Full Transcript for Finding Philosophy in Anime: Existentialism meets Angels of Death

even though I had wanted to do one, I just 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:02.180 missed out, basically. My major happened to be 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:04.519 self -designed and I called it Aesthetics and 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:07.500 Perception in Literature and Art and it hit me 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:09.840 literally just like a week ago as of writing 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.259 this um which is you know okay so maybe like 00:02:13.259 --> 00:02:16.199 actually three weeks ago that this was subconsciously 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:18.139 my way of writing the thesis that I never got 00:02:18.139 --> 00:02:21.039 to write. So the point of this podcast is quite 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.979 literally going to be me justifying my undergraduate 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:26.740 degree um which I don't really have to do for 00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:30.699 anybody except myself but I wanted to bring materials 00:02:30.699 --> 00:02:33.960 to people and who didn't get to have my experience, 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:36.580 I'd like to share my experience because I had 00:02:36.580 --> 00:02:39.520 a lot of fun in my undergraduate degree. My degree 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:42.159 was supposed to be about understanding our world 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:44.460 through art and literature and examining how 00:02:44.460 --> 00:02:46.699 that corresponds to the way philosophers have 00:02:46.699 --> 00:02:49.400 tried to explain our experiences. So I wanted 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:51.620 to do something slightly different. What I wanted 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:54.419 to do with this anime specific podcast is to 00:02:54.419 --> 00:02:56.819 actually teach philosophy using anime. A lot 00:02:56.819 --> 00:02:59.080 of contemporary attempts to discuss philosophy 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.479 with younger and younger generations comes in 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:05.219 the form of TikToks and dumbed down YouTube videos 00:03:05.219 --> 00:03:07.840 where really important philosophical ideas are 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.520 reduced to quirky little summaries that don't 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:13.120 actually examine the literature or show people 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.939 how to understand or find important materials 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:19.800 on philosophy. And sometimes you run into really 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:22.759 great explanations, but it doesn't necessarily 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:25.719 talk about philosophy in relation to other things, 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.020 which is probably why that philosophy and series 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:32.580 is so popular. Like if you go to Barnes and Noble, 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:35.599 you'll see them where the titles are like Harry 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:38.159 Potter and philosophy or Spiderman and philosophy. 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:40.979 And I've looked at the contents of those books 00:03:40.979 --> 00:03:43.340 in the bookstore before and I wasn't exactly 00:03:43.340 --> 00:03:48.650 impressed. So what I wanted to do was to do

it 00:03:48.650 --> 00:03:51.389 my way. Like that's literally what I want to 00:03:51.389 --> 00:03:54.349 do. I just want to write it the way that I would 00:03:54.349 --> 00:03:59.030 write it. So I wanted to bring all of my research 00:03:59.030 --> 00:04:02.629 acumen and philosophical knowledge to you guys, 00:04:02.770 --> 00:04:06.750 the public. I want the wonderful eclectic education 00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:09.229 that I received to be accessible to other people 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:11.430 because again, I really enjoyed my time there 00:04:11.430 --> 00:04:13.830 and I think I learned a lot of really cool shit. 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:17.439 I know a lot of people who are really intelligent 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:19.779 who simply weren't able to graduate high school 00:04:19.779 --> 00:04:22.339 or chose not to go to college and I just think 00:04:22.339 --> 00:04:25.639 that education should never be gate -kept and 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:29.139 the experience of college is sort of gate -kept 00:04:29.139 --> 00:04:32.639 because it's very much something that you have 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:37.420 to go through to fully get a sense of it and 00:04:37.420 --> 00:04:39.560 so what I'm just going to be trying to do here 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:43.399 is bringing that to you, if that makes sense. 00:04:44.329 --> 00:04:46.209 So that's all I really want to say for the beginning 00:04:46.209 --> 00:04:49.889 of this. Welcome. And if you swore that you would 00:04:49.889 --> 00:04:51.870 never touch philosophy with a 20 -foot pole, 00:04:52.069 --> 00:04:55.069 I commend you for getting this far. Thank you 00:04:55.069 --> 00:04:58.329 so much for sitting through this. Fair warning, 00:04:58.430 --> 00:05:01.370 this first episode was basically me feeling around 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:04.370 and trying to make an easily accessible product. 00:05:04.889 --> 00:05:06.990 The second episode is where things start to get 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:09.850 a bit more complex because I'll be getting deep 00:05:09.850 --> 00:05:12.689 into the literature, much deeper than I'm going 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:15.230 to be doing here, and naming a lot of names and 00:05:15.230 --> 00:05:17.769 connecting a lot of dots. Again, all of this 00:05:17.769 --> 00:05:20.949 should make sense by the third episode. If you 00:05:20.949 --> 00:05:23.430 want to access the original file for the video 00:05:23.430 --> 00:05:25.870 essay that inspired all of this, the link should 00:05:25.870 --> 00:05:28.949 be in the bio. And if you want to just listen 00:05:28.949 --> 00:05:31.230 to the audio, that should be at the beginning 00:05:31.230 --> 00:05:36.230 of this podcast. It is the first upload. So before 00:05:36.230 --> 00:05:38.790 we get into this, I would like to comment briefly 00:05:38.790 --> 00:05:43.449 on current events. Seeing as it kind of concerns 00:05:43.449 --> 00:05:46.170 people who have philosophy degrees specifically 00:05:46.170 --> 00:05:53.430 and

want to provide an educational service to 00:05:53.430 --> 00:05:57.720 the public. There is a YouTube channel called 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:00.800 PhilosophyTube that posts content purportedly 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.180 to teach people more about philosophy and other 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:07.000 things. The purpose seems very similar to what 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:10.360 I am trying to do here by giving y 'all scholarly 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:13.279 perspectives, names to research, interpretations 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:15.720 of anime and philosophy either from other people 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:21.959 or myself, etc, ad nauseam. However, PhilosophyTube 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:25.680 recently released a video that was titled was 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:30.079 Nietzsche woke and it was not well received. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:40.100 I myself watched it and I was... I didn't like 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:44.459 it. I didn't like it. So I am all about applying 00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:49.399 old things to the new, applying philosophy to 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:55.279 new concepts. But I think there's an issue with 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:58.300 the way they decided to do this particular thing. 00:06:58.819 --> 00:07:02.360 I think they thought that, oh well, is Nietzsche 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:06.420 woke would be a nice cute little thing that people 00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:12.259 would enjoy watching. But it wasn't enjoyable 00:07:12.259 --> 00:07:16.660 at all. Probably because this question hinges 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:20.970 on, once again, anti -Judaism or anti -Semitism 00:07:20.970 --> 00:07:25.730 and it's a very old hat for Nietzsche. So personally, 00:07:26.470 --> 00:07:28.649 one of the reasons I don't like this is because 00:07:28.649 --> 00:07:31.769 a lot of people have argued, oh well he actually 00:07:31.769 --> 00:07:36.680 was pro -Jewish people. he was actually an anti 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:38.959 -Semite. And the Nazis argued over this too. 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:42.019 Like, it's been a thing since Nietzsche was alive. 00:07:42.459 --> 00:07:46.899 And so it's a form of sensationalizing this philosopher 00:07:46.899 --> 00:07:49.740 who, in truth, probably didn't give that much 00:07:49.740 --> 00:07:52.459 of a shit. If you actually, like, read about 00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:54.680 his life, he was sick most of the time. He had 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:57.079 to move out to the mountains because he literally 00:07:57.079 --> 00:07:59.259 could not stand public life. He, after a while, 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:02.519 he could not function in, like, polite society 00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:04.399 because he was, like, constantly throwing up. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:08.579 He was just Always like in a bad place So to 00:08:08.579 --> 00:08:12.040 me Nietzsche is a fragile figure in time. It's 00:08:12.040 --> 00:08:15.439 not so much the problem of talking about Is Nietzsche 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:18.439 woke? like, this is a fun little idea. It's mainly 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:21.420 the focus on Nietzsche because of this problem 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:23.240 of, like, oh, we have to decide whether or not 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:25.279 he was anti -Semitic. What I mean by this is 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:27.699 that she satirizes the whole thing in a way that 00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:30.040 it is a little too jokey to the point where it 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:32.100 undercuts the good things she's actually saying 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:34.799 and makes people forget the content. Like, I 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:38.139 literally could not, like, focus on most of what 00:08:38.139 --> 00:08:40.059 she was saying because it was just joke after 00:08:40.059 --> 00:08:43.299 joke after joke. And then there is a clip circulating. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:49.240 where she's like, oh, was slavery like a real 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:53.600 thing? Did he actually mean that? Like as a moment 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:57.940 in time? And I understood that it was a joke. 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:00.440 She was trying to be funny here. It was like 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:04.740 this really dry humor that she was trying to 00:09:04.740 --> 00:09:09.019 adopt. And people took her seriously because 00:09:09.019 --> 00:09:12.700 you couldn't tell that it was a joke. She kept 00:09:12.700 --> 00:09:15.179 basically grabbing you, then losing you, grabbing 00:09:15.179 --> 00:09:18.659 you, then losing you because seriousness in it 00:09:18.659 --> 00:09:20.360 that was present where she was actually saying 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:24.100 like meaningful things, for example, that anti 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:27.059 -Semitism was a specific political movement, 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:31.360 not so much just anti -Judaism. So overall, I 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:33.799 just think there was a better way to deliver 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:37.399 a lot of the content that she wrote. So while 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:39.960 I agree that Nietzsche is probably the best guy 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:42.500 to explore wokeness with, I think it's unfair 00:09:42.500 --> 00:09:46.120 to him. One thing that we as a society need to 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:48.659 practice more is temporarily ignoring most of 00:09:48.659 --> 00:09:51.220 the cultural contexts of a piece of literature 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:53.840 until we have analyzed the thing itself except 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:57.080 for those details that we need to understand 00:09:57.080 --> 00:09:59.879 it. So if we want to think about Nietzsche being 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:03.659 anti -semitic or being anti -Jewish, we have 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:05.919 to understand that he is operating in a time 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.679 frame where there's a lot of his peers who believe 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:12.500 stuff like this. And so regardless of whether 00:10:12.500 --> 00:10:15.559 or not you like it, they are rubbing off on him, 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:17.299 right? So it doesn't

matter whether or not he 00:10:17.299 --> 00:10:19.519 really cares about it. It's going to show up 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.799 in his work. And it does. You see anti -Jewish 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.240 things throughout his work. But one of the keys 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:28.279 here to understanding Nietzsche is just that 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:31.289 anti -Judaism isn't integral to understanding 00:10:31.289 --> 00:10:33.549 his work and so it's just not that interesting 00:10:33.549 --> 00:10:35.889 of a question whether or not he was woke or not 00:10:35.889 --> 00:10:38.970 that's just not that's not important to Nietzsche. 00:10:39.250 --> 00:10:41.750 Now when I say that Nietzsche's anti -Judaism 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:44.350 doesn't matter to him I should also say that 00:10:44.350 --> 00:10:46.570 I don't think it's complete metaphor when he 00:10:46.570 --> 00:10:49.409 talks about Christianity and Judaism corrupting 00:10:49.409 --> 00:10:52.889 people. The genealogy of morals, which Philosophy 00:10:52.889 --> 00:10:55.970 Tube mentioned, is where all of this mostly comes 00:10:55.970 --> 00:10:58.350 up, but he's not talking about anything in terms 00:10:58.350 --> 00:11:00.409 of eugenics. He's talking about the degradation 00:11:00.409 --> 00:11:03.809 of society, morals, human behavior. He is talking, 00:11:04.149 --> 00:11:08.190 to quote him directly, about the genealogy of 00:11:08.190 --> 00:11:12.389 our moral prejudices. That is to say, the history 00:11:12.389 --> 00:11:17.279 of moral prejudices. His polemic is about how 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.000 morality is developed. It is not about any one 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.879 political entity or what we should really do 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:29.980 so much as it is telling us what happened. Now 00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:32.179 you may read his work and think, this shit is 00:11:32.179 --> 00:11:35.259 wild. I don't think any of this is true. But 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:37.200 it's not really a work that harms anyone unless 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.620 you are taking it to mean something beyond its 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:42.620 original purpose. So if you really want to teach 00:11:42.620 --> 00:11:46.450 people, about philosophy, about different philosophers, 00:11:46.590 --> 00:11:52.309 we need to actually give them our time in a respectful 00:11:52.309 --> 00:11:56.590 manner. So really fast, I am going to tell you 00:11:56.590 --> 00:11:59.190 guys a little bit about Nietzsche, primarily 00:11:59.190 --> 00:12:02.549 because he has a teensy bit to do with the episode 00:12:02.549 --> 00:12:05.809 today, since we're going to be talking about 00:12:05.809 --> 00:12:08.970 existentialism. Primarily throughout this particular 00:12:08.970 --> 00:12:12.289 episode, Nietzsche is a predecessor to existentialism, 00:12:12.529 --> 00:12:16.190 and so I think that would be helpful. When I 00:12:16.190 --> 00:12:18.730 think about Nietzsche, I see in my head a very 00:12:18.730 --> 00:12:21.549 famous painting by Caspar David Friedrich called 00:12:21.549 --> 00:12:25.330 Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. It depicts a man 00:12:25.330 --> 00:12:27.549 standing at the top of a mountain, gazing out 00:12:27.549 --> 00:12:31.009 at, you guessed it, a sea of fog. The painting 00:12:31.009 --> 00:12:33.009 is considered to be a visual depiction of the 00:12:33.009 --> 00:12:36.289 Romantic era, which celebrated, to quote Britannica, 00:12:36.789 --> 00:12:39.169 the individual, the subjective, the irrational, 00:12:39.409 --> 00:12:42.110 the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, 00:12:42.549 --> 00:12:45.409 the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental. 00:12:46.230 --> 00:12:48.789 It was a rejection of enlightenment ideals and 00:12:48.789 --> 00:12:52.049 physical materialism. Wanderer Above the Sea 00:12:52.049 --> 00:12:55.830 of Fog was painted in 1818. Nietzsche was born 00:12:55.830 --> 00:13:00.309 in 1844, right smack dab in the middle of romanticism's 00:13:00.309 --> 00:13:03.509 peak. The first book I ever read by Nietzsche 00:13:03.509 --> 00:13:06.149 was The Birth of Tragedy, which was also Nietzsche's 00:13:06.149 --> 00:13:08.649 first published work. It was then that I realized 00:13:08.649 --> 00:13:11.029 why Nietzsche was so well known even in pop culture. 00:13:11.590 --> 00:13:15.350 His words flow and blossom across the page. Truthfully, 00:13:15.450 --> 00:13:17.190 I believe that Nietzsche's style of writing has 00:13:17.190 --> 00:13:19.049 something to do with his physical and mental 00:13:19.049 --> 00:13:22.580 health, but it is beautiful. The only way I can 00:13:22.580 --> 00:13:24.720 really describe it is to refer to a treatise 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:29.620 written 1756 -57 titled A Philosophical Inquiry 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:32.259 into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and 00:13:32.259 --> 00:13:35.559 the Beautiful. This work was written around the 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:37.419 beginning of the Romantic era, which perhaps 00:13:37.419 --> 00:13:39.740 explains why I think of it when I think of Nietzsche. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:43.399 The way Burke talks about being transported from 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:45.940 one emotion to another is reminiscent of Nietzsche 00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:48.379 because we see this rejection of rationalism 00:13:48.379 --> 00:13:52.120 present in both authors' thoughts. Both men speak 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:54.279 about emotion, about how certain things make 00:13:54.279 --> 00:13:57.580 us feel. And I think it's important for our understanding 00:13:57.580 --> 00:14:00.019 of Nietzsche to recognize that in order to talk 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:02.360 about drama, you must be able to see yourself 00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:06.659 as the actor. To quote Burke, we see with pity 00:14:06.659 --> 00:14:09.580 even distresses which we would accept in the 00:14:09.580 --> 00:14:13.519 place of our own. Both men, though they had radically

00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.200 different political views, Burke defended minorities, 00:14:16.500 --> 00:14:19.039 Nietzsche was actually pro -slavery, Burke praised 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:22.039 Christianity, Nietzsche railed against it, were 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:24.919 passionate about what they had to say and expressed 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:27.639 their philosophy using passion as a vehicle to 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:30.440 talk about things like pain and pleasure. As 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:33.460 Coleridge said of Burke, no man was ever more 00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:36.120 like himself. And I think you could apply that 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:39.759 statement to Nietzsche too. It wasn't just the 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:43.340 way they talked, it was praxis. They're trying 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:46.080 to move you so that you feel what they feel. 00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:49.700 Now, the reason I think of Friedrich's painting 00:14:49.700 --> 00:14:52.659 is because Nietzsche always felt best when he 00:14:52.659 --> 00:14:55.360 was walking, preferably climbing a mountain. 00:14:56.340 --> 00:14:58.639 As Friedrich Gross writes in The Philosophy of 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:02.539 Walking, page 17, Thus walking, looking down 00:15:02.539 --> 00:15:05.080 on the world and men, he composed in the open 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:08.940 air, imagined, discovered, grew excited, was 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:11.659 frightened by what he found, astonished, and 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:15.460 gripped by what came to him on his walks. The 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:18.019 intensity of my feelings makes me laugh and shiver 00:15:18.019 --> 00:15:21.019 at the same time. It has happened several times 00:15:21.019 --> 00:15:22.919 that I have been unable to leave my room for 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:25.159 the ridiculous reason that my eyes were red. 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:28.840 And for what cause? Just on that previous day 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:31.620 during my long walks I had wept too much, and 00:15:31.620 --> 00:15:34.019 not sentimental tears but tears of happiness, 00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:37.220 singing and staggering, taken over by a new gaze 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:39.779 that marks my privilege over the men of today. 00:15:40.460 --> 00:15:43.059 Nietzsche became increasingly unwell over the 00:15:43.059 --> 00:15:45.960 years after his seclusion from proper society 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:49.759 and was prone to euphoric madness. He eventually 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:52.679 moved back in with his mother and paralysis and 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:57.699 stupidity overtook him. He barely spoke. Nietzsche 00:15:57.699 --> 00:16:03.419 died on August 25th, 1900. In preparation for 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:06.039 this episode, I created a timeline that was originally 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:08.740 taken from Timetoast .com and then I added to 00:16:08.740 --> 00:16:11.779 it. I will be scanning through a copy of the 00:16:11.779 --> 00:16:13.460 timeline so that y 'all can see it. It's going 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:16.559 to be in the bibliography thing that I post after 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:19.379 the third episode. I just drew it by hand because 00:16:19.379 --> 00:16:21.320 it was going to take me less time to do it that 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:23.080 way rather than messing around with a program 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:25.100 that I don't know how to use. I have put Nietzsche 00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:27.620 on here to contextualize him in relation to the 00:16:27.620 --> 00:16:30.259 main players in existentialism. I also added 00:16:30.259 --> 00:16:32.720 a note at the top that explains that Impressionism 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:37.100 began in the 1860s. It gained gradual recognition 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:41.139 over time and then took off in 1927. Under that 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:45.120 is a note stating that Surrealism began in 1917, 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:51.779 1929. 1917 is the year we first get the use of 00:16:51.779 --> 00:16:54.700 the word surrealism by Apollinaire, and then 00:16:54.700 --> 00:16:57.879 in 1929 we get the second version of the Surrealist 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:00.200 Manifesto, which really kicks off the movement. 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:03.240 The timeline that I've created starts with Heinrich 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:06.700 von Kleist's death in 1811 because I wanted to 00:17:06.700 --> 00:17:10.079 identify him as influencing existentialism indirectly. 00:17:11.180 --> 00:17:13.859 Kleist was a short story writer who heavily influenced 00:17:13.859 --> 00:17:16.259 Kafka, and I definitely recommend reading his 00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:19.349 work. Following Kleist, we have the birth of 00:17:19.349 --> 00:17:23.069 Kierkegaard in 1813, the birth of Dostoevsky 00:17:23.069 --> 00:17:27.950 in 1821, the birth of Nietzsche in 1844, and 00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:33.750 the birth of Husserl in 1859. Both Kierkegaard 00:17:33.750 --> 00:17:36.950 and Dostoevsky are inspirations to the existentialists, 00:17:37.130 --> 00:17:40.450 but they are not existentialists. The most important 00:17:40.450 --> 00:17:42.990 publications by these authors are listed either 00:17:42.990 --> 00:17:46.369 or. and Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard and 00:17:46.369 --> 00:17:48.670 Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky. Notes 00:17:48.670 --> 00:17:50.470 from the Underground, by the way, is one of my 00:17:50.470 --> 00:17:54.569 favorite, my favorite texts. Husserl is technically 00:17:54.569 --> 00:17:57.470 an existentialist, but some people believe he 00:17:57.470 --> 00:17:59.910 doesn't count, mainly because he's not French 00:17:59.910 --> 00:18:03.509 and doesn't work in the tradition, but his phenomenology 00:18:03.509 --> 00:18:06.089 is incredibly important to the development of 00:18:06.089 --> 00:18:09.700 existentialist thought. Next on the timeline 00:18:09.700 --> 00:18:14.920 is Kafka, born in 1883. Kafka was not an existentialist 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:17.880 either, but he did influence

existentialism. 00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:20.619 In fact, one of the essays I read by Merleau 00:18:20.619 --> 00:18:25.220 -Ponty for this episode mentions Kafka. 1889, 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.920 we have Heidegger, who is the reason existentialism 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:30.519 exists the particular way it does. This is because 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:34.920 Sartre, our leading man, who... invented. Existentialism 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.279 was heavily influenced by Heidegger's work while 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:40.140 he was studying in Germany, specifically Heidegger's 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:45.420 being in time was significant. 1901, Lacan, who's 00:18:45.420 --> 00:18:49.339 called the French Freud, is born. Sartre is born 00:18:49.339 --> 00:18:53.259 in 1905, Simone de Beauvoir and Merleau -Ponty 00:18:53.259 --> 00:18:58.980 in 1908, and Camus in 1913. So now we have the 00:18:58.980 --> 00:19:02.400 main existentialist crew, Sartre, Beauvoir, Merleau 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:05.579 -Ponty, and Camus. I've added Lacan in here, 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:08.839 not because he's an existentialist per se, but 00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:12.220 because a lot of his psychoanalytic theory is 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:15.420 clearly influenced by existentialism. I'm really 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:17.599 excited to talk about Lacan in later episodes 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:20.500 because he's absolutely my favorite, but I will 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:22.420 not say any more on that because I don't want 00:19:22.420 --> 00:19:26.670 to spoil it. I have also put Franz Fanon on here, 00:19:26.829 --> 00:19:30.990 born 1925, who doesn't usually make it into the 00:19:30.990 --> 00:19:33.730 canon, but when I took existentialism in college, 00:19:34.329 --> 00:19:36.650 my professor had us read Fanon, specifically 00:19:36.650 --> 00:19:39.529 black skin, white masks, but all of his theory 00:19:39.529 --> 00:19:41.789 pretty much takes from existentialist thought. 00:19:43.289 --> 00:19:45.930 I also put in the publications of the first and 00:19:45.930 --> 00:19:48.930 second Surrealist manifestos on here because 00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:51.349 I believe that Surrealism and Impressionism and 00:19:51.349 --> 00:19:54.349 even Dada had some influence on Existentialism 00:19:54.349 --> 00:19:59.210 and vice versa. I also marked the death of Gertrude 00:19:59.210 --> 00:20:02.289 Stein because I wanted to show that she was writing 00:20:02.289 --> 00:20:05.369 during this time and died shortly after the publication 00:20:05.369 --> 00:20:09.410 of the Existentialist paper, Le Temps Modernes. 00:20:09.710 --> 00:20:13.150 Stein was incredibly influential in the Paris 00:20:13.150 --> 00:20:15.549 art scene and encouraged writers and artists 00:20:15.549 --> 00:20:19.109 alike to produce more work. Now, Gertrude Stein 00:20:19.109 --> 00:20:21.890 is a great example of how a lot of the ideas 00:20:21.890 --> 00:20:24.509 in surrealism, impressionism, and existentialism 00:20:24.509 --> 00:20:27.970 overlapped. While Stein was studying under William 00:20:27.970 --> 00:20:30.710 James at Radcliffe College, she was taught automatic 00:20:30.710 --> 00:20:34.250 writing. And she personally used this in her 00:20:34.250 --> 00:20:36.470 writing later in her life, all throughout her 00:20:36.470 --> 00:20:39.849 life, and developed it. over time, but she called 00:20:39.849 --> 00:20:42.630 her version of it an excess of consciousness. 00:20:43.589 --> 00:20:46.750 But in Surrealism, too, the practice of automatic 00:20:46.750 --> 00:20:48.869 writing was really important. They adopted it 00:20:48.869 --> 00:20:50.470 totally on their own, nothing to do with her 00:20:50.470 --> 00:20:54.849 because the idea was that the human body in a 00:20:54.849 --> 00:20:57.529 state where one was not totally aware could access 00:20:57.529 --> 00:21:01.430 hidden realities or hidden meanings. But Stein 00:21:01.430 --> 00:21:03.910 was not a surrealist. Like I just said, it didn't 00:21:03.910 --> 00:21:06.390 really have anything to do with her. Stein was 00:21:06.390 --> 00:21:09.250 an experimentalist who spent a lot of time around 00:21:09.250 --> 00:21:13.890 artists like Dommier and Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso. 00:21:14.609 --> 00:21:17.210 These artists weren't surrealists either, I'm 00:21:17.210 --> 00:21:21.299 sure you know. Dommier, for example, is probably 00:21:21.299 --> 00:21:24.059 most well known for his caricature of King Louis 00:21:24.059 --> 00:21:27.440 -Philippe, titled Gargantua. Matisse, for example, 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:30.079 was considered a Faubist until his introduction 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:33.759 to Vincent van Gogh's work, and his style changed 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:37.099 completely. And this is how art works. Artists 00:21:37.099 --> 00:21:39.200 work in different styles, and they influence 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:41.799 each other. They can be inspired by poetry and 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.180 prose, and they can be inspired by music. Philosophy 00:21:45.180 --> 00:21:48.349 is not immune to this kind of inspiration. If 00:21:48.349 --> 00:21:50.529 we want to return to the early life of Nietzsche, 00:21:50.809 --> 00:21:52.670 for example, you will find that not only was 00:21:52.670 --> 00:21:55.410 he heavily inspired by Wagner, but that he was 00:21:55.410 --> 00:21:58.630 also an amateur composer. I think it would be 00:21:58.630 --> 00:22:01.130 absurd to say that music did not influence Nietzsche's 00:22:01.130 --> 00:22:05.329 writing. Hence, I think it is not absurd to imagine 00:22:05.329 --> 00:22:07.970 that culture in France influenced the development 00:22:07.970 --> 00:22:11.809 of existentialism as well. So the fact that surrealism 00:22:11.809 --> 00:22:13.910 and Impressionism was happening around the same 00:22:13.910 --> 00:22:17.150 time as existentialism is not a coincidence in 00:22:17.150 --> 00:22:20.069 the slightest. Thank you, Industrial Revolution.

