In the gap between Respectable and Romantic Realism was C.S. Lewis. The Narnia books are quite racy, despite the Christian themes. Lucy befriends a Faun in the first book. Look up what Fauns were in actual Greek mythology. Prince Caspian ends with a celebration inspired by The Bacchae. There's quite a bit of nudity in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. A Horse and His Boy depicts life as a well under 18 year old harem girl. Children drink wine and kill their enemies in the Narnia books.
Lewis laid out his ethics of Ethical Hedonism more explicitly in his space trilogy, especially the second two books. Note his descriptions of eating by instinct in Perelandra. Natural foods can be stupendously delicious raw when needed and disgusting when over eaten. (I tried such a diet many years ago, and had some very interesting results: fast fat loss, rapid healing, bright dreams, Total Consciousness in 11 seconds... But the array of natural enough foods in most stores is no enough for such a diet to be sustainable.)
Then read That Hideous Strength. The villains resemble those in Atlas Shrugged greatly. But the heroes are very different. (And C.S. Lewis' sex scenes are far more pleasant.)
> Lucy befriends a Faun in the first book. Look up what Fauns were in actual Greek mythology. Prince Caspian ends with a celebration inspired by The Bacchae.
Except Mr. Tumnus is a completely respectable faun with an umbrella who lives in a cave that suspiciously resembles a respectable middle class house eating respectable middle class British foods, and his being a faun is completely irrelevant to anything besides being an exotic bit of color. Ok, his being a "magically creature" keeps the reader from asking immersion-breaking questions like whether Mr. Tumnus bought the food at a Narnian grocery store.
I agree with you - although as you can tell from my image that I take (Orthodox) Christianity seriously - that the most effective way to motivate men is not respectable realism and just being against dysphoric realism is no framework at all.
I will make one observation though: the difference between romantic and transgressive realism is not so much in form but content and intention.
They both have scantily clad women of great beauty. Both have muscular strong men. Both have no issue with sexual themes. Etc.
However, one is such for its own sake and in opposition to respectable realism to tear it down leading the masses to replacing respectable with dysphoric realism. (In other words that was plan).
Whereas, romantic (as I understand it) uses a moderated form of transgressive realism to achieve the goals and carry on the themes of respectable realism.
If that is the case then it’s doing a good job. Keeping it within that definition though is difficult because it is very easy in my opinion to slide into transgressive realism. After which you can fall into the trap which led to dysphoric realism.
In short, vigilance is required. Maybe suggest a code? Even if it is transgressed from time to time at least people will know when it is.
TY for the kind words. I think you’ve summarized the opportunity and the danger of romantic realism. While I cannot speak for other romantic realists, I agree with your assessment — intent matters. In Star-Spangled Squadron, for instance, I intentionally offered titillation in the outrageous Stiletto - but I also intentionally showed the contrast between her ending and American Eagle’s ending. It was intended to make it clear that while her path might lead to short-term fun, Eagle’s path led to a more meaningful life. Similarly, Eagle’s loyalty to his wife was intended to be all the more meaningful because he could have had Stiletto and chose not to.
I liked the contrast too. I did not know that you did comics, I'll check them out. Eagle reminded me of how Superman used to be, before he was corrupted and destroyed by the woke commies. I grew up reading DC and Marvel comics, and you couldn't pay me enough to read them now. I wouldn't touch them if you gave them to me for free.
Thank you for making comics that take me back to when I was young.
You are most welcome. The fall of DC and Marvel was traumatic for Gen X nerds like myself. We grew up when their products had not yet turned into the trash of today, so we had to watch our heroes and heroines be vandalized by the woke commies.
My brother in Xness, I share your pain. Things were awesome and we’ve watched in real-time as they were ruined. It felt like conquest by a foreign power.
Indeed, we were the last generation to see the West the way it used to be before the woke mind virus took over. The younger people never even had that chance and many do not even know what was taken from them.
I do not know which is worse: to be us and to have had and to lose, or to be the younger people and to never have had at all.
I would go further and argue that most of the Romantic Era art that we now think of as archetypically romantic was in fact transgressive in intent back in its day.
