"remember kids, stealing is bad, unless a space-time anomaly happens and you are transported to ancient Sparta, in that case stealing is neccesary because in ancient Sparta, only the ruthless survives"
I'm a death of the author kinda person. Whatever meaning I may or may not have put into it, it doesn't matter as much as what the reader takes from it. I didn't pick a meaning or theme, I just wanted to tell a story about interesting characters and interesting plots. But as the characters got their arcs, that's where some meaning turned up. If I had to say what themes I saw, it things like at one point does a sentient creation have rights over its own existence, overcoming guilt and some nature vs nurture. But it's not the sorta thing where a character is going to turn to the camera and go "remember to always be kind". People will take whatever they want from it.
And sometimes it's nice not to have a meaning too. Kids media often has a heavy handed moral, but just as often I watch/read something I could care less what the moral/meaning is, I'm enjoying it on its surface level. There's an anime called Selector WIXOSS, it was a great psychological piece, but certain areas of the fans will take great pleasure telling you how it's an analogy for God and Satan and the complexity of gambling and addiction as motives for the main character and tell me I obviously didn't understand a lot of the show if I missed these things.I enjoyed the show without having to find some deep metaphor and hidden layers to the narrative.
Personally I believe in creation for the sake of creation. It doesn’t have to have some big meaning behind it. I’ve found that even if you don’t have a meaning in mind, you’ll include something subconsciously anyway.
That and it’s the readers who find meaning in the work.
Sure you can have an intention behind it, but that doesn’t mean everyone will take it as intended. Some may even see the exact opposite of what you intended.
Instead of focusing on some grand meaning, I focus more on themes. For instance, tho this is spoilery for my comic, forgiveness is a theme but not in the way you might expect. The way I intend to show forgiveness is for the sake of the one doing the forgiving, not the one who gets forgiven.
Also friendship. Valuing life. Creativity. Individualism. Learning to rely on yourself. But meaning? Well I suppose it has sort of a meeting but saying it would ruin the whole thing.
I guess one thing is I negatively show those that think they have the authority to make absolute moral judgments. Or like thinking you know what’s best for everyone. Because that rejects the very idea of the individual. Everyone is different ergo they don’t need to be treated all the same.
If I had to boil it down to a single meaning it would be the value of Individualism and the evils of Collectiveism. But I’m certain some people will get the opposite meaning out of it somehow.
But is that the meaning? Idk. I mostly just want to tell an interesting story.
I also enjoy escapism but also works that encourages facing reality. There’s a time and place for escapism, it can help people learn to face their problems in ways that are not immediately obvious. You just never know what’s going to strike the right cord in people.
Which is exactly why I believe in creating for the sake of it. Insert a meaning or don’t, the sheer act of creation itself holds meaning. Make it meaningless, meaningless crap can be inspiring as well. Hell, one thing I found meaning is PASWG which was literally about raunchy angels and was created when completely drunk. It’s stupid, fun, has a good plot, but does it mean anything? Not really. It’s about a couple of slutty, bitchy, gluttonous fallen angels who ultimately don’t learn any lessons. But I found meaning in it.
So I wouldn’t stress to hard about meaning.
This harkens back to the idea of didactic stories. The reason you don't like them (i imagine) is because these kinds of stories often look down on the reader as someone ignorant or in need of learning. It's why even in children's stories (sorry @DiegoPalacios) it's a bad idea to add a clear moral at the end. In reality, it turns people off very quickly. Especially kids, who just want a fun story.
Think of the difference between the Lord of the Rings and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Both have very similar themes. They're both Christian allegory, to some degree. However, LWW was VERY obvious in its allegory, and thusly came off a bit pointed and kind of 'kiddish' in a bad way. Where as LOTR is very clearly more long-lasting and hard hitting. It grabs readers in a much broader way, both emotionally and relationally than LWW does. This is because its thematic elements are hidden. Their subtle. They aren't slapping the reader across the face at the turn of every page.
In short. Subtlety is key! Don't be didactic. It's bad for your readers. They don't like it 
you can be didactic if you do it subtly and avoiding being preachy. But i agree that some messages can be handled better.