00:22:21.390 --> 00:22:24.789 So we have the most important books here, Being 00:22:24.789 --> 00:22:28.490 in Time, Sartre's Nausea, Camus the Stranger, 00:22:28.849 --> 00:22:32.750 and the Myth of Sisyphus, Beauvoir's Second Sex, 00:22:32.990 --> 00:22:35.970 and Sartre's Being and Nothingness. So let's 00:22:35.970 --> 00:22:39.130 start with Being in Time. Heidegger is concerned 00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:41.509 with the question of being. What is the meaning, 00:22:41.869 --> 00:22:46.000 sin, sense, of being? He bases this on what he 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:48.240 calls the Greek's initial contributions towards 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:51.559 an interpretation of being. Heidegger thinks 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:54.660 that being resists every attempt at definition, 00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:57.579 that's a quote, and so ontology itself has not 00:22:57.579 --> 00:23:00.660 been properly explored since Aristotle, if Aristotle 00:23:00.660 --> 00:23:03.400 even explored it properly. Throughout the first 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:06.079 section of this work, he quotes classic scholars 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:08.740 in order to establish a few things about being. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:11.420 So you kind of need to know the Greek and Latin 00:23:11.420 --> 00:23:14.799 here, but... Basically, what he's doing is explicating 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.960 what being is and is not. For example, on page 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:20.680 23, he cites what is called the genus differentia 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:24.579 definition, definito fit per genus proximum et 00:23:24.579 --> 00:23:27.220 differentiam specificam, which is a particular 00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:31.240 way of categorizing creatures biologically. He 00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:34.940 wants to say that being is indefinable, which 00:23:34.940 --> 00:23:37.400 makes the question of what being is all the more 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:40.960 important. He also thinks that we do live in 00:23:41.019 --> 00:23:44.099 that's a quote as well, some kind of understanding 00:23:44.099 --> 00:23:46.819 of being, but that we don't understand it fully 00:23:46.819 --> 00:23:49.299 and that this is, again, what makes the question 00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:53.220 necessary. Being is translated from the German 00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:56.819 Sein. However, Heidegger differentiates being 00:23:56.819 --> 00:23:59.839 as its own thing. What I mean by this is that 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:03.740 the German word Siendes is used regularly. To 00:24:03.740 --> 00:24:06.299 follow the footnote on page 22, written by the 00:24:06.299 --> 00:24:10.380 translators, the substantive das Siende is directly 00:24:10.029 --> 00:24:14.289 derived from the participle C -end, C -end, yeah, 00:24:14.650 --> 00:24:17.390 and it means literally that which is. Ein C -endes 00:24:17.390 --> 00:24:20.630 means something which is. The translators state 00:24:20.630 --> 00:24:23.690 that they want to translate C -endes as entity 00:24:23.690 --> 00:24:26.269 or

entities who differentiate it from the word 00:24:26.269 --> 00:24:29.769 being or beings. Entity in this reading thus 00:24:29.769 --> 00:24:33.910 should be understood as something which is. As 00:24:33.910 --> 00:24:38.079 we see pretty quickly, page 26 quote the being 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:42.400 of entities is not itself an entity and he goes 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:45.220 on to say something really interesting here if 00:24:45.220 --> 00:24:47.160 we are to understand the problem of being our 00:24:47.160 --> 00:24:50.000 first philosophical step consists in not myth 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.059 on tina degus the eye which is myth telling in 00:24:54.059 --> 00:24:57.700 not telling a story, that is to say, in not defining 00:24:57.700 --> 00:25:00.920 entities as entities by tracing them back in 00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:04.019 their origin to some other entities as if being 00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:07.960 had the character of some possible entity. Hence, 00:25:08.299 --> 00:25:10.920 being as that which is asked about must be exhibited 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:14.500 in a way of its own, essentially different from 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:18.180 the way in which entities are discovered. And 00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:20.400 I really love what he says after that, but... 00:25:20.039 --> 00:25:22.299 all that's really important to mention to y 'all 00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:25.460 is the part where he says in so far as being 00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:29.400 constitutes what is asked about and being quote 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.859 means the being of entities then entities themselves 00:25:32.859 --> 00:25:35.440 turn out to be what is interrogated so you see 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:38.740 how he's like making a distinction between being 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:40.920 and entities and the translators are making sure 00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:45.279 to like make that clear meaning that being as 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.339 an entity must be in some way accessible and 00:25:48.339 --> 00:25:50.960 ultimately this requires us to be totally transparent 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:53.559 about how we're going about understanding being. 00:25:54.619 --> 00:25:57.279 He worries however that there is a circularity 00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:59.880 to this given that how we understand being up 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:02.559 to this point is that it is something in itself 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:06.180 and presupposes all explanation. It presupposes 00:26:06.180 --> 00:26:09.480 things that we know about being. quote, this 00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:11.880 presupposing of being has rather the character 00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:17.019 of taking a look beforehand. Now this particular 00:26:17.019 --> 00:26:19.819 section is where we get first get the word design. 00:26:20.500 --> 00:26:22.920 They leave design largely untranslated because 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:25.480 honestly, it's iconic. And so some people who 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:28.299 haven't even read any philosophy know of it. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:30.480 However, there are a few moments throughout the 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:33.519 book where Heidegger himself breaks dot zine 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:36.160 with a hyphen, and so these moments are considered 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:38.960 significant enough to where the word ought to 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:41.240 be identified through its translation as being 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:44.140 there. As an aside, anyone who knows anything 00:26:44.140 --> 00:26:46.400 about German should understand the significance 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:48.640 of pulling a word apart just to put it back together 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:51.640 again. I like to think of it as like an accordion, 00:26:52.220 --> 00:26:54.599 like doing the little music thing, or like a 00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:58.420 pop -it paper house. So, if you ever want a single 00:26:58.420 --> 00:27:01.480 word for a concept that's lengthy to describe, 00:27:01.700 --> 00:27:03.960 a rest assured German probably has a word for 00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:06.980 it. This is called compounding, and it's where 00:27:06.980 --> 00:27:09.640 you combine multiple words to create a much longer 00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:12.960 word, which gives the word a new sense. German 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.119 is also a very literal or precise language. For 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:19.140 both of these reasons, German is excellent for 00:27:19.140 --> 00:27:21.640 doing philosophy because you can be very exact 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:24.960 about what you mean. Point being, when Dasein 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:27.500 gets pulled apart, it's for a very good reason. 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:33.240 So what is Dasein? Translated literally, it is 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:37.279 a being there in time and space. Heidegger wants 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:40.319 to situate Dasein in the world by describing 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:44.319 what a being is, what worldhood is, the spatiality 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:47.059 of Dasein, and he also wants to make sure to 00:27:47.059 --> 00:27:50.339 show how what he said about being is different 00:27:50.339 --> 00:27:54.230 from Descartes' ontology. Heidegger is specifically 00:27:54.230 --> 00:27:58.089 rejecting Descartes, which is a thing that Merleau 00:27:58.089 --> 00:28:01.529 -Ponty does too, and Sartre, so it means they're 00:28:01.529 --> 00:28:03.930 rejecting the idea that the mind and body is 00:28:03.930 --> 00:28:08.650 uniquely separate, so being is divided, but they're 00:28:08.650 --> 00:28:11.569 also rejecting Descartes' understanding of consciousness 00:28:11.569 --> 00:28:14.650 itself. Another thing that Heidegger is concerned 00:28:14.650 --> 00:28:17.589 with is Logos, which, if you already listened 00:28:17.589 --> 00:28:20.490 to the second episode, is unique to Greek thinkers, 00:28:20.569 --> 00:28:23.349 specifically Plato and Aristotle. And Heidegger 00:28:23.349 --> 00:28:25.609 thinks that truth doesn't just come out of logos, 00:28:25.670 -->

00:28:27.930 it comes out of something else, which of course 00:28:27.930 --> 00:28:30.829 is being. And we're gonna examine that in the 00:28:30.829 --> 00:28:35.609 third episode. So page 63, 64 of Being in Time, 00:28:35.829 --> 00:28:37.730 Heidegger explains how he's going to approach 00:28:37.730 --> 00:28:39.509 these problems. And I'm just gonna read this 00:28:39.509 --> 00:28:41.369 so we have this set up for when I talk about 00:28:41.369 --> 00:28:45.150 being in time more in episode three. I also think 00:28:45.150 --> 00:28:47.789 that he dallies on the actual act of explaining. 00:28:48.339 --> 00:28:51.380 Dasein because he's trying to build up to it. 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:53.900 But I think and he's also also every sentence 00:28:53.900 --> 00:28:56.380 he's like kind of saying a little bit of something 00:28:56.380 --> 00:28:58.519 different. And like this is the problem with 00:28:58.519 --> 00:29:01.059 German German philosophers. But I think we get 00:29:01.059 --> 00:29:05.039 a basic sense of what it is here. Okay, so this 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.400 is labeled design of the tree ties. The question 00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:10.319 of the meaning of being is the most universal 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:12.819 and the emptiest of questions. But at the same 00:29:12.819 --> 00:29:15.160 time, it is possible to individualize it very 00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:18.630 precisely for any particular Dasein. If we are 00:29:18.630 --> 00:29:21.329 to arrive at the basic concept of being and to 00:29:21.329 --> 00:29:23.529 outline the ontological conceptions which it 00:29:23.529 --> 00:29:25.990 requires and the variations which it necessarily 00:29:25.990 --> 00:29:28.470 undergoes, we need a clue which is concrete. 00:29:29.289 --> 00:29:31.109 We shall proceed towards the concept of being 00:29:31.109 --> 00:29:33.369 by way of an interpretation of a certain special 00:29:33.369 --> 00:29:35.970 entity, Dasein, in which we shall arrive at the 00:29:35.970 --> 00:29:37.829 horizon for the understanding of being and for 00:29:37.829 --> 00:29:40.730 the possibility of interpreting it. The universality 00:29:40.730 --> 00:29:42.869 of the concept of being is not belied by the 00:29:42.869 --> 00:29:45.789 relatively special character of our investigation. 00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:49.680 But this very entity, Dasein, is in itself historical, 00:29:49.819 --> 00:29:52.180 so that its own most ontological elucidation 00:29:52.180 --> 00:29:55.880 necessarily becomes an historiological interpretation. 00:29:57.299 --> 00:29:59.119 Accordingly, our treatment of the question of 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:01.880 being branches out into two distinct tasks, and 00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:05.460 our treatise will thus have two parts. Part one, 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:08.460 the interpretation of Dasein in terms of temporality 00:30:08.460 --> 00:30:10.720 and the explication of time as the transcendental 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:14.279 horizon for the question of being. Part two, 00:30:14.339 --> 00:30:16.680 basic features of a phenomenological destruction 00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:19.180 of the history of ontology with the problematic 00:30:19.180 --> 00:30:24.259 of temporality as our clue. Turn the page. Part 00:30:24.259 --> 00:30:27.119 one has three divisions. One, the preparatory 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:30.640 fundamental analysis of Dasein. Two, Dasein and 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:34.740 temporality. Three, time and being. Part two 00:30:34.740 --> 00:30:38.450 likewise has three divisions. One, Kant's doctrine 00:30:38.450 --> 00:30:41.369 of schematism and time as a preliminary stage 00:30:41.369 --> 00:30:44.730 in a problematic of temporality. Two, the ontological 00:30:44.730 --> 00:30:47.829 foundation of Descartes, cogito sum, and how 00:30:47.829 --> 00:30:50.329 the medieval ontology has been taken over into 00:30:50.329 --> 00:30:55.970 the problematic of the res cogitans. Three, Aristotle's 00:30:55.970 --> 00:30:58.369 essay on time as providing a way of discriminating 00:30:58.369 --> 00:31:00.710 the phenomenal basis and the limits of ancient 00:31:00.710 --> 00:31:03.869 ontology. And there's a little footnote here 00:31:03.869 --> 00:31:05.950 that says part two and the third division of 00:31:05.950 --> 00:31:10.609 part one, have never appeared. So I don't know 00:31:10.609 --> 00:31:13.690 if y 'all knew this, but being in time is not 00:31:13.690 --> 00:31:16.630 a complete work. Be that as it may, we carry 00:31:16.630 --> 00:31:21.029 on with what we do have. Dasein is essentially 00:31:21.029 --> 00:31:25.069 rooted in historicity, but not its history. This 00:31:25.069 --> 00:31:27.450 is what makes each being in the world, so like 00:31:27.450 --> 00:31:29.869 you and me, unique, and he's going to describe 00:31:29.869 --> 00:31:32.319 this later in a number of ways. The invention 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:34.859 of the word Dasein is him showing that being 00:31:34.859 --> 00:31:37.680 isn't enough to describe what it is like to be 00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:40.119 a person. It's gonna get more complicated for 00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:41.859 him, but this is the main thing we need to know 00:31:41.859 --> 00:31:45.859 about Dasein for our purposes. Dasein is characterized 00:31:45.859 --> 00:31:49.059 by its temporality, by its being a part of time, 00:31:49.259 --> 00:31:52.259 and we, as Dasein, are aware of our existence, 00:31:52.500 --> 00:31:55.680 unlike other animals. We know who, what, when, 00:31:55.779 --> 00:31:59.240 how we are, even if we are not well able to describe 00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:01.990 it. So this is what he means by the entities 00:32:01.990 --> 00:32:04.549 themselves turn out to be what is interrogated, 00:32:04.730 --> 00:32:07.670 quote. Basically all of that, all of the description 00:32:07.670 --> 00:32:10.930 about entities is specifically articulating what 00:32:10.930 --> 00:32:14.970 I'm saying right now. To reference my old professor's

00:32:14.970 --> 00:32:17.470 book, unlike those things that simply are, we 00:32:17.470 --> 00:32:20.410 have the capacity to notice that we are and how 00:32:20.410 --> 00:32:23.299 we are. Although traditionally this capacity 00:32:23.299 --> 00:32:26.079 has been conceptualized as our capacity for self 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:28.680 -consciousness, Heidegger avoided this expression 00:32:28.680 --> 00:32:30.980 because he believed that thinking in terms of 00:32:30.980 --> 00:32:34.200 it inevitably led to two of the fundamental questions 00:32:34.200 --> 00:32:36.599 that Western philosophy never seemed able to 00:32:36.599 --> 00:32:40.460 answer. These were whether we could have knowledge 00:32:40.460 --> 00:32:43.380 of a world external to our own selves, skepticism 00:32:43.380 --> 00:32:46.720 about external reality, and whether we have an 00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:49.220 adequate basis for attributing minds to the bodies 00:32:49.220 --> 00:32:52.019 we see all around us, skepticism about other 00:32:52.019 --> 00:32:55.980 minds. By avoiding such dualism as self and world 00:32:55.980 --> 00:32:59.319 and mind and body, Heidegger thought that Western 00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:02.059 philosophy could move beyond the insoluble problems 00:33:02.059 --> 00:33:04.900 that plagued it, and that's pages 16 and 17. 00:33:06.119 --> 00:33:08.480 To refer back to when I was talking about German 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:10.799 language, this is the reason we have a specific 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:13.980 compound word for being. Further, on that note, 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:16.259 language influences culture, and to that end, 00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:20.000 philosophy and culture, which philosophy is developed 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.259 within, like Dante's Circles of Hell, influences 00:33:23.259 --> 00:33:25.420 language. And I'm going to show you what I mean 00:33:25.420 --> 00:33:28.740 by this. There is another book I've been reading 00:33:28.740 --> 00:33:31.180 called Asperger's Children by Edith Sheffer. 00:33:31.950 --> 00:33:34.430 One thing that I came across while reading was 00:33:34.430 --> 00:33:37.049 the term Gemütz with the Umlaut, and I think 00:33:37.049 --> 00:33:39.210 we should understand Heidegger's conception of 00:33:39.210 --> 00:33:42.569 Dasein partially in relation to it. Gemütz was 00:33:42.569 --> 00:33:44.990 a word specific to German culture that is not 00:33:44.990 --> 00:33:48.190 translatable to other languages. Gemütz involves, 00:33:48.349 --> 00:33:51.109 quote, the feeling of inwardness of the soul 00:33:51.109 --> 00:33:53.650 with which the German man experiences himself 00:33:53.650 --> 00:33:56.589 and his entire being rooted deeply in his racial 00:33:56.589 --> 00:33:59.730 feelings and values. And I'm just going to read 00:33:59.730 --> 00:34:03.710 from pages 69 and 70 of the book because I think 00:34:03.710 --> 00:34:07.130 she explains it really well. Nazi child psychiatrists 00:34:07.130 --> 00:34:09.329 use the term Gemut to express their ideas of 00:34:09.329 --> 00:34:12.889 social feeling. Gemut is one of the German languages' 00:34:13.369 --> 00:34:15.610 famously untranslatable words, and its meaning 00:34:15.610 --> 00:34:19.170 changed dramatically over time. For Nazi thinkers, 00:34:19.349 --> 00:34:21.289 Gemut referred to one's fundamental capacity 00:34:21.289 --> 00:34:23.909 to form deep bonds with other people. It had 00:34:23.909 --> 00:34:27.199 metaphysical and social connotations. Good gemut 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:29.380 was essential to one's worth as an individual 00:34:29.380 --> 00:34:32.719 and to the health of the Volk. The term gemut 00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:35.440 emerged in the 18th century as synonymous with 00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:39.000 the soul or siele. As ideas of the soul secularized 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:40.940 and people paid increasing attention to personal 00:34:40.940 --> 00:34:43.559 emotions, gemut became a favored term in German 00:34:43.559 --> 00:34:47.219 culture. Philosopher Immanuel Kant saw gemut 00:34:47.219 --> 00:34:50.260 as the seat of one's transcendental faculties 00:34:50.260 --> 00:34:53.449 animated by geist or spirit. In the Romantic 00:34:53.449 --> 00:34:55.829 period, Gemut became the innermost layer of the 00:34:55.829 --> 00:34:58.730 soul, more elemental, emotional, and irrational 00:34:58.730 --> 00:35:02.369 than one's Geist. Music, in particular, was supposed 00:35:02.369 --> 00:35:07.289 to stir one's Gemut. It was such a popular trope 00:35:07.289 --> 00:35:09.769 that the venerated writer Johann Wolfgang von 00:35:09.769 --> 00:35:13.750 Goethe complained in 1826. German should not 00:35:13.750 --> 00:35:16.489 utter the word Gammut for 30 years. It might 00:35:16.489 --> 00:35:19.429 then regenerate itself. For the moment, it indicates 00:35:19.429 --> 00:35:22.210 merely an indulgence with weaknesses of oneself 00:35:22.210 --> 00:35:26.949 and of others. The meaning of Gammut did indeed 00:35:26.949 --> 00:35:29.980 regenerate by the mid 19th century. In everyday 00:35:29.980 --> 00:35:32.139 conversation, it lost some of its existential 00:35:32.139 --> 00:35:34.320 and artistic flavor and became more about positive 00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:37.780 personal and social emotions. Having Gemüt meant 00:35:37.780 --> 00:35:40.579 possessing a rich internal life, strong bonds 00:35:40.579 --> 00:35:43.059 with family and friends, and a warm and friendly 00:35:43.059 --> 00:35:47.179 temperament. With the common usage of Gemütlich, 00:35:47.659 --> 00:35:50.639 cozy or homey, it also encompassed casual everyday 00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:54.380 sociability. But in philosophy, the arts, literature, 00:35:54.420 --> 00:35:56.980 and other intellectual fields, it retained more 00:35:56.980 --> 00:36:01.500 metaphysical connotations. While working in Leipzig, 00:36:02.099 --> 00:36:04.179 Asperger became particularly enamored of the 00:36:04.179 --> 00:36:06.380 Leipzig school

