Game of Clones

[00:00] five years ago Game of Thrones ended

[00:02] Game of Thrones ended 5 years ago that

[00:05] all of that was half a decade ago we as

[00:08] a society have not recovered and I don't

[00:10] just mean that we haven't recovered from

[00:11] the ending being bad although I

[00:13] personally will never recover what I

[00:15] mean is that we are still culturally in

[00:18] the shadow of the show or at least

[00:20] that's what every major streaming

[00:21] service and TV channel has been betting

[00:23] on as the show approached its conclusion

[00:25] a bevy of Articles materialized asking

[00:27] what will the next Game of Thrones be

[00:29] well shows that are trying to be the

[00:31] next Game of Thrones the next Game of

[00:33] Thrones a post ComiCon appraisal of

[00:35] potential heirs to the throne what's the

[00:37] next Game of Thrones all the contenders

[00:39] for Fantasy TV's Crown these 16 shows

[00:42] desperately want to be the next Game of

[00:44] Thrones everyone wants to be the next

[00:46] Game of Thrones what exactly it means to

[00:48] be the next Game of Thrones was a bit of

[00:49] a fill-in-the blank did it mean to be

[00:51] the next show that got a big audience or

[00:53] one that fans obsessed over and analyzed

[00:56] or did it just mean a successful fantasy

[00:58] series or a show about political intrig

[01:00] for the executives at media companies it

[01:03] seems to have meant adapt any fantasy or

[01:05] sci-fi property we have the rights to as

[01:07] quickly as possible but make it as much

[01:09] like Game of Thrones as we can get away

[01:11] with HBO made Game of Thrones in a cave

[01:13] and we are going to replicate it if it

[01:15] bankrupts us now 5 years later our media

[01:18] landscape is absolutely drowning in

[01:21] Thrones clones

[01:22] [Applause]

