thread of general confusion whether something is good or bad

[Gladius]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1YxOe1L6I8

anime ma backpack

[Gilthwixt]

Don't forget to summon his holy spirit using the @ symbol when you are in danger.

Also, I wanted a chance to defend this now that literally no one cares anymore but it's also related to recent discussions:

I am confident that in 10, 20, or 100 years from now, this will be reviewed as the most subversive gesture by the superflat movement, if not of the decade in popular arts. Regardless of what you think of the music (which I happen to like, mostly after the 2:38 mark) or the artstyle, or the rotoscoping, or the montage (which I think is fantastic, and what contemporary cinema would strive to be like if it were still allowed to be an artform), you have to admit what Mr. and utamaro did here was brilliant, which was: turn casual music listeners and Pharrell fans into lolicon (fine, "moe") consumers for 5 whole minutes. It doesn't matter where you fall in the hebephilia debate, it's completely unrelated, what matters is that two artists hijacked a mainstream persona (with or without his complete awareness, I'm betting with) and inserted themselves directly into a culture in which they and their art would never be wholly welcomed.

Anybody who doesn't appreciate that simply doesn't appreciate nuanced subversion in the arts, which is fine, but those people are missing out.

Coming from that angle maybe it makes a bit more sense. The song isn't terrible if you ignore how creepy the lyrics are in the context of the video. But I feel like even subversion can't save this. You can't say hebephilia is completely unrelated, it is very much what makes the decision to produce and release this video questionable, and I can still hate on the awful rotoscoping. At best it's just a weird video that people stopped caring about after the wtf factor wore off.

Also damn kudos to reviving a discussion over a year old lol.

[Bamyasi]

Oh no, I meant your opinion of hebephilia shouldn't affect your appreciation of the stunt, referencing recent threads. All moe anime can be interpreted in that context imo (which again, shouldn't affect anyone's enjoyment), despite what some people on /a/ would have you believe, but in this instance it's actually essential.

I was saying the art of the video went beyond just the video itself, to include the public's reaction to it (hence my comment on the rotoscoping, etc). All Pop art should be appraised by that metric to an extent.

Also disagree about its just being a weird video but I've already made that clear. I think Superflat is one of the very, very few important artistic movements happening right now, but that could just be because I'm immersed (from afar) in the culture it directly comments on.

[rtil]

is superflat actually an artistic movement? it was a successful marketing campaign and gallery showing but it didn't seem to have enough impact to warrant calling it a movementq

[Bamyasi]

Wikipedia calls it one. There's also a manifesto floating around but I haven't gotten around to reading it (and it's probably another sleight of hand by the rusemaster himself).

I'd call it a movement but your mileage may vary.

[rtil]

hm, well, then i guess it is. but as far as i know it started and ended with superflat monogram and the body of art that came with it, which was essentially an advertising campaign.

[Bamyasi]

It may very well have peaked, you're right. It's a question of when, I think, and the Pharrell video could very well be it imo. Or the Louis-Vuitton thing as you mentioned.

The ad campaign/consumerist bent is all part of the shtick. It's not art in the formal sense, but it's also way more interesting than the conceptual bullshit at my local gallery. Kinda like a performance piece in part.

Really all depends on how much you subscribe to the postmodern snafu. I think it's certainly had enough apparent impact on the anime (4°C, Colorido, movies like Summer Wars, Shinbo, Yuasa, etc.) and videogame (Katamari Damacy, PaRappa, Guitaroo Man, Stretch Panic, Space Channel 5 and Jet Set Radio to an extent, etc.) industries to be rendered important.

Of course I'm wary of postulating stuff like this because I'm not an artist.

[rtil]

to me i just see it more as takashi murakami's individiual style as no one else's directorial works remind me of his. there's some similarities but when you see something like that m/v and you have seen superflat monogram it's pretty obvious the same guy did it. show me another director that is heavily influenced by it directly and i'd believe it, but i'd say the similarities between  superflat and the works of yuasa and mamoru are fleeting.

[Bamyasi]

Oh uhhh I was thinking more about the artists as a collective (most of the other ones I know are listed on that wikipedia page). There's Chiho Aoshima (my personal favorite), Mahomi Kunikata, Ayo Takano, Akane Koide, Sayuri Michima, Yoshitomo Nara, Yusuke Nakamura (who did the character designs for TTG), plus others who aren't as directly tied to the man himself.

As far as other directors? Morimoto's often associated with them, but I assume you've seen his stuff.

Kenji Nakamura maybe?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z39xlaw2tzU

Izumi Todo?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42mqkaFAjx4

Kunihiko Ikuhara?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNIWjQnjaes

Hitoshi Tomizawa? (mangaka, yeah)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHnGMc1PVvM

Tatsuo Sato?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOTasxTJXGM

Yes you could argue the resemblances are only skin deep, but so is Superflat according to Murakami.

Also technically that music video was produced by Murakami and directed by Mr. and fantasista utamaro (also directed Hamatora), but that's really just nitpicking.

[rtil]

that makes more sense

[ExBerian]

Lets get political here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwq62ATABuQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS89XfSPpxg

[soup]

fucking atrocious

[Bamyasi]

Yeah where's the confusion there?

that makes more sense

Sorry, should have been more clear.

[valiums]

Desperate male seeking attention, genuine alien communication, or Poe-etic internet art? You decide.

[rtil]

Desperate male seeking attention, genuine alien communication, or Poe-etic internet art? You decide.

he's had a couple too many red pills

[slack]

wow

[Stu4U]

i checked the original page and now the comments are disabled lol

[Unless]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWSfvIOLO5c