Why not both? I love Frazetta and Rockwell. These are my guiding lights in my own art, if I had to pick just two (two is asking a lot, but I refuse to pick just one). Both are appropriate in their own places, and inappropriate in others.
For normies, Rockwell. We might not get back to that life any time soon, but we'll never reach it if we don't aim toward it.
For weirdos, Frazetta. Because we will always exist. The tragedy of our age is that weirdos are encouraged to reach lower instead of higher than the normies. It's our place to see beyond their picture-perfect world, but also to be discerning in what we bring back from it and how we engage with it.
I love them both. If I can do a little Rockwell without being sneered at because I do a little Frazetta, or vice versa, I'd be happy. Assuming of course I ever reach their level of skill, haha.
Normalcy is where creative people go to die. All creative people must reject normalcy to some degree. It's your choice as to whether you use your creativity in pro-life, pro-human pursuits, or anti-life, anti-human pursuits. The jobs, hobbies, and lives that most people have would bore me to tears or drive me insane. For example, I find alligator wrestling infinitely more appealing than golf. Societal judgement and ostricization is the price we pay for too much thinking outside the box.
Totally agree. The bizarre leftist attempt to normalize weirdness is the death of art and the death of normalcy, to the detriment of everyone involved.
Unfortunately, the woke commies will never stop. They will continue until bestiality, necrophelia, and cannibalism are all normalized. No taboo will be left whatsoever.
People think I am exaggerating when I say what I said above, but those people are in deep denial. It's the slipper slope, with a bunch of razor-sharp, jagged rocks waiting for them at the bottom.
Disagree. That's decades of transgressive propaganda talking.
Many classic movies and comics were created under the code.
Tolkien also is completely respectable. This is what G.R.R. Martin was clumsily trying to get at with his much mocked complaint about "tax policy". I don't think there is a single insistence of adultery anywhere in the legendarium, and the single instance of widower remarriage might as well be the elves' original sin for how nearly everything bad that happens afterwards is a result of that.
IMO Tolkien was a romantic realist, not a respectable realist. His writing wasn't considered respectable in its day and the reviews were quite harsh on the professor. I think that's why he took so many pains to explain his aesthetic philosophy.
I think you're seeing this from the debased modern angle where all abnormal is just normalized degeneracy.
Rockwell's paintings are full of the abnormal, even as they depict wholesome, everyday events, because they're idealized. They take what is extraordinary about some particular moment, or the common essence across many individual experiences of that moment, and present them in a hyperreal form. Nobody has ever actually had that exact, perfectly arranged, perfectly lit version of that moment, but everybody instantly identifies with it.
You don't gain the perspective it takes to see the essence of the moment by living an ordinary life, experiencing that just once in one context. Hell you don't normally become an artist by living an ordinary life. You choose the safe reliable thing that provides for your family.
It doesn't mean you have to be a degenerate. But you have to take risks, walk the road less traveled, be confronted with things that ordinary people wouldn't want their children to have to experience. You see the world in sharper contrast. Which side of that contrast you choose to bring out in your art is up to you.
Goodness, I miss the weirdos from a few decades past. By the time I was old enough to enjoy adult weirdoness, it was already beginning to slide into the moral depravity of sloth and cowardice. These days whenever I'm tempted, she's always wearing a religious symbol dedicated to the ugliest parts of Saturn. It's like a bear trap on a glittering hot stove I desperately want to burn myself on. Not worth losing a hand over though.
Another Aesthetic is Nihilist Realism. The basic message here is that life is meaningless, it sucks and then you die. This was popular in the wake of WWI and the then meaning crisis brought about by new unsettling discoveries in science.
Examples include "All Quite on the Western From", most things by Poe or Lovecraft, "Gormenghast".
There are also alt-right authors who use this archetype.
I don't like the nihilist crap. It takes people down the road to Lucifer as nothing has any meaning whatsoever. So do whatever you want, which begins the walk down Lucifer's path.
I am a romantic for romantic realism! As an artist, it is what appeals to me. As a woman, I also like scantily clad barbarian men and woman. Bring Conan back! Lol
Robert E. Howard was a great storyteller, but Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, and John Buscema brought Conan to life. The art was powerful and violent, but pulsing with vitality. Most art today can't match this, because I think that if you've never felt and relished that vitality, you can't depict it. Pussies can't create believable heroes, or paint them, or play them on screen.