[01:36] hey

[01:38] fire I wanted to talk about um how

[01:42] desperately we all of us need to keep

[01:45] reading um you can't think at all

[01:49] clearly or well without memory and it

[01:52] matters a great deal what you remember

[01:55] when thinking about artistic influence

[01:57] it is impossible not to be influenced by

[02:00] literary critic and legendary Krogan

[02:02] Harold Bloom who wrote the anxiety of

[02:04] influence the book is focused singularly

[02:06] on poetry but I'm going to use it to

[02:08] talk about art more broadly in the book

[02:10] Bloom proposes that there is really no

[02:12] such thing as an original poem and that

[02:13] all poetry is in one way or another a

[02:16] reaction to other poems artists

[02:19] experience this as anxiety as they're in

[02:21] a paradoxical situation you can't

[02:23] improve as a poet without reading the

[02:25] Poetry of those who came before you but

[02:27] the moment you allow the voices of the

[02:29] Masters into your mind they can warp

[02:31] what is essential about you and you find

[02:33] yourself filtering your thoughts through

[02:36] the imagined thoughts of these other

[02:38] poets how do you write a play that

[02:40] doesn't sound like Shakespeare in the

[02:41] 17th century or how do you write a video

[02:43] essay that doesn't sound like every

[02:44] frame of painting in 2015 really how how

[02:47] do you tell me how for Bloom the answer

[02:50] is that it is ultimately impossible but

[02:52] the struggle to overcome this anxiety

[02:54] can be fruitful and is the primary way

[02:56] that strong poets Define themselves as

[02:59] strong while weaker poets languish in

[03:01] creating art that is merely derivative

[03:03] the strong poet can synthesize what came

[03:05] before and transcend it Bloom describes

[03:07] the relationship between the modern

[03:09] artist the influenced and his precursor

[03:12] the

[03:12] influencer in both biblical and Freudian

[03:15] terms in his biblical metaphor when

[03:17] reading the work of the precursor an

[03:19] artist glimpses heaven so to speak and

[03:21] is also at that moment cast out from it

[03:24] like Satan and thrown into hell but it

[03:26] is there that Satan now independent of

[03:28] God can at least attempt to make a

[03:30] heaven Out of Hell make art that has the

[03:33] spark of the Divine but really he's much

[03:35] more obsessed with the Freudian stuff so

[03:36] we're going to focus on that a little

[03:38] more in Freudian terms the precursor

[03:40] artist is the father with which the

[03:42] modern artist has an edible relationship

[03:44] with owing his existence to the father

[03:46] and yet being jealous of the father's

[03:47] position of authority and power so in

[03:49] art one must kill one's

[03:56] father Bloom's answer for how a writer

[03:58] achieves this is by being a bad reader

[04:02] I'm being a little phous but the idea is

[04:04] that the artist must somehow

[04:06] misinterpret the work of the predecessor

[04:07] because if it was possible to perfectly

[04:09] understand the predecessor's work then

[04:11] you would get trapped in the swamp of

[04:13] merely reproducing that work but in

[04:15] misunderstanding misreading or in

[04:18] Bloom's jargon Mis prison can kind of

[04:20] think of it as mislabeling you arrive at

[04:22] something that is an original

[04:24] perspective on the precursor the artist

[04:26] can then use that misunderstanding as

[04:28] the Genesis for the their own work and I

[04:30] think that this is an important thing to

[04:32] talk about because I think there's a lot

[04:33] of people out there and multinational

[04:35] corporations that want to make something

[04:37] new but they don't know how to look

[04:40] beyond their influences and they're

[04:43] struggling with that and that's

[04:45] something that I feel as well so I think

[04:47] that you know we're talking about

[04:49] Thrones clones in this episode but we're

[04:51] you know also trying to work through

[04:52] this let's let's work through it

[04:54] together Bloom proposes that there are

[04:56] at least six ways that artists can do

[04:58] this or have done this that can lead to

[05:00] great art so yeah if Harold bloom had

[05:02] been writing during the BuzzFeed era the

[05:04] book would have been called six reasons

[05:06] you're a

[05:10] hack you can feel the Game of Thrones

[05:12] influence in some of these shows before

[05:13] they even begin it's right here in the

[05:16] opening themes Wheel of Time the rings

[05:18] of power foundation and even Shogun All

[05:20] Copy the basic idea of Game of Thrones

[05:22] intro with close-ups on CGI images that

[05:24] are some kind of toy or piece of art

[05:26] that is slowly building itself

[05:28] throughout the course of the intro only

[05:30] to pull back at the end to reveal the

[05:32] full image but while these shows ape the

[05:34] Aesthetics of Thrones they don't copy

[05:36] its utility an underrated aspect for why

[05:38] Game of Thrones achieved widespread

[05:40] success despite being an extremely

[05:42] complicated story is because of this

[05:44] opening which oriented viewers in a

[05:45] world and gave them a sense of where

[05:47] everything was in relation to one

[05:48] another many of these fantasy

[05:50] adaptations are in desperate need of

[05:52] some way to show a freaking map to the

[05:54] viewer rather than making me Google it

[05:56] in season 2 of The Wheel of Time parin

[05:58] travels across a desert with three women

[06:00] who are from a desert but not this

[06:03] desert they're from this desert a piece

[06:04] of World building the show does not want

[06:06] to draw attention to in which casual

[06:08] viewers will never Gro you know unless

[06:10] they click on the explore tab in the

[06:11] browser and go through the reams of Wiki

[06:13] articles Amazon is so eager to show you

[06:15] that the website defaults to this tab

[06:17] rather than taking you directly to the

[06:19] episodes like every other streaming

[06:20] service how dare you Bezos just show me

[06:23] the episodes and put a map in the show

[06:25] it's okay HBO does not own the concept

[06:27] of maps if you're going to copy

[06:29] everything else just show me where the

[06:30] AIL waste is nobody knows where anything

[06:34] is the first type of misreading is what

[06:36] Harold Bloom

[06:38] calls look I'm going to try and avoid

[06:40] Bloom's fancy Latin names for all this

[06:42] stuff let's just call it the swerve to

[06:44] Swerve is to accept the greatness of a

[06:47] precursor poet only up to a point to

[06:50] recreate or recapture some sence of what

[06:53] exists in a great work of art but to

[06:55] then suggest that it goes wrong

[06:56] somewhere and to remedy this fault with

[06:58] your own work this is is like a central

[07:00] idea for him like all of the six

[07:02] readings kind of involve this one any

[07:04] reading of any text is a swerve of some

[07:06] kind it is baked into the process of

[07:08] interpretation extrapolating on that

[07:10] misreading is to Swerve into some new

[07:13] Direction you read X poem it gives you y

[07:15] idea so you write Zed poem and if you

[07:18] carry the one and multiply by pi you

[07:20] won't be a disappointment to your family

[07:22] Bloom tracks these kinds of revisions

[07:24] through the history of romantic poetry

[07:26] but given this episode is on fantasy

[07:28] epics an example jumps to mind The Wheel

[07:30] of Time often accused of replicating The

[07:32] Lord of the Rings but anyone familiar

[07:34] with the work will know that this is

[07:35] only true up until a point that Robert

[07:37] Jordan deliberately evoked the early