of holistic psychology, which 00:36:06.380 --> 00:36:10.179 focused on individuals ganzheit or wholeness. 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:13.719 Crucial to their characterology was Gemüt, which 00:36:13.719 --> 00:36:16.199 signified an all -encompassing quality that connected 00:36:16.199 --> 00:36:19.579 feelings, experience, consciousness, and character. 00:36:20.760 --> 00:36:23.760 One's Gemüt reflected the value of one's self. 00:36:24.409 --> 00:36:27.130 Indeed, when Felix Kruger, one of the leaders 00:36:27.130 --> 00:36:29.590 of the Leipzig School, became chair of the German 00:36:29.590 --> 00:36:34.070 Society for Psychology in 1933, its first address 00:36:34.070 --> 00:36:37.829 praised Hitler's depth of Gemüt, Gemütstief. 00:36:38.630 --> 00:36:41.670 Likewise, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels 00:36:41.670 --> 00:36:44.369 swooned over Hitler's wonderful vigor, his verve, 00:36:44.489 --> 00:36:50.070 his zeal, his German Gemüt. So, we know now that 00:36:50.070 --> 00:36:54.460 Heidegger was a Nazi party member. And it's possible 00:36:54.460 --> 00:36:57.019 that his theory of Dasein is partially rooted 00:36:57.019 --> 00:37:00.340 in German nationalism and this idea of the uniqueness 00:37:00.340 --> 00:37:03.719 of experience of the soul because this is how 00:37:03.719 --> 00:37:07.239 Germans thought about themselves. The very fact 00:37:07.239 --> 00:37:09.239 that they even have a word for this kind of idleness 00:37:09.239 --> 00:37:13.219 is just really fascinating. So what I want to 00:37:13.219 --> 00:37:15.900 say is that it is likely that Heidegger's Dasein 00:37:15.900 --> 00:37:18.519 specifically comes from his being German and 00:37:18.519 --> 00:37:21.159 so existentialism needed German culture to develop 00:37:21.159 --> 00:37:23.579 at all. Which doesn't really matter, I just think 00:37:23.579 --> 00:37:25.719 it's really interesting, and I think it's a good 00:37:25.719 --> 00:37:29.199 way of contextualizing Dasein. So now that we 00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:31.579 know a little bit about Heidegger's work, let's 00:37:31.579 --> 00:37:34.800 talk about Sartre. In Sartre's early years of 00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:36.960 study, it's documented that he first became fascinated 00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:38.860 with a Searle before he became fascinated with 00:37:38.860 --> 00:37:41.440 Heidegger. Since Heidegger was a student of a 00:37:41.440 --> 00:37:44.360 Searle, this makes sense. According to the Stanford 00:37:44.360 --> 00:37:47.710 Encyclopedia, philosophy, Simone de Beauvoir 00:37:47.710 --> 00:37:49.710 documented one of the most famous foundational 00:37:49.710 --> 00:37:52.190 moments of existentialism, which occurred in 00:37:52.190 --> 00:37:56.090 a Parisian bar. Sartre's friend, Raymond Aaron, 00:37:56.190 --> 00:37:59.329 was describing an apricot cocktail to Sartre. 00:38:00.190 --> 00:38:02.429 Sartre became fascinated with phenomenology from 00:38:02.429 --> 00:38:05.190 that point on, as well as the originality and 00:38:05.190 --> 00:38:09.590 the novelty of Husserl's method. You see, Sartre 00:38:09.590 --> 00:38:12.329 was interested at this point in explaining life 00:38:12.329 --> 00:38:15.480 exactly how he saw it. experienced it and he 00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:17.920 wanted to pull philosophy out of it. This is 00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:21.159 apparently why he went to study in Berlin a year 00:38:21.159 --> 00:38:24.760 later. So this is where we get Sartre's early 00:38:24.760 --> 00:38:28.340 approach to what would later evolve into existentialism. 00:38:29.099 --> 00:38:31.420 Sartre wrote an article titled Intentionality, 00:38:31.719 --> 00:38:34.719 a fundamental idea of Husserl's phenomenology 00:38:34.719 --> 00:38:38.860 in 1933, where he argues that consciousness is 00:38:38.860 --> 00:38:41.440 defined by its need to perceive in order to exist. 00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:44.599 Stasher concludes that our subjective experiences 00:38:44.599 --> 00:38:46.880 do in fact say something about the world around 00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:50.019 us. Quote, if we love a woman, it is because 00:38:50.019 --> 00:38:53.760 she is lovable. We discover ourselves by experiencing 00:38:53.760 --> 00:38:56.219 other things because we are naturally predisposed 00:38:56.219 --> 00:39:00.800 to seek ourselves out. If you read this article, 00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:03.139 you'll see that he's referencing both Husserl 00:39:03.139 --> 00:39:06.360 and Heidegger. He's already combining his ideas 00:39:06.360 --> 00:39:11.000 with theirs. Then, in 1936, we get a paper that's 00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:15.940 about 133 pages long, so like a small book, called 00:39:15.940 --> 00:39:18.739 Transcendence of the Ego, which is considered 00:39:18.739 --> 00:39:22.099 Sartre's first serious contribution to philosophy. 00:39:23.340 --> 00:39:25.679 Basically, the main point of this essay is to 00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:28.099 differentiate between two types of consciousness. 00:39:28.719 --> 00:39:32.659 One, a reflexive consciousness, and two, a pre 00:39:32.659 --> 00:39:37.250 -reflexive consciousness. Pre -reflexive is immediate 00:39:37.250 --> 00:39:41.849 and non -cognitive awareness versus the intentional 00:39:41.849 --> 00:39:46.090 consciousness he argues we have. Reflexive consciousness 00:39:46.090 --> 00:39:49.070 enables us to access pre -reflexive consciousness 00:39:49.070 --> 00:39:52.590 by virtue of intentional outside -the -self experience, 00:39:53.090 --> 00:39:56.389 which allows access to one's ego. To quote the 00:39:56.389 --> 00:40:00.289 SEP, the ego is the specific object that intentional 00:40:00.289 --> 00:40:02.610 consciousness is directed upon when performing 00:40:02.610 --> 00:40:06.179 reflection. An object that consciousness posits 00:40:06.179 --> 00:40:10.719 and grasps in the same act. The ego is consequently 00:40:10.719 --> 00:40:12.960 outside the self because it needs the exterior 00:40:12.960 --> 00:40:16.340 world in order to

access it, which obviously 00:40:16.340 --> 00:40:19.699 is building off his previous paper. By the way, 00:40:19.699 --> 00:40:22.059 I'm not adding these two papers to the timeline, 00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:23.820 despite their significance, because neither of 00:40:23.820 --> 00:40:26.159 these essays are considered existentialist canon, 00:40:26.159 --> 00:40:28.519 if you will. These are essays where he's coming 00:40:28.519 --> 00:40:30.239 up with the preliminary ideas that he's going 00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:32.719 to take into existentialism later. But then there's 00:40:32.719 --> 00:40:36.260 also the other fact of, which is the same with 00:40:36.260 --> 00:40:39.780 Simone de Beauvoir. For example, her Ethics of 00:40:39.780 --> 00:40:42.639 Ambiguity isn't usually like mentioned when you're 00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:44.679 studying existentialism, because it's kind of 00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:49.699 like extra in addition to the second sex, which 00:40:49.699 --> 00:40:53.099 is a much more important text. So being in nothingness 00:40:53.099 --> 00:40:55.139 is the most important text for Sartre, so we're 00:40:55.139 --> 00:40:59.019 going to focus on that. So Sartre, like Husserl 00:40:59.019 --> 00:41:02.099 and Heidegger, has the starting point in Cartesianism, 00:41:02.340 --> 00:41:05.480 but wants to separate himself from it. He makes 00:41:05.480 --> 00:41:07.519 a distinction in being in nothingness between 00:41:07.519 --> 00:41:11.500 being in itself and being for itself. The supposed 00:41:11.500 --> 00:41:13.519 difference between these two versions of being 00:41:13.519 --> 00:41:16.619 are linked to his idea of consciousness. The 00:41:16.619 --> 00:41:19.019 difference, as we would expect with someone whose 00:41:19.019 --> 00:41:21.260 influence is Heidegger, is a temporal one and 00:41:21.260 --> 00:41:24.619 it has to do with freedom. Sartre's first task 00:41:24.619 --> 00:41:27.139 is to prove that the dualism of Descartes isn't 00:41:27.139 --> 00:41:30.400 necessary. There is no such thing as the mind 00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:34.860 -body problem. Quote, there is no longer an exterior 00:41:34.860 --> 00:41:38.179 for the existent if one means by that a superficial 00:41:38.179 --> 00:41:40.460 covering which hides from sight the true nature 00:41:40.460 --> 00:41:43.840 of the object. And this true nature in turn, 00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:46.219 if it is to be the secret reality of the thing, 00:41:46.619 --> 00:41:49.119 which one can have a presentiment of, or which 00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:51.679 one can suppose but can never reach because it 00:41:51.679 --> 00:41:54.420 is the interior of the object under consideration, 00:41:55.159 --> 00:41:58.199 this nature no longer exists. The appearances 00:41:58.199 --> 00:42:01.300 which manifest the existent are neither interior 00:42:01.300 --> 00:42:04.920 nor exterior. They are all equal. They all refer 00:42:04.920 --> 00:42:07.340 to other appearances and none of them is privileged. 00:42:08.119 --> 00:42:10.519 Force, for example, is not a metaphysical kinetics 00:42:10.519 --> 00:42:13.500 of an unknown kind which hides behind its effects, 00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:17.380 accelerations, deviations, etc. It is the totality 00:42:17.380 --> 00:42:20.659 of these effects. Similarly, an electric current 00:42:20.659 --> 00:42:23.440 does not have a secret reverse side. It is nothing 00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:25.960 but the totality of the physical chemical actions 00:42:25.960 --> 00:42:28.980 which manifested, electrolysis, the incandescent 00:42:28.980 --> 00:42:31.639 of a carbon filament, the displacement of the 00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:36.179 needle of a galvanometer, etc. None of these 00:42:36.179 --> 00:42:38.699 actions alone is sufficient to reveal it, but 00:42:38.699 --> 00:42:40.820 no action indicates anything which is behind 00:42:40.820 --> 00:42:43.679 itself. It indicates only itself and the total 00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:47.440 series. This is literally from page one, and 00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:49.460 the behind -itself quote is really important 00:42:49.460 --> 00:42:52.340 for something he's going to argue later. Specifically, 00:42:52.539 --> 00:42:54.760 that Descartes' belief in a controlling Christian 00:42:54.760 --> 00:42:57.340 God means that everyone was endowed with meaning 00:42:57.340 --> 00:43:00.780 and purpose before being born. That is, we have 00:43:00.780 --> 00:43:02.900 no free will because it's all been determined. 00:43:03.769 --> 00:43:05.789 Sartre thinks, though, that existence should 00:43:05.789 --> 00:43:08.869 precede essence, that the reason we are where 00:43:08.869 --> 00:43:12.010 we find our meaning is in the moment. Sure, time 00:43:12.010 --> 00:43:14.730 is indefinable, but before all else it is considered 00:43:14.730 --> 00:43:17.409 a succession, which can be understood to be seeking 00:43:17.409 --> 00:43:21.170 a before and an after. Before and after as concepts 00:43:21.170 --> 00:43:24.570 may be static, but the rest is not. And since 00:43:24.570 --> 00:43:26.670 the rest is difficult, if not impossible, to 00:43:26.670 --> 00:43:29.010 grasp, then the thing that defines temporality 00:43:29.010 --> 00:43:32.070 is the only thing that is indivisible and non 00:43:32.070 --> 00:43:35.880 -temporal. the moment where you live. Quote, 00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:38.699 the unity of this crumbling, the temporal atom, 00:43:39.099 --> 00:43:41.940 will be the instant which has its place before 00:43:41.940 --> 00:43:44.559 certain determined instances and after other 00:43:44.559 --> 00:43:47.639 instance without admitting either before or after 00:43:47.639 --> 00:43:51.960 inside its own form. And so our way of being 00:43:51.960 --> 00:43:54.880 is characterized by what we choose now, by our 00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:57.340 attitude towards the pattern of choices we make. 00:43:57.960 --> 00:44:00.760 What I mean by this is that we all have a unique 00:44:00.760 -->

00:44:03.800 approach to the world around us, to the things 00:44:03.800 --> 00:44:06.659 we experience, and from there a pattern emerges 00:44:06.659 --> 00:44:08.820 from the things we have chosen previously to 00:44:08.820 --> 00:44:12.079 do. And so nothing but our attitude now can define 00:44:12.079 --> 00:44:15.980 the future. We must hurl ourselves into a future 00:44:15.980 --> 00:44:19.519 we want. This is your essence. This is your brute 00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:24.079 existence. what Sarger calls facticity. I'm just 00:44:24.079 --> 00:44:26.380 going to put a break here and say that I mispronounced 00:44:26.380 --> 00:44:30.119 some things in these two quotes that I just stated. 00:44:31.199 --> 00:44:35.519 First of all, I said none of these actions. It 00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:39.000 should have been no one of these actions. And 00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:43.519 then later I said instances rather than instants. 00:44:44.760 --> 00:44:48.820 So there you are. There you have it. Apologies. 00:44:49.019 --> 00:44:51.480 I just woke up. a few hours ago and I'm still 00:44:51.480 --> 00:44:54.980 not fully awake. But what makes our freedom particularly 00:44:54.980 --> 00:44:58.639 unique compared to say a tree or a chair? By 00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:00.960 the way, animals are slightly more tricky. There's 00:45:00.960 --> 00:45:03.239 a really great article I found called Facing 00:45:03.239 --> 00:45:06.199 the Animal in Sartre and Living Us, which I put 00:45:06.199 --> 00:45:08.559 a free link to in the bibliography if you want 00:45:08.559 --> 00:45:10.780 to explore it. I would recommend it. It's a really 00:45:10.780 --> 00:45:14.699 good article. It's simple to read. Taking from 00:45:14.699 --> 00:45:17.019 Heidegger, Sartre makes a distinction between 00:45:17.019 --> 00:45:20.380 being a being that is for oneself versus being 00:45:20.380 --> 00:45:23.639 a being that possesses a quality in itself. To 00:45:23.639 --> 00:45:26.579 quote my professor's book, a being for itself 00:45:26.579 --> 00:45:29.679 is different from a being in itself. Rocks have 00:45:29.679 --> 00:45:32.719 to fall. They have no choice in the matter. In 00:45:32.719 --> 00:45:35.699 contrast, beings for themselves must make choices, 00:45:35.980 --> 00:45:38.179 but the outcome of those choices is not determined 00:45:38.179 --> 00:45:41.420 by anything. A for itself consciousness is a 00:45:41.420 --> 00:45:45.809 nothing. Ornberg goes on to say that to be called 00:45:45.809 --> 00:45:48.710 a nothing would be a compliment to Sartre. He 00:45:48.710 --> 00:45:51.090 thinks that humans have the freedom to do whatever 00:45:51.090 --> 00:45:53.690 they want. They don't have to become anything. 00:45:54.469 --> 00:45:56.769 I don't have to be writing this podcast right 00:45:56.769 --> 00:45:59.809 now, for example, but I chose to. That's one 00:45:59.809 --> 00:46:01.949 of the primary beliefs that the existentialist 00:46:01.949 --> 00:46:05.099 possesses about human nature. that man is free 00:46:05.099 --> 00:46:08.179 if only he would let himself be so. If you've 00:46:08.179 --> 00:46:11.139 read Naja, Sartre's experiential work of existentialism, 00:46:11.320 --> 00:46:13.519 you'll see that he examines all aspects of what 00:46:13.519 --> 00:46:15.900 he believes the existential experience is over 00:46:15.900 --> 00:46:18.000 the course of the novel, and that this is a point 00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:20.099 that he tries to make very clear throughout the 00:46:20.099 --> 00:46:22.760 plot. So, when we're talking about being, freedom 00:46:22.760 --> 00:46:25.539 of being, and these two things as role and identity, 00:46:26.099 --> 00:46:28.699 Sartre thinks that we have a couple of additional 00:46:28.699 --> 00:46:32.030 things to establish. Sarja believes that there 00:46:32.030 --> 00:46:34.750 are certain emotions elicited from man when he 00:46:34.750 --> 00:46:37.449 has certain experiences and that these are less 00:46:37.449 --> 00:46:41.349 emotions and more like modes of being. They are 00:46:41.349 --> 00:46:44.329 a feature of human experience itself. He thinks 00:46:44.329 --> 00:46:46.670 that these modes are integral to man understanding 00:46:46.670 --> 00:46:48.670 himself better, which is perhaps why we focus 00:46:48.670 --> 00:46:52.230 on certain objects or things. These things have 00:46:52.230 --> 00:46:54.869 to be realized by us because we require certain 00:46:54.869 --> 00:46:58.239 emotions or modes to be elicited. Quote, the 00:46:58.239 --> 00:47:01.219 world of our desires, our needs, and our acts 00:47:01.219 --> 00:47:03.960 appears as if it were furrowed with strict and 00:47:03.960 --> 00:47:07.280 narrow paths which lead to one or the other determined 00:47:07.280 --> 00:47:11.219 end that is to the appearance of a created object. 00:47:12.340 --> 00:47:14.860 These modes are the following. Forlornness, which 00:47:14.860 --> 00:47:17.480 comes from our awareness of God's non -existence. 00:47:17.880 --> 00:47:20.159 Despair, which is the awareness that we cannot 00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:23.300 control the actions of others. and shame, which 00:47:23.300 --> 00:47:25.420 is the awareness of being perceived by others 00:47:25.420 --> 00:47:29.519 as objects of experience. Finally, the most important 00:47:29.519 --> 00:47:33.139 of these modes is anguish or anxiety, which Sartre 00:47:33.139 --> 00:47:35.519 interprets as being generated from our awareness 00:47:35.519 --> 00:47:38.519 of our own freedom. When we experience anxiety, 00:47:38.619 --> 00:47:42.199 man comes closer to accessing his deepest individual 00:47:42.199 --> 00:47:46.099 potential. And when we avoid things like anxiety, 00:47:46.280 --> 00:47:49.639 we avoid ourselves. That is, we live inauthentically. 00:47:49.900 --> 00:47:52.820 We live in what the existentialist calls Bad 00:47:52.820 --> 00:47:55.539 faith. Anxiety is specifically related to the 00:47:55.539 --> 00:47:57.860 concept

of the absurd, that classic feature of 00:47:57.860 --> 00:47:59.900 existentialism that everybody is very familiar 00:47:59.900 --> 00:48:02.860 with. Now, the absurd we are interested in is 00:48:02.860 --> 00:48:05.619 specifically explicated by Camus. Camus rejected 00:48:05.619 --> 00:48:07.699 the idea that he was an existentialist, but his 00:48:07.699 --> 00:48:09.179 thought heavily aligned with them because he 00:48:09.179 --> 00:48:11.079 used to hang out with them until finally one 00:48:11.079 --> 00:48:14.159 day he had a break with the group. But his version 00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:16.619 of the absurd, promoted specifically by The Stranger, 00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:19.219 matches existentialist thought best as it led 00:48:19.219 --> 00:48:21.860 to the work of Samuel Beckett. And that's how 00:48:21.860 --> 00:48:23.860 we ended up with probably the most famous existentialist 00:48:23.860 --> 00:48:26.139 play, other than No Exit, called Waiting for 00:48:26.139 --> 00:48:29.099 Godot. Camus' idea of the absurd was that the 00:48:29.099 --> 00:48:30.960 world is separate from the human experience. 00:48:31.199 --> 00:48:33.760 Nature has a peculiar way of doing things, but 00:48:33.760 --> 00:48:36.780 it is neither irrational or rational. It just 00:48:36.780 --> 00:48:39.940 simply is. Absurdity arises when we try to make 00:48:39.940 --> 00:48:42.199 sense of the world around us. We want things 00:48:42.199 --> 00:48:45.099 to match how we think, to be ordered, to be lawful 00:48:45.099 --> 00:48:48.820 or not. We want to prescribe a diagnosis for 00:48:48.820 --> 00:48:52.099 the world around us. We project our need to find 00:48:52.099 --> 00:48:54.559 meaning. But the world has no stake in this, 00:48:54.719 --> 00:48:57.320 and so we get confused, we get upset, we become 00:48:57.320 --> 00:48:59.940 troubled. Camus's reasoning ultimately derives 00:48:59.940 --> 00:49:02.699 from Kierkegaard's rejection of Hegel's determination 00:49:02.699 --> 00:49:05.920 that the world is becoming increasingly rational 00:49:05.920 --> 00:49:09.199 over time. Kierkegaard claimed that his own religion 00:49:09.199 --> 00:49:12.539 and faith was absurd, but something that he nevertheless 00:49:12.539 --> 00:49:16.920 held to. In a romantic fashion, as in romanticism, 00:49:17.320 --> 00:49:19.659 he held that a person's individual relationship 00:49:19.659 --> 00:49:23.059 with God was what counted. This brings us to 00:49:23.059 --> 00:49:25.019 the final thing we're going to talk about before 00:49:25.019 --> 00:49:29.400 we get into the anime, others and othering. Since 00:49:29.400 --> 00:49:31.760 Sarcher's conception is that we must view and 00:49:31.760 --> 00:49:34.139 experience things in order to understand ourselves 00:49:34.139 --> 00:49:36.300 and our place in the world, there's a particular 00:49:36.300 --> 00:49:38.840 thing that he thinks happens when we view other 00:49:38.840 --> 00:49:41.840 people. In literature, the classic portrayal 00:49:41.840 --> 00:49:44.989 of jealousy is Shakespeare's Othello. Iago suggests 00:49:44.989 --> 00:49:47.610 to Othello, a much -acclaimed general and warrior, 00:49:47.849 --> 00:49:50.170 that his wife Desdemona is having an affair with 00:49:50.170 --> 00:49:53.170 Cassio, one of his lieutenants. Once Othello 00:49:53.170 --> 00:49:56.110 hears Iago's suggestion, he is completely possessed 00:49:56.110 --> 00:49:58.469 by the jealousy it arouses, and his entire world 00:49:58.469 --> 00:50:02.369 becomes oriented around that emotion. Every object 00:50:02.369 --> 00:50:04.530 becomes a sign he tries to interpret in order 00:50:04.530 --> 00:50:08.210 to confirm his suspicions. So a misplaced handkerchief 00:50:08.210 --> 00:50:11.179 tragically becomes a sign of betrayal. Othello 00:50:11.179 --> 00:50:13.599 is so dominated by his jealousy that it permeates 00:50:13.599 --> 00:50:16.340 everything he sees. His world becomes a projection 00:50:16.340 --> 00:50:18.579 of his jealousy with, of course, devastating 00:50:18.579 --> 00:50:21.980 results. How does this bear on the question of 00:50:21.980 --> 00:50:25.039 the existence of others? Sartre asks us to imagine 00:50:25.039 --> 00:50:27.500 a person who, like Othello, is completely overcome 00:50:27.500 --> 00:50:30.219 with jealousy. Because he is worried that his 00:50:30.219 --> 00:50:32.900 lover is betraying him, he behaves in a way that 00:50:32.900 --> 00:50:36.070 we recognize as symptoms of jealousy. He paces 00:50:36.070 --> 00:50:37.969 the floor nervously, wondering where his lover 00:50:37.969 --> 00:50:40.449 is. He then decides that he needs to know what 00:50:40.449 --> 00:50:42.289 is happening, so he peeks through the keyhole 00:50:42.289 --> 00:50:44.650 of the door to his lover's room in an attempt 00:50:44.650 --> 00:50:47.650 to see if she is being unfaithful. Like Othello, 00:50:47.670 --> 00:50:49.590 while the lover is possessed by jealousy, his 00:50:49.590 --> 00:50:51.829 entire world is oriented around that emotion. 00:50:52.710 --> 00:50:55.329 Various things that he sees, like, say, a discarded 00:50:55.329 --> 00:50:58.010 blouse, become indications of unfaithfulness. 00:50:58.460 --> 00:51:01.179 His emotion colors his whole world by providing 00:51:01.179 --> 00:51:03.840 the interpretive framework within which everything 00:51:03.840 --> 00:51:07.719 he sees is placed. Suddenly the lover peeking 00:51:07.719 --> 00:51:10.260 through the keyhole hears a footstep. There must 00:51:10.260 --> 00:51:11.980 be someone coming down the hall. They'll see 00:51:11.980 --> 00:51:14.340 me. Oh no, what will they think of me? They won't 00:51:14.340 --> 00:51:16.719 understand why I'm here. I look so foolish, face 00:51:16.719 --> 00:51:19.880 pressed to the door. What can I do? These are 00:51:19.880 --> 00:51:21.719 the sorts of thoughts we can imagine the jealous 00:51:21.719 --> 00:51:25.059 lover having. Sartre's startling claim is that