True, and the stories and art of Conan made the boys who read them want to be like Conan. It took them out of their daily life and put them into a heroic world where they could be a hero like Conan, and get the scantily clad, beautiful woman.
I never saw the problem with the conan type men and women. It wasn't sexually explicit, but it did idealize the male and female forms. And that appeals to people more than seeing somebody who was obese, and covered in ugly tattoos.
I like how the realism in your comics extends to the authentic voices and cohesive dialogue, and realistic portrayal of personal choices and reactions. It's very punchy and engaging and conveys a lot with very few words.
Your taxonomy reminded me of Helen Fisher's temperament research. There might be a neurochemical cause behind comic preferences.
Respectable: serotonin
Transgressive: dopamine/adrenaline
Romantic: dopamine/testosterone
Dystrophic: estrogen, cognitive dysfunction
Tough-minded, strategic thinking is a trait of testosterone. The globalists know this and are trying to eliminate raw eggs with their bird flu. But they are too late. The revolution will come and Papyrus will be overthrown. From shore to shore, the shout will be heard: "All hail Herculanum!" And the joyous cries of women were heard through the night.
TY very much, that’s really high praise. I wasn’t aware of Helen Fisher’s temperament research but now that I know of it, I think I agree with your analysis entirely, especially re: testosterone. Thanks for sharing that!
A most interesting essay, well done. You are forgiven the gratuitous self promotion ;-)
Am I the only one convinced the theorized Dystrophic Code is both real and being used with the conscious purpose of destroying Western civilization/mankind? The Satanic inversion of Christian values now evident in 'popular culture' is trending towards the absolute level. As Vox Day has observed, Hollywood's celebrations of the Evil, Ugly and False are unprofitable. Luciferian lust for money is not driving this and the Ahrimanic rules are surely being set by an underlying Sorathic impulse or design.
Sade is mainstream. So far we are required to celebrate only The 30 days of Sodom (the transvaluation of the word "pride" from deadly sin to virtue). I fully expect this will eventually be extended to a full 365 day festival. There exists corruption even within the alphabetization of deviance. Pornography is “gay” (the trailblazer for our vocabulary’s inversion) or “straight” and transgender individuals now seamlessly mixed with both (so I am told).
Someone above mentioned C. S. Lewis and there seems no doubt the Abolition of Man is to be brought about by spiritual means as well as physical ones. Signs of the latter part of the scheme are the transhumanism promoted by the WEF and having ownership of our immune systems transferred to Big Pharma - via their mRNA treatments (a transvaluation of the word "vaccine", which was hitherto associated with goodness). Science itself is becoming the Antichrist and demons like Yuval Harari tell us the technological future is so bright that 90% of humanity will simply not be useful (i.e. not required). Life itself has been transvalued into a sinful activity which harms the sacred environment. Go forth and depopulate.
With hindsight, representative realism and the promotion of the plain & ordinary was simply a stepping stone sold to us as a moderating of the idealized aesthetic. Dystrophic Realism was the goal and celebration of the aberrant, deviant and ugly. Is there a stage beyond this where we will be encouraged to pursue an unattainable aesthetic in this direction - Dystrophic Idealism? I fear so.
Our world is run by a Satanic cult Hell bent on our destruction. This is a most inconvenient truth and one I personally first saw hints of in a disturbing but very credible interview with a shadow banker to the super elite, back in the late 2010’s. It’s not for the faint of heart and has of course been banned by the Don’t be evil (Leave that to us) gang:
I think the Dystrophic Code is real. Whether I have fully and completely encapsulated it is doubtful, but that something like that it is real, I have no doubt. I also agree with your and JD Sauvage's notion that respectable realism is itself subversive of the romantic aesthetic by setting us on the path to plain and ordinary.
Fascinating article. I never understood the aesthetics of the time I grew up in, but this helped educate me.
The romantic realism option also makes the most sense to me going forward. We are hell and gone from respectable realism, and I don't see us getting back to it any time soon.