@DiegoPalacios Totally! I just feel that it's so easy to land on the preachy side. However, non-preachy messages are totally great. Especially if they're philosophical. (Ie. read anything by Vonnegut, Kobo Abe, Camus). Those listed authors have very pointed messages they are telling without being overtly preachy. For the most part, it comes off great
PS. I also sort of have a thing against the Narnia series for how blatantly it wears its message.
I don't really have a meaning to my work. I just make what I want because my brain does it and I think it's cool.
Some people have gotten super deep meanings out of my work that just baffles me. Like I made that up while I was in the shower not when I was discriminated against or felt sad.
I think it's cool that different meanings can be derived from the same work may it be writing or paintings or comics. I think it's helpful if people get offended that you don't have to reply in the sense that you can't control their opinion or interpretation so not to take it personally.
In terms of existential crisis, you can't control interpretation . . . you can try, but everyone is touched differently so it will backfire. Just make stuff as long as you enjoy it. In terms of impact some pieces will hit and others will be less popular but being an artist is riding those waves and knowing that will happen.
there is meaning to my comic but i would rather leave it up to be decoded by those interested,and i do intentionally leave hints to the bigger story
The question in the title was worded in second person, so yep, old Scott Zaboem is going to make this about himself again.
In my Alien Fiction, there is a degree of parody happening even though I haven't been clear enough about what subject I am satirizing. I borrow heavily from Voltaire who mercilessly tore into hos target with biting satire on each and every stinking page of his entire novel. I didn't go that hard core. Honestly, the plot of the books is not the reason for writing them...
I released my Alien Fiction stories with Creative Commons licenses. I set out to create a body of material that anyone else can use afterward their own purposes. Was I successful? I haven't seen evidence of anyone else using it, but that might happen one hundred years after I am gone.
In the meantime, I can spin a moderately entertaining story of goofy comedy for the enjoyment of a few suckers who are tricked into reading it.
My other book, Soulless Saint, was created to promote a certain lesser-known roleplaying game. For that purpose, it was a complete failure.
One out of two ain't terrible.
I believe both sides are perfectly valid. Some things exist just to be there, and other creations have a planed purpose. It is like people, some people just live the moment, they were "born to be alive" and they don't contemplate just are spontaneous. And other people want to find a meaning of everything and make a specific message clear. Both are meaningful in their own way.
The point of my work is to bring it to existence because it makes me happy and hopefully will make others happy. My current comic is actually very oriented towards questioning existence and how can you become meaningful to this world. If I had to define a goal it would be to cause emotions in the readers, I don't want to educate, or show them right from wrong, just want them to laugh, cry, worry, be emotional.
I think art about serious stuff is kinda bullshit:/
Do people really think about that stuff on the daily? Really? Well if so I don’t think I would really care to hang out with someone who’s only interest is sappy or political bullshit.
And sometimes people will make art just to seem “deep” when they actually put no real thought into it and just want the likes. Think about that the next time you see one of those pieces, because being “meaningful” sells.
The meaning of my work (well maybe not from most of my work up until this point since I don’t do many finished pieces:3 however I’m starting to move into doing some of the stuff I really want to do) the meaning of my work is to show what I think makes men beautiful, particularly American men. More specifically, I want to show how cute they are in a very comedic way. I want to mix Gil Elvgren (he’s the dude who did all the old-school pip-ups from the 40s and 50s) with Norman Rockwell (more spirit than in their style, though I think both their styles are absolutely gorgeous!), except with thick sexy dudes. I love the flare of comedy both artists have in their paintings; and you can tell they are both painting subjects they really like/admire. Btw both these artists were super commercial, and yet their paintings are teeming with life and you can see in their paintings just how much they enjoyed their work.
So yeah, in short. No art doesn’t have to have some big deep sappy meaning for it to have life and make people feel emotions. Just do what makes you happy, it could even just be happy little trees:3
I mean not every story has to has super deep or super important themes. Even an examination of a simple everyday life can be enthralling in it's own way.
Sometimes a theme just pops up accidentally as you go along your story just because that just happens sometimes.