[07:39] parts of the Fellowship of the Ring

[07:41] before sending his Heroes on a very

[07:42] different Adventure the two rivers is

[07:45] like the shy a pastoral Paradise

[07:47] isolated from the concerns of Kingdoms

[07:49] and cities a dark lord has forces called

[07:51] trxs a combination of two regular foes

[07:53] in Middle Earth trolls and Orcs And A

[07:56] number of beings called Fades which

[07:57] resemble the nasgul the heroes receed

[07:59] with the help of a wise magic user and

[08:01] each escaped many dangers including a

[08:03] daring River Crossing humans aligned

[08:05] with the dark lord in a gritty town and

[08:07] a battle with dark Forces in the ruins

[08:09] of a Fallen Kingdom these early

[08:11] references to tolken helped many readers

[08:13] get on board with Jordan's story but

[08:15] Jordan then swerves away from that

[08:17] outline into a story with very different

[08:20] contradictory

[08:21] themes when your king receives those

[08:25] plans he will redirect his forces to

[08:27] your borders

[08:30] and rally the support of the other

[08:32] nations the water tribes and the air

[08:35] Nomads and the entire world will turn

[08:38] their attention to the Earth Benders so

[08:41] for us it was about striking that right

[08:43] balance of making sure you were true to

[08:45] the DNA of the original but at the same

[08:47] time we had to make it a serialized

[08:48] Netflix drama which meant it couldn't

[08:50] just be for kids it had to also appeal

[08:52] to the people who were big fans of Game

[08:53] of Thrones and so it had to feel

[08:55] grounded and mature and adult in that

[08:57] way too that's a quote from Albert Kim

[08:59] the show showrunner of the new Netflix

[09:00] adaptation of avatar The Last Airbender

[09:03] and what struck me immediately about it

[09:04] was how imperative it sounded it had to

[09:07] appeal not we tried to appeal or we

[09:09] wanted to appeal but had like this was

[09:12] an algorithmic dictat make this show

[09:14] like Game of Thrones or it doesn't get

[09:16] made whether or not that was the case

[09:18] behind the scenes I have no idea but the

[09:20] influence is clear on the screen right

[09:22] from the beginning of the show which

[09:23] starts not with an introduction to our

[09:25] main characters like the original

[09:26] Nickelodeon cartoon did but with an

[09:28] introduction to the politics of the

[09:30] story we learn that the fire nation's

[09:32] attack on the Aromas was actually

[09:33] achieved by cleverly tricking the world

[09:35] into thinking they were going to attack

[09:37] the Earth Nation instead how little

[09:39] finger of You by the time the two lead

[09:41] characters qara and Ang are actually

[09:43] able to talk to one another we've had 25

[09:45] minutes of Throne Room scenes small

[09:48] Council scenes and a public assembly

[09:50] political Intrigue was pushed to the

[09:51] Forefront of the story before any other

[09:53] element this comes at the expense of the

[09:55] more childlike humor and Whimsy of the

[09:57] original show the running time for the

[09:58] season is about as long as the season

[10:00] which it is adapting but there are

[10:02] dozens of plot lines which it does not

[10:04] adapt but rather than simply eliminate

[10:06] what it considers tonally unnecessary

[10:08] for the new vision of the show it adds a

[10:10] whole bunch of political Intrigue plot

[10:12] lines there's a whole subplot in the

[10:13] Fire Nation involving the fire lord and

[10:15] aula and reveal in the final episode

[10:17] that season bad guy Xiao has secretly

[10:20] been working directly for aula to thwart

[10:22] Zuko on top of that there's also a

[10:24] tendency in the plotting to have the

[10:26] kids seek the adults for help which

[10:29] which is something children's literature

[10:31] is well advised to avoid like when they

[10:33] first find Ang they go to their Grandma

[10:35] for help and when they arrive on Kyoshi

[10:37] Island they go to the leader of the

[10:38] village for help typically the child

[10:40] protagonists of an adventure story

[10:42] including the ones in the original show

[10:44] are trying to get out from under the

[10:46] control of corrupt or incompetent adult

[10:48] characters that they get to exercise

[10:50] their own agency is the whole purpose of

[10:52] the adventure in those stories there is

[10:54] a substantive difference between being a

[10:56] kid and being an adult there is not in

[10:58] the 24 show and could be 10 or 20 or 50

[11:02] doesn't really matter he's made to act

[11:03] as just another part of the political

[11:05] landscape of this world rather than a

[11:07] disruptive Force that's going its own

[11:09] way Amazon's billion- dooll tax write

[11:11] off the rings of power is similarly

[11:12] crude in its attempt to inject the

[11:14] spirit of George RR Martin into the

[11:16] corpse of JRR tolken they have a bit

[11:18] more leeway to do whatever they want

[11:19] than some of these other shows as unlike

[11:21] them the rings of power was not directly

[11:23] adapting a story that was fully fleshed

[11:25] out in another medium but is instead

[11:27] stringing together and padding out

[11:29] anciliary material that they had the

[11:31] rights to kind of while edging right up

[11:33] to the line of the stuff that they

[11:35] didn't have the rights to It's

[11:36] Complicated political Intrigue is

[11:38] something that while present in The Lord

[11:40] of the Rings wasn't exactly at the

[11:42] Forefront yes the characters visit the

[11:44] kings and queens of various Realms but

[11:46] the axis of the conflict is much simpler

[11:48] than in Game of Thrones there is good

[11:51] and evil as real tangible forces in that

[11:54] world and so when you visit a kingdom

[11:56] that is in danger it's in danger because

[11:58] the king is being corrupted by some evil

[12:00] magic and not because of a

[12:01] three-dimensional chess game between his

[12:03] advisers so while it isn't completely

[12:05] alien to have a political Intrigue

[12:07] plotline in a Middle Earth Story the

[12:09] kind of intrigue was very specific and

[12:11] not particularly compatible with the

[12:13] sensibilities of Game of Thrones yet

[12:15] over the course of the Show's first

[12:16] season there are an overabundance of

[12:19] scenes of The Elven King scheming to

[12:21] have gadriel sent away to valanor

[12:23] because her endless search for Sauron

[12:24] has fallen out of favor with the court

[12:26] or the jocking for power of those in the

[12:28] court of numor or the fatherson

[12:30] relationship in the royal family of the

[12:32] dwarves over how their people should

[12:33] treat the elves and on and on and on and

[12:36] what is deemphasized is often just as

[12:37] revealing as what is emphasized despite

[12:39] the rings of power being in the title of

[12:41] the show their creation is entirely

[12:43] secondary to the origin story of a

[12:45] volcano erupting and yet that story

[12:47] where Sauron infiltrates The Elves and

[12:49] slowly corrupts them and forges the ring

[12:51] takes up a mere 20 minutes in the final

[12:53] episode but it's the exact kind of Tolen

[12:57] in political intrigue that is completely

[13:00] natural in this universe plot lines

[13:02] focused on political Intrigue are a

[13:03] little more at home in a series like

[13:05] Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time which

[13:07] is also being adapted by Amazon but

[13:09] coming out in the shadow of Game of

[13:11] Thrones has influenced just how much

[13:13] attention that part of the story has

[13:15] received the wheel of time if you don't