It is for us romantics to guard our respectable counterparts from the dystrophic masses that would see their world shattered. They choose a life where evil is vanquished quickly for their vigilant efforts, whereas we in the trenches keep their nightmares at bay, providing the buffer they need so that they can raise pure families away from the warfare. It is for their peace we choose to fight our war. We who have tasted evil and been reconciled to the Father are far more comfortable fighting than working a field. Whether we get to share in their bounty requires we secure them at our own peril. May God have mercy on us all.
Even Conan is a partially respectably cleaned up version of a barbarian. Despite his supposed characterization as a "savage barbarian", notice how we never see him rape anyone or kill anyone who doesn't deserve it.
I would argue that "respectable realism" was actually itself subversive of the earlier romantic aesthetic tradition seen in classical paintings, literature, plays, and opera.
I'm a huge fan of Romantic Realism. I like Conan and the like. I actually believe that Romantic Realism is closer to traditional Western art than Respectable Realism. Although I think it has a place in the aesthetic landscape, when one looks at western art, outside of religious motifs, most artists were less about Respectability and more about Romantic idealism. Just look at the Sistine Chapel! I feel more at home, as an art lover, with Romantic Idealism than Realistic Idealism (not to mention the other two, which are complete aberrations).
I also think that the whole "trad-life" thing that many people in the right are going for is rather corny.
Your essays are a pleasure to read, particularly when they flesh out those dim intuitions of how the present is changing from near past. I told my wife recently that the aesthetic spirit of modern pop culture was essentially "1950s America, except with black people playing the roles", I'm glad to see such ruminations elaborated. It reminds me of growing up reading the old glories of liberal longform journalism before the flood of vulgarity overwhelmed them all. One idea - perhaps a different label would fit better than "dystrophic realism", what about "bureaucratic idealism", as it gets to the heart of the shallow, heartless race-swapping that passes for "art."
Also, America has had an authentic Romantic art movement which has produced sublime and popular paintings - the Hudson River Valley School. Compared with other strains of Romantic art, the Hudson River Valley aesthetic is less pagan and more Christian -- see Thomas Cole's "The Picnic" as an example. The culture is saturated in images of debauched flesh, so it may be more prudent to navigate to the sublime and otherworldly with vessels that aren't the female body (unless it is the Madonna, our enemies hate Her).
I think your ruminations were spot on. I'm not familiar with the Hudson River Valley School (which is embarrassing, because I went to a school on the Hudson River...) so I shall investigate on your recommendation!
Great article, really like your comics, can I ask how you got started with your creative business? Struggling writer and artist here and love your work here!
It was a long strange path. I started a dot-com in 2000, failed; tried again in 2001, half-succeeded, finally launched The Escapist in 2005 and did well. Sold the Escapist in 2012, stayed on working in media & entertainment at Defy Media in LA until 2016, got cancelled and become unemployable in LA in 2017, so I decided to just do my own thing. Then took me 6 years full time to get to the point of earning a real wage.
Impressive, that’s really cool! I’m gonna have to take some notes for what to do. Seems you’ve done a lot of things right and defied the odds again and again my good sir.
Also, where can I buy your comics? I like the philosophical contrast between the married hero and non-married anti-heroine. You juxtapose the Superman vs Punisher argument there pretty well.
In the gap between Respectable and Romantic Realism was C.S. Lewis. The Narnia books are quite racy, despite the Christian themes. Lucy befriends a Faun in the first book. Look up what Fauns were in actual Greek mythology. Prince Caspian ends with a celebration inspired by The Bacchae. There's quite a bit of nudity in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. A Horse and His Boy depicts life as a well under 18 year old harem girl. Children drink wine and kill their enemies in the Narnia books.
Lewis laid out his ethics of Ethical Hedonism more explicitly in his space trilogy, especially the second two books. Note his descriptions of eating by instinct in Perelandra. Natural foods can be stupendously delicious raw when needed and disgusting when over eaten. (I tried such a diet many years ago, and had some very interesting results: fast fat loss, rapid healing, bright dreams, Total Consciousness in 11 seconds... But the array of natural enough foods in most stores is no enough for such a diet to be sustainable.)