There are some really interesting ideas here, I'm enjoying reading this!
As for the stuff I do, I usually draw and paint to remember something. Could be a place, an idea, or a feeling.
For example, the comic I'm drawing is an attempt to remember a roleplaying game me and some friends invented and played. It was a story we all enjoyed, with characters we did our best to interpret. Now we are all over the world and have a difficult time getting together, which makes it more valuable to have those memories turned into a comic, regardless of how amateurish it looks.
Growing up in a world that seems to be slipping past the precipice as we stare ever deeper into the abyss of reaction and apocalyptic climate change and the terrifying realisation that we were very wrong about history "ending" in the 90s and instead of neoliberal utopia forever, the real end of history might just be the end of us all. And yet, though the gloom grows ever darker and the end seems ever nearer; there is still a chance to contribute to the turning of the wheel of history and ensure that we don't merely right the failing gears, but replace them with something better. Not by holding out for saviours and great men with great ideas, but by coming together and saving ourselves by changing the conditions under which we toil. Or else our choice in the future will be between oblivion and hell.
All filtered through the lens of a science fantasy multiverse romp/apocalypse myth with kids, fun, and a whole lot of death and pain and the kind of weird, increasingly surreal and abstract jokes we who grew up in the current millenium like to make. Because growing up in a world your ancestors have already damned to the point that you have little chance of avoiding having it worse than they did despite being told how everything is getting better is hard, and fixing it is even harder. But god damn if we aren't going to make our train trip to hell a roller coaster of laughs and tears.
It's meant to be solidly in the Nobledark corner of the Noblebright/Grimdark quadrant compass, spliced in with comedy where felt appropriate. What I'm not interested in is directly preaching via authorial mouthpiece characters. Its much more effective to convey meaning subtly. Simply what choices are validated by the story and which ones aren't carry a message of their own.
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Haha, oh. This is the exact thing my comic is about, this entire thread. My plot is about a sobbing philosopher who finds no meaning in anything, but just like this thread has been discussing, the moral of the story is that it's not that deep. You can have fun without applying reasoning behind every single action you make. So ironically, my comic is about a lot of themes some people here seem to dislike: a very heavy story trying to get a point across. But my point is that having a point isn't such a big deal. help
Regardless, this is the story I want to tell because I think it's fun as heck. I'm really fascinated by existentialism and I love to write about people being sad. Just another taste in storytelling, doesn't mean I'm a sad and serious person, it just makes me happy to write about! So @JakiraJurosawa, saying serious stories are bullshit is kind of... Rude? Because that's what makes some people happy (like me). Some people might need to write about it to get out of their system, and that doesn't make them a bad person. Your genre doesn't interest me, but that doesn't mean it's bad or "bullshit" at all, so please keep an open mind!
My works has no meanings.
It's just stories I tell. There's no moral or life lesson or anything. Fatally, since I'm an human, there's probably some opinions inconsciously thrown in there but that's something I prefer to avoid.
I wasn’t talking about storytelling. I was talking about art. You know paintings and whatnot. Rather different things in the sense which I was talking.
Also, Im sick and tired of people taking what I say personally for no reason. There’s no reason someone should feel ‘bad’ because someone said they thought something they liked was bullshit. Its the goddamn internet. And therefore I shouldn’t have to go through the niceties. Again, it’s the internet remember.
No offense. Just mild venting. (T _ T ) I just wish people would grow some balls and maybe have a little reality check.
...And if you use strong words you're gonna have to expect someone getting back at you about it. I just want to tell you a different viewpoint about the subject seeing as this is a thread where you talk about things. I'm not mad or offended, I don't know you so what's the point, I'm just stating my opinion as well. Seeing as you used art and art alone in a comic thread, I expected it to be about comics and storytelling if you don't specify. Art is such a wide subject, how could someone possibly know for sure what you're exactly talking about?
I don't know if my reply sounded passive aggressive or anything, but it was all in a happy tone (and still is). Seeing as it sure is the internet, you should also be able to take my response without telling me to get a reality check for having an opinion. We're all good.