[13:17] know is the story of three peasant boys

[13:19] who are whisked away from their simple

[13:20] rural town and into a grand Continental

[13:22] Adventure that forces them to become

[13:24] Heroes of Destiny fighting against an

[13:26] all powerful Dark Lord that description

[13:28] might give you the the impression that

[13:29] this is a pretty generic fantasy series

[13:32] and you would be right The Wheel of Time

[13:35] embodies all of the classic tropes of

[13:37] the genre it defines them what that

[13:40] basic premise might also inform you of

[13:42] is that there is a limit to how

[13:43] interesting or complicated the political

[13:45] Intrigue can get in a story like this

[13:47] The Wheel of Time is a story where the

[13:49] opposite team are the dark friends who

[13:50] support the dark lord it's binary the

[13:52] real conflict lays in figuring out who

[13:54] is secretly supporting the dark lord one

[13:56] of the primary locations for The Wheel

[13:58] of Time is is the White Tower where all

[14:00] of these sorceresses live and constantly

[14:02] Feud and bicker with one another and

[14:04] it's a place that the show treats as if

[14:05] it is their King's Landing this is where

[14:07] the political jockeying happens where

[14:09] many characters are investigating a

[14:11] number of different Mysteries and where

[14:13] you might walk in on someone having a

[14:15] threesome what you don't get that much

[14:16] of though is people learning how to do

[14:18] magic You know despite the fact that

[14:19] this is also you know a magic school

[14:22] pretend that the show came out in 2011

[14:24] and it would have treated this location

[14:25] as if it was their Hogwarts shown us as

[14:27] many fun classes of magic as as possible

[14:29] focused on the students bonding with one

[14:31] another and it would have done

[14:32] everything in its power to deemphasize

[14:34] the politics a while back I released a

[14:36] big long video about the first season of

[14:38] foundation Apple's attempt that of

[14:39] Thrones clone the show adapts Isaac

[14:41] azoff's science fiction novels and one

[14:43] of the reasons this video exist is that

[14:45] I wanted to make another video on the

[14:47] second season which I found to be an

[14:48] overall Improvement on the first but I

[14:50] found myself Limited in just talking

[14:52] about it in isolation it didn't fall out

[14:54] of a coconut tree I have however shared

[14:56] my full thoughts on that over on my

[14:58] patreon so if you want to support the

[15:00] show and get some extra content you can

[15:02] go to patreon.com justr Just Sayan the

[15:05] foundation novel series is myopically

[15:07] focused on the political relationship

[15:09] between the fledgling Foundation at the

[15:11] edge of the Galaxy and the crumbling but

[15:13] still powerful Galactic Empire so scenes

[15:16] like game of thrones-esque intrigue are

[15:17] built into the premise and not out of

[15:19] the ordinary here what is uncanny though

[15:21] is how precisely the feel of Game of

[15:23] Thrones is recreated here I am Ru en

[15:27] Joiner to the queen allow me to present

[15:30] the doen of the trade leagues Prime

[15:33] witness of the CLA Cathedral and most

[15:36] excellent Queen sarth I first sole

[15:40] descendant of dominion the problem that

[15:41] show faces to a degree is that it is

[15:44] virtually impossible for a television

[15:46] show to replicate the scale of the World

[15:48] building that Game of Thrones had which

[15:50] benefited from 20 years of George R

[15:52] Martin flushing out every nook and

[15:53] cranny of Westeros with literally

[15:55] hundreds of Royal houses and characters

[15:57] Foundation had relatively light World

[16:00] building setting up planets and peoples

[16:02] for the purposes of one story and then

[16:04] we never really hear about them again

[16:06] the TV series does an admiral job of

[16:08] creating new factions within the empire

[16:10] for the Emperors to bounce off of but

[16:12] all of this serves to create the

[16:13] atmosphere of a Game of Thrones without

[16:15] the depth of that

[16:16] conflict Bloom's second form of revision

[16:19] is a kind of denial the modern poet

[16:22] denies the quality of the precursor poem

[16:24] suggesting that there is some great flaw

[16:26] buried within the work and that it is

[16:27] misfired in some way let me correct your

[16:29] aim the new poet says this Bloom calls

[16:32] completion and antithesis a poet

[16:34] antithetically completes his precursor

[16:36] by So reading the parent poem as to

[16:38] retain its terms but to mean them in

[16:40] another sense as though the precursor

[16:42] had failed to go far enough in his

[16:44] pursuit of understanding the logic of

[16:45] Dreams Sigman Frey proposed a theory

[16:47] about language drawing on the study of

[16:50] Egyptian by philologist Carl Abel who

[16:52] wrote that in the Egyptian language

[16:54] there are a fair number of words with

[16:56] two meanings one of which is the exact

[16:58] opposite of the other Freud seized on

[17:01] this idea to develop the concept that

[17:03] perhaps there were Primal words words

[17:05] containing opposing meanings in other

[17:07] languages and that these older words are

[17:09] the more correct way to interpret dreams

[17:11] was Freud right about the existence of

[17:14] these Primal words no probably not but

[17:17] as is so often the case with him he's

[17:19] wrong in an interesting way and then

[17:20] literary critics take his ideas and make

[17:22] them part of their thinking so then you

[17:24] have to go through the whole thing again

[17:26] Bloom found worth in the concept by

[17:27] saying a poet could metaphorically seek

[17:29] out the Primal word at the root of the

[17:31] precursor poem because then you could

[17:33] discover its antithesis and produce the

[17:36] negative form of that poem SL Primal

[17:38] word that way you can make something

[17:40] just as great even if it's saying the

[17:42] opposite thing this often means

[17:43] exploring what is taboo I think Tess

[17:46] antithesis is a way to understand the

[17:48] emergence and appeal of grim Dark

[17:50] Fantasy Grim dark is a subgenre of

[17:52] fantasy in works like Game of Thrones

[17:54] which Adam Roberts called an anti-

[17:56] tolken genre in contrast to the more

[17:58] ideal real istic and romanticized

[18:00] worldview of The Lord of the Rings Grim

[18:02] Dark Fantasy is more cynical and

[18:03] nihilistic it is also much much more

[18:07] violent and the violence has a

[18:08] transgressive element to it taking

[18:10] something the audience recognizes and

[18:12] injecting it with some

[18:16] more perhaps the area where the

[18:18] influence of Game of Thrones has

[18:19] affected the rest of these fantasy

[18:20] habitations the most and often to their

[18:22] detriment is in their tone their

[18:25] adoption of the Grim dark worldview

[18:27] though author Robert Jordan did

[18:28] originally consider writing The Wheel of

[18:30] Time as a more brutal and violent Story

[18:32] the direction he ultimately took his

[18:34] book series was in a decidedly more PG13

[18:37] way there is violence in his stories but

[18:39] it is often delivered in a more poetic

[18:41] or ambiguous way rather than focusing on

[18:43] the blood and gore of it all Rand the

[18:45] protagonist learns different fighting

[18:47] Maneuvers and he will often just list

[18:49] them during a fight scene and it's up to

[18:50] the reader to interpret how they want

[18:52] the cat on hot sand or the king fisher

[18:54] takes a silver back to look the TV show

[18:57] on the other hand

[18:59] [Applause]