00:51:25.059 --> 00:51:27.380 we have just witnessed a radical transformation 00:51:27.380 --> 00:51:30.519 in the lover's existence as a result of his presumption 00:51:30.519 --> 00:51:32.320 that the footsteps he hears indicate that he 00:51:32.320 --> 00:51:36.179 has been seen. Instead of inhabiting a world 00:51:36.179 --> 00:51:38.300 of which he is the origin, as he did when he 00:51:38.300 --> 00:51:40.940 was consumed by jealousy, for he took everything 00:51:40.940 --> 00:51:44.199 as signs to confirm his own emotion, he now exists 00:51:44.199 --> 00:51:47.019 within a world whose origin is that other who 00:51:47.019 --> 00:51:50.619 is looking at him. That is, at least in his imagination, 00:51:50.820 --> 00:51:53.139 the man now sees himself as the other would see 00:51:53.139 --> 00:51:56.219 him, just as one of an entire ensemble of beings 00:51:56.219 --> 00:51:59.940 in that other's world. The other is, as an independent 00:51:59.940 --> 00:52:02.599 being, the source of his own world, and so the 00:52:02.599 --> 00:52:04.980 lover is consigned to a position within that 00:52:04.980 --> 00:52:07.820 world. He becomes just another thing in that 00:52:07.820 --> 00:52:11.179 other's world. Not only has his existence been 00:52:11.179 --> 00:52:14.019 stolen by the other, but he himself has been 00:52:14.019 --> 00:52:16.400 reduced to the status of a mere object in that 00:52:16.400 --> 00:52:19.760 other's world. Thus, in this way, he is subject 00:52:19.760 --> 00:52:23.380 to a double objectification or reification. The 00:52:23.380 --> 00:52:25.860 precise way in which the lover responds to the 00:52:25.860 --> 00:52:28.099 presence of the other is not important. He might 00:52:28.099 --> 00:52:30.400 experience very different emotions, such as embarrassment 00:52:30.400 --> 00:52:33.440 or anger, depending on his situation. What is 00:52:33.440 --> 00:52:36.059 significant, however, is that he no longer exists 00:52:36.059 --> 00:52:38.559 as he did previously, for his awareness of being 00:52:38.559 --> 00:52:41.719 seen changes the nature of his existence. He 00:52:41.719 --> 00:52:43.820 becomes aware of the existence of the other as 00:52:43.820 --> 00:52:47.639 the bearer of what Sartre calls the look. Although 00:52:47.639 --> 00:52:49.960 we first encounter other people as elements of 00:52:49.960 --> 00:52:52.219 our world, this experience of assuming that we 00:52:52.219 --> 00:52:54.960 are being observed by another brings forth another 00:52:54.960 --> 00:52:58.440 dimension. I lose both my world and also myself 00:52:58.440 --> 00:53:01.420 when I encounter the other. It does not matter 00:53:01.420 --> 00:53:03.659 if the lover is mistaken about the presence of 00:53:03.659 --> 00:53:06.579 another's consciousness perceiving him. So this 00:53:06.579 --> 00:53:09.159 idea that others can be a threat to our existence 00:53:09.159 --> 00:53:11.579 can be traced back to Hegel's Phenomenology of 00:53:11.579 --> 00:53:14.019 the Spirit, where he claims that conflict between 00:53:14.019 --> 00:53:16.420 people has certain outcomes that change the way 00:53:16.420 --> 00:53:19.699 people are in the world. The human spirit seeks 00:53:19.699 --> 00:53:22.480 to know itself and obtain a kind of autonomy 00:53:22.480 --> 00:53:26.019 through interaction with the world. Heidegger, 00:53:26.039 --> 00:53:28.280 also taking from the same theme, calls the self 00:53:28.280 --> 00:53:30.139 that emerges from our encounters with others 00:53:30.139 --> 00:53:34.500 as a they -self, the idea being that you become 00:53:34.500 --> 00:53:36.179 a different version of yourself when confronted 00:53:36.179 --> 00:53:41.239 by the existence of other existences. Now that 00:53:41.239 --> 00:53:43.239 all of this has been set up, I think we are ready 00:53:43.239 --> 00:53:45.639 to talk about Angels of Death. Bear in mind that 00:53:45.639 --> 00:53:47.539 there are a lot of things I did not discuss or 00:53:47.539 --> 00:53:50.420 mention because it's philosophy. It's complicated. 00:53:51.039 --> 00:53:54.019 There's always more to talk about. That being 00:53:54.019 --> 00:53:56.400 said, I will mention Samuel Beckett later, so 00:53:56.400 --> 00:54:00.000 just make note of that. Angels of Death is a 00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:02.960 classic tale of an amnesiac thrown into a situation 00:54:02.960 --> 00:54:06.039 that she doesn't know how to handle. It was originally 00:54:06.039 --> 00:54:08.860 conceived as a video game by creator Makoto Sanada, 00:54:09.219 --> 00:54:11.639 who also developed the cult classic Forest of 00:54:11.639 --> 00:54:14.300 Drizzling Rain, which for me was a much easier 00:54:14.300 --> 00:54:16.519 game to play, though I still managed to get the 00:54:16.519 --> 00:54:20.199 worst possible ending. Rachel Gardner is a young 00:54:20.199 --> 00:54:23.579 girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and no memory, 00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:26.199 just like a no - She comes to her senses in a 00:54:26.199 --> 00:54:29.980 room all alone, a fake glowing moon shining on 00:54:29.980 --> 00:54:33.039 her through a massive window. She stumbles to 00:54:33.039 --> 00:54:36.219 her feet and makes her way into a hallway to 00:54:36.219 --> 00:54:38.659 try and figure out where she is, saying she needs 00:54:38.659 --> 00:54:41.619 to go find her parents. As soon as she opens 00:54:41.619 --> 00:54:44.940 the door, she knows she is no longer in the hospital 00:54:44.940 --> 00:54:48.550 she remembers going to. The ceiling is lined 00:54:48.550 --> 00:54:51.650 with cameras pointing in all directions, lest 00:54:51.650 --> 00:54:55.070 they miss a viewpoint. Rachel sees a message 00:54:55.070 --> 00:54:57.530 on the wall of the hallway and goes to read it. 00:54:57.670 --> 00:55:01.329 It states the following. Who really are you? 00:55:01.630 --> 00:55:05.789 You should ask yourself. Who am I? The real myself 00:55:05.789 --> 00:55:10.469 or the one I believe to be?

An angel or a sacrifice? 00:55:11.309 --> 00:55:15.780 Know yourself and new doors will open. Now these 00:55:15.780 --> 00:55:17.960 lines are pretty straightforward for what you'd 00:55:17.960 --> 00:55:20.880 expect to appear in a horror video game. The 00:55:20.880 --> 00:55:23.840 game has already set its precedent that it's 00:55:23.840 --> 00:55:27.519 going to be about finding yours or Rachel's own 00:55:27.519 --> 00:55:31.059 story. It's going to be at least slightly scary 00:55:31.059 --> 00:55:34.059 and that last line, know yourself and new doors 00:55:34.059 --> 00:55:37.300 will open, is the game being self -referential. 00:55:38.199 --> 00:55:41.519 You have to remember that this story is characterized 00:55:41.519 --> 00:55:45.969 by its original basis as an RPG. So you, the 00:55:45.969 --> 00:55:48.789 player, are assuming the role of Rachel, which 00:55:48.789 --> 00:55:50.929 is made easier for you by the fact that neither 00:55:50.929 --> 00:55:53.230 of you know who you are or what's happening. 00:55:54.010 --> 00:55:56.449 This is a way that Sanada could make the game 00:55:56.449 --> 00:55:59.030 more immersive and he uses a similar technique 00:55:59.030 --> 00:56:01.690 in Forest of Drizzling Rain where the main character 00:56:01.690 --> 00:56:04.289 knows who she is but has a past that she doesn't 00:56:04.289 --> 00:56:07.369 remember anything about. So Rachel goes through 00:56:07.369 --> 00:56:09.909 a door next to the writing on the wall. In the 00:56:09.909 --> 00:56:12.110 video game, she finds a computer and a mirror. 00:56:12.280 --> 00:56:15.260 In the anime, she finds a typewriter. I think 00:56:15.260 --> 00:56:17.360 this choice is because the anime director probably 00:56:17.360 --> 00:56:19.000 thought it would be creepier to have a typewriter 00:56:19.000 --> 00:56:21.619 produce written words by itself rather than a 00:56:21.619 --> 00:56:23.780 computer. Because a computer can have somebody 00:56:23.780 --> 00:56:27.619 on the other end, a typewriter cannot and it 00:56:27.619 --> 00:56:30.340 adds the unreality of the location and the mystery 00:56:30.340 --> 00:56:33.079 of the circumstances. The typewriter begins to 00:56:33.079 --> 00:56:35.659 type as she stands in front of it. It asks, what 00:56:35.659 --> 00:56:38.659 is your name? She responds verbally and this 00:56:38.659 --> 00:56:40.780 is where we hear her full name for the first 00:56:40.780 --> 00:56:44.530 time. It begins to type again. Why are you here? 00:56:45.510 --> 00:56:48.449 She says she was at a hospital and when she woke 00:56:48.449 --> 00:56:52.070 up, so to speak, woke up, she didn't really wake 00:56:52.070 --> 00:56:54.769 up, it was kind of like a coming to, she was 00:56:54.769 --> 00:56:57.670 here. It types again, a single word this time. 00:56:58.610 --> 00:57:03.949 Why? She says, I'm not sure. It asks again, why? 00:57:05.010 --> 00:57:07.989 Rachel takes a step back. And then the typewriter 00:57:07.989 --> 00:57:10.869 says something interesting. Why are you in the 00:57:10.869 --> 00:57:13.869 hospital? Which implies that she's still in the 00:57:13.869 --> 00:57:16.730 hospital. So I checked the manga for this which 00:57:16.730 --> 00:57:18.809 is more accurate to the game in this particular 00:57:18.809 --> 00:57:21.190 scene and it skips this question altogether. 00:57:21.969 --> 00:57:24.030 So the fact that this question is a part of the 00:57:24.030 --> 00:57:26.579 anime is pretty interesting to me because if 00:57:26.579 --> 00:57:28.460 we think about the story being told through different 00:57:28.460 --> 00:57:30.780 mediums there's a different type of staging that's 00:57:30.780 --> 00:57:33.320 happening for different types of audiences and 00:57:33.320 --> 00:57:35.280 also part of the changes are because different 00:57:35.280 --> 00:57:38.739 people are in charge or partially in charge of 00:57:38.739 --> 00:57:42.340 telling the story. So Rachel tells the typewriter 00:57:42.340 --> 00:57:45.500 that she witnessed a murder and that's why she 00:57:45.500 --> 00:57:48.849 ended up at the hospital. She says she wants 00:57:48.849 --> 00:57:51.909 to see her parents. In the manga and video game, 00:57:52.070 --> 00:57:54.550 the computer produces a key card at this point 00:57:54.550 --> 00:57:57.210 that allows her to access the elevator. In the 00:57:57.210 --> 00:58:00.829 anime, it just opens for her. As she enters the 00:58:00.829 --> 00:58:02.789 elevator, a voice on the overhead states that 00:58:02.789 --> 00:58:06.940 she has been designated as a sacrifice. And this 00:58:06.940 --> 00:58:09.500 part is really interesting to me because the 00:58:09.500 --> 00:58:11.820 message on the wall plus the statement from the 00:58:11.820 --> 00:58:14.679 overhead suggests that Rachel's choice to get 00:58:14.679 --> 00:58:17.460 on the elevator in the first place is the reason 00:58:17.460 --> 00:58:20.599 she is considered a sacrifice. But there's nowhere 00:58:20.599 --> 00:58:23.159 to go on that lowest floor. She doesn't have 00:58:23.159 --> 00:58:26.679 a choice to be an angel. Rachel is there because 00:58:26.679 --> 00:58:29.760 they know something she doesn't. It should be 00:58:29.760 --> 00:58:31.780 noted that the concept of choice in this story 00:58:31.780 --> 00:58:34.920 is more nuanced even in the anime because we 00:58:34.920 --> 00:58:37.860 have the context of the story also being a video 00:58:37.860 --> 00:58:41.739 game. As Catherine Ispitar writes in her book 00:58:41.739 --> 00:58:44.579 How Games Move Us, the protagonist of a game 00:58:44.579 --> 00:58:48.039 is often developed with the player in mind. Players 00:58:48.039 --> 00:58:50.960 control avatars that are usually designed so 00:58:50.960 --> 00:58:52.980 that the player can project themselves into the 00:58:52.980 --> 00:58:55.119 character on at least four different levels, 00:58:55.519 --> 00:58:58.820 visceral, cognitive, social, and fantasy.

The 00:58:58.820 --> 00:59:01.500 player's prosthetic body becomes a vehicle for 00:59:01.500 --> 00:59:05.019 action and choice often matters even in games 00:59:05.019 --> 00:59:07.260 where choice doesn't necessarily determine the 00:59:07.260 --> 00:59:10.800 outcome. The player needs to feel like they understand 00:59:10.800 --> 00:59:14.739 what they're doing in an immersive way. The fact 00:59:14.739 --> 00:59:17.599 that a choice is implied here but not allowed 00:59:17.599 --> 00:59:19.760 is consequently a moment where the story can 00:59:19.760 --> 00:59:23.199 increase its grip on the player. The elevator 00:59:23.199 --> 00:59:26.900 appears to take her from B7 to B6, so there are 00:59:26.900 --> 00:59:29.460 seven floors total with one being the top floor. 00:59:30.179 --> 00:59:32.480 This has some significance given that Rachel 00:59:32.480 --> 00:59:36.059 will be regaining her memories later on. The 00:59:36.059 --> 00:59:38.679 doors to the elevator opens and Rachel is introduced 00:59:38.679 --> 00:59:41.219 to a place that looks like an abandoned town 00:59:41.219 --> 00:59:45.019 or city. There's trash and bugs everywhere. Windows 00:59:45.019 --> 00:59:48.659 and doors are boarded up. Rachel hears a noise. 00:59:49.059 --> 00:59:52.849 Is anyone there? No answer. She puts her hands 00:59:52.849 --> 00:59:55.949 together as if to pray and then starts to run. 00:59:56.550 --> 00:59:58.530 Blood stains the ground, which is littered with 00:59:58.530 --> 01:00:00.989 empty bags of chips and newspaper clippings about 01:00:00.989 --> 01:00:05.409 a murderer. Suddenly, Rachel sees an injured 01:00:05.409 --> 01:00:08.469 bird. The bird is white and stained with blood, 01:00:08.690 --> 01:00:11.989 unable to fly properly, which is perhaps symbolic 01:00:11.989 --> 01:00:15.710 of herself. As she reaches out to help the bird, 01:00:15.929 --> 01:00:18.230 a man wielding a scythe explodes through the 01:00:18.230 --> 01:00:21.619 doorway in front of her, crushing the bird. So 01:00:21.619 --> 01:00:23.800 Rachel starts running and finds a room with a 01:00:23.800 --> 01:00:26.500 chest that she can hide in. And this is part 01:00:26.500 --> 01:00:29.039 of the reason I can't get through Angels of Death 01:00:29.039 --> 01:00:31.659 the video game. Can't even get started because 01:00:31.659 --> 01:00:34.219 Zack, which is the name of the man with the scythe, 01:00:34.300 --> 01:00:36.820 and we're going to find that out later, is too 01:00:36.820 --> 01:00:41.329 fast for my poor video game skills. Sanada writes 01:00:41.329 --> 01:00:43.789 in the manga that he was aware when making the 01:00:43.789 --> 01:00:46.630 game that Zack was incredibly fast and he wanted 01:00:46.630 --> 01:00:48.789 that to be the case so that players would feel 01:00:48.789 --> 01:00:51.449 overwhelmed and afraid of him. He didn't want 01:00:51.449 --> 01:00:53.730 it to be so hard though that people wouldn't 01:00:53.730 --> 01:00:57.909 be able to beat Zack, but that it would be a 01:00:57.909 --> 01:01:01.170 fun challenge. But Sanada could not have possibly 01:01:01.170 --> 01:01:06.610 been prepared for how bad of a player I am, so... 01:01:07.889 --> 01:01:11.329 So I did not have fun, I literally gave up, but 01:01:11.329 --> 01:01:14.090 that is because I am very bad at games, not because 01:01:14.090 --> 01:01:16.989 the game design sucks. I am very uncoordinated. 01:01:17.469 --> 01:01:20.070 So anyway, if you watch the original video, you 01:01:20.070 --> 01:01:22.210 will notice that there is game footage in there, 01:01:22.309 --> 01:01:25.050 and I found that somewhere. I think it was YouTube, 01:01:25.070 --> 01:01:28.389 but I do not remember who I sourced, so now I 01:01:28.389 --> 01:01:32.269 have to go and find that person to source them. 01:01:33.469 --> 01:01:36.809 but also that video isn't technically posted 01:01:36.809 --> 01:01:39.150 anywhere, so I didn't worry about it. I was making 01:01:39.150 --> 01:01:43.250 it for me. Should have worried about it, but 01:01:43.250 --> 01:01:48.269 too late now. Yeah, so there's that. Zach is 01:01:48.269 --> 01:01:51.010 very dumb, just like me, so he does not consider 01:01:51.010 --> 01:01:53.170 opening the chest to check if she's in there. 01:01:53.210 --> 01:01:55.610 He just puts his side through it to see if it 01:01:55.610 --> 01:01:58.730 catches her body, and it doesn't. So she's safe 01:01:58.730 --> 01:02:02.099 for now. After he leaves, she goes running back 01:02:02.099 --> 01:02:04.900 to the bird, and here is where SHE gets weird. 01:02:05.579 --> 01:02:07.940 She sees the dead bird, its wing now totally 01:02:07.940 --> 01:02:10.340 torn off and its body crushed, and the sparkle 01:02:10.340 --> 01:02:14.300 in her eyes fades. She thinks, no, this one is 01:02:14.300 --> 01:02:17.639 different. This is not the same bird. It didn't 01:02:17.639 --> 01:02:20.800 look like this. So despite the fact that she's 01:02:20.800 --> 01:02:23.920 on the run from a very stupid murderer, she stops 01:02:23.920 --> 01:02:27.090 and starts to sew... The bird back together. 01:02:27.650 --> 01:02:29.650 And there's some possession to this for her. 01:02:29.909 --> 01:02:32.650 This is about making the bird the way she remembers 01:02:32.650 --> 01:02:35.349 it, taking ownership for the memory of what it 01:02:35.349 --> 01:02:39.650 used to be as hers. In this moment, it's as if 01:02:39.650 --> 01:02:43.090 she's locating her ego. You've been damaged and 01:02:43.090 --> 01:02:45.530 you need to be fixed. When she's done, she starts 01:02:45.530 --> 01:02:47.690 running again. Zach's figured out where she is 01:02:47.690 --> 01:02:50.230 at this point and so he chases her to the elevator. 01:02:51.389 --> 01:02:54.400 Onward to the next floor. Here we meet Danny, 01:02:54.519 --> 01:02:57.760 a man with a fascination for eyeballs. He is 01:02:57.760 --> 01:03:00.800 kind to Rachel at first. His tragic backstory

01:03:00.800 --> 01:03:03.920 is that his eyes barely worked, or at least one 01:03:03.920 --> 01:03:06.800 of them barely worked, and that his mother eventually 01:03:06.800 --> 01:03:10.960 hung herself apparently because of his eye, though 01:03:10.960 --> 01:03:12.599 it was probably because of something else. Kids 01:03:12.599 --> 01:03:15.619 always blame themselves, which instigated his 01:03:15.619 --> 01:03:19.980 obsession for eyes to go into overdrive. Recall 01:03:19.980 --> 01:03:23.260 Sartre's essay on intentionality. Consciousness 01:03:23.260 --> 01:03:26.239 is defined by its need to perceive in order to 01:03:26.239 --> 01:03:31.059 exist. We find ourselves by seeing others. The 01:03:31.059 --> 01:03:33.800 theft of eyes for Danny involves a profound lack 01:03:33.800 --> 01:03:37.239 of identity as a sickness, obsession, where he 01:03:37.239 --> 01:03:39.840 is constantly seeking the eyes of his mother 01:03:39.840 --> 01:03:43.480 staring at him with emptiness. It is a punishment 01:03:43.480 --> 01:03:46.099 for himself because he knows the projection will 01:03:46.099 --> 01:03:50.139 never last. This would be a great point in time 01:03:50.139 --> 01:03:52.159 to talk about Lacan, but like I said, I don't 01:03:52.159 --> 01:03:54.380 want to spoil him till later because I will talk 01:03:54.380 --> 01:03:57.320 way too much about him. In fact, I am considering 01:03:57.320 --> 01:04:00.619 doing two episodes involving him. But I do want 01:04:00.619 --> 01:04:03.079 you to know that he's applicable here. So when 01:04:03.079 --> 01:04:05.079 I talk about him later, you can imagine the lines 01:04:05.079 --> 01:04:09.260 I am drawing. So it's also possible that Dani 01:04:09.260 --> 01:04:12.539 is a figment of Rachel's imagination and a clue 01:04:12.539 --> 01:04:14.940 to this is that he happens to possess a skill 01:04:14.940 --> 01:04:19.190 that she has. which is skill with a needle. And 01:04:19.190 --> 01:04:21.690 he's supposedly a doctor who deals with eyes, 01:04:22.130 --> 01:04:25.630 but if she's in the hospital for trauma, why 01:04:25.630 --> 01:04:28.889 would he be her doctor? As I wrote for the video 01:04:28.889 --> 01:04:31.570 I made about Angels of Death, Dani is a representation 01:04:31.570 --> 01:04:34.329 of the doctors who, in her disjointed state, 01:04:34.789 --> 01:04:37.530 she believes aren't actually on her side. They 01:04:37.530 --> 01:04:40.030 want to know her perspective, as in they want 01:04:40.030 --> 01:04:43.650 her eyes. They want that version of whatever 01:04:43.650 --> 01:04:45.909 is wrong with her brain to become theirs, not 01:04:45.909 --> 01:04:47.949 so they can help her, but merely so they can 01:04:47.949 --> 01:04:50.389 take and possess something she treasures, which 01:04:50.389 --> 01:04:53.409 is her own sanity, which is ultimately something 01:04:53.409 --> 01:04:58.630 beautiful. Consciousness in itself. At this level 01:04:58.630 --> 01:05:00.670 in the building, we can see that regardless of 01:05:00.670 --> 01:05:03.150 whether Danny is real or not, he is nevertheless 01:05:03.150 --> 01:05:07.559 mirroring her in a way. He has the same problem 01:05:07.559 --> 01:05:11.199 with her that she has with the bird. They both 01:05:11.199 --> 01:05:14.099 want to immortalize something they find beautiful. 01:05:14.980 --> 01:05:17.599 Now, Danny gets stabbed by Zach because Zach 01:05:17.599 --> 01:05:20.460 is like, fuck this. I'm not letting this girl 01:05:20.460 --> 01:05:23.760 get away. Excuse me. And so he just goes to the 01:05:23.760 --> 01:05:26.179 second level, which is a violation of the building's 01:05:26.179 --> 01:05:28.800 rules. And it's like a whole thing. But anyway, 01:05:29.000 --> 01:05:32.940 Danny gets stabbed and he ends up Zach ends up 01:05:32.940 --> 01:05:36.940 making a pact with Rachel because she has decided 01:05:36.940 --> 01:05:40.820 by this point that she wants to die. And she 01:05:40.820 --> 01:05:45.280 asks him, hey, actually, would you mind killing 01:05:45.280 --> 01:05:51.159 me? And he's like, yeah, sure. And so she has 01:05:51.159 --> 01:05:55.420 him swear to God and now they're a team. So, 01:05:55.440 --> 01:06:00.099 okay, so this brings us to the third level. This 01:06:00.099 --> 01:06:02.800 is where we meet Eddie, who masks himself and 01:06:02.800 --> 01:06:05.340 builds gravestones for the sacrifices that make 01:06:05.340 --> 01:06:09.519 it to his level. Eddie represents Rachel's impulse 01:06:09.519 --> 01:06:12.579 to hide who she is deep down behind something 01:06:12.579 --> 01:06:16.320 more tolerable. He represents her inability to 01:06:16.320 --> 01:06:18.960 face reality and accept her behavior for what 01:06:18.960 --> 01:06:23.199 it is, a desire to possess or to fix, which perhaps 01:06:23.199 --> 01:06:25.820 is recognition that she knows that there's something 01:06:25.820 --> 01:06:29.500 broken inside of her. or perhaps even missing. 01:06:30.239 --> 01:06:32.500 Eddie claims that what he does is art in the 01:06:32.500 --> 01:06:34.579 name of beauty and fails to acknowledge that 01:06:34.579 --> 01:06:37.980 his choices are selfish. He is right when he 01:06:37.980 --> 01:06:40.519 says that Rachel really wants to die, but the 01:06:40.519 --> 01:06:43.300 reason he's right is because that's what he wants 01:06:43.300 --> 01:06:46.960 too. The part of Rachel that is Eddie knows it's 01:06:46.960 --> 01:06:50.119 easier to die than it is to understand oneself. 01:06:50.880 --> 01:06:54.139 And yet, by facing Eddie as an other, she comes 01:06:54.139 --> 01:06:58.019 closer to knowing who she is. It's also important 01:06:58.019 --> 01:07:00.500 to understand that Rachel isn't afraid of Eddie 01:07:00.500 --> 01:07:03.780 like she was Danny. She's very close to taking 01:07:03.780 --> 01:07:07.579 him up on his offer, which I think shows that 01:07:07.579 --> 01:07:10.579 she relates to him the most. Throughout the anime,

