1. notleia says:

    Slightly tangential: One of the shows that surprised me was Netflix’s Centaurworld, one of the weirdest things I’ve laid eyes on, but since I, like many people, am an absolute sucker for themes about loneliness and found family, it stabbed me right in the feelings.
    My dude made a mention that Sora from Kingdom Hearts would have been so much better if he had a moment like Rider did in the first five-ish minutes of the show, but Sora, like many a shounen battle hero, is too stupid to notice, bless his heart.
    Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emmHt3BhSnk&ab_channel=Obsidian.Art.s
    Also they do that thing where the creepy eldritch abomination has a deceptively light and pretty song, which I frakkin love. Yes, ironic contrast, yessss. And creepy antlers, lookin like some kind of Bloodborne boss.
    Clip [trigger warning: antlered, skullfaced eldritch abomination]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZXKh_kyKUg&ab_channel=Ech0Inthenight

  2. Mindset is extremely important when reading, especially dark books. As much as I enjoy stories and want to be entertained by them, I also want to observe interesting characters so I can analyze their lives and learn from their successes and failures. This aids in finding patterns in human nature that make for better decisions and advice that can be given to friends when needed. I’ve gained more success and avoided a lot of trouble as a result, which makes me look at darker stories as a learning tool that is full of characters I can take a journey with, rather than something that will consume and hurt me.

    This applies even to stories that are so bleak they don’t have an uplifting ending. Those stories in particular can serve as good cautionary tales. So if someone just read a dark story that hurt them, a good coping tool might be to ask what they can learn from it. Was there something that the characters did that made things turn out so poorly? If so, what was the cause and effect behind their actions, and what are some realistic ways the situation could’ve been prevented or fixed? Over time, this exercise can help cultivate a problem solving mentality in the reader, which can reduce the feelings of sadness, fear, and helplessness that sometimes makes these stories feel so painful.

    For me, there’s been lots of stories that were very dark but still contained a ray of hope. One issue, however, is that people often don’t pay enough attention to see that ray. They get so caught up in the hardships of the story that they don’t realize where the story is going, what it’s saying or the good things that can be drawn from it.

    It’s like walking through a dark tunnel with someone, and after a while they stop, face the wall, and refuse to move forward. Even after telling them about the light at the end, their mind doesn’t change because they’re staring at the side of the tunnel and refuse to acknowledge that this particular tunnel might have a light to turn to. And then they act like there’s something wrong with the person that says there could possibly be a light in this dark tunnel in the first place. No one should feel obligated to read a book that they think is bad for them. But people should also be wary of training themselves to turn away so often that they lose their chance to build useful coping mechanisms that can help them in real life.

What say you?