Anime. Something that
I've watched ever since my early childhood. I've grown up with anime, starting
with my first time watching an animated series called Naruto when I was in the 5th grade. I vividly remember when I would
stay up late on Saturday nights to watch these shows that weren't quite your
average cartoons on a platform called Toonami.
They had a different feel to them than something like SpongeBob or The Misadventures
of Flapjack, a sort of maturity. I think the shows gave me this feeling
primarily because of the quality of the animation, realism, fighting (on more
than one occasion), and the snippets of gore. However, the footage of these
animated tv series and movies weren't solely comprised of hardcore action. They
were also filled with moments of comedy, friendship, love, happiness, and, as
you may have guessed, philosophical thoughts. Now, granted that the target
audience of these shows aren't stereotypical deep thinkers. At least, while they’re
watching their favorite anime they’re not mainly thinking of how intellectual,
philosophical, or deep one of the characters is or says, or at least that's the
case when I watch. But every now and then there will be a moment where a
character in the show will begin talking about a topic that either sounds
intellectual, insightful, or philosophical.
Now you may be thinking
“Bullshit since when have cartoons become philosophical let alone hint at
something insightful or meaningful”, however, some cartons have always done
this. Take for example SpongeBob. From a personal standpoint, I’ve always felt
like the show sits at the pinnacle of meaningless entertainment. However, the show
makers have been known to drop little Easter eggs in the episodes and sometimes
even adult jokes. Check this link to see what I mean https://youtu.be/Dq9wkkkIv0s.
Boondocks, an animated series you can watch on the TV network Adult Swim, takes it a bit further and
even has a character who submits himself to a deeper way of thinking than those
around him. Now I guess I should start off by saying that there are many
different types of anime. The main categories include: Shounen, Shoujo, Seinen,
and Josei. Each of these categories has their story archetypes. Like Shonen (my
favorite) has a lot of action themed series. For some particular reason a lot
of anime fanatics don’t consider Boondocks to be anime. However, I do. Which is
why I’ve decided to use one of the stories MC’s or main characters to represent
the attempts of philosophy in anime. The story primarily follows a family of
three, a grandpa, Robert “Grandpa” Freeman, and his two grandsons, Huey and
Riley Freeman. Grandpa and Riley serve as the main comedic acts of the show
while Huey is our center of reason.
One example of a tangent that Huey goes on is in this YouTube
link here https://youtu.be/_jTxDg5pbOo.
This favors more of a conspiracy theory on how our reality is false and is one
projected onto us by those part of a higher power intending to manipulate the
masses. However, he does touch on the idea that my reality is one that only I can
experience , which is Solipsism, the idea that my mind is the only one to truly
exist. Solipsism, as you may know, is a concept adapted by Descartes who was
dubbed the father of modern western philosophy. Of course, this video is only
one example of Huey thinking philosophically out of hundreds of episodes. I can
guarantee you that there are more.
"my reality is one that only I can experience , which is Solipsism" - actually solipsism is the view that my reality is the only reality... that there just are no other experiencers. Hard to know why anyone would bother to argue for that view: who are they trying to convince?
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