01:07:10.900 --> 01:07:13.099 Rachel references God without a real context 01:07:13.099 --> 01:07:15.119 for her doing so to the point where you have 01:07:15.119 --> 01:07:16.980 to wonder whether or not she does actually feel 01:07:16.980 --> 01:07:18.880 guilty about something that we don't know about 01:07:18.880 --> 01:07:20.860 and seeing as we don't know very much about her, 01:07:20.960 --> 01:07:25.260 it's very possible. But I also think in relation 01:07:25.260 --> 01:07:28.320 to her wanting to be killed, I think that that's 01:07:28.320 --> 01:07:31.219 probably because, at least in Catholicism, if 01:07:31.219 --> 01:07:34.039 you kill yourself, you can't get into heaven, 01:07:34.659 --> 01:07:38.059 right? So, Eddie presents a beautiful promise 01:07:38.059 --> 01:07:41.559 to Rachel. A noble death. A way for her to be 01:07:41.559 --> 01:07:43.860 immortalized, just as one is immortalized by 01:07:43.860 --> 01:07:47.460 entering the kingdom of God. But entering the 01:07:47.460 --> 01:07:49.659 kingdom of God means that the truth would have 01:07:49.659 --> 01:07:52.619 to remain hidden, which is something she inherently 01:07:52.619 --> 01:07:55.780 knows, and while she wants to avoid the truth, 01:07:56.320 --> 01:08:00.800 she is nevertheless propelled towards it. Ultimately, 01:08:01.039 --> 01:08:04.960 Eddie's promise is too naive, too weak. Accepting 01:08:04.960 --> 01:08:08.599 his hand means accepting that God is dead. To 01:08:08.599 --> 01:08:11.519 simply die and be buried amongst the flowers 01:08:11.519 --> 01:08:14.480 would be to accept losing her God having lost 01:08:14.480 --> 01:08:17.399 herself and to accept the facade that promises 01:08:17.399 --> 01:08:20.659 that everything is fine. But it's not fine for 01:08:20.659 --> 01:08:24.300 Rachel. She feels she is somehow responsible 01:08:24.300 --> 01:08:27.119 for the death of God and for his at the same 01:08:27.119 --> 01:08:29.439 time leaving her just as her memories and her 01:08:29.439 --> 01:08:32.510 parents have left her. Unable to accept the fate 01:08:32.510 --> 01:08:35.510 of being alone, of dying alone, she calls Zack 01:08:35.510 --> 01:08:38.310 her god. While this leads to Eddie's defeat, 01:08:38.649 --> 01:08:41.930 Rachel is still lying to herself, but it is a 01:08:41.930 --> 01:08:45.470 step up from just taking the easy way out. Rachel's 01:08:45.470 --> 01:08:47.470 thought is that you can never escape the other, 01:08:47.649 --> 01:08:49.869 no matter how much of a threat they appear to 01:08:49.869 --> 01:08:53.090 you. In the absence of the other, the mind creates 01:08:53.090 --> 01:08:56.270 others with which she might form concrete relations. 01:08:56.920 --> 01:08:58.960 Whether or not the truth is something we want 01:08:58.960 --> 01:09:01.560 to face, our consciousnesses are determined to 01:09:01.560 --> 01:09:04.760 find the self which requires acting authentically. 01:09:05.260 --> 01:09:08.859 That means facing the parts of us that are inauthentic. 01:09:09.220 --> 01:09:12.579 We must recapture ourselves from the intervention 01:09:12.579 --> 01:09:16.180 of the other. I was about to mispronounce that. 01:09:16.460 --> 01:09:20.319 And that is why the moment we encounter the other 01:09:20.319 --> 01:09:24.399 overflows. You and the other are trying to make 01:09:24.399 --> 01:09:28.100 sense of the disconnection. As Merleau -Ponty 01:09:28.100 --> 01:09:50.670 writes, So each time Zack and Rachel meet a new 01:09:50.670 --> 01:09:52.850 character, their identity is challenged by the 01:09:52.850 --> 01:09:55.590 very existence of the challenger, not just their 01:09:55.590 --> 01:09:58.250 actions. I also think it's really important for 01:09:58.250 --> 01:10:00.170 understanding Rachel's character that we see 01:10:00.170 --> 01:10:03.130 Zack as not just a member of her team, but as 01:10:03.130 --> 01:10:06.050 the part of her that wants to fight. And so often 01:10:06.050 --> 01:10:09.409 he is the one who ultimately confronts the other. 01:10:10.270 --> 01:10:13.090 He is not an other, he is the part of her that 01:10:13.090 --> 01:10:16.560 fights fate. When Sartre talks about anxiety 01:10:16.560 --> 01:10:19.399 or anguish, he says that part of what characterizes 01:10:19.399 --> 01:10:23.119 this anxiety is the desire to be God, the desire 01:10:23.119 --> 01:10:28.260 to be in itself for itself. We want at the same 01:10:28.260 --> 01:10:31.140 time to have control over our fate, but we also 01:10:31.140 --> 01:10:33.640 want to have no fallibility as well as the ability 01:10:33.640 --> 01:10:36.539 to respond automatically in the right way, just 01:10:36.539 --> 01:10:40.539 like God. And if you notice, Zack does this naturally. 01:10:40.899 --> 01:10:43.359 He doesn't wait for anyone except Rachel, mainly 01:10:43.359 --> 01:10:45.779 because she's smarter than him and has to solve 01:10:45.779 --> 01:10:48.859 the puzzles. But in all other ways, Zack can 01:10:48.859 --> 01:10:51.359 be her god because he doesn't worry about being 01:10:51.359 --> 01:10:55.079 wrong. He doesn't worry about control. He simply 01:10:55.079 --> 01:10:58.039 takes it. That's why he leaves his floor to hunt 01:10:58.039 --> 01:11:00.279 Rachel on the second floor and ends up almost 01:11:00.279 --> 01:11:03.760 killing Danny. Zack has no god, which makes him 01:11:03.760 --> 01:11:06.710 stronger. So this is where I came up with the 01:11:06.710 --> 01:11:09.470 notion that the building is kind of like a living 01:11:09.470 --> 01:11:12.149 entity or brain because there are two sort of 01:11:12.149 --> 01:11:13.930 protagonists that are working together to fight 01:11:13.930 --> 01:11:15.810 other people that have things in common with 01:11:15.810 --> 01:11:18.810 the main character specifically. And so it's 01:11:18.810 --> 01:11:22.470 like Rachel trying to come to terms with herself. 01:11:24.189 --> 01:11:26.409 On the next level, we meet Cathy, the prison

01:11:26.409 --> 01:11:29.789 warden, who put Zach and Rachel through a series 01:11:29.789 --> 01:11:33.960 of trials. Cathy believes herself to represent 01:11:33.960 --> 01:11:37.119 law and order. She thinks that both Zach and 01:11:37.119 --> 01:11:39.180 Rachel need to be punished for the things that 01:11:39.180 --> 01:11:42.460 they've done wrong. Suffering looks good on you, 01:11:42.619 --> 01:11:46.539 she tells Rachel. If the viewer thought Rachel's 01:11:46.539 --> 01:11:48.939 black and white striped dress wasn't symbolic 01:11:48.939 --> 01:11:51.520 before, they know now for certain that it was 01:11:51.520 --> 01:11:55.619 intentional. However, Cathy mainly focuses on 01:11:55.619 --> 01:11:58.920 punishing Zach. She tortures him, forcing him 01:11:58.920 --> 01:12:02.310 to relive his memories. This is part of what 01:12:02.310 --> 01:12:04.569 I use as evidence to consider the building more 01:12:04.569 --> 01:12:07.449 like a whole -thinking entity. I think that it's 01:12:07.449 --> 01:12:09.529 easier to understand the apparent absurdity of 01:12:09.529 --> 01:12:12.449 this world, aka brain, if we consider Zach and 01:12:12.449 --> 01:12:16.109 Rachel as two aspects of a conscious personality 01:12:16.109 --> 01:12:20.149 battling the interior of not just a psyche but 01:12:20.149 --> 01:12:23.770 a particular psyche, which is Rachel's. Also 01:12:23.770 --> 01:12:28.579 explains the prison garb that she wears. That 01:12:28.579 --> 01:12:31.359 might be why Cathy chooses to judge Zach more 01:12:31.359 --> 01:12:33.460 harshly because he represents the willingness 01:12:33.460 --> 01:12:36.560 to be blatantly bad, which is something Rachel 01:12:36.560 --> 01:12:40.119 currently shies away from. In this light, Zach 01:12:40.119 --> 01:12:42.880 becomes just as much the repressed side of Rachel 01:12:42.880 --> 01:12:45.100 as Rachel represents the portion of Zach that 01:12:45.100 --> 01:12:47.640 he doesn't want to address, i .e. the portion 01:12:47.640 --> 01:12:51.399 of him that feels broken. Both of them are avoiding 01:12:51.399 --> 01:12:54.020 actually thinking about death and murder in a 01:12:54.020 --> 01:12:56.640 complete sense, which is one of the reasons they 01:12:56.640 --> 01:13:00.720 are inextricably entwined. But there's also another 01:13:00.720 --> 01:13:03.100 element to Cathy that requires knowing a little 01:13:03.100 --> 01:13:07.109 bit about Michel Foucault. Foucault is not an 01:13:07.109 --> 01:13:09.750 existentialist, but he is born in the same time 01:13:09.750 --> 01:13:13.890 frame, October 1926. Again, I'm not going to 01:13:13.890 --> 01:13:16.689 put him on the timeline because I don't want 01:13:16.689 --> 01:13:19.989 to associate him with the existentialists or 01:13:19.989 --> 01:13:22.850 any other group that I have mentioned for that 01:13:22.850 --> 01:13:25.890 matter. He published one of his most famous works 01:13:25.890 --> 01:13:27.930 called Discipline and Punish, The Birth of the 01:13:27.930 --> 01:13:32.279 Prison in 1975. In this book, he explores traditional 01:13:32.279 --> 01:13:34.819 power structures and how they evolved over time. 01:13:35.100 --> 01:13:37.600 How we once had a tendency to punish the body 01:13:37.600 --> 01:13:40.380 in specific ways as a method of control, but 01:13:40.380 --> 01:13:43.220 over time we have learned to reduce our direct 01:13:43.220 --> 01:13:45.680 contact to the body and explore psychological 01:13:45.680 --> 01:13:48.880 torture in a way that isn't really torture, but 01:13:48.880 --> 01:13:51.699 we're still punishing people through the mind. 01:13:52.420 --> 01:13:54.699 So we went from punishing people through the 01:13:54.699 --> 01:13:58.939 representative, signifying public, scenic, collective 01:13:58.939 --> 01:14:02.739 model of punishment to punishing people coercively, 01:14:03.319 --> 01:14:07.819 solitarily, and secretly. So Cathy represents 01:14:07.819 --> 01:14:11.199 Foucault's executioner, who stands, quote, as 01:14:11.199 --> 01:14:14.899 the adversary of this crime, an adversary who 01:14:14.899 --> 01:14:19.090 could show pity or ruthlessness. The executioner 01:14:19.090 --> 01:14:22.170 not only implemented the law, he also deployed 01:14:22.170 --> 01:14:25.710 the force. He was the agent of a violence applied 01:14:25.710 --> 01:14:28.850 in order to master it to the violence of the 01:14:28.850 --> 01:14:34.170 crime. And that's page 51. So one of the interesting 01:14:34.170 --> 01:14:36.789 parts about this world that they're in is that 01:14:36.789 --> 01:14:39.270 essentially all forms of punishment are present, 01:14:39.670 --> 01:14:42.550 which again I think is good evidence of the mind 01:14:42.550 --> 01:14:45.710 knowing its crime, which is why everybody understands 01:14:45.710 --> 01:14:47.750 each other in this world even if they don't know 01:14:47.750 --> 01:14:50.720 it yet. The cameras on the lowest floor, for 01:14:50.720 --> 01:14:54.159 example, are very much indicative of Jeremy Bentham's 01:14:54.159 --> 01:14:57.220 Panopticon, which Foucault says has the effect 01:14:57.220 --> 01:14:59.899 of inducing the inmate to a state of conscious 01:14:59.899 --> 01:15:03.140 and permanent visibility that assures the automatic 01:15:03.140 --> 01:15:06.600 functioning of power. The goal is to scare the 01:15:06.600 --> 01:15:08.560 sacrifices to the point where they cannot think 01:15:08.560 --> 01:15:11.119 rationally through the problems set before them, 01:15:11.600 --> 01:15:15.739 but then also by forcing A sacrifice to realize 01:15:15.739 --> 01:15:18.100 why they might deserve punishment, you convince 01:15:18.100 --> 01:15:21.260 the subject to do your dirty work for you. You 01:15:21.260 --> 01:15:23.220 convince them that they deserve the punishment 01:15:23.220 --> 01:15:26.399 they're getting. Which is why Zach is an integral 01:15:26.399 --> 01:15:29.000 character to Rachel's development and getting

01:15:29.000 --> 01:15:31.579 her out alive. Because he doesn't care that he's 01:15:31.579 --> 01:15:33.859 being watched. And he doesn't care about the 01:15:33.859 --> 01:15:36.640 fact that he's killed people. Coercion doesn't 01:15:36.640 --> 01:15:39.739 work on him. Which is why Cathy targets him at 01:15:39.739 --> 01:15:42.479 this level. If surveillance doesn't work on someone 01:15:42.479 --> 01:15:45.760 like Zach, then perhaps the spectacle will. One 01:15:45.760 --> 01:15:47.579 of the trials literally involves an electric 01:15:47.579 --> 01:15:50.300 chair and a crowd of mannequins set up to laugh, 01:15:50.520 --> 01:15:53.640 sort of, at anyone who sits in the chair as they 01:15:53.640 --> 01:15:57.079 get either electrocuted or shocked. This part 01:15:57.079 --> 01:16:00.880 reminds me of Mirceau's trial in Camus the Stranger. 01:16:01.699 --> 01:16:04.659 I sat down with the policeman standing on either 01:16:04.659 --> 01:16:07.579 side of me. It was then that I noticed a row 01:16:07.579 --> 01:16:10.739 of faces in front of me. They were all looking 01:16:10.739 --> 01:16:14.420 at me. I realized that they were the jury, but 01:16:14.420 --> 01:16:16.939 I can't see what distinguished one from another. 01:16:17.819 --> 01:16:21.239 I had just one impression. I was sitting across 01:16:21.239 --> 01:16:23.960 from a row of seats on a streetcar and all these 01:16:23.960 --> 01:16:26.100 anonymous passengers were looking over the new 01:16:26.100 --> 01:16:27.960 arrival to see if they could find something funny 01:16:27.960 --> 01:16:31.079 about him. I knew it was a silly idea since it 01:16:31.079 --> 01:16:33.479 wasn't anything funny they were after but a crime. 01:16:34.279 --> 01:16:37.640 There isn't much difference though. In any case, 01:16:37.840 --> 01:16:42.039 that was the idea that came to me. So not only 01:16:42.039 --> 01:16:44.500 is the spectacle a part of the game, but it's 01:16:44.500 --> 01:16:47.340 used to produce an anxiety that confronts and 01:16:47.340 --> 01:16:50.199 attacks the criminal. The criminal is confronted 01:16:50.199 --> 01:16:53.680 by his oneness faced with the judgment of the 01:16:53.680 --> 01:16:58.119 many. The final room that Cathy Cloisters, Zach 01:16:58.119 --> 01:17:01.760 and Rachel in is lined with machine guns. She 01:17:01.760 --> 01:17:04.140 gives Rachel a gun and the two sacrifices are 01:17:04.140 --> 01:17:06.960 posed against one another. Zach has previously 01:17:06.960 --> 01:17:09.779 been forced to take mind -altering drugs and 01:17:09.779 --> 01:17:13.420 is struggling not to lose control. He tells Rachel 01:17:13.420 --> 01:17:16.100 not to let him kill her yet because the implication 01:17:16.100 --> 01:17:19.100 is that the drug has some kind of berserker effect. 01:17:19.819 --> 01:17:23.579 and he is meant to kill with reckless abandon. 01:17:23.960 --> 01:17:26.020 Rachel knows that he's struggling and doesn't 01:17:26.020 --> 01:17:29.239 want him

to make a choice he regrets. After all, 01:17:29.319 --> 01:17:32.220 without her he won't be able to escape the building. 01:17:33.020 --> 01:17:36.060 She lowers the gun. She tells him that there 01:17:36.060 --> 01:17:40.039 is always free will, he still has a choice. Zach 01:17:40.039 --> 01:17:42.760 takes this and, in an effort to defy his own 01:17:42.760 --> 01:17:46.779 impulses, stabs himself with the scythe. This 01:17:46.779 --> 01:17:49.500 gets Kathy angry enough to leave her protective 01:17:49.500 --> 01:17:51.739 glass chamber, screaming that neither of them 01:17:51.739 --> 01:17:55.899 are her ideal criminal. She specifically dislikes 01:17:55.899 --> 01:17:58.420 Rachel because she's boring and passionless. 01:17:58.840 --> 01:18:00.939 Rachel doesn't play her game because she doesn't 01:18:00.939 --> 01:18:04.600 get riled up. Rachel attempts to point the gun 01:18:04.600 --> 01:18:07.500 at Kathy, but Kathy tells her there were no bullets 01:18:07.500 --> 01:18:10.560 in the gun, likely because keeping Zack alive 01:18:10.560 --> 01:18:13.300 meant that she would have more fun punishing 01:18:13.300 --> 01:18:17.119 him for killing Rachel. Unfortunately for Cathy, 01:18:17.380 --> 01:18:20.159 Rachel happens to have her own gun. Faced with 01:18:20.159 --> 01:18:22.300 the possibility of losing the person who promised 01:18:22.300 --> 01:18:26.119 to kill her, she shoots Cathy. Zach manages to 01:18:26.119 --> 01:18:29.359 get back up and slices Cathy to her death. Fun 01:18:29.359 --> 01:18:31.720 little aside, right after this happens, Zach 01:18:31.720 --> 01:18:33.899 refers to Kathy as Little Miss Crime and Punishment, 01:18:34.039 --> 01:18:36.840 which is perhaps a reference to a book by Dostoevsky, 01:18:37.100 --> 01:18:40.659 the title of which is Crime and Punishment. It 01:18:40.659 --> 01:18:43.079 explores the life of an ex -law student who plans 01:18:43.079 --> 01:18:45.460 to kill someone because he convinces himself 01:18:45.460 --> 01:18:47.979 that some crimes are justifiable, but of course 01:18:47.979 --> 01:18:50.659 he feels guilty after he commits the crime. This 01:18:50.659 --> 01:18:53.140 is where that famous quote of Dostoevsky's comes 01:18:53.140 --> 01:18:56.239 from. Your worst sin is that you have betrayed 01:18:56.239 --> 01:18:59.859 and destroyed yourself for nothing. There may 01:18:59.859 --> 01:19:02.520 be no direct connection here, but it is very 01:19:02.520 --> 01:19:05.340 likely a nod. It's also not quite evidence for 01:19:05.340 --> 01:19:07.880 the influence of existentialism, but it is very 01:19:07.880 --> 01:19:11.380 cute given that Dostoevsky influenced existentialism. 01:19:11.859 --> 01:19:13.939 When they get to the second floor, Zach is bleeding 01:19:13.939 --> 01:19:18.039 out and close to death. Obviously. Rachel drags 01:19:18.039 --> 01:19:20.319 him from the elevator and leaves to seek medicine. 01:19:20.579 --> 01:19:23.239 She stops in a darkened room as candles are lit 01:19:23.239 --> 01:19:26.560 by an unseen force along the wall. She is in 01:19:26.560 --> 01:19:29.760 a room that appears to be part of a church. A 01:19:29.760 --> 01:19:33.260 candelabra topples over to light the soft red 01:19:33.260 --> 01:19:36.279 carpet on fire and instead of smoke, Rachel is 01:19:36.279 --> 01:19:39.180 accosted by a sweet smelling purple haze clouding 01:19:39.180 --> 01:19:42.840 her vision. The mist fades and the room has changed 01:19:42.840 --> 01:19:46.180 completely. Directly before her is a pulpit with 01:19:46.180 --> 01:19:50.140 the following words displayed. The one God desires 01:19:50.140 --> 01:19:52.979 must be clean and devoid of falsehood. So who 01:19:52.979 --> 01:19:56.800 are you? Ask yourself that question. Are you 01:19:56.800 --> 01:20:00.359 a desirable sacrifice or are you an angel? Or 01:20:00.359 --> 01:20:02.560 even if you are neither, if you truly hope to 01:20:02.560 --> 01:20:05.760 find God's salvation, reveal and confess all 01:20:05.760 --> 01:20:09.399 your sins. She completes reading this out for 01:20:09.399 --> 01:20:11.600 us, then walks to a piece of paper attached to 01:20:11.600 --> 01:20:14.760 a doorway. The paper asks, what is thy name? 01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:17.319 She answers and the paper crumples into itself. 01:20:17.739 --> 01:20:21.119 The door opens. Purple smoke fills the candlelit 01:20:21.119 --> 01:20:24.789 hall and at the end is a small bottle. Words 01:20:24.789 --> 01:20:27.449 scrawl themselves into existence, floating above 01:20:27.449 --> 01:20:30.489 her. Spit out your sins and that will be your 01:20:30.489 --> 01:20:33.829 proof. What do you feel as you gaze upon the 01:20:33.829 --> 01:20:37.390 proof? The doors open so that you can know the 01:20:37.390 --> 01:20:40.689 stains you bear. The words begin to spin around 01:20:40.689 --> 01:20:43.029 her and suddenly she stands before a mirror. 01:20:43.869 --> 01:20:46.850 Look at yourself, the words write. A sacrifice, 01:20:47.069 --> 01:20:50.390 a lost sheep, or a demon. The only thing God 01:20:50.390 --> 01:20:54.729 wants is you without lies. So there are quite 01:20:54.729 --> 01:20:57.109 a few things happening here, and as you can see, 01:20:57.689 --> 01:21:00.090 that's why I mentioned Alice in Wonderland in 01:21:00.090 --> 01:21:03.470 the initial recording. This portion of the building 01:21:03.470 --> 01:21:06.250 is quite literally smoke and mirrors. It is about 01:21:06.250 --> 01:21:10.109 illusion as a form of coercion. In my research, 01:21:10.149 --> 01:21:12.770 I wanted to explore this section in terms of 01:21:12.770 --> 01:21:15.609 gothic -inspired video games, and I came across 01:21:15.609 --> 01:21:18.329 what appeared to be a perfect book chapter called 01:21:18.329 --> 01:21:21.289 Doppelgamers, Video Games and Gothic Choice. 01:21:21.960 --> 01:21:24.020 However, I was not able to get access to the 01:21:24.020 --> 01:21:26.079 chapter. I would have

