warning: pretension abounds
after YEARS of searching i just found my favorite quote and im so excited that i have to post it here so that i never lose it again
hayao miyazaki:
I like the expression "lost possibilities." To be born means being compelled to choose an era, a place, and a life. To exist here, now, means to lose the possibility of being countless other potential selves. For example, I might have been the captain of a pirate ship, sailing with a lovely princess by my side. It means giving up this universe, giving up other potential selves. There are selves which are lost possibilities, and selves that could have been, and this is not limited just to us but to the people around us and even to Japan itself.
Yet once born,there is no turning back. And I think that's exactly why the fantasy worlds of cartoon movies so strongly represent our hopes and yearnings. They illustrate a world of lost possibilities for us.
it might seem like a "well duh" quote to the rest of you but i cant even describe how profound it was to me the first time i read it because i was (and still am, though less intensely) struggling with the fact that i can't be everything and everyone at once. when i start a drawing, i freak out a little inside because i've given up all of the infinite ways that drawing could have been executed differently, simply because i started. it's always been hard for me to accept that "Mary McLain born 1992" is the only body and soul i'll get to work with. its terrifying to me and i dont know why. maybe it's because i dont like myself enough but knowing out of all infinite identities to become that THIS SPECIFIC ONE is all i'll ever know is daunting. and i think this is why i make stories and characters. (i expand his "cartoon movies" to include all art and storytelling) i'm sure this is why everyone makes characters, actually, but i've never really put thought to it so im like OMG PROFOUND u_U. but i think that trying to escape my physical time and place by creating more people and places, and therefore becoming them as well, is a big factor in why i do what i do. i really have no idea what i'm talking about. i'm sure this doesn't relate to anyone else because i feel like already else already knew this and i'm just late to the party, but this quote made me think a lot differently a few years ago when i read it, and rereading it has made me think differently all over again. aand now i want to go watch some miyazaki
hayao miyazaki:
I like the expression "lost possibilities." To be born means being compelled to choose an era, a place, and a life. To exist here, now, means to lose the possibility of being countless other potential selves. For example, I might have been the captain of a pirate ship, sailing with a lovely princess by my side. It means giving up this universe, giving up other potential selves. There are selves which are lost possibilities, and selves that could have been, and this is not limited just to us but to the people around us and even to Japan itself.
Yet once born,there is no turning back. And I think that's exactly why the fantasy worlds of cartoon movies so strongly represent our hopes and yearnings. They illustrate a world of lost possibilities for us.
it might seem like a "well duh" quote to the rest of you but i cant even describe how profound it was to me the first time i read it because i was (and still am, though less intensely) struggling with the fact that i can't be everything and everyone at once. when i start a drawing, i freak out a little inside because i've given up all of the infinite ways that drawing could have been executed differently, simply because i started. it's always been hard for me to accept that "Mary McLain born 1992" is the only body and soul i'll get to work with. its terrifying to me and i dont know why. maybe it's because i dont like myself enough but knowing out of all infinite identities to become that THIS SPECIFIC ONE is all i'll ever know is daunting. and i think this is why i make stories and characters. (i expand his "cartoon movies" to include all art and storytelling) i'm sure this is why everyone makes characters, actually, but i've never really put thought to it so im like OMG PROFOUND u_U. but i think that trying to escape my physical time and place by creating more people and places, and therefore becoming them as well, is a big factor in why i do what i do. i really have no idea what i'm talking about. i'm sure this doesn't relate to anyone else because i feel like already else already knew this and i'm just late to the party, but this quote made me think a lot differently a few years ago when i read it, and rereading it has made me think differently all over again. aand now i want to go watch some miyazaki