>>15 You have misunderstood my position, probably because I did a bad job of explaining myself. It is my belief that there is no value in art, at least not the sorts of values which have traditionally been associated with art. It seems to me that art gets placed on a pedestal as this sacred object when that is not my experience as audience or artist, and that attitude has been how we've ended up with absurd concepts like "copyright" and "celebrity", which have been detrimental. You can even see my point in this comment. The commenter seems upset that I would "disrespect art", but it's just taken as a given that art is something deserving of respect. If I disrespect a person, I can cause them some sort of distress or harm. I can't cause harm to a picture by treating it as profane, because it has no sentience and cannot experience distress. The normie is only interested in anime in so far as it meets their criteria for being "art" and therefore sacred. Ghibli films, Bebop, etc. The sorts of anime which openly signal "I am art, I am meaningful" in a way that someone not immersed in the culture can pick up on. Works within niche, otaku genres such as harem, slice of life, isekai, eroge, these do not hold the same sacred value as Totoro, they don't pass the test as art, and become classed as slop. Maybe I'm strawmaning here but I hope you can accept my premise for now. My attitude is, rather than trying to rescue my favorite genres from that derision, to say "no, they actually should fit into your criteria", instead I'm saying "well, no art is actually important. There is no transcendental value or meaning here. It's just as valid for me to say I like this harem isekai because I find the girls cute as any other criterea for what constitutes artistic value." This "we don't want to exist" part and "they're trying to take anime away from me" was kind of just me going schizo at the time in a strange bout of paranoia. At the time I was feeling a strong sense that as anime becomes more popular in the mainstream, more and more the otaku industry will cater to that mainstream while sanitizing the more uncouth elements, the elements which may preclude it from entering the category of "art". The sort of attitude of people who refer to eroge as "gooner games", has a real tangible effect as platforms like steam refuse to host that content, governments become pressured into making certain content illegal (like how tokyo banned blood related incest on tv), it becomes harder for the industry to make a profit, and the genre dies. It's not that I care what these people think, it's that if they're the majority, the industry will cater to them. I could go on to address some of your other points but this is already a wall of text. Anyway I'm glad my video is sparking discussion, even if it's due to my poor communication skills.
What I don't understand is that you're applying a framework of values, that the socialized majority hold, and evaluating anime/otakuism (and yourself) through that.
The self is always recognized through the other. Identity cannot exist without other frameworks to contrast it with.
You have misunderstood my position, probably because I did a bad job of explaining myself.
It is my belief that there is no value in art, at least not the sorts of values which have traditionally been associated with art. It seems to me that art gets placed on a pedestal as this sacred object when that is not my experience as audience or artist, and that attitude has been how we've ended up with absurd concepts like "copyright" and "celebrity", which have been detrimental. You can even see my point in this comment. The commenter seems upset that I would "disrespect art", but it's just taken as a given that art is something deserving of respect. If I disrespect a person, I can cause them some sort of distress or harm. I can't cause harm to a picture by treating it as profane, because it has no sentience and cannot experience distress.
The normie is only interested in anime in so far as it meets their criteria for being "art" and therefore sacred. Ghibli films, Bebop, etc. The sorts of anime which openly signal "I am art, I am meaningful" in a way that someone not immersed in the culture can pick up on. Works within niche, otaku genres such as harem, slice of life, isekai, eroge, these do not hold the same sacred value as Totoro, they don't pass the test as art, and become classed as slop. Maybe I'm strawmaning here but I hope you can accept my premise for now. My attitude is, rather than trying to rescue my favorite genres from that derision, to say "no, they actually should fit into your criteria", instead I'm saying "well, no art is actually important. There is no transcendental value or meaning here. It's just as valid for me to say I like this harem isekai because I find the girls cute as any other criterea for what constitutes artistic value."
This "we don't want to exist" part and "they're trying to take anime away from me" was kind of just me going schizo at the time in a strange bout of paranoia. At the time I was feeling a strong sense that as anime becomes more popular in the mainstream, more and more the otaku industry will cater to that mainstream while sanitizing the more uncouth elements, the elements which may preclude it from entering the category of "art". The sort of attitude of people who refer to eroge as "gooner games", has a real tangible effect as platforms like steam refuse to host that content, governments become pressured into making certain content illegal (like how tokyo banned blood related incest on tv), it becomes harder for the industry to make a profit, and the genre dies. It's not that I care what these people think, it's that if they're the majority, the industry will cater to them. I could go on to address some of your other points but this is already a wall of text. Anyway I'm glad my video is sparking discussion, even if it's due to my poor communication skills.