to get a copy of the book 01:21:26.079 --> 01:21:28.880 and I didn't have the time or money to do that. 01:21:29.119 --> 01:21:32.600 Maybe one day. So what we do have are the synopsis 01:21:32.600 --> 01:21:34.899 for the chapter. Do go read it. I'm going to 01:21:34.899 --> 01:21:36.380 put it in the bibliography, though I'm not going 01:21:36.380 --> 01:21:39.739 to reference it from now on. But just know that 01:21:39.739 --> 01:21:41.439 I looked at that and was like, this would be 01:21:41.439 --> 01:21:44.319 awesome, but I can't read it. So and also some 01:21:44.319 --> 01:21:46.619 of the writings of Fred Botting, who is mentioned 01:21:46.619 --> 01:21:50.590 in the synopsis. Bodding 2014 starts out the 01:21:50.590 --> 01:21:52.890 introduction to his book Gothic by characterizing 01:21:52.890 --> 01:21:55.909 medieval literature. He says that Gothic texts 01:21:55.909 --> 01:21:58.350 are distinctly anti -modern. They shun the comforting 01:21:58.350 --> 01:22:01.390 presence of light, which signifies rationality, 01:22:01.529 --> 01:22:04.789 security, and knowledge. These fictions are all 01:22:04.789 --> 01:22:07.810 sorts of adjectives, obscure, gloomy, abhorrent, 01:22:08.050 --> 01:22:11.560 crude. They emphasized superstition, the belief 01:22:11.560 --> 01:22:14.180 in ghosts and demons, and that psychological 01:22:14.180 --> 01:22:17.100 dependence on otherworldly things not only encouraged 01:22:17.100 --> 01:22:20.239 violence and disorientation, but encouraged instability 01:22:20.239 --> 01:22:23.779 and unease in the believer. And to quote more 01:22:23.779 --> 01:22:27.199 specifically, Gothic texts are not good in moral 01:22:27.199 --> 01:22:30.779 aesthetic or social terms. Their concern is with 01:22:30.779 --> 01:22:34.579 vice. Protagonists are selfish or evil. Adventures 01:22:34.579 --> 01:22:40.399 involve decadence or crime. Now this sounds a 01:22:40.399 --> 01:22:43.399 lot like our story in general, but it also specifically 01:22:43.399 --> 01:22:46.460 sounds like this particular level. In a moment 01:22:46.460 --> 01:22:49.600 here, we're going to meet Grey, a somewhat psychotic 01:22:49.600 --> 01:22:52.699 priest. He tells Rachel that she must tear up 01:22:52.699 --> 01:22:55.359 her sins and drag them out of her. She must recover 01:22:55.359 --> 01:22:57.800 her memories in pieces in order to remake them 01:22:57.800 --> 01:23:01.380 whole. Grey is a lot like us in the moment where 01:23:01.380 --> 01:23:04.479 we meet him. He tells her, I have yet to determine 01:23:04.479 --> 01:23:07.789 your true character. Any judgment that I could 01:23:07.789 --> 01:23:10.970 pass upon you now would be a blind one. Just 01:23:10.970 --> 01:23:13.369 as the viewer or player does not know Rachel's 01:23:13.369 --> 01:23:15.550 crime at this point, we know it must have something 01:23:15.550 --> 01:23:18.149 to do with her parents, Gray does not fully know 01:23:18.149 --> 01:23:21.989 the whole story. This is

both why he is depicted 01:23:21.989 --> 01:23:24.890 as blind and why the purple gas permeating the 01:23:24.890 --> 01:23:28.510 level is psychedelic gas. Priests are not supposed 01:23:28.510 --> 01:23:31.090 to judge books by their covers and psychedelics 01:23:31.090 --> 01:23:33.329 have a tendency to unopen people to help them 01:23:33.329 --> 01:23:37.300 discover their true self. In order to help Zack, 01:23:37.600 --> 01:23:41.279 Rachel realizes she needs to get medicine. She 01:23:41.279 --> 01:23:43.340 tells Gray that she wants to save him because 01:23:43.340 --> 01:23:45.899 of their pact. She does not intimate that she 01:23:45.899 --> 01:23:49.180 cares about him in any way. Gray tells her the 01:23:49.180 --> 01:23:51.739 only place medicine would be is on Danny's floor 01:23:51.739 --> 01:23:54.699 and agrees to help her on two conditions. One, 01:23:54.819 --> 01:23:57.579 she only returned below with him by her side, 01:23:57.600 --> 01:24:00.819 and two, she complete a series of tests so that 01:24:00.819 --> 01:24:04.350 they may determine her personality. She consents 01:24:04.350 --> 01:24:07.189 and they travel to Cathy's floor. Her task is 01:24:07.189 --> 01:24:10.689 to turn back on the electricity. During her time 01:24:10.689 --> 01:24:13.010 running the floor Cathy had imprisoned a lot 01:24:13.010 --> 01:24:15.970 of people and their living corpses lived on in 01:24:15.970 --> 01:24:20.229 the cells there. Zombie -like and so barely human. 01:24:21.210 --> 01:24:23.069 Rachel is having trouble with the zombies so 01:24:23.069 --> 01:24:25.010 when she reaches the control room she simply 01:24:25.010 --> 01:24:27.989 guns every remaining zombie down. I'll shoot 01:24:27.989 --> 01:24:30.409 them. I have to. They shouldn't have stood in 01:24:30.409 --> 01:24:33.460 my way. Before she can leave the room, however, 01:24:33.579 --> 01:24:37.260 the ghost of Cathy appears to chastise her. I 01:24:37.260 --> 01:24:40.800 suppose the means justify the ends. You truly 01:24:40.800 --> 01:24:44.659 are the worst kind of sinner there is. When Rachel 01:24:44.659 --> 01:24:46.800 returns to Grey, she explains why she killed 01:24:46.800 --> 01:24:50.340 the zombies. They were in my way. Grey seems 01:24:50.340 --> 01:24:53.340 perturbed by this, yet they carry on to Eddie's 01:24:53.340 --> 01:24:57.319 floor. Eddie's once beautiful garden is dead. 01:24:57.470 --> 01:25:00.149 The gravestones that Zach destroyed in irritation 01:25:00.149 --> 01:25:03.869 and boredom lay scattered across the crumbling 01:25:03.869 --> 01:25:07.310 cobblestone. Grey tells Rachel once again to 01:25:07.310 --> 01:25:10.289 make it to the control room. Proceed with caution. 01:25:11.170 --> 01:25:13.750 As soon as she steps forward, a ghostly hand 01:25:13.750 --> 01:25:17.109 grabs her ankle. Mildly disgusted, she stomps 01:25:17.109 --> 01:25:20.250 on the hand and thinks, how annoying. She keeps 01:25:20.250 --> 01:25:22.130 stomping on hands until she makes it through 01:25:22.130 --> 01:25:25.180 despite the screams of the dead. When she's completed 01:25:25.180 --> 01:25:27.760 the mission, the ghost of Eddie emerges to lecture 01:25:27.760 --> 01:25:30.739 her. That was really mean of you. You didn't 01:25:30.739 --> 01:25:33.739 even feel bad a little bit. How come you couldn't 01:25:33.739 --> 01:25:35.819 think about what would make them happy? I guess 01:25:35.819 --> 01:25:38.100 the only person you worry about is yourself. 01:25:38.779 --> 01:25:41.000 I would like to point out that this is psychological 01:25:41.000 --> 01:25:43.600 abuse. She does not have to feel bad about any 01:25:43.600 --> 01:25:45.840 of this because like there is literally nothing 01:25:45.840 --> 01:25:48.899 else she can do. She recognizes, for example, 01:25:48.939 --> 01:25:51.020 that the hands aren't real hands. They're just 01:25:51.020 --> 01:25:54.109 ghosts. So, Eddie makes her feel bad for no reason. 01:25:54.850 --> 01:25:57.310 She knows that this is a test, but Grey wants 01:25:57.310 --> 01:26:00.529 to keep up the facade. All of these people were 01:26:00.529 --> 01:26:03.350 already dead or going to die fairly soon, so 01:26:03.350 --> 01:26:05.569 while it's supposed to make you think about what 01:26:05.569 --> 01:26:07.569 kind of person she is, it's also in the context 01:26:07.569 --> 01:26:10.569 of being judged by genuinely bad people. The 01:26:10.569 --> 01:26:12.810 question, of course, though, is whether or not 01:26:12.810 --> 01:26:15.649 bad people deserve kindness and care, and you're 01:26:15.649 --> 01:26:17.550 supposed to kind of figure that out on your own. 01:26:17.770 --> 01:26:21.520 They don't give us an answer. On Danny's floor, 01:26:21.880 --> 01:26:25.159 Rachel is unable to locate any medicine. Everything 01:26:25.159 --> 01:26:27.939 is gone. When she returns to the elevator to 01:26:27.939 --> 01:26:30.479 ask Gray about it, he blames her as the common 01:26:30.479 --> 01:26:32.939 denominator for everything bad that's happened 01:26:32.939 --> 01:26:36.279 in the building recently. They proceed to Zach's 01:26:36.279 --> 01:26:38.960 floor. The next part is simply backstory for 01:26:38.960 --> 01:26:41.640 Zach, and then we find out that Danny is very 01:26:41.640 --> 01:26:44.479 much alive and has found Zach on the higher level. 01:26:44.909 --> 01:26:47.390 He tries to cut a deal with Zach, telling him 01:26:47.390 --> 01:26:51.729 to bring him Rachel's eyes. We cut back to Rachel 01:26:51.729 --> 01:26:55.350 and Grey's descent to Zach's floor. Grey says 01:26:55.350 --> 01:26:57.750 that Zach's floor is like his character, simple 01:26:57.750 --> 01:27:01.369 and honest. Rachel should have no trouble finding 01:27:01.369 --> 01:27:05.350 his room. She doesn't, and she's able to find 01:27:05.350 --> 01:27:07.829 fresh bandages for him as well as his knife. 01:27:08.229 --> 01:27:10.989 She also finds paper that shows that Zach tried

01:27:10.989 --> 01:27:13.850 to teach himself how to write as well as junk 01:27:13.850 --> 01:27:17.289 food everywhere. Rachel reflects that she doesn't 01:27:17.289 --> 01:27:20.810 really know him at all. To me, it seems like 01:27:20.810 --> 01:27:22.850 their relationship really is more than just about 01:27:22.850 --> 01:27:25.869 their pact, but you're made to question it nevertheless. 01:27:27.210 --> 01:27:29.050 They return to the second floor where they find 01:27:29.050 --> 01:27:32.989 Zach's body has vanished. Gray once again blames 01:27:32.989 --> 01:27:35.729 Rachel for disrupting everyone on these floors. 01:27:36.529 --> 01:27:39.590 He explains that Danny is likely alive but acting 01:27:39.590 --> 01:27:43.020 erratic. He also explains that if Rachel is totally 01:27:43.020 --> 01:27:45.779 responsible for everything negative that's happened 01:27:45.779 --> 01:27:48.399 on these floors, he will have to pass judgment 01:27:48.399 --> 01:27:52.420 upon her. Gray says that she's selfish and we 01:27:52.420 --> 01:27:55.680 get an extreme reaction from Rachel. She says 01:27:55.680 --> 01:27:57.899 she's not being entirely selfish because Zach 01:27:57.899 --> 01:28:00.659 swore to God that he was going to kill her. I'm 01:28:00.659 --> 01:28:04.449 also helping him keep his word. Greg gets pissed 01:28:04.449 --> 01:28:07.189 at this, saying, do you claim to have divine 01:28:07.189 --> 01:28:09.750 knowledge that God would accept such a promise? 01:28:10.270 --> 01:28:12.850 Is it not up to God to determine whose promise 01:28:12.850 --> 01:28:15.670 will become reality? And if God's choice goes 01:28:15.670 --> 01:28:18.430 against your desires, Rachel Gardner, would you 01:28:18.430 --> 01:28:21.409 defy his will? Which is a really good question, 01:28:21.569 --> 01:28:24.010 honestly. We don't know anything about her yet, 01:28:24.029 --> 01:28:26.750 meaning that we don't know ourselves at all. 01:28:27.250 --> 01:28:29.630 What would the player playing as Rachel choose 01:28:29.630 --> 01:28:33.220 to do? Over the course of the gameplay, players 01:28:33.220 --> 01:28:35.479 extend themselves further into the motivations 01:28:35.479 --> 01:28:37.920 of the character and the visceral, cognitive, 01:28:38.060 --> 01:28:40.119 social, and fantastical possibilities of the 01:28:40.119 --> 01:28:42.880 avatar forging an identification grounded in 01:28:42.880 --> 01:28:45.640 observation. But that doesn't mean we have to 01:28:45.640 --> 01:28:48.420 act as her. We have a responsibility to act however 01:28:48.420 --> 01:28:51.039 we have interpreted her. But that also doesn't 01:28:51.039 --> 01:28:52.800 mean that the player will follow what they've 01:28:52.800 --> 01:28:54.739 identified depending on the mechanics of the 01:28:54.739 --> 01:28:57.239 game, i .e. what the game allows to happen in 01:28:57.239 --> 01:29:01.020 a narrative sense. Rachel meets up with Zach 01:29:01.020 --> 01:29:03.079 finally and they have

a short discussion wherein 01:29:03.079 --> 01:29:05.979 Zach states that Cathy was right, he is a monster. 01:29:06.840 --> 01:29:09.720 They also decide to try and find Danny and as 01:29:09.720 --> 01:29:12.119 they're walking Rachel asks Zach whether since 01:29:12.119 --> 01:29:16.180 he's a monster, he's human. Zach in response 01:29:16.180 --> 01:29:18.640 asks her whether there's anything special to 01:29:18.640 --> 01:29:23.100 being human. What makes a human? Is there something 01:29:23.100 --> 01:29:26.920 special that a human is supposed to do? Rachel 01:29:26.920 --> 01:29:30.399 reveals her personal limitation by saying, what 01:29:30.399 --> 01:29:33.760 God wants, I guess. So this portion prompted 01:29:33.760 --> 01:29:36.680 me to search for articles that talk post -human 01:29:36.680 --> 01:29:39.060 Gothic, because one feature of Gothic literature 01:29:39.060 --> 01:29:41.859 is the problem of the monster, specifically Shelley's 01:29:41.859 --> 01:29:44.560 monster, because Frankenstein, also called the 01:29:44.560 --> 01:29:46.960 modern Prometheus, is the text that kicked off 01:29:46.960 --> 01:29:51.630 the genre in 1818. So, I found an article titled, 01:29:51.630 --> 01:29:54.890 Post -Human Monsters, which may give us somewhat 01:29:54.890 --> 01:29:57.649 of an answer as to why Rachel is so obsessed 01:29:57.649 --> 01:30:01.930 with finding God in everything. Michael Sean 01:30:01.930 --> 01:30:04.369 Bolton, in his article, Monsterous Machinery, 01:30:04.569 --> 01:30:07.170 Defining Post -Human Gothic, writes that in the 01:30:07.170 --> 01:30:09.090 post -human gothic, the terror of the threat 01:30:09.090 --> 01:30:11.350 from the outside integrates with the horror of 01:30:11.350 --> 01:30:13.890 the threat from the inside. While a sense of 01:30:13.890 --> 01:30:16.390 terror arises from the external fear of being 01:30:16.390 --> 01:30:18.869 transformed into a machine creature, a sense 01:30:18.869 --> 01:30:21.050 of horror emerges from the internal dread that 01:30:21.050 --> 01:30:23.630 the technological other already inhabits the 01:30:23.630 --> 01:30:26.409 human subject, that the subject is betrayed from 01:30:26.409 --> 01:30:30.050 within. This technological other is also referred 01:30:30.050 --> 01:30:33.430 to in the article as the monstrous other. Essentially, 01:30:33.590 --> 01:30:35.909 the post human gothic focuses less on general 01:30:35.909 --> 01:30:38.829 apocalyptic destruction and more on a transformation 01:30:38.829 --> 01:30:42.300 specifically of the body and mind. But that mental 01:30:42.300 --> 01:30:44.859 transition into a non -human entity specifically 01:30:44.859 --> 01:30:47.579 sparks an internal horror rather than just terror. 01:30:48.399 --> 01:30:51.140 Terror expands the soul outward. It leads us 01:30:51.140 --> 01:30:53.739 to or engulfs us in the sublime, the immense, 01:30:54.159 --> 01:30:57.199 the cosmic. Horror overtakes the soul from the 01:30:57.199 -->

01:30:59.720 inside. Consciousness shrinks or withers from 01:30:59.720 --> 01:31:03.300 within. He writes that posthumanism can be defined 01:31:03.300 --> 01:31:05.460 as the investigation into what, if anything, 01:31:05.600 --> 01:31:07.619 remains of the human beyond the disintegration 01:31:07.619 --> 01:31:11.000 of the liberal humanist subject in postmodernity. 01:31:12.500 --> 01:31:15.220 The source of dread in the posthuman gothic lies 01:31:15.220 --> 01:31:17.659 not in the fear of our demise, but in the uncertainty 01:31:17.659 --> 01:31:20.000 of what we will become and what will be left 01:31:20.000 --> 01:31:25.100 of us after the change. Rachel's specific fear 01:31:25.100 --> 01:31:27.199 is becoming like the people she's surrounded 01:31:27.199 --> 01:31:29.960 by, and in that way she literally cannot change 01:31:29.960 --> 01:31:33.000 to be like them. She avoids and rejects seeing 01:31:33.000 --> 01:31:35.739 herself as a monster because doing so in her 01:31:35.739 --> 01:31:39.380 mind means being betrayed by God. So the only 01:31:39.380 --> 01:31:41.539 solution is to seek out a narrative that treats 01:31:41.539 --> 01:31:44.699 another, who she perceives to have power, as 01:31:44.699 --> 01:31:47.760 a God. It doesn't matter to her whether Zach 01:31:47.760 --> 01:31:50.140 is a monster because it serves her purposes. 01:31:50.759 --> 01:31:53.039 One of the interesting things about this, too, 01:31:53.079 --> 01:31:55.960 is that Zack implies that he lacks agency without 01:31:55.960 --> 01:31:59.239 Rachel. For example, he says, don't make me do 01:31:59.239 --> 01:32:02.800 that again, or just say the word, implying that 01:32:02.800 --> 01:32:05.180 he sees himself as a tool to be used by Rachel 01:32:05.180 --> 01:32:07.300 despite his attempts to divorce himself from 01:32:07.300 --> 01:32:11.020 the role of being a tool for others to use. Shortly 01:32:11.020 --> 01:32:13.340 after this, they're attacked by a giant snake 01:32:13.340 --> 01:32:17.260 and Zack saves Rachel. Consider being in time 01:32:17.260 --> 01:32:21.170 again. Just real fast. Dasein requires us to 01:32:21.170 --> 01:32:23.989 involve ourselves with the world almost absentmindedly, 01:32:24.149 --> 01:32:26.270 and Heidegger frames this natural kind of state 01:32:26.270 --> 01:32:30.109 as ready -to -hand, zuhandenheit. Anything that 01:32:30.109 --> 01:32:32.430 is ready -to -hand has a worldly character to 01:32:32.430 --> 01:32:35.050 it, which means that it has an ontological relationship 01:32:35.050 --> 01:32:38.550 to the exterior world. He also thinks that being 01:32:38.550 --> 01:32:40.970 ready -to -hand has been discovered, so to speak, 01:32:41.050 --> 01:32:44.630 before any action takes place. So, hilariously 01:32:44.630 --> 01:32:46.369 enough, when I was thinking about this, I heard 01:32:46.369 --> 01:32:48.350 the ready -to -pair statement that headphones 01:32:48.350 --> 01:32:51.340 will say, like, in my head when

they're trying 01:32:51.340 --> 01:32:54.899 to connect to your phone. And honestly, that's 01:32:54.899 --> 01:32:57.539 kind of what ready -to -hand means because it 01:32:57.539 --> 01:33:00.460 is ontologically primary to other modes, such 01:33:00.460 --> 01:33:04.779 as present -to -hand, which is different. Present 01:33:04.779 --> 01:33:07.260 -to -hand is when we look at a thing with certain 01:33:07.260 --> 01:33:09.899 detachedness without the intent to use it, perhaps 01:33:09.899 --> 01:33:13.439 because we can't physically or it's broken, like 01:33:13.439 --> 01:33:16.359 a scientist or a doctor or somebody whose job 01:33:16.359 --> 01:33:20.090 is to observe. So Heidegger's example for the 01:33:20.090 --> 01:33:23.170 ready -to -hand is a hammer. A hammer contains 01:33:23.170 --> 01:33:26.069 the potential to be used. So a person picks up 01:33:26.069 --> 01:33:27.949 the hammer and starts to use it systematically. 01:33:28.649 --> 01:33:30.689 After a while, he doesn't need to focus so deeply 01:33:30.689 --> 01:33:32.590 on the hammer and he can talk with the people 01:33:32.590 --> 01:33:35.170 around him. So while the hammer completes its 01:33:35.170 --> 01:33:38.229 task, it also obscures the action when uses it 01:33:38.229 --> 01:33:41.949 for itself. So imagine a person who is so skilled 01:33:41.949 --> 01:33:44.489 at guitar that it's second nature to them. They 01:33:44.489 --> 01:33:48.840 played for years and so it kind of it's therapeutic 01:33:48.840 --> 01:33:53.479 to them almost to continue playing and they don't 01:33:53.479 --> 01:33:56.079 even really notice what they're playing at times, 01:33:56.319 --> 01:33:59.960 right? That is considered an authentic display 01:33:59.960 --> 01:34:02.880 of ready -to -hands. So that is when a person 01:34:02.880 --> 01:34:06.359 is authentically engaging with a particular item 01:34:06.359 --> 01:34:10.170 that is usable. So out of everyone in the building, 01:34:10.350 --> 01:34:12.510 the main person who systematically utilizes a 01:34:12.510 --> 01:34:15.329 tool is Zack. You could say Eddie uses a shovel, 01:34:15.470 --> 01:34:18.029 but in reality he uses a number of tools. The 01:34:18.029 --> 01:34:20.630 shovel is merely the one we associate with him. 01:34:21.329 --> 01:34:23.810 But the story's choice to associate shovel and 01:34:23.810 --> 01:34:25.729 scythe with particular characters does in fact 01:34:25.729 --> 01:34:28.270 highlight the fact that a tool simultaneously 01:34:28.270 --> 01:34:30.729 obstructs the context of an action with the methodical 01:34:30.729 --> 01:34:34.149 practice of utilizing the tool. Like I said, 01:34:34.369 --> 01:34:37.189 it's therapeutic. When Eddie chisels his graves 01:34:37.189 --> 01:34:39.609 there must be a kind of release to that and for 01:34:39.609 --> 01:34:42.510 Kathy there must be some kind of therapy in utilizing 01:34:42.510 --> 01:34:46.710 a gun, utilizing cameras. Danny's tool of choice 01:34:46.710 --> 01:34:49.050 of course is his eye and there's comfort for 01:34:49.050 --> 01:34:52.170 him there. Gray has his lectionary that emits 01:34:52.170 --> 01:34:55.350 psychedelic gas. All of these items are things 01:34:55.350 --> 01:34:57.850 that can be used in ways that signify readiness 01:34:57.850 --> 01:35:02.420 to hand. The peculiarity of what is proximally 01:35:02.420 --> 01:35:05.020 ready to hand is that, in its readiness to hand, 01:35:05.319 --> 01:35:07.819 it must, as it were, withdraw in order to be 01:35:07.819 --> 01:35:10.979 ready to hand quite authentically. It's also 01:35:10.979 --> 01:35:13.319 important to understand that items that are ready 01:35:13.319 --> 01:35:15.800 to hand always exist in relation to other things, 01:35:15.960 --> 01:35:19.140 as in, ready to hand always requires something 01:35:19.140 --> 01:35:23.119 else. Quote, the work is dependent on ange weissen 01:35:23.119 --> 01:35:26.640 auf, leather, thread, needles, and the like. 01:35:26.939 --> 01:35:30.079 End quote. All of these things come from something 01:35:30.079 --> 01:35:32.579 too. Leather comes from animals, needles are 01:35:32.579 --> 01:35:34.479 metal, and that material comes from somewhere. 01:35:35.300 --> 01:35:38.220 Nature is always discovered alongside these products 01:35:38.220 --> 01:35:41.699 because nature is in them. The problem of course 01:35:41.699 --> 01:35:44.119 is that even when you put all these objects together, 01:35:44.319 --> 01:35:45.819 we don't have a good understanding of what the 01:35:45.819 --> 01:35:49.170 world is. Objects like this though produce an 01:35:49.170 --> 01:35:51.930 innate towards which, meaning that many of these 01:35:51.930 --> 01:35:54.890 things are also made to be used and are not just 01:35:54.890 --> 01:35:57.470 usable and so they reflect something in us that 01:35:57.470 --> 01:36:01.569 identifies need. Quote, the work to be produced 01:36:01.569 --> 01:36:04.369 as the towards which of such things as the hammer, 01:36:04.489 --> 01:36:06.970 the plane, and the needle likewise has the kind 01:36:06.970 --> 01:36:10.170 of being that belongs to equipment. The shoe 01:36:10.170 --> 01:36:12.670 which is to be produced is for wearing foot gear. 01:36:13.170 --> 01:36:15.289 The clock is manufactured for telling the time. 01:36:15.560 --> 01:36:18.539 The work which we chiefly encounter in our concernful 01:36:18.539 --> 01:36:21.079 dealings, the work that is to be found when one 01:36:21.079 --> 01:36:24.920 is at work on something, das in Arbeit befindlich, 01:36:25.420 --> 01:36:27.699 has a usability which belongs to it essentially. 01:36:28.279 --> 01:36:30.840 In this usability, it lets us encounter already 01:36:30.840 --> 01:36:34.439 the towards which for which it is usable. A work 01:36:34.439 --> 01:36:37.739 that someone has ordered Das Bestellwerk is only 01:36:37.739 --> 01:36:40.020 by reason of its use in the assignment context 01:36:40.020 -->