[19:05] our brutal bloody fights in the show all

[19:07] captured in gruesome detail right from

[19:09] the pilot episode comic relief character

[19:11] Tom Marilyn who is supposed to be a

[19:13] jolly Bard is omitted from the early

[19:15] episodes of the show which makes all of

[19:17] the events of the first few episodes

[19:18] that much darker and when the characters

[19:20] do sing a song to one another it is

[19:21] Solemn and sad rather than an island of

[19:24] joy and hope that Tom usually brought to

[19:25] the story The Character does appear

[19:27] later in the story in a a truncated way

[19:29] but even still is made darker and edgier

[19:32] and more aggressive than his book

[19:33] counterpart his boots have Spurs he's a

[19:36] cool Clint Eastwood cowboy guy Tom's

[19:39] absence might not have been so keenly

[19:40] felt to the show not also felt the need

[19:42] to give parents character an even darker

[19:44] Edge as he is suffering under a cloud of

[19:46] guilt for the entirety of the first

[19:48] season because he accidentally killed

[19:50] his wife in the first battle an event

[19:52] that is an invention of the show

[19:53] everyone is mopy but parin is extra mopy

[19:57] this is an adult show it's not for kids

[19:59] it's [ __ ] adult the show adapts the

[20:02] plotline of a Gwen being captured by the

[20:04] Shan Chan in the second season where

[20:05] she's forced to wear a magic collar that

[20:07] essentially turns her into a

[20:09] mind-controlled slave you can bet that

[20:11] the Amazon show would turn this

[20:12] relatively small subplot into a

[20:15] multi-episode torture porn set piece

[20:17] that evokes Theon being tortured by

[20:19] Ramsay but whereas theon's torture

[20:21] completely defined that character for

[20:22] the rest of Game of Thrones in The Wheel

[20:24] of Time Books awen and the other female

[20:26] characters subjected to the magic collar

[20:28] are right back to adventuring which is

[20:30] an element of the story that I think is

[20:31] open for some criticism and some

[20:33] Revision in an adaptation I'm not

[20:35] critiquing the fact that they did this

[20:37] but more just highlighting that it was

[20:39] done I don't know how Amazon will

[20:40] characterize awen in future Seasons but

[20:42] it will certainly be harder for them to

[20:44] make this plot line have as much

[20:45] consequence as the Ramsey plot line did

[20:47] on Theon because that isn't what's in

[20:49] the source material which means they'll

[20:50] have to do a lot more work to make it

[20:52] fit with the rest of the plot lines so

[20:54] with Bloom's first two strategies the

[20:56] poet is seeking to Grapple with the

[20:57] precursor but is still adopting their

[21:00] forms in Bloom's third type of influence

[21:02] the poet attempts to break away from

[21:04] that which came before Bloom argues that

[21:06] in their struggles to overcome their

[21:08] precursors poets feel something akin to

[21:10] Freud's conception of The Uncanny

[21:12] something repressed which recurs for the

[21:14] poet the fear of repetition of merely

[21:17] copying what has come before can be

[21:19] uncanny and Inspire them to end this

[21:21] compulsion like suppressing a nervous

[21:23] tick which cannot fully be erased the

[21:26] important words there were recurs rep

[21:28] ition compulsion in storytelling those

[21:31] are tropes and it's those tropes that

[21:33] the newcoming poet wants to break for an

[21:35] example of this when describing the

[21:36] ideas behind his work George R Martin

[21:38] said the war that tolken wrote was a war

[21:41] for the fate of civilization and the

[21:43] future of humanity and that's become the

[21:44] template I'm not sure that it's a good

[21:46] template though the tolken model LED

[21:48] generations of fantasy writers to

[21:49] produce these endless series of dark

[21:51] Lords and their evil minions were all

[21:53] very ugly and wore black clothes but the

[21:55] vast majority of Wars throughout history

[21:57] are not like that Martin recognized a

[21:59] Trope in the genre and found a way to

[22:01] break that compulsive repetition

[22:03] creating something new in the process a

[22:06] key part of why the battle for power

[22:08] Works in a song in ice and fire is

[22:10] because of its structure with each

[22:11] chapter focusing on a different

[22:13] character and with characters on every

[22:15] side of a conflict while the Starks are

[22:16] the characters you generally root for

[22:18] they aren't the only characters that

[22:19] have the audience's sympathies even and

[22:21] especially when the characters aren't

[22:23] virtuous we understand them and want to

[22:25] see them survive our conflicting

[22:27] loyalties make makes the wars compelling

[22:29] as we don't know who is going to make it

[22:32] out of each of the conflicts this

[22:33] structure is almost perfectly designed

[22:35] for Television TV shows Thrive by having

[22:38] a plots and B plots and CDE plots each

[22:40] playing in Tandem and cross cutting

[22:42] between them keeping the audience

[22:43] engaged in at least one of the stories

[22:45] increasing the chances that they'll keep

[22:47] watching Game of Thrones did not need

[22:49] much structural adjustment to fit in the

[22:51] mold of an HBO drama Thrones clones on

[22:54] the other hand have attempted to inject

[22:56] the structure into stories that weren't

[22:58] built for them or in ways that don't

[23:00] understand why this worked for Game of

[23:01] Thrones in the first place for instance

[23:03] the first season of the most expensive

[23:05] show ever made follows four concurrent

[23:06] plot lines galadriel's initial mission

[23:08] to find the dark lord Sauron gets

[23:10] diverted to numor elron goes on a

[23:12] diplomatic mission to the Dwarven

[23:14] kingdoms the people of the Southlands

[23:15] struggle to Stave off an orc Invasion a

[23:17] stateless wizard is discovered by a

[23:19] group of halflings and discovers that he

[23:21] is good I'm

[23:25] good the structure is strange for a

[23:27] story so Keen to remind its viewers that

[23:29] it is a prequel to The Other Middle

[23:30] Earth stories like while the Lord of the

[23:32] Rings did eventually have a story that

[23:34] branched off into several other plot

[23:35] lines it began solely with The Hobbit

[23:38] characters and got the audience to see

[23:39] the big magical world through their tiny

[23:42] innocent eyes A Game of Thrones also did

[23:44] this setting most of its first 10

[23:45] chapters in Winterfell but as is the

[23:47] case with these shows replicating the

[23:49] scale of late stage Thrones they also

[23:51] copy the structure of a late Stage

[23:53] episode without the structural

[23:55] Foundation that got us there other than

[23:57] the flimsy connection of the characters

[23:59] all seeing the same meteorite the viewer

[24:00] has little reason to understand why the

[24:02] Southland story is important to what

[24:04] Elon is up to or how the halflings

[24:06] marching through a forest connects to

[24:08] gadriel at Sea they simply cut to a

[24:10] different story and expect the audience

[24:12] to trust that it'll all connect and this

[24:14] whole big weird structure doesn't reap

[24:17] the benefits that Thrones did by having

[24:19] the audience question their own rooting

[24:21] interests a major reason for George R

[24:22] Martin to tell his story the way that he

[24:24] did was to break the simple good versus

[24:26] evil binary that exists in a lot of f

[24:28] stories and to have us empathize with

[24:30] characters on every side of a conflict

[24:31] rings of power has four stories about

[24:33] four generically heroic characters who

[24:35] are never in any real conflict with one

[24:37] another The Witcher is an adaptation of

[24:39] the fantasy series The Witcher by polish

[24:41] writer Andre sekowski and while it

[24:43] definitely already shares a lot of the