Then read That Hideous Strength. The villains resemble those in Atlas Shrugged greatly. But the heroes are very different. (And C.S. Lewis' sex scenes are far more pleasant.)
I already liked C.S. Lewis, you didn’t have to sell me on him! :-)
> Lucy befriends a Faun in the first book. Look up what Fauns were in actual Greek mythology. Prince Caspian ends with a celebration inspired by The Bacchae.
Except Mr. Tumnus is a completely respectable faun with an umbrella who lives in a cave that suspiciously resembles a respectable middle class house eating respectable middle class British foods, and his being a faun is completely irrelevant to anything besides being an exotic bit of color. Ok, his being a "magically creature" keeps the reader from asking immersion-breaking questions like whether Mr. Tumnus bought the food at a Narnian grocery store.
Same with the Bacchae.
People mistake me for being respectable, too.
I suspect many around here are taken as more “respectable” or “nicer” than they are
Love your writing!
I agree with you - although as you can tell from my image that I take (Orthodox) Christianity seriously - that the most effective way to motivate men is not respectable realism and just being against dysphoric realism is no framework at all.
I will make one observation though: the difference between romantic and transgressive realism is not so much in form but content and intention.
They both have scantily clad women of great beauty. Both have muscular strong men. Both have no issue with sexual themes. Etc.
However, one is such for its own sake and in opposition to respectable realism to tear it down leading the masses to replacing respectable with dysphoric realism. (In other words that was plan).
Whereas, romantic (as I understand it) uses a moderated form of transgressive realism to achieve the goals and carry on the themes of respectable realism.
If that is the case then it’s doing a good job. Keeping it within that definition though is difficult because it is very easy in my opinion to slide into transgressive realism. After which you can fall into the trap which led to dysphoric realism.
In short, vigilance is required. Maybe suggest a code? Even if it is transgressed from time to time at least people will know when it is.
TY for the kind words. I think you’ve summarized the opportunity and the danger of romantic realism. While I cannot speak for other romantic realists, I agree with your assessment — intent matters. In Star-Spangled Squadron, for instance, I intentionally offered titillation in the outrageous Stiletto - but I also intentionally showed the contrast between her ending and American Eagle’s ending. It was intended to make it clear that while her path might lead to short-term fun, Eagle’s path led to a more meaningful life. Similarly, Eagle’s loyalty to his wife was intended to be all the more meaningful because he could have had Stiletto and chose not to.
I liked the contrast too. I did not know that you did comics, I'll check them out. Eagle reminded me of how Superman used to be, before he was corrupted and destroyed by the woke commies. I grew up reading DC and Marvel comics, and you couldn't pay me enough to read them now. I wouldn't touch them if you gave them to me for free.
Thank you for making comics that take me back to when I was young.
That was exactly what I hoped to do! Thanks for the kind words.
You are most welcome. The fall of DC and Marvel was traumatic for Gen X nerds like myself. We grew up when their products had not yet turned into the trash of today, so we had to watch our heroes and heroines be vandalized by the woke commies.
My brother in Xness, I share your pain. Things were awesome and we’ve watched in real-time as they were ruined. It felt like conquest by a foreign power.
Indeed, we were the last generation to see the West the way it used to be before the woke mind virus took over. The younger people never even had that chance and many do not even know what was taken from them.
I do not know which is worse: to be us and to have had and to lose, or to be the younger people and to never have had at all.
I would go further and argue that most of the Romantic Era art that we now think of as archetypically romantic was in fact transgressive in intent back in its day.
Why not both? I love Frazetta and Rockwell. These are my guiding lights in my own art, if I had to pick just two (two is asking a lot, but I refuse to pick just one). Both are appropriate in their own places, and inappropriate in others.
For normies, Rockwell. We might not get back to that life any time soon, but we'll never reach it if we don't aim toward it.
For weirdos, Frazetta. Because we will always exist. The tragedy of our age is that weirdos are encouraged to reach lower instead of higher than the normies. It's our place to see beyond their picture-perfect world, but also to be discerning in what we bring back from it and how we engage with it.
