My hip new communications theory is actually that millennial/gen z/internet native humor is so weird and abstract because of the sheer amount of words we’re exposed to daily. we’ve heard a lot of words in a lot of different orders so if you wanna get a reaction out of us you usually gotta put words in an order we haven’t seen before
So like normally structured jokes aren’t as funny anymore but “lemon lime spine” is a one-hit K.O.
“Authors can’t use it in fantasy fiction, eh? We’ll see about that…”
–Terry Pratchett, probably
Try to implement anything but a conservative’s sixth grade education level of medieval or Victorian times and you will butt into this. all. the. time.
There was a literaly fad in the 1890′s for nipple rings for all genders(and NO, it was NOT under the mistaken belief that it would help breastfeeding–there’s LOTS of doctors’ writing at the time telling people to STOP and that they thought it would ruin the breast’s ability to breastfeed well, etc). It was straight up because the Victorians were freaks, okay Imagine trying to make a Victorian character with nipple rings. IMAGINE THE ACCUSATIONS OF GROSS HISTORICAL INACCURACY
people just really, REALLY have entrenched ideas of what people in the past were like
tell them the vikings were clean, had a complex democratic legal system, respected women, had freeform rap battles, and had child support payments? theyd call you a liar
tell them that chopsticks became popular in china during the bronze age because street food vendors were all the rage and they wanted to have disposable eating utensils? theyll say youre making that up
tell them native americans had a trade network stretching from canada to peru and built sacred mounds bigger then the pyramids of giza? you are some SJW twisting facts
ancient egypt had circular saws, debt cards, and eye surgery? are you high?
our misconception of medieval peasants being illiterate and living in poverty in one room mud huts being their own creation as part of a century long tax aversion scam? you stole that from the game of thrones reject bin
iron age india had stone telescopes, air conditioning, and the number 0 along with all ‘arabic’ numbers including algebra and calculus? i understand some of those words.
romans had accurate maps detailing vacation travel times along with a star rating for hotels along the way, fast food restaurants, swiss army knives, black soldiers in brittany, traded with china, and that soldiers wrote thank-you notes when their parents sent them underwear in the mail? but they thought the earth was flat!
ancient bronze age mesopotamia had pedantic complaints sent to merchants about crappy goods, comedic performances, and transgender/nobinary representation? what are you smoking?
Truth is stranger than fiction, and history is weirder than you think.
this post gets better every time it comes across my dash. To provide some more: those Romans also had vending machines, automated puppet plays, doors that opened to the sound of horns when you lit a fire in front of them, and working steam engines. All invented by one dude, Hero of Alexandria.
People generally want to think that the Dark Ages is the sum of the entire history of the world.
Charlemagne had a frigging PET ELEPHANT, sent as a present by the Caliph over in Bahgdad.
Emperor Frederick II. (around 1200) crossed the Alps with his own private zoo, including giraffes, in order to impress and dazzle his Germanic subjects, and it frigging worked. He also introduced legislation that a doctor was not allowed to also sell medicine (to prevent obvious charlatanery), but had to write a recipe for an apothecary to then redeem, which is a system STILL IN USE in Germany and other countries. He spoke several language, was tolerant towards his Muslim subjects in southern Italy (you read that correctly) and was opposed to trial by combat on reasons of it being unfair and irrational. Oh, and he wrote a book on ornithology.
Ancient Persians knew how to make frozen desserts even in summer, thus basically being the inventors of ice cream.
Medieval monks had an efficient way of testing for pregnacy (by pouring the urine of a woman on a toad, which, if the woman was pregnant, would change colour…).
I get the concept of embracing ugliness but I think in practice it’s a terrible idea
like it doesn’t subvert the beauty standards that already tell you, you are. it still forces a label on you. you’re either pretty or you’re ugly. like I don’t wanna be either of those things. I just want to be allowed to exist.
and like telling 15 year olds to accept and embrace that theyre ugly instead of educating them that the reason they think that is not because they are, But because of the artificial standards created subliminally and explicitly by movies, makeup companies, and magazines
and especially for young woc, like so many young girls think they’re ugly because they don’t have pale skin, they’re not skinny, they have big brows, big noses, strong features, etc
To tell them “yeah you Are ugly, embrace that” is 😬 like instead of undermining those standards and just letting them Live without feeling like they need to change, it reinforces them
Seriously, it’s so good. The story has depth and mystery, the characters are lovable and memorable and the world feels like a real world.
The monsters of the Underground have their own culture that is informed uniquely by internet culture, but is still their own thing. The game contains different tones and balances them excellently. The meta-narrative is also very well done, where the gameplay, player, code and even people watching streams and let’s plays informing the game world and story.
And all of it just works together so well to create a great game.
Ah, my dude, you can’t talk about Undertale without talkin’ about the surprising genius that is the game’s soundtrack. Everything about it feels connected, like you could tell a surprisingly coherent narrative just by listening to the leit motifs contained within the music. The subtle nuances and not-so-subtle connections really make the soundtrack shine as a whole.
Undertale’s soundtrack is also amazing. And the way it connects to everything else is so good and often subtle. Like, there’re theories that are based on the leitmotifs of the soundtrack.
amusedAnarchist 