01:36:42.560 of entities which is discovered in using it. 01:36:42.899 --> 01:36:46.779 So let's put this in the context of video games. 01:36:47.779 --> 01:36:50.000 In Angels of Death we control primarily Rachel, 01:36:50.119 --> 01:36:53.390 but we also occasionally control Zach. In a narrative 01:36:53.390 --> 01:36:55.350 -driven story, occasionally your identity will 01:36:55.350 --> 01:36:57.390 change, i .e. you will occasionally be given 01:36:57.390 --> 01:36:59.869 control over another character's body. But in 01:36:59.869 --> 01:37:02.409 general, there is a sense that both characters, 01:37:02.590 --> 01:37:05.369 Rachel and Zach, are ready to hand, but also 01:37:05.369 --> 01:37:08.470 that Zach is very much being used by Rachel and 01:37:08.470 --> 01:37:11.789 by the player to advance in the story. It is 01:37:11.789 --> 01:37:13.869 actually, and I wasn't going to talk about Descartes' 01:37:14.170 --> 01:37:16.210 mind -body problem in this episode, but it's 01:37:16.210 --> 01:37:19.390 literally dividing the body and the mind, Zach 01:37:19.390 --> 01:37:22.859 being the body and Rachel being the mind. So 01:37:22.859 --> 01:37:25.560 we end up with Rachel, who is distinctly not 01:37:25.560 --> 01:37:28.359 a tool because she rejects the idea, giving Zach 01:37:28.359 --> 01:37:30.479 hope that one day he will be able to realize 01:37:30.479 --> 01:37:34.319 his own agency. She rejects the nihilist's conclusion. 01:37:35.100 --> 01:37:37.439 Part of his character is that he gets overtaken 01:37:37.439 --> 01:37:39.939 with the desire to kill and recognizes that his 01:37:39.939 --> 01:37:42.560 inability to control his emotions means that 01:37:42.560 --> 01:37:45.039 he lacks some level of agency that other people 01:37:45.039 --> 01:37:48.140 possess. and Rachel shows him that he does have 01:37:48.140 --> 01:37:51.520 choice. So this is like the body and mind learning 01:37:51.520 --> 01:37:55.359 to work together to become one. So to clarify, 01:37:55.619 --> 01:37:58.119 these are not characters that are present to 01:37:58.119 --> 01:38:02.460 hand and they are not tools. They are certainly 01:38:02.460 --> 01:38:07.260 Dasein. They are beings and they are using objects 01:38:07.260 --> 01:38:12.279 to to find their true self. So if you refer back 01:38:12.279 --> 01:38:14.939 to Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit where 01:38:14.939 --> 01:38:18.819 the Spirit is consistently trying to seek a whole, 01:38:19.039 --> 01:38:23.119 the whole of itself. So my idea is that items 01:38:23.119 --> 01:38:26.399 of trauma are being used in order to recover 01:38:26.399 --> 01:38:29.680 the pieces that have been lost and that it is 01:38:29.680 --> 01:38:33.119 a kind of a never -ending cycle because by utilizing 01:38:33.119 --> 01:38:36.619 the piece of trauma you do not actually access 01:38:36.619 --> 01:38:40.739 the past. So that is my idea here, though, you 01:38:40.739 --> 01:38:44.340 know, that might sound crazy. Let's move on. 01:38:44.920 --> 01:38:47.720 Episode 10 is where Rachel is forced into a full 01:38:47.720 --> 01:38:50.739 psychedelic experience, where Grey puts her on 01:38:50.739 --> 01:38:53.579 trial as a witch, the crime being that she has 01:38:53.579 --> 01:38:56.699 deceived this holy host of angels and made an 01:38:56.699 --> 01:39:01.239 ungodly pact with Zack. This scene is reminiscent 01:39:01.239 --> 01:39:04.760 of Merceau's trial as well, from The Stranger. 01:39:05.289 --> 01:39:07.930 And there you have it, gentlemen," said the prosecutor. 01:39:08.350 --> 01:39:10.689 I have retraced for you the course of events 01:39:10.689 --> 01:39:13.109 which led this man to kill with full knowledge 01:39:13.109 --> 01:39:16.829 of his actions. I stress this point," he said, 01:39:17.569 --> 01:39:20.949 for this is no ordinary murder, no thoughtless 01:39:20.949 --> 01:39:23.789 act for which you might find mitigating circumstances. 01:39:24.909 --> 01:39:28.430 This man, gentlemen, this man is intelligent. 01:39:29.090 --> 01:39:32.090 You heard him, didn't you? He knows how to answer. 01:39:32.470 --> 01:39:36.050 He knows the value of words. and no one can say 01:39:36.050 --> 01:39:39.609 that he acted without realizing what he was doing. 01:39:40.550 --> 01:39:42.850 Grey says that it isn't our job to decide what's 01:39:42.850 --> 01:39:45.890 right or wrong, but rather God's, which is awkward 01:39:45.890 --> 01:39:48.270 given that he is currently playing God here and 01:39:48.270 --> 01:39:50.670 he's the whole reason the building exists in 01:39:50.670 --> 01:39:54.210 the first place. Grey brings every other member 01:39:54.210 --> 01:39:57.270 of every floor to testify against Rachel, ghost 01:39:57.270 --> 01:40:01.010 or not. Danny, of course, is still alive and 01:40:01.010 --> 01:40:04.539 testifies last. He accuses her in a way that, 01:40:04.539 --> 01:40:07.300 again, is similar to the prosecutor and the stranger, 01:40:07.699 --> 01:40:10.439 claiming that her soul can never be redeemed. 01:40:11.119 --> 01:40:14.880 She consumes everything she sees, he says. She's 01:40:14.880 --> 01:40:17.760 merciless, endlessly taking from the people around 01:40:17.760 --> 01:40:20.199 her in hopes of satisfying her own emptiness. 01:40:21.399 --> 01:40:25.500 All her soul can do is take. To quote the stranger, 01:40:26.359 --> 01:40:28.680 and I tried to listen again because the prosecutor 01:40:28.680 --> 01:40:31.680 started talking about my soul. He said that he 01:40:31.680 --> 01:40:33.680 had peered into it and that he had found nothing, 01:40:34.000 --> 01:40:36.680 gentleman of the jury. He said the truth was 01:40:36.680 --> 01:40:38.500 that I didn't have a soul and that nothing human, 01:40:38.699 --> 01:40:40.680 not one of moral principles that govern men's 01:40:40.680 --> 01:40:44.840 hearts, was within my reach. Of course, he added, 01:40:45.119 --> 01:40:48.039 we cannot blame him for this. We cannot complain

01:40:48.039 --> 01:40:50.520 that he lacks what was not in his power to acquire. 01:40:51.140 --> 01:40:53.460 But here in this court, the wholly negative virtue 01:40:53.460 --> 01:40:55.859 of tolerance must give way to the sterner but 01:40:55.859 --> 01:40:59.989 loftier virtue of justice. especially when the 01:40:59.989 --> 01:41:02.829 emptiness of a man's heart becomes, as we find 01:41:02.829 --> 01:41:06.489 it has in this man, an abyss threatening to swallow 01:41:06.489 --> 01:41:12.670 up society. And that's from page 101. Rachel's 01:41:12.670 --> 01:41:15.430 fear at God not existing is the only reason any 01:41:15.430 --> 01:41:18.460 of Grey's tactics work. He does eventually drive 01:41:18.460 --> 01:41:21.220 her to the conclusion that God is who and what 01:41:21.220 --> 01:41:23.960 we decide for ourselves, but until that point 01:41:23.960 --> 01:41:26.539 she struggles and panics over the idea that everything 01:41:26.539 --> 01:41:30.319 is meaningless without a plan. But if she hadn't 01:41:30.319 --> 01:41:32.699 been confronted by Gray regarding this notion, 01:41:33.020 --> 01:41:35.300 she could have never let the idea of an omniscient 01:41:35.300 --> 01:41:40.979 God go. This is the purpose of the other. Grey 01:41:40.979 --> 01:41:43.640 also believes himself to be God, and by the end 01:41:43.640 --> 01:41:46.180 of the witch trial we see exactly how he's been 01:41:46.180 --> 01:41:49.140 manipulating Rachel. He's made her think up to 01:41:49.140 --> 01:41:50.920 this point that he's talking about the same God 01:41:50.920 --> 01:41:53.739 as she is, and the illusions have helped him 01:41:53.739 --> 01:41:57.239 in his psychological warfare. Rachel breaks free 01:41:57.239 --> 01:41:59.539 from his control by holding Zach's knife close, 01:41:59.560 --> 01:42:02.859 saying, I see. There is a God. He's right here 01:42:02.859 --> 01:42:06.640 with me, referring to Zach. Everything Grey says 01:42:06.640 --> 01:42:09.159 after this is futile because she no longer needs 01:42:09.159 --> 01:42:12.529 him. She doesn't have time. She has to save a 01:42:12.529 --> 01:42:16.850 life. Rachel makes it to Zach and stitches him 01:42:16.850 --> 01:42:19.529 up, allowing them to continue to the final floor. 01:42:20.369 --> 01:42:22.609 This is where Rachel's story will finally unfold 01:42:22.609 --> 01:42:26.210 for us in an honest fashion. They enter a room 01:42:26.210 --> 01:42:28.869 where two people sit on the couch sewn together. 01:42:29.689 --> 01:42:32.350 Rachel is terrified of Zach seeing her past and 01:42:32.350 --> 01:42:34.689 having him judge her for it to the point where 01:42:34.689 --> 01:42:38.810 she faints. Danny shows up and locks Zach out 01:42:38.810 --> 01:42:41.510 of the room so that he may stay there with Rachel. 01:42:42.329 --> 01:42:44.329 He tells Zach that he needs to learn everything 01:42:44.329 --> 01:42:47.989 about Rachel, given that he's her new god. Zach 01:42:47.989 --> 01:42:49.750 sets about angrily trying to figure out what 01:42:49.750 --> 01:42:52.130 he's supposed to do, dodging various deadly traps, 01:42:52.210 --> 01:42:54.649 until finally he falls through the floor of one 01:42:54.649 --> 01:42:58.189 of the hallways. Gray helps him out, given his 01:42:58.189 --> 01:43:01.310 soft spot for Zach. He tells Zach how to access 01:43:01.310 --> 01:43:03.590 the room he needs to go to, and Zach manages 01:43:03.590 --> 01:43:06.600 to get in. The room he enters is Rachel's room 01:43:06.600 --> 01:43:10.060 and he has to watch the TV in there. The first 01:43:10.060 --> 01:43:12.199 thing he sees is a news channel talking about 01:43:12.199 --> 01:43:15.140 the deaths of Rachel's parents and the disturbing 01:43:15.140 --> 01:43:18.699 way in which they were found. The second thing 01:43:18.699 --> 01:43:21.020 he watches is Danny's initial interview with 01:43:21.020 --> 01:43:24.119 Rachel. We find out that Rachel has a history 01:43:24.119 --> 01:43:26.479 of killing small animals because she wants to 01:43:26.479 --> 01:43:29.699 keep them forever and that she is also responsible 01:43:29.699 --> 01:43:33.300 for her father's murder. Granted, his murder 01:43:33.300 --> 01:43:36.479 was self -defense. She wanted the perfect family, 01:43:36.560 --> 01:43:38.899 so she stitched her parents' bodies together 01:43:38.899 --> 01:43:42.840 at the shoulders. So, clearly she's fucked up, 01:43:42.899 --> 01:43:45.119 right? And we're not sure if it's because of 01:43:45.119 --> 01:43:48.000 her parents being abusive or whether it's because 01:43:48.000 --> 01:43:49.979 there's actually something wrong with her. To 01:43:49.979 --> 01:43:52.800 be fair, they are genuinely terrible people. 01:43:53.000 --> 01:43:56.739 Like, they are really shitty parents. And they 01:43:56.739 --> 01:44:00.810 are... awful to one another. So I think the implication 01:44:00.810 --> 01:44:04.529 is that that's kind of why she's like that, but 01:44:04.529 --> 01:44:06.909 obviously we don't know for sure. But we find 01:44:06.909 --> 01:44:09.250 that the reason there is an entire floor that 01:44:09.250 --> 01:44:11.670 looks like Rachel's house is because Danny was 01:44:11.670 --> 01:44:14.710 so infatuated with her that he asked Gray to 01:44:14.710 --> 01:44:18.270 make her an angel on the top floor. And her being 01:44:18.270 --> 01:44:20.130 at the top floor is really important because 01:44:20.130 --> 01:44:23.130 it's a method of protection, but it also kind 01:44:23.130 --> 01:44:26.350 of means that she is sort of the last boss that 01:44:26.350 --> 01:44:29.970 people have to fight. So she's technically one 01:44:29.970 --> 01:44:32.789 of the most difficult people to fight, right? 01:44:33.250 --> 01:44:36.310 So very few sacrifices should manage to make 01:44:36.310 --> 01:44:38.810 it up to that level and so it preserves her purity 01:44:38.810 --> 01:44:41.829 in some way. All of her crimes at that point

01:44:41.829 --> 01:44:45.250 appeared to be born from a desire to have a functioning 01:44:45.250 --> 01:44:49.359 family and to have people treat her well. I think 01:44:49.359 --> 01:44:52.239 we can see from her behavior on the lower levels 01:44:52.239 --> 01:44:54.960 that she is genuinely a smart girl and she's 01:44:54.960 --> 01:44:58.359 not fooled by people. She understands people's 01:44:58.359 --> 01:45:01.039 cruelty, which is likely why she dissociates 01:45:01.039 --> 01:45:04.239 to this degree. The reason she ends up a sacrifice 01:45:04.239 --> 01:45:06.199 when we meet her in the beginning is because 01:45:06.199 --> 01:45:09.260 she read a Bible that was put on her floor, possibly 01:45:09.260 --> 01:45:12.170 one that used to be in her house. This is why 01:45:12.170 --> 01:45:14.569 she has repeated meltdowns about the existence 01:45:14.569 --> 01:45:17.229 of God. She needs him to be real because unlike 01:45:17.229 --> 01:45:20.890 the other residents, she feels guilt. Zach renounces 01:45:20.890 --> 01:45:23.609 Godhood, which prompts Rachel to have a breakdown 01:45:23.609 --> 01:45:26.850 and try to kill him. In the process, she also 01:45:26.850 --> 01:45:29.329 shoots Dani. You've got to remember she's only 01:45:29.329 --> 01:45:32.510 13, so she's not exactly set on what she wants. 01:45:33.119 --> 01:45:36.380 Her entire fantasy has been blown. But despite 01:45:36.380 --> 01:45:38.500 being turned against one another, she and Zach 01:45:38.500 --> 01:45:40.739 do actually care about each other by this point. 01:45:41.140 --> 01:45:43.739 He convinces her that he's not a god and that 01:45:43.739 --> 01:45:47.819 it's literally okay. For an insane person, you're 01:45:47.819 --> 01:45:50.619 way too serious. I'm the one you can see with 01:45:50.619 --> 01:45:52.739 your eyes, so I'm the one you should believe 01:45:52.739 --> 01:45:56.079 in, he says. They remake their pact, removing 01:45:56.079 --> 01:45:59.600 the concept of god from the mix entirely. They 01:45:59.600 --> 01:46:02.399 both swear to each other this time, instead of 01:46:02.399 --> 01:46:06.380 just Zack making a promise to her. To quote the 01:46:06.380 --> 01:46:30.079 stranger again, I am myself. Nothing more, nothing 01:46:30.079 --> 01:46:33.119 less. Rachel is able to direct herself and Zach 01:46:33.119 --> 01:46:35.760 to the exit, but Danny's body has disappeared 01:46:35.760 --> 01:46:39.220 yet again. As Rachel and Zach climb some very 01:46:39.220 --> 01:46:41.560 long stairs to leave the building, Danny sets 01:46:41.560 --> 01:46:45.060 the building to self -destruct. Gray wanders 01:46:45.060 --> 01:46:47.720 the crumbling fortress with a smile on his face. 01:46:48.170 --> 01:46:51.989 So I wanted to briefly mention a concept that 01:46:51.989 --> 01:46:56.369 I found while I was scrolling Instagram. There 01:46:56.369 --> 01:47:00.869 is a creator called The Metro Classic and he 01:47:00.869 --> 01:47:03.810 talks about like

a bunch of Japanese customs 01:47:03.810 --> 01:47:06.449 and like different things. But there's a video 01:47:06.449 --> 01:47:11.149 where that's called commenting on bad food. And 01:47:11.149 --> 01:47:15.310 he mentioned a concept called Otona where like 01:47:15.449 --> 01:47:18.989 Basically, it means maturity and he meant mentions 01:47:18.989 --> 01:47:20.789 a phrase at the very end of the video which is 01:47:20.789 --> 01:47:26.289 like as the Japanese as Japanese people say Like 01:47:26.289 --> 01:47:28.989 something about like we climb this as we age 01:47:28.989 --> 01:47:31.310 we climb the stairs to Otona and I was like, 01:47:31.390 --> 01:47:35.789 that's really interesting in relation to this 01:47:35.789 --> 01:47:39.529 So I went and I tried to find like anything written 01:47:39.529 --> 01:47:41.949 about Otona at all. And the only thing I found 01:47:41.949 --> 01:47:44.119 was something kind of disturbing, which is child 01:47:44.119 --> 01:47:48.880 suicide. And I was like, oh, oh no. But also 01:47:48.880 --> 01:47:51.340 may have some significance here. So I don't really 01:47:51.340 --> 01:47:55.399 know how to put it fully into words, but just 01:47:55.399 --> 01:47:59.260 pointing that out as like an interesting interpretation 01:47:59.260 --> 01:48:04.640 of like, maybe them climbing the stairs is like 01:48:04.640 --> 01:48:08.760 escaping, Rachel escaping suicide. Seems like 01:48:08.760 --> 01:48:13.140 a valid Possibility. Previously, something I 01:48:13.140 --> 01:48:16.119 haven't mentioned until this point, though I 01:48:16.119 --> 01:48:19.439 did mention it in my original video, is the ongoing 01:48:19.439 --> 01:48:22.220 bit where Zach repeatedly tries to break through 01:48:22.220 --> 01:48:25.520 various iron structures. It's turned into kind 01:48:25.520 --> 01:48:27.979 of a joke between him and Rachel that he can't 01:48:27.979 --> 01:48:31.560 physically do this, but also if he tries, the 01:48:31.560 --> 01:48:34.960 scythe will break. Until finally, the joke becomes 01:48:34.960 --> 01:48:38.340 significant at the end here. As Zach and Rachel 01:48:38.340 --> 01:48:40.699 are climbing the stairs that lead to the exit 01:48:40.699 --> 01:48:43.439 of this building, their way is blocked by iron 01:48:43.439 --> 01:48:47.239 bars. Miraculously and without his side breaking, 01:48:47.819 --> 01:48:51.260 Zach slices through these bars easily. The next 01:48:51.260 --> 01:48:54.300 thing that happens is also telling. The two come 01:48:54.300 --> 01:48:57.119 up against one last barrier as they're running 01:48:57.119 --> 01:49:00.060 up the stairs to freedom. The ceiling appears 01:49:00.060 --> 01:49:04.100 to have caved in. Zach asks for Rachel's permission 01:49:04.100 --> 01:49:07.770 and he'll smash the debris to bits. And of course 01:49:07.770 --> 01:49:11.069 she gives it and their way is free. When he destroys 01:49:11.069 --> 01:49:14.090 the rocks here, however, his side does break 01:49:14.090 --> 01:49:16.909 in half, suggesting that Zach's purpose was to 01:49:16.909 --> 01:49:20.449 protect Rachel the entire time. The side simply 01:49:20.449 --> 01:49:24.130 becomes present at hand and Zach's job as a tool 01:49:24.130 --> 01:49:27.569 for Rachel and others is done. There is nothing 01:49:27.569 --> 01:49:31.689 to obstruct the obviousness of his freedom anymore. 01:49:32.989 --> 01:49:35.449 Rachel and Zach are finally at the doors and 01:49:35.449 --> 01:49:37.890 this is where Danny shows up for the final time, 01:49:38.149 --> 01:49:40.869 shooting Rachel in the back and injuring Zach. 01:49:41.670 --> 01:49:44.770 He is prevented from killing Zach too by the 01:49:44.770 --> 01:49:49.229 priest who we know likes Zach. This moment had 01:49:49.229 --> 01:49:51.409 me draw the conclusion that Grey's intention 01:49:51.409 --> 01:49:54.590 the entire time was to let Rachel and Zach leave. 01:49:55.229 --> 01:49:57.310 Grey shoots Danny with a crossbow, I don't know 01:49:57.310 --> 01:49:59.930 if that's meant to be a joke, allowing Zach to 01:49:59.930 --> 01:50:03.449 carry Rachel to safety. Rachel will later wake 01:50:03.449 --> 01:50:05.890 up in the hospital without Zach and will discover 01:50:05.890 --> 01:50:08.770 that he has been sentenced to death. The legacy 01:50:08.770 --> 01:50:11.649 of the Murder Mansion ends with Danny and Grey 01:50:11.649 --> 01:50:14.949 acknowledging reality to one another. Danny is 01:50:14.949 --> 01:50:16.930 forced to accept that he tried to give love to 01:50:16.930 --> 01:50:20.430 Rachel so that she would love him back. If Rachel 01:50:20.430 --> 01:50:22.510 isn't alone anymore, then there's nothing left 01:50:22.510 --> 01:50:26.909 that will accept the ugly thing that I am. And 01:50:26.909 --> 01:50:29.689 Grey is forced to reckon with his initial supposition 01:50:29.689 --> 01:50:32.229 that he or anyone else that he collected in those 01:50:32.229 --> 01:50:37.369 halls was special or divine. Danny, despite everything, 01:50:37.590 --> 01:50:40.510 you and I are nothing but human beings. No one 01:50:40.510 --> 01:50:42.670 who ever set foot in this building was anything 01:50:42.670 --> 01:50:46.550 but human. Humans are the ones who create God. 01:50:47.069 --> 01:50:49.010 So I'm not going to talk about the ending other 01:50:49.010 --> 01:50:51.250 than to say that Rachel and Zach get reunited, 01:50:51.250 --> 01:50:55.119 but I do want to mention... because I know some 01:50:55.119 --> 01:50:59.239 people might get upset about it. Their age difference 01:50:59.239 --> 01:51:02.619 is 13 and somewhere around 20 years old, though 01:51:02.619 --> 01:51:05.899 we don't really know. I think, not sure, that's 01:51:05.899 --> 01:51:08.979 what the Wikipedia says. When I rewatched the 01:51:08.979 --> 01:51:12.079 anime, I was like, um, this seems to have more 01:51:12.079 --> 01:51:14.939 fan service in it than I remember. And, like, 01:51:15.000 --> 01:51:17.800