I myself am a weirdo who is called far more by Frazetta than Rockwell. I do love Snoopy though...
I love them both. If I can do a little Rockwell without being sneered at because I do a little Frazetta, or vice versa, I'd be happy. Assuming of course I ever reach their level of skill, haha.
I don't sneer at either, but obviously many people do! Cheers.
Normalcy is where creative people go to die. All creative people must reject normalcy to some degree. It's your choice as to whether you use your creativity in pro-life, pro-human pursuits, or anti-life, anti-human pursuits. The jobs, hobbies, and lives that most people have would bore me to tears or drive me insane. For example, I find alligator wrestling infinitely more appealing than golf. Societal judgement and ostricization is the price we pay for too much thinking outside the box.
100%. Well said.
Totally agree. The bizarre leftist attempt to normalize weirdness is the death of art and the death of normalcy, to the detriment of everyone involved.
Unfortunately, the woke commies will never stop. They will continue until bestiality, necrophelia, and cannibalism are all normalized. No taboo will be left whatsoever.
Exactly. There is no logical end point ot the leftist spiral.
People think I am exaggerating when I say what I said above, but those people are in deep denial. It's the slipper slope, with a bunch of razor-sharp, jagged rocks waiting for them at the bottom.
Nature will run its course.
> Normalcy is where creative people go to die.
Disagree. That's decades of transgressive propaganda talking.
Many classic movies and comics were created under the code.
Tolkien also is completely respectable. This is what G.R.R. Martin was clumsily trying to get at with his much mocked complaint about "tax policy". I don't think there is a single insistence of adultery anywhere in the legendarium, and the single instance of widower remarriage might as well be the elves' original sin for how nearly everything bad that happens afterwards is a result of that.
IMO Tolkien was a romantic realist, not a respectable realist. His writing wasn't considered respectable in its day and the reviews were quite harsh on the professor. I think that's why he took so many pains to explain his aesthetic philosophy.
I think you're seeing this from the debased modern angle where all abnormal is just normalized degeneracy.
Rockwell's paintings are full of the abnormal, even as they depict wholesome, everyday events, because they're idealized. They take what is extraordinary about some particular moment, or the common essence across many individual experiences of that moment, and present them in a hyperreal form. Nobody has ever actually had that exact, perfectly arranged, perfectly lit version of that moment, but everybody instantly identifies with it.
You don't gain the perspective it takes to see the essence of the moment by living an ordinary life, experiencing that just once in one context. Hell you don't normally become an artist by living an ordinary life. You choose the safe reliable thing that provides for your family.
It doesn't mean you have to be a degenerate. But you have to take risks, walk the road less traveled, be confronted with things that ordinary people wouldn't want their children to have to experience. You see the world in sharper contrast. Which side of that contrast you choose to bring out in your art is up to you.
Amen.
Goodness, I miss the weirdos from a few decades past. By the time I was old enough to enjoy adult weirdoness, it was already beginning to slide into the moral depravity of sloth and cowardice. These days whenever I'm tempted, she's always wearing a religious symbol dedicated to the ugliest parts of Saturn. It's like a bear trap on a glittering hot stove I desperately want to burn myself on. Not worth losing a hand over though.
Another Aesthetic is Nihilist Realism. The basic message here is that life is meaningless, it sucks and then you die. This was popular in the wake of WWI and the then meaning crisis brought about by new unsettling discoveries in science.
Examples include "All Quite on the Western From", most things by Poe or Lovecraft, "Gormenghast".
There are also alt-right authors who use this archetype.
Oh, good point. Strong agree.
Frankly given the branding of your substack, I'm surprised you missed that one. May need to take away your woe license.
I pledge to allow TWO vultures to eat my face tomorrow to redeem myself for this error.
I don't like the nihilist crap. It takes people down the road to Lucifer as nothing has any meaning whatsoever. So do whatever you want, which begins the walk down Lucifer's path.
I am a romantic for romantic realism! As an artist, it is what appeals to me. As a woman, I also like scantily clad barbarian men and woman. Bring Conan back! Lol
Amen!
