Rules of Magic: John Dies at the End's Cosmic Shenanigans

[@kitsong]

"Short answer, we're magic. Long answer, we took some drugs that made us magic."

[@庫倫亞利克]

JDATE is probably the first piece of soft magic fiction I come across that I like. I think overall the Sauce runs on dreamlike logic. Just like how Marley describes the hallucinations you have before you wake up from a dream, where the dream's plot miraculously fits the sound that wakes you as if predicting the future; I believe the Sauce runs on a similar principle.

[@akakaptin6382]

The sauce writes the story , the sauce is the whole story lol , the sauce chooses you lol😂

[@face3408]

Just finished the book, you definitely put it into words I had trouble explaining lol. I'm not an avid reader, but a friend who knows my love for horror as well as comedy lent it to me and I went in completely blind. I'm now ordering my own copy, as well as the three sequels (well, pre ordering the 4th book.)

[@sentientbeingslove]

Please do more about any and all of David Wong/Jason Pargin's work. Not enough people talk about it, and it's brilliant.

[@cbmlmz]

I always describe the point of the movie as "What is reality, is reality really, and does the explanation matter as long you get to have blood-pumping drug fueled demon hunting adventures with your shroedinger's best friend."

[@DetectiveStablerSVU]

Do the bees know they make the honey for you? Or do they work tirelessly because they think it is their own choice? Have you never noticed that, after hearing a new word for the first time in your life, you’ll hear it again within twenty-four hours? Do you ever wonder why sometimes you’ll see a single shoe lying along the road?

[@JayManiac]

Someday I really need to write a video essay about what I really love about John Dies at the End which is that it finds the cosmic horror in the mundane things that happens to us all the time, the little idiosyncrasies in the human experience that we barely think about.

[@DetectiveStablerSVU]

@@JayManiac I hope you made that someday and that I catch it. At the time that I watched the movie I was really stuck on thinking through the types of concepts that are explored in it (which on it's own fits right in with the concepts) so it was extra mind-blowing to me.

[@KT-Buf69]

"john dies at the end" is great but "the book is fuul of spiders" is brilliant, as well as "futuristic violence and fancy suits". All of Wongs novels are extremely fun.

[@THEJohnSmith1607]

The spiders were the best.

[@johnnymetal8137]

Great video! I'm a big fan of the series and I'm looking for someone to break down the meanings in it. Yours is the first video I've found to do that. Hoping to find more explanations, if you're up to breaking down what the hell happened to Todd. Rereading the series now. Looking forward to your next video.

[@ex-holdenlindsay840]

I caught that dead in Dave's toolshed reference and giggled.

[@thaumatik]

Eragon and the Books of Swords have some of the best magick systems.

[@maxpower001]

But thats the beauty behind said magic is it allows you to play with ideas

[@thisismyhome]

Please do the whole series and the Zoey Ashe books.

[@treyanderson8023]

well made video covers the movie perfeclty deserves more attention

[@spekticat]

Love this video,thankyou 💜

[@xerroable142]

David is an unreliable narrator. Think of it as him recalling what happened. Not what actually happened. It makes the whole series much more entertaining especially in the next 2 books.

[@lyflingx23]

Especially since there's a black hole in his memory aka Todd

[@BangerangEliko]

All of this, very much yes! Id like to add to your point by saying that the reason he wrote this was to express how when youre growing up , you have this idea of what you think the world is like - then once you move out, get a job, have a life... nothing is what you thought it was and youre totally unprepared for it - thats what the soy sauce represents. Having that veil lifted and being able to see the true face of the universe. Making us "ask the really scary questions" as Robert Marley the fake Jamaican would say. What happens is we get some loose plot threads, unresolved conflicts, unanswered questions - and it being part of the point of the story. That they dont care about that stuff, that it doesnt matter [including the part in the epilogue how they walked away from the hero's journey and let someone else deal with it] Plus the parts where the story was from Johns perspective and is probably a lie and makes it more funny. Its why I just finished recording my own fan narration of the book [i wasnt thrilled with the original audiobook] and uploading it to my channel

[@hieron9366]

The thing with Sanderson's laws is that they are written by an author that is in love with what he himself calls "hard" magic systems, who values magic as a plot device. Of course his views on the matter would be biased, and of course his laws will have limited applicability. But they are an interesting thing to think about, I admit. One thing that came to mind right now is trying to think of "magic" not as literal "magic", but in general as not-inherently-character-based plot devices. Maybe there's something to it. Try applying Sanderson's laws to Tarantino movies, see what comes out!

[@unlikelysuspect5491]

This movie kneeds more movies

[@richardskillz2]

Morgan Freeman? Lol

[@johnnymetal8137]

Yeah, uh...read the book.

[@onenerd9573]

With all due respect, I can't help but feel like your overthinking things.