you, average geek! you—could use your geek prowess to become the savoir of mankind. Jupiter Ascending is an id sandwich on a toasted id bun, from my-beautiful-angel-werewolf-boyfriend to my-space-wedding. But somehow I was unprepared for Sense8.
I frequently find it unlovely to watch; the pacing is strange, the humor sometimes off the mark, and rather more to the point it has horrible predicaments everywhere. I'm sensitive to this in storytelling; I experience sympathetic anxiety and frustration in the same way I experience sympathetic embarrassment, and the frequency with which characters are trapped in horrible situations is excruciating; most especially Nomi's hospitalization, which piggybacks onto my personal fears. So that's fun.
But it remains transparent, engaging wish-fulfillment. Otsuichi (who you may remember as the author of Goth) has a short story (adapted to manga and, apparently, to film! which I have not seen! and should correct! but both story and manga are awesome, you should read them) named "Calling You" which is about a lonely high schooler who creates an imaginary cell phone in her head—and one day, the cell phone rings. She's unsure if she's just imagining it, but begins a meaningful relationship with the boy at the other end of the line. The short story collection that it comes from is all about unusual forms of communication, and "Calling You" is especially creative and heartfelt.
What if that cellphone just won't stop ringing? Sense8 asks. What if this fantastically strange form of communication hijacked your other senses, too? One of the best/worst parts of the bond animal trope is how bondmates negotiate sex, from Pern's lack of negotiation (when your dragon has sex you have sex, no exceptions!) to Valdemar's "woah could you just warn me next time?"—negotiating this too-intimate thing while already engaged in a surpassingly intimate relationship. Meanwhile, in Sense8 they have an artistic, passionate orgy. The enthusiasm with which the show realizes its wish-fulfillment, the intensity and breadth of the bond, the way it hits everything from song to sex is incredible. It's almost overtaxing, to viewer and script alike; there's a high concept floating around in the background, the how and what of the sensates, but the show is far more concerned with the interpersonal, but the interpersonal is victim to episodic pacing; it grows uneven and overeager and exhausting. And, unquietly, fantastic.
Formative media: spines in Gunnm
I first read Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita when I was sixteen-ish, the same age that I developed chronic back pain; and I'm unsure if I made the connection immediately or when attempting/abandoning treatment
but the fact that in a fictional technological age where the protagonist is reconstructed from spare parts, where limbs are reparable and interchangeable, and (gently whispers: incoming spoiler) brains could be stored on chips, spines were the difficult thing, too complex to manufacture, instead salvaged and stolen
became formative. I'd exchange any percentage of my flesh body for a non-flesh body in half a heartbeat (if it didn't take work/require medical treatment, obvs.; let's not pretend I would leave the house even for a miracle); I imagine that's a not-uncommon fantasy for people in my position of vague-flesh-prison-ness. but in that cyborg fantasy in my head, influenced by the fiction I imprinted on, spines are the most difficult bit to replace. it became a sort of vindication—they're important and valuable, which is why my bad back fucks up my entire life; they're rare and difficult to procure, even in a world with replaceable parts, which is why mine will never be fixed.
#the boy is playing Nier: Automata and I am having approx 500% more android/cyborg/robot/machine feelings than I am equipped to handle #(also! it's so beautiful!!!) #this is only one of them but it's one of those narratives that explains a Juu
I suppose the Wachowskis have always written id-fic. Bound is noir lesbian crime id. The Matrix is you—yes, you, average geek! you—could use your geek prowess to become the savoir of mankind. Jupiter Ascending is an id sandwich on a toasted id bun, from my-beautiful-angel-werewolf-boyfriend to my-space-wedding. But somehow I was unprepared for Sense8.
I frequently find it unlovely to watch; the pacing is strange, the humor sometimes off the mark, and rather more to the point it has horrible predicaments everywhere. I'm sensitive to this in storytelling; I experience sympathetic anxiety and frustration in the same way I experience sympathetic embarrassment, and the frequency with which characters are trapped in horrible situations is excruciating; most especially Nomi's hospitalization, which piggybacks onto my personal fears. So that's fun.
But it remains transparent, engaging wish-fulfillment. Otsuichi (who you may remember as the author of Goth) has a short story (adapted to manga and, apparently, to film! which I have not seen! and should correct! but both story and manga are awesome, you should read them) named "Calling You" which is about a lonely high schooler who creates an imaginary cell phone in her head—and one day, the cell phone rings. She's unsure if she's just imagining it, but begins a meaningful relationship with the boy at the other end of the line. The short story collection that it comes from is all about unusual forms of communication, and "Calling You" is especially creative and heartfelt.
What if that cellphone just won't stop ringing? Sense8 asks. What if this fantastically strange form of communication hijacked your other senses, too? One of the best/worst parts of the bond animal trope is how bondmates negotiate sex, from Pern's lack of negotiation (when your dragon has sex you have sex, no exceptions!) to Valdemar's "woah could you just warn me next time?"—negotiating this too-intimate thing while already engaged in a surpassingly intimate relationship. Meanwhile, in Sense8 they have an artistic, passionate orgy. The enthusiasm with which the show realizes its wish-fulfillment, the intensity and breadth of the bond, the way it hits everything from song to sex is incredible. It's almost overtaxing, to viewer and script alike; there's a high concept floating around in the background, the how and what of the sensates, but the show is far more concerned with the interpersonal, but the interpersonal is victim to episodic pacing; it grows uneven and overeager and exhausting. And, unquietly, fantastic.
Formative media: spines in Gunnm
I first read Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita when I was sixteen-ish, the same age that I developed chronic back pain; and I'm unsure if I made the connection immediately or when attempting/abandoning treatment
but the fact that in a fictional technological age where the protagonist is reconstructed from spare parts, where limbs are reparable and interchangeable, and (gently whispers: incoming spoiler) brains could be stored on chips, spines were the difficult thing, too complex to manufacture, instead salvaged and stolen
became formative. I'd exchange any percentage of my flesh body for a non-flesh body in half a heartbeat (if it didn't take work/require medical treatment, obvs.; let's not pretend I would leave the house even for a miracle); I imagine that's a not-uncommon fantasy for people in my position of vague-flesh-prison-ness. but in that cyborg fantasy in my head, influenced by the fiction I imprinted on, spines are the most difficult bit to replace. it became a sort of vindication—they're important and valuable, which is why my bad back fucks up my entire life; they're rare and difficult to procure, even in a world with replaceable parts, which is why mine will never be fixed.
#the boy is playing Nier: Automata and I am having approx 500% more android/cyborg/robot/machine feelings than I am equipped to handle #(also! it's so beautiful!!!) #this is only one of them but it's one of those narratives that explains a Juu