Cypress' Flower Dungeon

Hypno Machamp...

drunken fighter except you're the drunk one

Jolteon and Espeon Machamp

Meaning is not something one imposes upon art, themes are not something one imposes onto a story. (Well, they can be, but..)

Meaning and themes are inexorable facts of creative work. No matter what is created, it carries meaning, and it carries themes. The reason it's a major topic is not only that it is important for the end product that the creator understands what they're tackling, but it is introspectively invaluable. When you realise the themes in your story, ones that are emergent, it can force a writer to tackle their own prejudices and ideas about the world. Writing itself, is an act of knowledge creation, in many manners.

People like stories with strong themes and meaning? Well, all stories have strong themes and meaning. The question is what themes and meaning are resonant and highlight within the contemporary zeitgeist. There's themes on multiple levels with anything that's created..

There are the themes that are directly, explicitly tackled in a story--such as the themes of betrayal, romance, or a recovering friendship. Themes like these can be emphasised both through literal storytelling and symbolic storytelling.

There are broader themes--one could say 'genre'--such as a story's role in the context of other stories within its 'niche' (an excellent example being the subversive nature of Shrek (2001), in terms of how its romance story aggressively and explicitly subverts the narrative tropes of beauty and monarchy et cetera). A very common reason for a cult classic movie is that it exercises a violent subversion of trope and genre expectation.

Most writers, however, are not interested in great levels of subversion. Many, for example, watch anime and are like 'I'd love to be able to make anime like that'. In this case, a resonant story requires a special level of mastery and appreciation. An excellent example of a movie that does this is Pacific Rim (2013). Pacific Rim takes a worn-down and trope-riddled genre, and just goes whole ham, exercising a thoroughly influenced expression of monster movies into one story and presentation. In a word, 'camp'. The movie was not ashamed of the precedent it was riding upon, it was in full embrace. This I would consider the other reason for a cult classic movie: a violent embrace of tropes and genre expectation. Many horror movies excel under this approach.

The third factor is the craft. Simply, if something is well executed, with talented writing and artistic expression, this will bring success. It's an underspoken rule in the creative field--get good scrub. Competitive gamers and sports players understand this. Even with all the algorithmic hellscapery, for example, youtube videos success still hinges mostly on the quality of the video. Most youtubers I see that are desperate to make a youtube career happen but aren't finding any success just aren't making very good content. (There is of course a strange barrier though between success and not success on Youtube.. so maybe not a great example)

Importantly, think about this: if some random person presented what you've created to you, would you watch it? Would you read it? It's impossible to fully put yourself in those shoes but it's critical. There's some sort of metric of quality--visuals, audio, writing, et cetera--that is hard to put into concrete terms, but feels very Definite, even considering the importance of cultural context and expectations to ones experience of media.

Importantly, subversion, craft, and camp are not mutually exclusive!

And there's even greater scope of themes, such as the place of a story within the historical context it was created in. Importantly, I think, to Pacific Rim's success is that it does not have much hostile or patronising energy spent towards any classes of individuals (age, sex, gender, race, etc) (That I can remember lmao). On the other hand, a movie like Wanted (2008) is--in my words--aggressively heterosexual, and prototypical of its era, and plays into gross expectations of men and women without a hint of irony. How stories like these reflects on masculine and feminine expectations of men and women and culture of the 2000s is the kind of thematic material that would find analysis under a feminist lens.

The process of understanding the themes of your work is the exact same as the process of introspective inquiry. You want to write a story about a girl finding love. How do you find your themes? You ask questions. To yourself. Why are you writing a story about a girl finding love? What compels you? What hole do you feel you are filling with the work? What experiences of your own are you connecting with in creating this story? What expectations of yours are you playing into, familiar and unfamiliar experiences? What inspires you, both from media and from real life?

There are a million questions. These are the first questions to ask, because these are the questions that challenge you to understand and propose thematic elements in your stories and art. Themes are not discrete, but are fluid, shifting, and overlapping. In a way, this whole rant I wrote is to go from way up high, go even higher, then come alllll the way down. 'To think about themes, stop thinking about themes; start thinking about your art, your self, your experience, your knowledge and understanding and perspective. The themes will come'

I've been making swole pokemon for pokemon infinite fusion:)

☼TOWER☼ A single-player 'FPS' game I'm currently concepting inspired by Might & Magic 6: Mandate of Heaven, Dwarf Fortress, and Vampire Survivors. With a little bit of Quake sprinkled on the side. Title is a placeholder since there's no way that one would work.. I like it though. 'Explore the vast caverns beneath your home, as your recently deceased protagonist, Ethlenn, accrues a group of comrades to grow as friends and develop their talents to become renowned dungeoneers and face the great bearded necromancer Leznnupar in his tower.` would be the tagline, as it were. Now if only I knew how to use Unity and code.. one step at a time, I guess, lol

egg

egg

egg

The year is 2888. You and your friends are all gorgeous post-human cyborgs. As we all are, of course. You were just enjoying the summer ocean breeze at the beach, but decided to head inside with your friends.

And, for the First time in your life,

you've lost connection to the internet.

You barely knew what internet was--like a fish knows 'water'. But now it is all too palpable. You aren't able to see what your friends are up to. You've disconnected from your group conversation. If not for those near you physically, you'd be all alone.

Frightening. Are you dying? You've never heard of this happening to anyone before. And, well, you can't exactly look it up. In spite of the capacity of data containers, you never bothered to download anything. Not even an encyclopaedia.

Using your mouth to speak, you ask,

'is everyone else.. connected?'

And they look at you in shock. 'No..'

At first you are relieved. You are not alone. But then it sinks in. Something is wrong.

'I'm sure it'll get figured out and be fixed soon enough'

You hope. And you connect to the Local network.

You chat with your friends, and one stranger--who came here alone; who had been similarly watching the calming tide of the sea before you all went inside.

'Maybe it's something to do with being inside? That's how reception used to work at least.'

So you head to the door to go outside.

You hear a long heavy dragging sound outside. Scraping and shrieking metal.

Your screens begin to flash on and off every few minutes.

'Gah.. so many problems.'

Your friend grabs the handle of the door, and pulls to open.

It doesn't budge.

A cool sensation lands on your hand. The ceiling is precipitating.

Your friend looks down, as water begins to leak in from beneath the door.

'guys...'

you hear a splash and deep slam as something metal outside slams against concrete

A hook strikes through the door, a massive angler's hook thrust through the violently splintering wood. Rusted iron.

Now the door will certainly open.

Would you like to go outside?

The year is 1888. You are an aged, retired Navy Admiral.

It was a long ride on that airship. You've just had your arm replaced with brass and iron, a boon of the newest technology, and you're ready to rest. But before you can enter your lighthouse home, your friend, the last God, Poseidon, sits at the beach. Looking out, solemnly.

He hears you, and turns his head as you approach, taking a glance at your new arm. He snorts, 'Humanity really has moved past the need for Gods.'

You haven't; 'I haven't.'

You can tell he is weak. He is old. Aged, wrinkled. At this point, barely more than a man. His past is merely myth and rumour. But not to you.

And you continue, you tell him, he's still important.

But he did not hear you.

You look into his eyes, now cold. Soulless. No..

He can't be gone.

You could never let go of the man--no, God--that saved your son's life.

You attempt in a panic to resuscitate him. You press against his chest with force.

With your new arm.

And now he's certainly never coming back.

But. You could never let go of the man--no, God--that saved your son's life. Last of the Gods, and their immaculate beauty, their immense power.. but now, they'll never even be photographed. Never recorded. It's too late.

But you couldn't possibly let Humanity forget about the Gods.