[24:45] same DNA as Game of Thrones as they're

[24:47] both Grim darks and have plenty of

[24:49] political scheming The Witcher show

[24:51] leans into those similarities rather

[24:53] than highlighting what is different

[24:54] about them for instance The Witcher is

[24:56] essentially a hard Boral detective story

[24:58] plopped into a fantasy setting in each

[25:00] short story geralt is confronted with

[25:01] some sort of mystery involving some kind

[25:03] of magic or Monster spends the story

[25:06] investigating the clues interviewing

[25:08] suspects and eventually unmasking or

[25:10] fighting whatever evil force exists in

[25:12] the story from that description you

[25:13] might conclude that The Witcher series

[25:14] ought to be a police procedural you know

[25:16] a 22 episode season with sand alone

[25:18] stories where the main focus is on

[25:20] solving a mystery we're in the wrong era

[25:22] for that though instead the first season

[25:24] of The Witcher is Eight Episodes long

[25:26] each 1 hour and cuts between three

[25:27] different stories the main gimmick of

[25:29] the first season is that the three

[25:30] stories following geralt Siri and

[25:32] yennefer respectively are all happening

[25:34] at different times and it isn't until

[25:35] the final episode that they're all

[25:37] brought into the same moment this

[25:39] creates a weird tonal pacing issue where

[25:43] the geralt plot line is adapting those

[25:45] police procedural esque Standalone

[25:47] stories from the first pair of books

[25:49] while the Siri and yennefer story lines

[25:51] are serialized Prestige TV type plot

[25:55] lines to the show's credit sometimes

[25:57] these stories are the ially linked like

[25:59] this episode which crosscuts between

[26:01] geralt battling arriga which is actually

[26:03] a girl that has been transformed into an

[26:05] evil creature and yennefer who was

[26:07] undergoing her own transformation or

[26:09] this episode where both plot lines are

[26:11] dealing with some sort of secret Shape

[26:12] Shifter other times though the various

[26:14] stories hinder one another the pilot

[26:16] episode adapts the short story the

[26:18] Lesser evil which sees geralt weighing

[26:19] the value of two lives against one

[26:21] another two people who are each asking

[26:23] him to kill the other and it's up to him

[26:25] to see through each of their lies and

[26:27] figure out what the Lesser evil is this

[26:29] climax is with geralt getting into a

[26:31] brawl in the middle of town that turns

[26:33] into a massacre for which he will

[26:35] forever be known as The Butcher of

[26:37] blavin but interrupting that plotline is

[26:39] the Battle of cintra where we watch a

[26:41] gruesome Battlefield Clash the

[26:43] destruction of an entire castle and the

[26:45] mass suicide of the whole ruling class

[26:47] of the country by the time you get to

[26:49] geralt murdering 12 people in a

[26:51] courtyard it feels quaint geralt's big

[26:53] dilemma is made small by the scale of

[26:55] what's happening between the cuts hey

[26:58] there's a pun now I do understand the

[27:00] logic behind structuring the season this

[27:01] way from a capitalist perspective The

[27:03] Witcher is a popular book series but it

[27:05] is a mega popular game series and in the

[27:08] games yennifer and Siri are just as

[27:10] popular as geralt himself and I can

[27:11] imagine the frustration a lot of people

[27:13] would have had if they turned on The

[27:15] Witcher show and it didn't have Siri in

[27:16] it for like two seasons so that's an

[27:19] influence on these decisions that has

[27:20] nothing to do with Game of Thrones at

[27:22] the same time the sense I get from the

[27:23] show is this desire to speed through the

[27:25] short stories as quickly as possible so

[27:27] that they can get to the big important

[27:29] stuff you know of Siri being the chosen

[27:31] one etc etc and in the process the show

[27:34] loses a lot of the color and humor that

[27:36] these stories possessed in favor of a

[27:38] more consistently depressing Grim dark

[27:41] tone for instance one of my favorite

[27:42] stories in the collection is the eternal

[27:45] flame in that story geralt and dandelion

[27:47] are helping a halfling merchant who was

[27:49] assaulted on the road by a Doppler a

[27:51] shape shifter who stole his identity and

[27:53] his horses which he then sold the

[27:54] Doppler then uses that money to buy a

[27:56] bunch of seemingly worthless products s

[27:58] and the merchant thinks that his

[27:59] business and reputation have been ruined

[28:01] but then they slowly realize that

[28:03] everything the Doppler bought was soon

[28:04] to Skyrocket in value because of some

[28:07] geopolitical shift that nobody else knew

[28:09] about you know there was a coup over

[28:10] here and it caused the price of so and

[28:12] so to jump but now rather than being

[28:14] broke he's Rich it's probably the

[28:16] funniest of The Witcher stories and it's

[28:17] pretty low stakes fun it's also one of

[28:19] the only short stories that wasn't

[28:21] adapted at all in the Netflix series

[28:22] they did however include the Doppler

[28:24] character himself but rather than being

[28:26] a mischievous little Scamp he's a

[28:28] bloodthirsty sociopath and he's a plot

[28:30] device in a you guessed it political

[28:32] Intrigue

[28:33] plotline try as he might the latecomer

[28:35] poet cannot fully exercise himself of

[28:38] the precursor's influence and even

[28:39] forgetting is anything but a liberating

[28:41] process Bloom argues that even if you

[28:43] try to forget the influencer that

[28:45] they're you know they're still hanging

[28:47] around there in your mind somewhere

[28:49] every forgotten precursor becomes a

[28:50] giant of the imagination total

[28:52] repression would be healthy but only a

[28:54] God is capable of it so if a poet cannot

[28:56] become a God then he can diminish the

[28:58] godhood of another and that is Bloom's

[29:00] fourth revisionary ratio demonization

[29:03] the word is taken from the Greek yeah

[29:05] we're doing this Dion and it is distinct

[29:07] from the Christian demon you are

[29:08] probably thinking about Greek Dions were

[29:11] lesser deities and guiding Spirits in

[29:13] one of Bloom's later works the diamond

[29:15] knows he often uses the phrase uh

[29:18] demonic Muse and Muse might be an easier

[29:21] word to Grapple with here it's closer to

[29:23] what he's really talking about so Muse

[29:25] the precursor poet becomes a Divine Muse

[29:27] in the mind of the new poet and unable

[29:29] to rid themselves of their Eternal

[29:31] presence strong poets attempt to

[29:33] diminish the impact of those who came

[29:35] before with a precursor created

[29:36] something Sublime a new poet will create

[29:39] a counter Sublime something that

[29:40] suggests the precursor was weaker than

[29:42] previously thought in essence this will

[29:44] make the son the latecomer poet more of

[29:46] a diamon and the precursor more of a man

[29:49] so you're kind of trying to become your

[29:51] own muse while also suggesting that hey

[29:53] that other guy he's barely even ause

[29:55] anyway forget that other forget that

[29:57] other guy in the dark Knight The Joker

[29:59] Is both inspired by and hateful of the

[30:01] Batman and seeks not to kill him but to

[30:03] bring him down in the minds of the

[30:05] people of Gotham that is the tense

[30:06] relationship between precursor and

[30:08] latecomer poet in Bloom's conception of

[30:11] things for an example of this we can

[30:12] look no further than George R Martin

[30:14] again and his relationship to his great

[30:16] Muse and the Muse of all fantasy

[30:18] literature Jr tolken ruling is hard this

[30:20] was maybe my answer to Tolen whom as

[30:23] much as I admire him I do quibble with

[30:25] the Lord of the Rings had a very

[30:26] medieval philosophy that if the King was

