Sunless Sea, and the inherent absurdity of the Lovecraft mythos.

My name is Thane Bishop, and I need to talk about Sunless Sea.
More specifically, I need to talk about the interesting way Sunless Sea, seems to be using the tones, themes, and ideas that have been built from and upon HP Lovecraft's original writings and ideologies.
This video was made with;
Financial Contribution from my Key Funders: Joshua Loewen, TheMustard Menace, and Wabbajacked.
With additional contribution from my Associate Funders: Frosty and WyBob.
They're doing good work over there, so consider lending them a hand: / thanebishop
Artwork from:
Sevenics: www.deviantart.com/sevenics/g...
Stu_DTS: www.pixiv.net/en/users/221183...
Titlecard and Thumbnail Elements from:
www.vecteezy.com/video/211890...
www.vecteezy.com/video/162522...
And Music from the Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies OST:
Sunless Sea - Opening Screen
Sunless Sea - Wolfstack Lights
Sunless Sea - Sunless Sea
Sunless Sea - Undulata
Sunless Skies - Albion London Lights
(All Songs in order of appearance)

[@TheBlackSerpentBeta]

You really had me with the stuff about the Sunless Sea, you made it sound fun

[@alwest4472]

Holy crap that was probably the most engrossing video essay I’ve watched. That was some Jacob Geller level stuff

[@stephenchurch1784]

Death is weird in Fallen London. You, as a zee captain, permanently die because the black lady or drownie king claims you. Those who die on land, outside of very specific circumstances, come back after a short boat trip down the stolen river so pretty much everyone from the fall is still there

[@donovian2538]

"Cancer cells don't mean to become cancer" Fuck, that's therapeutic for me.

[@connerlefler7468]

i love the "i think there's cool things on the horizon" and then putting your patrons on the literal horizon

[@valerieborland3621]

I’m not sure if you already have, but if you haven’t, I’d highly recommend hbomberguy’s video on adapting lovecraft in the 21st century. it engages with similar difficult questions brought up in your essay (questions worth asking!) in a really poignant way that i feel cuts to the heart of why cosmic horror as a genre has endured despite of how despicable lovecraft was as a person and how his work so often served evil purposes.

[@KnjazNazrath]

The idea of separating the art from the artist isn't supposed to imply that you refuse to acknowledge that life influences art. It's meant to say that you are able to enjoy art without allowing the artist's beliefs which are incongruous to yours from stopping your enjoyment of said art. An angle I often give is when people try to say my enjoyment of Wagner is a dogwhistle. My reply is that the major scale is not inherently superior to the minor scale. I then go back to listenin' to everything from Peste Noire to Penderecki, Mars Volta to Moondog, and not giving a flyin' f- at a rollin' donut about whether I agree w/ their Weltanschauung or spirituality. I just care whether it resulted in art which I enjoy.

[@taamsjournal]

I don't think it's appropriate to ask whether or not it is "okay" to enjoy something. Enjoyment isn't something we choose: it is something that happens to us. We may be conscious of its causes and effects, and I think a willingness to examine those things is the very best we can do in this beautiful, ugly, absurd world. Nice video.

[@rowanoak433]

So what I'm hearing is that Sucker For Love is the perfect example of using Lovecraft's work while countering his ideas of racial purity

[@Supermunch2000]

As a fan of this kind of content, I'm really rooting for you!

[@ozgurmengelli5569]

I woke up at 5 30 to the dark morning, even though ı have no reason to and ı saw this video. I am really afraid of the dark and really love lovecraftian horror so thanks for this great content

[@Halfgnomen]

I think the hate that defined hp doesn't matter due to the fact that the fear of the unknown is universal and so it's sort of a baby with the bath water type of thing. We can acknowledge that hp was a shitter without casting aside his creation. The brightest lights have the darkest shadows.

[@Windikite]

This is making me reexamine how I use this genre and its themes, and I'll be better off for it. Tbh I've only read some of Lovecraft's work, though I have LOVED many inspired works like Bloodborne and such. I even was able to find themes and concepts through those inspired works to weave into my fictional world I write about, ones that helped express my own thoughts once I knew how to name them. When I started running this world as a homebrew campaign for irl friends and internet strangers, my perspective opened up a lot in seeing how other people interacted with the world and its struggles, which were of course proxies for my own interests and fears in retrospect. As my life changed within the last few years I can see how my world has changed with it, and the stories from it that capture me most have evolved over time.

[@MeonLights]

Okay I adore the Fallen London universe and its games, as well as lovecraftian horror. Also I love video essays. This is my video it was made for me.

[@karimbde134]

I really love your videos. I just watched all of them and every single one of them is a masterpiece. Thank you for your work.

[@torstenoakes]

I'm heading out the door to work now, so I don't have time to leave as in-depth of a comment as I'd like, but I want to say that your videos are just so so good. I watched your Cyberpunk video a couple weeks back when I was starting to get into it and fell in love with your ideas, delivery, and discussion. When I can afford it, I'll gladly support you on Patreon; for now, thank you for doing what you do.

[@Cloak_N_Dagger]

Maybe it was coincidence, maybe people didn't know, maybe any of those possibilities you already mentioned were at play, but Lovecraft's art WAS separated from him. With every derivation, every borrowing, every nod, every reference, Lovecraftian horror became MORE than Lovecraft. His art outgrew him in the hands of the future generations of creatives that adopted it. It's almost exactly as you said. Cancer cells don't mean to become cancer, but they need to be removed anyway. The rough concepts and ideas behind his fiction were a healthy body. His hateful and prejudiced flavorings and specific tellings were the cancer.

[@SomethingWittyRW]

I am honestly shocked at how small your channel is. The production value, the writing, presentation, and editing are top notch!!! You earned a new fan today!!

[@gayrussianspacecadet6315]

This is the first video of yours I've come across, this is truly exceptional work. Your note about taking an anthropology class stood out to me among the wider focus of this essay, I'm an anthropology student myself and am truly in love with the field and believe it applies to every other field of study on the planet. Studying anthropology is hard, getting yourself to connect to the theoretical base can be extremely difficult. My best advice is to find an ethnography on a particular culture you find interesting and read it through- anthropology is the study of humanity, reading the framework won't really get you anywhere meaningful by itself, but understanding the structure of an ethnography will teach you what you really need to know.

[@user-bq7kc5fp6d]

This is fantastic work! Kudos.