Robert E. Howard was a great storyteller, but Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, and John Buscema brought Conan to life. The art was powerful and violent, but pulsing with vitality. Most art today can't match this, because I think that if you've never felt and relished that vitality, you can't depict it. Pussies can't create believable heroes, or paint them, or play them on screen.
True, and the stories and art of Conan made the boys who read them want to be like Conan. It took them out of their daily life and put them into a heroic world where they could be a hero like Conan, and get the scantily clad, beautiful woman.
I never saw the problem with the conan type men and women. It wasn't sexually explicit, but it did idealize the male and female forms. And that appeals to people more than seeing somebody who was obese, and covered in ugly tattoos.
They do rock, I miss Conan being front and centre and all over the place!
He’s a fake image of a man who has no understanding of Women
What do you mean by fake? Big muscles? Fighting prowess? Which understanding of women are you referring to?
Something else to consider is who is creating.
https://jdanielsawyer.substack.com/p/unleashing-mystery-and-madness
Excellent article!
I like how the realism in your comics extends to the authentic voices and cohesive dialogue, and realistic portrayal of personal choices and reactions. It's very punchy and engaging and conveys a lot with very few words.
Your taxonomy reminded me of Helen Fisher's temperament research. There might be a neurochemical cause behind comic preferences.
Respectable: serotonin
Transgressive: dopamine/adrenaline
Romantic: dopamine/testosterone
Dystrophic: estrogen, cognitive dysfunction
Tough-minded, strategic thinking is a trait of testosterone. The globalists know this and are trying to eliminate raw eggs with their bird flu. But they are too late. The revolution will come and Papyrus will be overthrown. From shore to shore, the shout will be heard: "All hail Herculanum!" And the joyous cries of women were heard through the night.
TY very much, that’s really high praise. I wasn’t aware of Helen Fisher’s temperament research but now that I know of it, I think I agree with your analysis entirely, especially re: testosterone. Thanks for sharing that!
My pleasure sir.
A most interesting essay, well done. You are forgiven the gratuitous self promotion ;-)
Am I the only one convinced the theorized Dystrophic Code is both real and being used with the conscious purpose of destroying Western civilization/mankind? The Satanic inversion of Christian values now evident in 'popular culture' is trending towards the absolute level. As Vox Day has observed, Hollywood's celebrations of the Evil, Ugly and False are unprofitable. Luciferian lust for money is not driving this and the Ahrimanic rules are surely being set by an underlying Sorathic impulse or design.
Sade is mainstream. So far we are required to celebrate only The 30 days of Sodom (the transvaluation of the word "pride" from deadly sin to virtue). I fully expect this will eventually be extended to a full 365 day festival. There exists corruption even within the alphabetization of deviance. Pornography is “gay” (the trailblazer for our vocabulary’s inversion) or “straight” and transgender individuals now seamlessly mixed with both (so I am told).
Someone above mentioned C. S. Lewis and there seems no doubt the Abolition of Man is to be brought about by spiritual means as well as physical ones. Signs of the latter part of the scheme are the transhumanism promoted by the WEF and having ownership of our immune systems transferred to Big Pharma - via their mRNA treatments (a transvaluation of the word "vaccine", which was hitherto associated with goodness). Science itself is becoming the Antichrist and demons like Yuval Harari tell us the technological future is so bright that 90% of humanity will simply not be useful (i.e. not required). Life itself has been transvalued into a sinful activity which harms the sacred environment. Go forth and depopulate.
With hindsight, representative realism and the promotion of the plain & ordinary was simply a stepping stone sold to us as a moderating of the idealized aesthetic. Dystrophic Realism was the goal and celebration of the aberrant, deviant and ugly. Is there a stage beyond this where we will be encouraged to pursue an unattainable aesthetic in this direction - Dystrophic Idealism? I fear so.
Our world is run by a Satanic cult Hell bent on our destruction. This is a most inconvenient truth and one I personally first saw hints of in a disturbing but very credible interview with a shadow banker to the super elite, back in the late 2010’s. It’s not for the faint of heart and has of course been banned by the Don’t be evil (Leave that to us) gang:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200105230448/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09BUifUK-Jg
Also, welcome fellow Conan enthusiast!