I choose to see the metaphor in their relationship, 01:51:17.819 --> 01:51:20.260 but also nothing too grand happens between them, 01:51:20.260 --> 01:51:23.159 so you can also assume kind of a brother -sister 01:51:23.159 --> 01:51:25.659 connection. But then there's the case of Dani, 01:51:25.779 --> 01:51:29.500 and that's entirely creepy. We know that. So 01:51:29.500 --> 01:51:32.159 while I was researching, I realized something 01:51:32.159 --> 01:51:35.640 specific because I was comparing these characters 01:51:35.640 --> 01:51:38.260 to the protagonists of Forest of Drizzling Rain, 01:51:38.319 --> 01:51:41.020 and those characters are only, like, I think 01:51:41.020 --> 01:51:45.470 they're basically the same age. 1920 range. Anyway, 01:51:45.630 --> 01:51:48.649 they're within a year of each other so I was 01:51:48.649 --> 01:51:52.369 like, there has to be a reason as to why Rachel's 01:51:52.369 --> 01:51:54.329 so young and I think it has something to do with 01:51:54.329 --> 01:51:59.149 the gothic elements. As botting shows, Zach and 01:51:59.149 --> 01:52:01.930 Rachel twist the gothic tropes of the heroine 01:52:01.930 --> 01:52:04.449 and the older male villain into something more 01:52:04.449 --> 01:52:08.310 familial, more romantic, more like companionship. 01:52:08.750 --> 01:52:11.090 by making them two sides of the same coin and 01:52:11.090 --> 01:52:13.569 never quite giving people an explicit answer 01:52:13.569 --> 01:52:16.750 as to what their relationship really is, because 01:52:16.750 --> 01:52:19.609 it's not about that. And what I mean by more 01:52:19.609 --> 01:52:24.770 romantic is more shojo, more tropey, less like 01:52:24.770 --> 01:52:30.220 Dracula, less like Nosferatu. Quote. The sense 01:52:30.220 --> 01:52:33.199 of power and persecution beyond reason or morality 01:52:33.199 --> 01:52:35.840 is played out in the two central figures of the 01:52:35.840 --> 01:52:38.720 narratives, a young female heroine and an older 01:52:38.720 --> 01:52:42.060 male villain. The latter, beyond law, reason, 01:52:42.220 --> 01:52:44.819 or social restraint, gives free rein to cruel, 01:52:45.039 --> 01:52:48.739 selfish desires and ambitions and violent moods 01:52:48.739 --> 01:52:51.899 and intentions. His object, the body or wealth 01:52:51.899 --> 01:52:54.579 of the heroine, registers danger in a series 01:52:54.579 --> 01:52:58.600 of frights and flights. Pray to imagined as well 01:52:58.600 --> 01:53:01.579 as actual dangers quick to lose rational control 01:53:01.579 --> 01:53:05.579 and give way or faint in fear of bandits, murderers, 01:53:05.779 --> 01:53:08.439 ghosts, where there may be none. Heroines enjoy 01:53:08.439 --> 01:53:11.159 an unusual if daunting degree of independence, 01:53:11.600 --> 01:53:14.479 often drawn by misunderstanding and curiosity 01:53:14.479 --> 01:53:18.159 into situations that lead to a sense of powerlessness 01:53:18.159 --> 01:53:22.680 and persecution. Her vulnerability and his violence 01:53:22.680 --> 01:53:25.520 play out in the out the lawlessness and insecurity 01:53:25.520 --> 01:53:28.960 manifested in settings and landscapes their distance 01:53:28.960 --> 01:53:31.600 from social and familial bonds is simultaneously 01:53:31.600 --> 01:53:34.520 the locus of adventurous romantic independence 01:53:34.520 --> 01:53:37.640 and physical danger she may be active but is 01:53:37.640 --> 01:53:39.880 alone with nowhere to turn without protection 01:53:39.880 --> 01:53:43.159 and security he outside social scrutiny is able 01:53:43.159 --> 01:53:45.819 to act out all manner of unacceptable wishes 01:53:45.819 --> 01:53:49.560 unchecked Rachel is the prisoner because she 01:53:49.560 --> 01:53:52.039 wants to be something she is not which is healthy 01:53:52.039 --> 01:53:55.909 happy sane Zach is free but also not because 01:53:55.909 --> 01:53:59.210 he has no inhibitions. He has no control. This 01:53:59.210 --> 01:54:01.590 is why Grey calls him an angel. He is simple 01:54:01.590 --> 01:54:04.390 and he is honest. And so part of his villainhood 01:54:04.390 --> 01:54:06.569 is actually to be helpful to Rachel because he 01:54:06.569 --> 01:54:09.350 isn't a typical gothic masculine protagonist, 01:54:09.670 --> 01:54:13.869 but he is older because he fits the trope. Quote. 01:54:14.000 --> 01:54:16.779 It was the purpose of the libertine to dishonor 01:54:16.779 --> 01:54:19.659 the stainless girl. Before he left her presence, 01:54:19.979 --> 01:54:22.020 before daybreak she would be a polluted thing 01:54:22.020 --> 01:54:24.520 whose name and virtue and soul would be blasted 01:54:24.520 --> 01:54:27.510 forever. While enchaining the mind of the maiden 01:54:27.510 --> 01:54:30.710 with a story full of romance, it was his intention 01:54:30.710 --> 01:54:33.890 to wake her animal nature into full action. And 01:54:33.890 --> 01:54:36.489 when her veins were all alive with fiery pulsations, 01:54:36.550 --> 01:54:39.270 when her heart grew animate with sensual life, 01:54:39.590 --> 01:54:42.329 when her eyes swam in the human moisture of passion, 01:54:42.750 --> 01:54:45.630 then she would sink helplessly into his arms 01:54:45.630 --> 01:54:48.710 and like the bird to the snake flutter to her 01:54:48.710 --> 01:54:53.369 ruin. That is Lippard quoted from Riviera and 01:54:53.369 --> 01:54:57.229 that is in the bibliography. Quite literally, 01:54:57.569 --> 01:55:00.729 Zach chops Gray's giant snake in half on the 01:55:00.729 --> 01:55:04.329 second level. Zach is helping her not fall prey 01:55:04.329 --> 01:55:06.670 to the actual villains of the story, so this 01:55:06.670 --> 01:55:09.609 is another way that they go against these gothic 01:55:09.609 --> 01:55:12.130 tropes while at the same time catering to them. 01:55:12.869 --> 01:55:15.569 I truly think it's an intentional artistic choice 01:55:15.569 --> 01:55:18.409 to nod at the prevailing gothic literature because 01:55:18.409 -->

01:55:20.510 it's one of the things that helps give the story 01:55:20.510 --> 01:55:23.569 depth. There is also a lot of talk about facial 01:55:23.569 --> 01:55:25.750 expressions and what's behind the eyes when it 01:55:25.750 --> 01:55:28.250 comes to the characters of Zack, Danny, and Rachel. 01:55:28.989 --> 01:55:30.930 Zack decides not to kill Rachel because of the 01:55:30.930 --> 01:55:32.909 empty expression she adopts after fixing the 01:55:32.909 --> 01:55:35.630 dead bird's wing and Danny tries to keep her 01:55:35.630 --> 01:55:38.010 alive because her eyes are similar to those of 01:55:38.010 --> 01:55:40.949 his dead mother. Eddie doesn't have an expression 01:55:40.949 --> 01:55:44.510 at all and Kathy hides behind cameras. Gray appears 01:55:44.510 --> 01:55:46.529 to be able to see but his eyes are designed to 01:55:46.529 --> 01:55:49.319 look like those of a blind man. So, he could 01:55:49.319 --> 01:55:52.560 be blind, we don't know. There is an attempt 01:55:52.560 --> 01:55:54.979 on everyone's part to recognize something in 01:55:54.979 --> 01:55:57.439 the other, but their attempts to focus consistently 01:55:57.439 --> 01:56:00.640 elate and disgust them because they are disgusted 01:56:00.640 --> 01:56:04.100 and elated at the prospect of themselves. Whatever 01:56:04.100 --> 01:56:06.680 they seek to find is meant to confirm their beliefs 01:56:06.680 --> 01:56:08.800 about the world and they specifically do not 01:56:08.800 --> 01:56:10.880 like Rachel because she consistently fails to 01:56:10.880 --> 01:56:14.909 meet anyone's expectations whatsoever. She shatters 01:56:14.909 --> 01:56:16.890 their fantasies because she herself is shattered 01:56:16.890 --> 01:56:20.069 or her own. Everyone is a part of her journey. 01:56:20.550 --> 01:56:23.949 As she matures, so do they, and so again, there's 01:56:23.949 --> 01:56:27.449 a specific reason as to why she's so young. It 01:56:27.449 --> 01:56:29.130 could have something to do with Otona, but it 01:56:29.130 --> 01:56:31.430 could also be as simple as catering to a trope, 01:56:31.689 --> 01:56:34.529 not for romantic reasons, but for stylistic reasons. 01:56:35.489 --> 01:56:38.069 Now it is time to talk about The Theatre of the 01:56:38.069 --> 01:56:41.170 Absurd and Samuel Beckett. The Theatre of the 01:56:41.170 --> 01:56:43.369 Absurd was an offshoot of existentialism, so 01:56:43.369 --> 01:56:45.289 it was not exactly associated with the original 01:56:45.289 --> 01:56:49.329 movement. It was kind of its own thing. Beckett's 01:56:49.329 --> 01:56:51.149 play, Waiting for Godot, is probably one of the 01:56:51.149 --> 01:56:53.510 most famous existentialist works and focuses 01:56:53.510 --> 01:56:56.609 on the problem of babble. What I mean by this 01:56:56.609 --> 01:56:59.069 is that one of the premises of the Theatre of 01:56:59.069 --> 01:57:01.590 the Absurd is that the human situation is meaningless, 01:57:02.250 --> 01:57:04.750 and repeated attempts to find meaning dissolves 01:57:04.750 --> 01:57:07.449 into nonsense, and this is reflected in the breakdown 01:57:07.449 --> 01:57:10.159 of language. To quote Eslyn, I got this from 01:57:10.159 --> 01:57:12.979 Wikipedia, by the way, though I did find the 01:57:12.979 --> 01:57:16.520 actual book, the theater of the absurd attacks 01:57:16.520 --> 01:57:19.159 the comfortable certainties of religious or political 01:57:19.159 --> 01:57:22.039 orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out 01:57:22.039 --> 01:57:24.539 of complacency to bring it face to face with 01:57:24.539 --> 01:57:26.939 the harsh facts of the human situation as these 01:57:26.939 --> 01:57:29.460 writers see it. But the challenge behind this 01:57:29.460 --> 01:57:32.520 message is anything but one of despair. It is 01:57:32.520 --> 01:57:34.560 a challenge to accept the human condition as 01:57:34.560 --> 01:57:37.819 it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and 01:57:37.819 --> 01:57:41.020 to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly. 01:57:41.359 --> 01:57:43.619 Precisely because there are no easy solutions 01:57:43.619 --> 01:57:46.060 to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately 01:57:46.060 --> 01:57:49.699 man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding 01:57:49.699 --> 01:57:52.000 of easy solutions of comforting illusions may 01:57:52.000 --> 01:57:55.319 be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of 01:57:55.319 --> 01:57:58.409 freedom and relief. And that is why in The Last 01:57:58.409 --> 01:58:00.489 Resort, the theater of the absurd does not provoke 01:58:00.489 --> 01:58:02.750 tears of despair but the laughter of liberation. 01:58:03.510 --> 01:58:06.050 In my original video recording, I pointed out 01:58:06.050 --> 01:58:08.609 that Makoto Sanada studied theater in high school 01:58:08.609 --> 01:58:11.590 and drama in college. When he started making 01:58:11.590 --> 01:58:14.409 RPGs, his knowledge of the stage, how dialogue 01:58:14.409 --> 01:58:16.970 works, the development of plots, staging elements, 01:58:17.029 --> 01:58:20.229 etc. came through. His video games are in the 01:58:20.229 --> 01:58:22.949 2D style and in this style you're able to utilize 01:58:22.949 --> 01:58:25.210 lighting and space to set the mood of a level. 01:58:25.680 --> 01:58:28.420 You're only able to add in minimal props and 01:58:28.420 --> 01:58:30.859 features, and usually when you do, you want everything 01:58:30.859 --> 01:58:33.079 you add to count towards either setting the mood, 01:58:33.239 --> 01:58:36.979 developing a theme, or furthering the plot. So 01:58:36.979 --> 01:58:39.539 bearing that in mind, plays in the absurd style, 01:58:39.659 --> 01:58:42.039 have minimal props and features, and Becket's 01:58:42.039 --> 01:58:44.039 play, Waiting for Godot, is literally about two 01:58:44.039 --> 01:58:46.319 men waiting for the appearance of God. I think 01:58:46.319 --> 01:58:50.220 that there is like a single tree as a prop. But

01:58:50.220 --> 01:58:53.000 anyway, God never shows up. While they're waiting, 01:58:53.180 --> 01:58:55.319 they talk about various things, including the 01:58:55.319 --> 01:58:58.520 Bible. For example, I find this passage particularly 01:58:58.520 --> 01:59:02.600 interesting in relation to angels of death. Also, 01:59:02.600 --> 01:59:05.260 when I do this, I'm not going to say their names 01:59:05.260 --> 01:59:08.479 except for the first time, the first dialogue 01:59:08.479 --> 01:59:10.359 change, because one of the things about Waiting 01:59:10.359 --> 01:59:12.939 for Godot is that it's like they're all like 01:59:12.939 --> 01:59:14.899 one -liners, so they go back and forth. And so 01:59:14.899 --> 01:59:18.260 if you're constantly saying their names, it really 01:59:18.260 --> 01:59:22.380 removes the immersion. Vladimir. It'll pass the 01:59:22.380 --> 01:59:26.779 time. Two thieves, crucified at the same time 01:59:26.779 --> 01:59:31.100 as our savior. One estragon. Our what? Our savior. 01:59:31.239 --> 01:59:33.300 Two thieves. One is supposed to have been saved 01:59:33.300 --> 01:59:38.180 and the other... Damned. Saved from what? Hell. 01:59:38.979 --> 01:59:44.960 I'm going. He does not move. And yet, how is 01:59:44.960 --> 01:59:47.640 it... This is not boring to you, I hope. How 01:59:47.640 --> 01:59:50.789 is it that... Of the four evangelists, only one 01:59:50.789 --> 01:59:53.869 speaks of a thief being saved. The four of them 01:59:53.869 --> 01:59:56.130 were there or thereabouts, and only one speaks 01:59:56.130 --> 02:00:00.010 of a thief being saved. Come on, Go -Go, return 02:00:00.010 --> 02:00:03.430 the ball, can't you, once and away? Now if you 02:00:03.430 --> 02:00:05.710 remember Rachel's behavior, she has an obsession 02:00:05.710 --> 02:00:08.550 with keeping things, people, or animals as her 02:00:08.550 --> 02:00:11.350 own. The reason she wants Zack to kill her is 02:00:11.350 --> 02:00:14.670 a form of atonement for trying to possess people 02:00:14.670 --> 02:00:17.310 and things by killing them. If he kills her, 02:00:17.430 --> 02:00:20.010 that to her is a form of possession. Not only 02:00:20.010 --> 02:00:23.109 that, but both Rachel and Zack steal everyone's 02:00:23.109 --> 02:00:25.810 fantasies from them. Once the veil has been torn 02:00:25.810 --> 02:00:28.109 away, there's nowhere for anyone to hide from 02:00:28.109 --> 02:00:31.250 their actions. Everyone is either dead or about 02:00:31.250 --> 02:00:35.609 to die as Zack and Rachel leave. There are also 02:00:35.609 --> 02:00:38.270 four people that they do this to, Gray, Danny, 02:00:38.670 --> 02:00:42.449 Kathy, Eddie. Leaving their world means entering 02:00:42.449 --> 02:00:45.729 the external world along with its systems. Rachel 02:00:45.729 --> 02:00:48.409 is saved by the system while the system condemns 02:00:48.409 --> 02:00:53.050 Zack, which is an interesting concept for a different 02:00:53.050 --> 02:00:56.970 time.

This entire parallel is pretty interesting 02:00:56.970 --> 02:00:59.300 to me. Even if it means nothing, given that the 02:00:59.300 --> 02:01:01.779 entire story is about discovering that God is 02:01:01.779 --> 02:01:04.760 inside yourself, there is no such thing, really, 02:01:05.039 --> 02:01:08.220 in this case, as an external God. An external 02:01:08.220 --> 02:01:10.619 God could never give anyone in that building 02:01:10.619 --> 02:01:12.880 peace because people are responsible for their 02:01:12.880 --> 02:01:16.199 own happiness. God is too busy to answer the 02:01:16.199 --> 02:01:19.300 prayers of those who have made themselves helpless. 02:01:20.199 --> 02:01:22.939 To quote Waiting for Godot again, this time I 02:01:22.939 --> 02:01:24.979 will say both of their names when they speak. 02:01:26.559 --> 02:01:30.500 Estragon. Who? Vladimir. Good dog. Estragon. 02:01:30.739 --> 02:01:33.859 Good idea. Vladimir. Let's wait till we know 02:01:33.859 --> 02:01:36.659 exactly how we stand. Estragon. On the other 02:01:36.659 --> 02:01:38.420 hand, it might be better to strike the iron before 02:01:38.420 --> 02:01:41.800 it freezes. Vladimir. I'm curious to hear what 02:01:41.800 --> 02:01:43.960 he has to offer. Then we'll take it or leave 02:01:43.960 --> 02:01:47.479 it. Estragon. What exactly did we ask him for? 02:01:47.939 --> 02:01:50.939 Vladimir. Were you not there? Estragon. I can't 02:01:50.939 --> 02:01:54.460 have been listening. Vladimir. Oh, nothing very 02:01:54.460 --> 02:01:58.159 definite. Estragon, a kind of prayer. Vladimir, 02:01:58.819 --> 02:02:03.100 precisely. Estragon, a vague supplication. Vladimir, 02:02:03.539 --> 02:02:07.819 exactly. Estragon, and what did he reply? Vladimir, 02:02:08.239 --> 02:02:11.260 that he'd see. Estragon, that he couldn't promise 02:02:11.260 --> 02:02:13.960 anything. Vladimir, that he'd have to think it 02:02:13.960 --> 02:02:17.340 over. Estragon, in the quiet of his home. Vladimir, 02:02:17.680 --> 02:02:21.220 consult his family. Estragon, his friends. Vladimir, 02:02:21.619 --> 02:02:25.489 his agents. Estragon, his correspondence. Vladimir, 02:02:25.770 --> 02:02:29.069 his books. Estragon, his bank account. Vladimir, 02:02:29.369 --> 02:02:32.010 before taking a decision. Estragon, it's the 02:02:32.010 --> 02:02:35.510 normal thing. Vladimir, is it not? Estragon, 02:02:35.789 --> 02:02:40.510 I think it is. Vladimir, I think so too. Sorry, 02:02:40.869 --> 02:02:45.869 the moon we've left. It's so fucking funny. Estragon, 02:02:46.109 --> 02:02:49.569 and we? Vladimir, I beg your pardon. Estragon, 02:02:50.029 --> 02:02:53.569 I said, and we? Vladimir, I don't understand. 02:02:53.899 --> 02:02:57.039 Estragon, where do we come in? Vladimir, come 02:02:57.039 --> 02:03:00.300 in? Estragon, take your time. Vladimir, come 02:03:00.300 --> 02:03:03.720 in on our hands and knees. Estragon, as bad as 02:03:03.720 --> 02:03:07.579 that? Vladimir, your worship wishes to assert 02:03:07.579 --> 02:03:10.659 his prerogatives? Estragon, we have no rights 02:03:10.659 --> 02:03:14.039 anymore? Vladimir, you'd make me laugh if it 02:03:14.039 --> 02:03:17.239 wasn't prohibited. Estragon, we've lost our rights? 02:03:17.699 --> 02:03:21.670 Vladimir, we got rid of them. And here's the 02:03:21.670 --> 02:03:24.909 stage direction, silence. They remain motionless, 02:03:25.069 --> 02:03:28.010 arms dangling, heads sunk, sagging at the knees. 02:03:28.930 --> 02:03:31.590 In the effort to find God, one relinquishes his 02:03:31.590 --> 02:03:34.569 or her own right to be happy, to be at peace, 02:03:34.909 --> 02:03:38.390 to live. In the effort to combat the other, to 02:03:38.390 --> 02:03:40.569 drive him off, to reject our own projection, 02:03:40.869 --> 02:03:44.649 we find ourselves. The moral of Angels of Death 02:03:44.649 --> 02:03:46.890 is scattered in the confusion of what appears 02:03:46.890 --> 02:03:50.439 to be real and what appears to be unreal. All 02:03:50.439 --> 02:03:52.840 that's left is anyone's humanity and so that 02:03:52.840 --> 02:03:55.199 is the only thing we are really supposed to take 02:03:55.199 --> 02:03:58.880 away from the game, the manga, the anime. In 02:03:58.880 --> 02:04:01.359 the end, the only chance we have at happiness 02:04:01.359 --> 02:04:06.439 is to become our own gods. So that is my essay 02:04:06.439 --> 02:04:10.880 on Angels of Death, my very informal essay for 02:04:10.880 --> 02:04:15.539 my podcast. This has been the episode. I am so 02:04:15.539 --> 02:04:17.680 glad if you made it this far I do not know how 02:04:17.680 --> 02:04:22.100 long this is, but I'm I'm afraid to check As 02:04:22.100 --> 02:04:27.460 a parting gift My friend from college just released 02:04:27.460 --> 02:04:32.000 a song called who am I dot dot dot who am I question 02:04:32.000 --> 02:04:35.319 mark her name is Eva Snyder and you should go 02:04:35.319 --> 02:04:37.920 listen to it because it reminded me a little 02:04:37.920 --> 02:04:43.550 bit of this episode and potentially a topic that 02:04:43.550 --> 02:04:48.149 we will explore again later with other anime. 02:04:49.029 --> 02:04:54.149 So I am very excited to release and get over 02:04:54.149 --> 02:05:00.489 with my Ouroboros episodes. It has been a time. 02:05:00.729 --> 02:05:05.789 It has been fun. And the third episode is still 02:05:05.789 --> 02:05:09.590 yet to come. But I do have some exciting things 02:05:09.590 --> 02:05:14.729 planned for what comes after that. Also, final 02:05:14.729 --> 02:05:18.010 thing, fun little announcement. As someone who's 02:05:18.010 --> 02:05:22.369 a fan of brand new The Bands, they were previously 02:05:22.369 --> 02:05:25.310 never going to tour again. They are touring this 02:05:25.310 --> 02:05:28.109 March. Like there's only like three or four shows. 02:05:28.130 --> 02:05:31.579 I'm not totally sure. I really hope people can 02:05:31.579 --> 02:05:33.640 go, so I'm making a little announcement for that. 02:05:33.779 --> 02:05:36.920 So if you like that band, please go see them. 02:05:37.020 --> 02:05:41.039 I love them. They are wonderful. I am sure it's 02:05:41.039 --> 02:05:45.220 going to be a night to remember, once in a lifetime 02:05:45.220 --> 02:05:51.479 opportunity. Yeah, so that's the episode. Have 02:05:51.479 --> 02:05:53.119 a good rest of your week.