I'm going to leave this here:
Himuro wrote:Naw, spirituality is deeply woven within Shenmue. The dragon, the Phoenix, the stars (remember the Chinese lady in 1 talking about the stars and its influence on Chinese culture, they even segue the scene into Shenhua staring at them at night), the cosmology, it's all there. Lishao Tao is a Taoist priest. The ethical grounds are universal, but it would be incorrect to say Shenmue is not steeped in eastern religion.
Nahovil wrote:Himuro wrote:Naw, spirituality is deeply woven within Shenmue. The dragon, the Phoenix, the stars (remember the Chinese lady in 1 talking about the stars and its influence on Chinese culture, they even segue the scene into Shenhua staring at them at night), the cosmology, it's all there. Lishao Tao is a Taoist priest. The ethical grounds are universal, but it would be incorrect to say Shenmue is not steeped in eastern religion.
I quite clearly recognize all of these features. I disagree. As I wrote, these elements come about as an heritage of times past, with superstition (somewhat apart from an otherworldly, so-called spiritual sense) still commonplace in Chinese society. Shenmue is deeply steeped in eastern philosophy.
Himuro wrote:Nahovil wrote:Himuro wrote:Naw, spirituality is deeply woven within Shenmue. The dragon, the Phoenix, the stars (remember the Chinese lady in 1 talking about the stars and its influence on Chinese culture, they even segue the scene into Shenhua staring at them at night), the cosmology, it's all there. Lishao Tao is a Taoist priest. The ethical grounds are universal, but it would be incorrect to say Shenmue is not steeped in eastern religion.
I quite clearly recognize all of these features. I disagree. As I wrote, these elements come about as an heritage of times past, with superstition (somewhat apart from an otherworldly, so-called spiritual sense) still commonplace in Chinese society. Shenmue is deeply steeped in eastern philosophy.
Wait, you disagree? But you agree it is steeped in Eastern philosophy? Huh?
Himuro wrote: I love it. It perfectly punctuates the general tone of the series, and especially which throws it right in your face. Ryo goes through a decaying, decrepit old crime filled city in order to find information on his fathers killer. Kowloon represents Ryo's inner demons as the cracks expose themselves leading to his own perdition. Xiuying tells him as much in the church and many times in Honk Kong. The analogy for Ryo's spiritual journey from Kowloon to Guilin is both figurative and literal in the scope of the games themes. Ryo, having found Zhu Yuanda, travels from a place that eats his soul and forces him to go to extremes to find vengeance that will never sate him, to a place separated from civilization, surrounded by nature in all of its wonders. It is through the nature of spirituality and friendship, which Ryo starts to embrace as seen in the Tai Chi scene at the crag, that will save Ryo and deliver him from becoming the exact person he hates.
The naturalism vs urbanism dynamic in II is a natural part of the evolution of the story, and one that gives it far more emotional weight.
I don't take it as an west vs east debate. I think that pits the story at its most reduced form. After all, Hong Kong is more advanced than Yokosuka which is a small town and many people that live in these places, like Xiuying, are on the straight and narrow. It isn't about west vs east, so much as I feel it is about Ryo's spiritual transformation as he grows from boy to man. He has two options. He thinks he NEEDS revenge, but it consumes him. The secret to his sating heartache is within him all along, and that is his own natural spirit.
The spiritualism is needed.
Further, I think people's take on east vs west debate is exotifying the east and trying to find a way to say the east is better when this is never explicitly said in neither games at all.
Himuro wrote:Basically, I think a lot of people are talking about different things here.
Himuro wrote:Philosophy, ethics, religions are spirituality.
Himuro wrote:Ki blasts and flying Goku style is Supernatural. Two different things. So no, I don't think Shenmue has become OVERLY supernatural - yet - so I actually agree with the two of you, it's just that we are experiencing a different in terms and communication.
shredingskin wrote: DO someone know what's Suzuki religion ?
shredingskin wrote: DO someone know what's Suzuki religion ?
Nahovil wrote: Himuro, the very notion of spirit itself pertains to the supernatural.
Nahovil wrote: Himuro, the very notion of spirit itself pertains to the supernatural. While religion concerns spirituality, philosophy and the branch of ethics, in and of themselves, do not (as BayStone put it), and therefrom do I downplay the influence of said phenomenon in the series. "The spiritual forces of the naturalistic Guilin" is very much an antithetical idea.
Now, at the very end of II, there's obviously no denying that something does happen there, and, lo and behold, it looks like we'll actually find out what.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
Powered by phpBB © 2000-