I think the Dystrophic Code is real. Whether I have fully and completely encapsulated it is doubtful, but that something like that it is real, I have no doubt. I also agree with your and JD Sauvage's notion that respectable realism is itself subversive of the romantic aesthetic by setting us on the path to plain and ordinary.
Fascinating article. I never understood the aesthetics of the time I grew up in, but this helped educate me.
The romantic realism option also makes the most sense to me going forward. We are hell and gone from respectable realism, and I don't see us getting back to it any time soon.
It is for us romantics to guard our respectable counterparts from the dystrophic masses that would see their world shattered. They choose a life where evil is vanquished quickly for their vigilant efforts, whereas we in the trenches keep their nightmares at bay, providing the buffer they need so that they can raise pure families away from the warfare. It is for their peace we choose to fight our war. We who have tasted evil and been reconciled to the Father are far more comfortable fighting than working a field. Whether we get to share in their bounty requires we secure them at our own peril. May God have mercy on us all.
Excellent article. The breakout of the historical development of each of these schools of art is helpful.
Thank you!
Even Conan is a partially respectably cleaned up version of a barbarian. Despite his supposed characterization as a "savage barbarian", notice how we never see him rape anyone or kill anyone who doesn't deserve it.
I would argue that "respectable realism" was actually itself subversive of the earlier romantic aesthetic tradition seen in classical paintings, literature, plays, and opera.
Good point. I am inclined to agree.
I'm a huge fan of Romantic Realism. I like Conan and the like. I actually believe that Romantic Realism is closer to traditional Western art than Respectable Realism. Although I think it has a place in the aesthetic landscape, when one looks at western art, outside of religious motifs, most artists were less about Respectability and more about Romantic idealism. Just look at the Sistine Chapel! I feel more at home, as an art lover, with Romantic Idealism than Realistic Idealism (not to mention the other two, which are complete aberrations).
I also think that the whole "trad-life" thing that many people in the right are going for is rather corny.
I agree with you about romantic realism being closer to the Western tradition.
I know some trad lifers who are very earnest and genuine, but they are almost by definition not posting online about how trad life they are, heh.
Your essays are a pleasure to read, particularly when they flesh out those dim intuitions of how the present is changing from near past. I told my wife recently that the aesthetic spirit of modern pop culture was essentially "1950s America, except with black people playing the roles", I'm glad to see such ruminations elaborated. It reminds me of growing up reading the old glories of liberal longform journalism before the flood of vulgarity overwhelmed them all. One idea - perhaps a different label would fit better than "dystrophic realism", what about "bureaucratic idealism", as it gets to the heart of the shallow, heartless race-swapping that passes for "art."
Also, America has had an authentic Romantic art movement which has produced sublime and popular paintings - the Hudson River Valley School. Compared with other strains of Romantic art, the Hudson River Valley aesthetic is less pagan and more Christian -- see Thomas Cole's "The Picnic" as an example. The culture is saturated in images of debauched flesh, so it may be more prudent to navigate to the sublime and otherworldly with vessels that aren't the female body (unless it is the Madonna, our enemies hate Her).
I think your ruminations were spot on. I'm not familiar with the Hudson River Valley School (which is embarrassing, because I went to a school on the Hudson River...) so I shall investigate on your recommendation!
Great article, really like your comics, can I ask how you got started with your creative business? Struggling writer and artist here and love your work here!
It was a long strange path. I started a dot-com in 2000, failed; tried again in 2001, half-succeeded, finally launched The Escapist in 2005 and did well. Sold the Escapist in 2012, stayed on working in media & entertainment at Defy Media in LA until 2016, got cancelled and become unemployable in LA in 2017, so I decided to just do my own thing. Then took me 6 years full time to get to the point of earning a real wage.
Impressive, that’s really cool! I’m gonna have to take some notes for what to do. Seems you’ve done a lot of things right and defied the odds again and again my good sir.
Also, where can I buy your comics? I like the philosophical contrast between the married hero and non-married anti-heroine. You juxtapose the Superman vs Punisher argument there pretty well.
Thank you so much!
My stuff is for sale on my Shopify store autarchemporium.com
It's also available on Amazon and in bookstores (distributed by Baen)
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