[30:28] a good man the land would Prosper we

[30:30] look at real history and it's not that

[30:31] simple Tolen can say that Aragon became

[30:33] king and reigned for a 100 years and he

[30:35] was wise and good but tolken doesn't ask

[30:37] the question what was Aragon's tax

[30:39] policy did he maintain a standing army

[30:41] what did he do in times of flood and

[30:42] famine and what about all these Orcs by

[30:44] the end of the war Sauron is gone but

[30:46] all of the Orcs aren't gone they're in

[30:48] the mountains did Aragorn pursue a

[30:50] policy of systemic genocide and kill

[30:52] them even the little Orcs in their

[30:54] little orc crads here we can see Martin

[30:56] lay out a Mis prison of tolken like it

[30:58] is a misreading of tolken to start

[31:00] asking all of these questions but they

[31:02] are fruitful misreadings because they

[31:03] lead Martin into the blind spot in

[31:06] tolken work the result is that Game of

[31:07] Thrones does take the Lord of the Rings

[31:09] off the pedestal a little bit no longer

[31:11] makes it the unquestioned idol of the

[31:13] genre that is dioniz it's Martin's Grim

[31:16] dark counter Sublime to tolken romantic

[31:19] Sublime in doing this Game of Thrones

[31:21] influenced the way that tolken can be

[31:23] read and emulated there is a naivity to

[31:25] tolken that can no longer be enjoyed in

[31:27] in the same way that it used to be

[31:30] looking over the TV landscape at the

[31:32] shows that have attempted to tap into

[31:33] the Game of Thrones audience the ones

[31:35] that have been the most successful in

[31:37] every sense of the word are the ones

[31:38] that have asked what if Game of Thrones

[31:40] but what if Game of Thrones but it takes

[31:42] place in modern day and instead of a

[31:44] medieval Kingdom they're fighting over a

[31:46] media Empire and instead of it being a

[31:48] drama it's got three dick jokes a minute

[31:50] Shogun was written long before Game of

[31:51] Thrones was a thing but the impetus to

[31:53] remake it is at least partially a

[31:55] byproduct of the success of Game of

[31:57] Thrones and instead of trying to be the

[31:59] next Game of Thrones the show has its

[32:00] own thematic and visual identity it is

[32:03] as if they said what if Game of Thrones

[32:05] but it's historical fiction and the

[32:06] scale of the conflict is much less

[32:08] politically complicated and we focus way

[32:10] more on the relationship between a

[32:11] limited number of characters and the

[32:13] lighting is really good the first four

[32:14] categories that Harold Bloom lays out

[32:16] are all basically different ways to have

[32:18] a take on your influencer's work rather

[32:20] than merely trying to replicate what

[32:22] came before you can use a familiar setup

[32:24] to then chart A New Path or try to tell

[32:26] a similar story but with the opposite

[32:28] tone or question the tropes of a

[32:29] particular kind of art and then break

[32:31] them or question the underlying

[32:33] assumptions in a work and then critique

[32:34] them no matter which category you put

[32:36] Shogun and succession into and there's

[32:38] arguments to put them in several

[32:39] different ones because boom's categories

[32:41] are pretty loose and overlapping the

[32:43] shows are hits because they have unique

[32:44] identities merely using the familiar

[32:46] mold of rulers competing for power as a

[32:48] building block Game of Thrones inspired

[32:50] many shows during its run but the arms

[32:52] race really started after the show ended

[32:54] except the show never really ended the

[32:56] vacuum that a lot of these shows thought

[32:58] they were going to fill didn't really

[33:00] exist because HBO filled that void

[33:02] itself with House of the dragon and with

[33:04] even more spin-offs on the way you know

[33:06] the king is dead but long live the king

[33:08] you can't clone Thrones better than

[33:10] Thrones bones but okay wise guy what if

[33:13] everything goes right and you actually

[33:14] get over your ex-girlfriend I mean you

[33:16] actually get over your influences isn't

[33:18] that possible please tell me it's

[33:20] possible well then you've stepped into

[33:22] Bloom's fifth category self-

[33:25] purgation where other forms of

[33:27] struggling with the precursor have

[33:28] avoided the issue the contest between

[33:30] the two poets you know have allowed the

[33:32] lomer poet to get away with just

[33:34] commenting on the precursor or trying to

[33:36] repress the precursor this step in the

[33:38] process is what Bloom calls the contest

[33:40] proper the match to the death with the

[33:42] dead you know if nothing else Bloom is

[33:44] fun to read empowered by their victory

[33:46] over the precursor the poet will seek to

[33:48] purge all outside influence from their

[33:49] work to be the dominant will and voice

[33:51] of their art Bloom Compares this to

[33:53] religious aestheticism practices of

[33:56] severe self-discipline the strong poet

[33:58] in his dionic elevation is empowered to

[34:00] turn his energy upon himself and

[34:02] achieves at terrible cost his clearest

[34:05] victory in wrestling with the mighty

[34:07] dead in doing so however the poet

[34:09] becomes not just Prometheus but

[34:11] narcissus solop cystic in their

[34:14] inspiration having become Godlike in

[34:16] step four the poet now worships herself

[34:19] only the truly strong poet can go on

[34:21] being both making his culture and partly

[34:23] contemplating his own central place in

[34:25] it but for this contemplation he must

[34:28] make a sacrifice and the sacrifice is

[34:30] narrowing the creative circumference of

[34:32] severing oneself from the lot of history

[34:35] you've closed yourself off from the

[34:37] force okay this basically means not

[34:39] letting yourself be influenced by

[34:41] anybody else you're only influenced by

[34:43] yourself for a Time the poet can go on

[34:46] creating works of greatness while living

[34:48] on this island of creative inspiration

[34:50] this Purgatory but writing poems is a

[34:53] purgation that drains more than it

[34:54] replenishes if the poet does not

[34:56] eventually go back to to The Well of

[34:58] inspiration they will die of thirst the

[35:00] example that jumps to mind immediately

[35:02] for me is Star Wars Star Wars you know

[35:06] Star Wars Star Wars started as a

[35:08] creative fusing of Pulp Cals space

[35:10] Fantasy World War II action Samurai

[35:12] movies Arthur and Legend and more then

[35:14] it became one of the most successful

[35:15] media franchises in the world and for a

[35:17] while there only knew how to reference

[35:19] itself and in this writer's humble

[35:21] opinion only became interesting again

[35:23] when it takes in new

[35:25] influences okay so we talked a lot about

[35:27] Herold bloom and his theories about

[35:28] influence but was he you know right is

[35:32] the anxiety of influence really the

[35:34] primary way we should analyze the

[35:36] relationships between different pieces

[35:38] of art I've certainly had my fun

[35:40] indulging all of Herold Bloom's

[35:42] classical metaphors of Epic biblical

[35:44] struggle but is it all just a bunch of

[35:46] pseudo psychoanalytical hogwash is

[35:48] Harold bloom a Visionary of his time or

[35:50] what Legions of critics have called him

[35:53] a pretentious windbag no other

[35:54] well-known literary critic elicits the

[35:56] kind of Praise or vitriol and not in

[35:58] equal measure as does Herold Bloom the

[36:00] attacks against Bloom and his theories

[36:02] come on multiple fronts first is that

[36:04] bloom is a conservative defender of the

[36:06] western Cannon a cannon that is

[36:08] dominated by white men in a strict

[36:10] lineage from John Milton to Wallace

[36:12] Stevens with little eye for anything

[36:14] else that exists outside of that like of

[36:17] course Bloom would tend to think that

