[voice over powerpoint]

[planet_rin]

Hello, everybody. I am here today to talk about one of the most subtle and advanced works of art that has been produced in Sirocco.



This is page one of the illustrated internet epic "Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff," brainchild of Sirocco's leading up-and-coming artist, Dave. Its unconventional structure and hostile visual style resist casual attempts to penetrate the narrative, but there is a vast sea of meaning and symbolism at work in this post-modern tragedy of the destruction of the self.

In the first panel, we are introduced to "Sweet Bro," or possibly Hella Jeff, I'm not sure so let's go with Bro. Bro is a simultaneous two-layered avatar for Dave and for the reader himself, drawing them in to understand the artist's plight as expressed through his work. The pile of games that Bro is so looking forward to are barely rendered - like all materialistic gain, the form is meaningless and transient. All that truly exists is the self - note how the character himself is drawn with much more focus and detail than any of the decorations of the world he inhabits.

From here, Bro enters his descent down the dreaded stairs, but even this is not everything it seems. His dialogue would suggest it is an action, but see in the first panel how he's walking directly towards them. This is indicative of a schism within the self - Bro detests the stairs that torment him so, and yet he is drawn to them all the same. Bro is destroying himself with his own weapons: the stairs, or - more figuratively - the tools society give us to measure our arbitrary advancement towards meaningless goals.

The third panel introduces a critical second character, who I guess is Hella Jeff. An avatar for all of the so-called authority figures dominating our society, Jeff is gleefully powerless; all he can do is make the same authoritative but ultimately pointless commentary over and over. He acts as if he cares about the working man's plight, but he is himself dependent on Bro's suffering for his own happiness. Did he actually warn Bro about stairs? We will never know, but the answer is ultimately pointless - Jeff's power over Bro is as ephermeal and fleeting as Bro's power over the stairs that he uses to destroy himself.

In the devastating finale, Bro's self-inflicted descent is shown to continue indefinitely, the staggering of the pannels representing the gradual destabilizing of Bro's self-destructive life cycle. He is no less a slave to the stairs than we are to the world we've been summoned to. Jeff, meanwhile, grows larger and larger, encompassing every aspect of Bro's world but still incapable of controlling it. There is no salvation for either of these heroes - the comic is a microcosm of the self-perpetuating futility of modern society.

And that's just page 1.

Comments

[all_onis_are_true]

...

What.

[planet_rin]

Just some artistic analysis.

[all_onis_are_true]

That's ART?

[planet_rin]

Sure. What else would it be?

[all_onis_are_true]

I'm not really sure there IS a word for it.

[planet_rin]

There's a word for everything. Or if there isn't, there should be. And if there isn't any other word for it, calling it art sounds good to me.

[all_onis_are_true]

Giving it a word would force me to acknowledge its existence.

No response

[hatefriendleader]

[has_a_blog]

[wontdieifkilled]

...What.

[planet_rin]

I hear most artists are misunderstood in their own time.

[wontdieifkilled]

I don't think this one is going to be understood in any time.

[planet_rin]

It's a very real possibility.

[wontdieifkilled]

Maybe he's just from a world with different standards of humor?

[planet_rin]

I think Dave would call it ironic. I don't really understand that side of it too well.

[wontdieifkilled]

You're not the only one.

[gandere]

WHY WON'T IT SHOW YOUR PICTURE!? I don't want to read this crap!

[planet_rin]

Then I advise looking in a different direction.

[gandere]

[ Turning her head towards the ceiling. ]

Fine, I'm doing that! Is the stupid picture gone yet?

[planet_rin]

The picture isn't going anywhere. Getting away from it is left as an exercise for the viewer.

[gandere]

Well, that's stupid. You brought it onto this thing, now get it off!

[planet_rin]

Have you tried turning it off and on again closing the post?

1/2

[gandere]

Okay, hold on, hold on.

[ She looks pretty busy as she pushes a bunch of buttons.

THEN CLICK. ]

[mokomanjuu]

Rin sure knows a lot about art!

Mokona's favorite so far is the third one.

[planet_rin]

I haven't looked past the first one yet.