Forum - View topicThorfinn Is Me, I Am Him
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j00095289754
Posts: 2 |
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I agree that this series is transformative. I think more than anything though, it teaches the Buddhist value of compassion. Life is suffering, but by recognizing the value of every life, by showing compassion for each other, we can find some solace. It's a series with almost no villains because, in Buddhism, hurting others is its own punishment. Like you, I have learned that I am a side character in the story, that I can help others achieve dreams that I could never reach. Watching Vinland Saga each week i weep at the cruelty and sadness of the world and at the efforts the characters make to find any comfort. Afterwards I am more accepting of my own limitations and more able to look past annoyances and feel compassion for everyone as well all struggle in samsara.
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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The "flat vs. round" character dichotomy is, of course, misleading, because all real people have layers, and only appear flat if you don't fully understand them. But it's impossible to know everything about even one person, let alone everyone, so we inevitably end up reducing most of our species to caricatures, and narrative structures usually reflect that.
Reducing yourself to a caricature feels it should be a sign of depression, rather than just growing up... but modern society, especially the American brand, is a weird combination of hyper-individualistic and hyper-interdependent, where you're supposed to be the world's strongest superhero while also accepting whatever arbitrary role capitalism forces you into. "Being successful" is sort of impossible, because there's always someone more successful than you, making practically everyone feel inadequate. And people who have no desire to become A-list actors or anything analogous are considered lazy. We're all stuck in a game with no win condition, blaming ourselves for losing. It's a bit strange for this sort of thing to appear in a story about vikings, since they can't have had nearly the amount of towering social hierarchy that the modern globalized world does. I guess it's just because, like most stories set in other time periods or universes, it's written for us, not for them. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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While I was reading the Vinland Saga manga years and years ago, I had a sudden thought that Thorfinn is one of the least important characters in the story, and just how truly rare it is to see something like that in manga or any medium, particularly dealing with historical fiction. This article was quite insightful, introspective, and poignant, something that can be quite difficult to find nowadays on the internet. The author's personal struggles also brought me back to when I watched Honey & Clover for the first time, another manga/anime where the protagonist is more side character than main character, and how that series dealt with the notion of expectations vs results and that often-awkward transition period from trying to figure out where you will go to then how will you get there.
(And if you were to look at how old H&C is compared to Haikyuu, you should learn that it is all about perspective) |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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Agreed. |
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