[36:19] it's important that poems are in

[36:21] conversation with one another when he

[36:22] only elevates the poems that were in

[36:25] conversation with one another Bloom's

[36:27] folus is not ideologically neutral

[36:29] regardless of what he'd like us to think

[36:32] in his preface to the second edition of

[36:33] the anxiety of influence Bloom rails

[36:36] against other forms of literary

[36:37] criticism calling them the schools of

[36:40] resentment basically poetry was really

[36:42] freaking awesome before all of these

[36:44] damn feminists and woke social justice

[36:46] Warriors came along and ruined it with

[36:48] their postmodern neo-marxist Hokum when

[36:50] Bloom tells us that after 40 Years of

[36:52] teaching in the academy he now finds

[36:54] himself surrounded by professors of

[36:56] hipop by clone of galic Germanic Theory

[36:59] by ideologues of gender and the various

[37:01] sexual Persuasions by multiculturalists

[37:04] unlimited and that none of these Renters

[37:06] of the aesthetic value of literature are

[37:08] going to go away it is easy to forget

[37:10] that he is talking about literature and

[37:12] not the Ebola virus [ __ ] got him

[37:16] though Bloom branded his opponents with

[37:17] the word resentment there is a great

[37:19] deal of projection going on because

[37:22] nobody resented quite like Bloom he

[37:24] resented the way that all of these other

[37:26] forms of criticism didn't Focus on the

[37:27] text itself in his mind but that they

[37:30] tried to put the text into historical or

[37:32] social or political contexts the anxiety

[37:35] of influence is stop putting politics in

[37:37] Star Wars the book Bloom's writing is an

[37:40] attempt to turn back the clock on all of

[37:42] these other schools of criticism

[37:44] scaffolding that other critics could use

[37:46] to focus solely on aesthetic

[37:47] appreciation of poetry the connections

[37:50] between poets Bloom took the need to

[37:52] create his own system to a comical

[37:54] degree in his disagreements with poet

[37:57] John Ashbury John Ashbury was a

[37:59] contemporary of Bloom's and Bloom helped

[38:01] raise ashbury's profile but Bloom and

[38:03] Ashbury disagreed immensely over

[38:04] ashbury's own place in literary

[38:06] tradition Bloom said that Ashbury who is

[38:09] not likely to be pleased with this

[38:10] observation is at his best when he dares

[38:13] to write most directly in the idiom of

[38:15] Stevens whereas Ashbury argued broadly

[38:17] against big theories that explain the

[38:19] universe as a way to understand poetry

[38:21] and that the very existence of those

[38:23] kinds of Frameworks can be limiting

[38:24] forcing poets to write in ways they

[38:26] think will get critical attention in

[38:27] response Bloom echoed something like the

[38:29] death of the author arguing that poets

[38:31] don't really know themselves and that it

[38:33] takes a Critic to clarify things and

[38:35] while that may have an element of Truth

[38:37] it doesn't mean Bloom specifically is

[38:39] right about Ashbury all of that is to

[38:41] say not everyone agrees with this strict

[38:43] list of poets passing the torch of

[38:45] influence including poets that are on

[38:47] the list there are plenty of criticisms

[38:49] to be had of both Bloom and his system

[38:51] so perhaps the question to ask isn't is

[38:54] this right but where is it useful I have

[38:57] two in aners Bloom developed this system

[38:59] to analyze what he saw as some of the

[39:00] most Sublime works of art ever created

[39:03] so I think it would upset him immensely

[39:04] to apply it to capitalist hogwash but

[39:07] unfortunately that's where I think it's

[39:09] best applied capitalist incentives

[39:10] demand that things be produced and

[39:12] reproduced and reproduced and repackaged

[39:14] and remade and resold and rehashed

[39:16] Thrones clones are just one small part

[39:19] of the wider Trend pushing creatives

[39:20] towards a homogenized media landscape

[39:23] that is only set to become even more

[39:25] homogenized with the rise of AI leave it

[39:27] to the machines and the spreadsheets and

[39:28] they have no qualms about cloning the

[39:30] last big thing to make the next big

[39:32] thing it's by feeling the anxiety of

[39:34] influence that artists can push back

[39:36] against those demands and maybe Bloom's

[39:37] six categories can be Pathways to

[39:39] originality for someone out there maybe

[39:41] they can be that for me I've got to be

[39:43] careful I think of accusing other

[39:45] projects of unoriginality while making a

[39:48] video essay here on youtube.com I didn't

[39:51] invent this form and while I'm immensely

[39:53] proud of my videos I don't think they've

[39:55] broken the mold either so I'm taking

[39:58] this subject as a moment for reflection

[40:00] on my own creative shortcomings because

[40:02] I think I've still got a lot to say here

[40:04] but I want to start doing it in a way

[40:05] that pushes the boundaries what exactly

[40:07] that means I don't know yet but I hope

[40:09] you'll stick around with me and find out

[40:11] I've forgotten something though we've

[40:13] only gone over five of Bloom six

[40:15] categories we've still got to talk

[40:26] about this one one's the most

[40:27] interesting of Bloom's types of

[40:29] revisions and also the most plainly

[40:31] absurd this is where the poet truly

[40:33] overcomes the anxiety of influence no

[40:36] longer will they struggle with the

[40:37] precursor try to subvert them disparage

[40:40] them in this final step the poet invites

[40:43] comparisons once more between their work

[40:45] and the work that influenced them and is

[40:47] finally judged the greater then a weird

[40:50] thing happens we begin to interpret the

[40:53] influence non- chronologically we read

[40:55] the precursor as if they were influenced

[40:57] by their own successors we read tolken

[41:00] as if he was inspired by Martin should

[41:02] that be your goal as a creative I don't

[41:05] know it feels too Petty too down in the

[41:06] weeds why are you grappling with ghosts

[41:09] truly escaping the anxiety of influence

[41:12] would mean releasing the need for this

[41:13] kind of validation from critics an

[41:16] audience or history accepting the

[41:18] inevitability of influence without

[41:20] transforming it into a death match make

[41:22] art for its own sake and the anxiety

[41:24] will pass

[41:28] so that's enough about the anxiety of

[41:30] influence it's time to talk about the

[41:32] anxiety of

[41:34] influencers aka me videos like this take

[41:37] an enormous amount of time and effort

[41:40] and while I love making these videos it

[41:42] just is the reality they take so much

[41:44] time and work uh so if you've enjoyed

[41:47] what you've seen if you got some use out

[41:48] of it then I hope you'll consider

[41:50] supporting this channel on patreon every

[41:53] pledge goes a long way to helping me

[41:55] make these videos not only faster but I

[41:57] think more interesting and weirder and

[42:00] about you know maybe more obscure topics

[42:03] could really use your help there and not

[42:05] only will you be helping me by

[42:07] supporting the channel but there's also

[42:08] a bunch of patreon exclusive stuff over

[42:12] there so while I've been posting to

[42:14] YouTube less and less I've been posting

[42:15] to patreon more and more I feel that

[42:18] it's just a better place for me to post

[42:20] just some quick thoughts on things so I

[42:23] have a bunch of movie review type videos

[42:25] over there I've got a whole video on the

[42:28] second season of foundation which is a

[42:30] bit of a sequel to a video I made a

[42:32] couple years ago we got reviews of Dune

[42:34] in Civil War and Deadpool and Wolverine

[42:37] it's been fun go check it out uh other

[42:39] than that uh hope you're having a nice

[42:40] day and keep writing everyone