Berserk Philosophized (the setting)

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SirUriah
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Berserk Philosophized (the setting)

Post by SirUriah »

As both a fan of Berserk and a student in philosophy I have spent hours delving into the twisted sadistic world of Berserk, in all its beauty, enjoying the story and characters, the plot, arcs, themes, and settings.. And of course the gore.. However, I have spent a large portion of my time applying abstract concepts and searching for meaning in this complex dystopian manga.
I am hoping here to express some of my observations and theories on the manga, and see if anyone else has the same thoughts/different thoughts and can critique me on them..

The setting of Berserk is no artistic choice, it is a philosophical one.. Imagine Berserk taking place in a modern era, or even two hundred years ago.. Three hundred years ago?.. No, it takes place in a medieval (Europe based) world. The significance here lies in the values we attach to such a time period. War, famine, disease, wide spread idiocy, superstition, hopelessness, caste systems etc. etc. All of the nasty stuff that happened very realistically in our past (apart from the monsters of course). This is what really happened, and a lot of it is portrayed in Berserk. Furthermore, the way in which we as readers view the world of berserk is of a privledged perspective. We can acknowledge the fault in their views and the archaic systems that are portrayed. It is easy for us to spot out the failings of the simple townfolks reasoning and see just how psychological effects take hold in the characters and the practices (such as group mentality, cults etc.). This is not something that was chosen for the swords and the castles. Rather, the setting of Berserk is the perfect era for both the author to construct a philosophical narrative and for the readers to gather the snippets of wisdom and wit contained within.. To give further evidence to this I call on a thought experiment using the world of berserk to show just how complex the setting is and that the implications go beyond even that which I have stated thus far: That the world of berserk (minus the supernatural aspects) are a very real part of our past. Meaning that we are the same Homo sapiens sapiens as our ancestors of medieval Europe, and as such, we have the same nature. Along these lines, perhaps the author is trying to say that we are no different than the characters in berserk even now.. Just like the peasants in the small villages blind to the world beyond their small town, we aren't really any different.. Even though we have smart phones and cars and can travel anywhere at anytime fairly cheaply we still are limited, inside our own little bubbles.. We still fall prey to idiocy, to cults and group mentality, to mass religion and chaos, to wars and strife and rhetoric.. The world we live in isn't really all that different from the setting in berserk.. Which is perhaps the most important point the author is attempting to make with using the setting in berserk. In portraying the horrific graphic nature of the manga in that setting, this emphasizes further the nature of humanity out in the open. The only difference between berserk and the current modern world being we don't see the graphic horrible things happen right in front of us.. It's always someone else who gets tortured, or raped, or murdered.. It's always some other country fighting in a war or going through terrorist attack.. Perhaps it is all an attempt to say though the times have changed, people haven't, and the setting is just here to emphasize that.
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CyberNinja
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Re: Berserk Philosophized (the setting)

Post by CyberNinja »

First of all I would like to thank you for your passionate philosophic analysis of Berserk in terms of setting and overall atmosphere. I wish I could talk more about berserk's setting ( which honestly is the gateway to being a mere fan to full blown addict, wait till you get to Idea Of Evil and its connection to Plato's Theory Of Ideas then things will get really interesting. ) I honestly wish I could discuss more berserk with a fellow berserk fan but sadly I do not have the time anymore, but I will leave you with a podcast I came across recently that reaffirmed my initial thought years ago that Miura chose this dark, medieval, lovecraft and eerie setting for a very effective reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x79MW1gWtJ8
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Femto
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Re: Berserk Philosophized (the setting)

Post by Femto »

Also, I think that by setting it in medieval times, you sidestep this huge elephant in the room that is society.

Imagine the Tower of Conviction arc set in modern times. Suddenly you have to explain what the army was doing, how it was being reported in the news, how that affects our internet savvy world, etc, etc. And you have to do that because otherwise your modern setting isn't believable.

It'd lose so much of its mystery and mystique right there.

A medieval setting keeps it focused on the characters.
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