(OC) AI 'art' and the future

[u/SylvieXX]

Could be controversial but I'm just gonna say it... I don't like AI... and for me it was never about it not looking good. There are obviously more factors to this whole thing, like about people losing jobs, about how the whole thing is just stealing, and everything like that but I'm just focusing on one fundamental aspect that I think about a lot... I just wanted to draw what I feel...! 🥲🥲 Sorry about the cringe but I actually live for cringe 💖

[u/opinionate_rooster]

It is part of the art. And honestly, it is not that special. There were many survivors of the first world war at the time. Do you know who also survived a war?

No, no, not invoking the Godwin's Law. I am talking about Pablo Picasso. His painting, Guernica, evokes a far more powerful message than any of Tolkien's works.

I mean, so many Tolkien fans are gushing about masses of men and beasts (or is it the same thing?) throwing themselves at each other. Almost like Tolkien didn't convey the horrors of the war properly - nor is it apparent if he even intended to.

Take the author out of the picture. Guernica still tells the same gruesome story. Lord of the Rings? You only think the book conveys the author's war experience because of your knowledge of Tolkien's circumstances. If you take Tolkien out of the story, suddenly that sympathy is gone. It is just a fantasy story with lots of violence. There is no feeling in it.

That is what the author bias means. Your knowledge of the author taints your perception of their piece.

[u/LoopDeLoop0 → u/opinionate_rooster]

Have you read Lord of the Rings?

[u/opinionate_rooster → u/LoopDeLoop0]

Yes. But there is no way to verify that, is there? Everyone can pretend to have read the books by quoting Tom Bombadil. What is the purpose of the question? To put my perception of Lord of the Rings under scrutiny?

[u/LoopDeLoop0 → u/opinionate_rooster]

I am putting your perception of Lord of the Rings under scrutiny, actually, because it seems to be flawed and incomplete. The books aren’t trying to convey the horrors of war, they’re trying to convey anxiety about industrialism, the power friendship born of adversity, the necessity of action in the face of conflict, they’re trying to say that even after the war is finished, it follows you home, and leaves you irrevocably different to the way you were. All of those could be interpreted from the text without knowing a lick of who Tolkien was or what he lived through.

You’re pitting two artists with extremely different goals against one another, then ignoring basically any value out of one of their work, in order to discredit the idea of analysis that includes any kind of context about when, where, or by whom artwork was created. It’s a genuinely terrible opinion.

[u/opinionate_rooster → u/LoopDeLoop0]

That's the thing about art - everyone has own interpretation of it and it will be very difficult for you to change my interpretation of it.

You support its anti-war messaging, but the glorification of epic battles (Helms' Deep, Pelennor Fields etc.) is paradoxical. Admittedly, the film adaptation didn't help much in that regard; these films reinforced the glorification of battle, war and heroes.

To me, LotR always felt distant, detached from the reality of the war. I still claim that the anti-war messaging is only because of the author bias - because the author fought in WW1, the LotR must therefore convey anti-war message.

I've read little to support that statement and much in opposition.

But then again, everybody develops their own interpretation.

[u/Martial-Lord → u/opinionate_rooster]

You support its anti-war messaging, but the glorification of epic battles (Helms' Deep, Pelennor Fields etc.) is paradoxical.

Violence against oppression and slavery is glorious and a moral good, even if it would preferably avoided. Tolkien does decry the horrors of war, but unlike the braindead pacifist takes of his generation, he acknowledges that evil is only surmounted through violence. That's still an anti-war message, but it rightfully glorifies the martyrs of freedom and calls to arms against the forces of tyranny.