Optimism Sucks and S4: Filli Vanilli · 9:36am Feb 16th, 2014
So, today's episode was nice and charming in all the right ways, but was unfortunately not spectacular, aside from our resident pony Fabio receiving a voice treatment this time around.
This time, perhaps a result of the frequency phenomenon, I just wanted to point a particular trend out, which originated on a discussion of the study of only depressing works in writing and literature courses. I'll let this excerpt from Ursula K. Le Guin about her story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas convey the message:
Yet I repeat that these were not simple folk, not dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland utopians. They were not less complex than us. The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain. If you can't lick 'em, join 'em. If it hurts, repeat it. But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.
Some may have seen me mention in the comments for the latest chapter of Tiberian Eclipse a particular piece that dealt with this issue, wherein I state that I have no need for the thought-provoking or the soul-crushing; I merely focus on what I believe to be grandiose and titillating, a menagerie of veritable action candy that I want to deliver in word-filled doses injected directly into your mind's imagination. I have no love for the darkness that many well-written stories hold, and more than once have I wondered why people even bother reading these pieces, much less writing them. That dreariness is present well enough in real life; I use fiction as a way to climb out of that hole.
I wish you wouldn't bash yourself so much. If I want sad, I'll watch the news.
I think your stories are thought-invoking at times. At least Blueblood isn't cardboard (as he often is in the canon show), for example. I understand the need to be critical to stay sharp, but I truly think you go overboard at times. 
1840634 It's not so much bashing myself as bemoaning that the strange tendency to be deep and philosophical usually involves brutally destroying something (or let's be real, everything).
Being thoughtful is far from my mind when I'm writing my stories. It's all a series of what-ifs and their consequences.
Maybe? I don't know, I'm not even sure why I decided to post about this. I just read the quote that so succinctly described why I have an abhorrence to those kinds of stories, and thought it would be worth sharing. I know conflict is an integral part of every story, but I feel that they overdo it in this case.
Why do I love such dark and philosophically destructive stories? Why do I love metal music that often speaks of such bitter truths prevalent in our small world? These are questions I've asked myself in the past and have continued to ask ever so frequently. I have yet to come up with a concrete answer and have accepted that I probably never will. But I can at least try to come up with something.
I think my attraction to such literature might be due to the very fact that these things permeate our lives constantly. It's as if anything that dares to paint the world, any world, in a different light is just inherently wrong to the base of my psyche. Stories that would rather paint the world with bright and happy colors and ignore the horrifying truths (or more commonly, downplay them in favor of more uplifting material) seem foolish in the sense of wishing or hoping for some sort of escape when in reality none will come. But that's precisely why they do it. I don't hate them for it nor do I condemn them as fools, but as those with a stronger will than I to not wallow in the darkness as I do.
Then I begin to think of how this is a fitting dichotomy. There are bound to be those drawn to the light, and those to the dark in a purely archetypal way. For example, the last two songs that just played on my Spotify were Slave New World (a cover of the Sepultura song done by Trivium to be exact) and Watch the World Burn by Trivium as well. My playlist is filled with songs that exude the opposite of optimism. I'm naturally drawn to them. I didn't sit there and ponder whether or not the songs conveyed a deep enough message, I just happened to really enjoy them.
And yet I watch a show completely contradictory to all these things I'm drawn to. I've known for some time that part of me would like to indulge in that beautiful sense of escape from the stupidity and cruelty of the world. And yet I push those feelings aside as wishful thinking that'll get me nowhere fast. But this show somehow enables me to forget all that and just feel… happy.
Though that may be true, I cannot deny it is the story of hardship or introspection on the cruelties of life that draws me in the most. Perhaps because of the hardship we face or hear about daily we are compelled to force this reality onto anything that defies it?
As I sit here, in my dark room at 3:30 in the morning, I realize that I'll never be able to comprehend why people choose to read and write happy-to-the-point-of-being-sickening or generally good-natured stories that don't try and insert all that dark nonsense the same way you say you can't figure out why anyone would want to read such things either.
I'd love it if I could share your enthusiasm for the grandiose and exuberant, but anytime I encounter something like that, a part of me refuses to be immersed in it, to accept it as it is. It must be admired in its glory first, then torn down with harsh realities. And I have no idea why… It leaves me feeling rather empty, in truth. Then again, I've long since known that I was a misanthropic cynical person deep inside. Maybe this show has been a way to temper those horribly pessimistic views? Perhaps that's why those stories are written, to let such negative thoughts and feelings flow out from the psyche to enable us to continue on the dark and bleary reality we face each waking moment of our lives?
Or maybe I'm just insane and should see somebody about it?
Anyway, I do believe I've rambled on long enough. I hope you've enjoyed this stream of consciousness post I made. Yes, you read right: stream of consciousness. This is how my mind thinks. Constantly. It's a pain and I'm sure you can see why. When I finish thinking something like that, I often go through and analyze (meaning dismantle and pick apart) what I've just thought about, changing things around to better fit what I believe I should be thinking in an attempt to not drown in such negative misery. I'm decently successful at it too. But for this, I leave it unedited (save for spelling and grammar corrections).
Thank you for the nice opportunity for an intellectual response to an intriguing topic.
Emoredoma wid dom sylon,
~Lupo
1840786
I don't very much like the overtly happy stories, either, but I'm fine with the good-natured stories—because that's life, and some of these stories still perfectly involve all the problems with that. That's what I believe they should be. The stories that annoy me that I speak of always seem to shift full tilt to the "worse than Hell" side on the crapsack spectrum. Of course ignoring the hardships of life isn't going to make for a good story, but when it's when you make it so that Murphy's Law only applies to the good guys that it makes me point at the author and say "that's bullshit".
"That dreariness is present well enough in real life; I use fiction as a way to climb out of that hole." I agree wholeheartedly!
1841301 I do have to agree with you on that one. I guess that's one of the reasons I haven't read a single Fallout fic. Post apocalyptic scenarios, while providing interesting story lines, seem a bit bland to me. While I might read one or two in such a setting, I don't think I'd enjoy it as much as a nice story with some hardships but the protagonist remains positive throughout.
Plus, after getting some sleep, I just reread my comment. I'm now more than 70% sure that after midnight I'm a completely different person. At this moment, I'd rather read one of these happy and positive stories than any dark one. I guess it all depends on the mood I'm in, unfortunately.
Personally, I like Dark stories...as long as they aren't GrimDark "no hope" GHAKDIOWLDGFARGL SO SAD stories, which kinda leaves Fallout Equestria for me. I've never read it and never will.
I think that the kind of Dark story worth reading is the one that has a light at the end of the tunnel, a happy ending, an end to all the bad stuff, etc.
In other words, if your story isn't gonna be happy, make it hopeful. Otherwise it's not worth reading.