Devil May Cry's Dante is a Terrorist, Activism Meets Chaos Magick, Beyonce's into Black Lives Matter and Reparations in Fantasy Anime:
Or How I Came to be Blogging About This Stuff
Yesterday was the Super Bowl. Like a lot of people my age, with my particular set of interests, I wasn't really interested at the get-go. "What about that sports ball?" as a friend of mine from work likes to jest. I generally stay at that same level of disengagement when it comes to big sporting events too. But, then there was Beyonce.
Beyonce, the great creator of pop culture that she is, released an earthshaking track just hours before she performed in the Super Bowl half time show. The show itself was major statement on her part. Don't take my word for it. I suggest you go read for yourself. I'm pretty damn pasty white, I don't have any business discussing just how important this song is.
Not too long ago, Macklemore released his White Privilege II as well, asking some hard questions for white America. Hip hop has a long tradition of challenging the status quo, not just in the states.
But, the older I get, the more I realize it's never been just music speaking to these issues. although, when you touch on the most powerful expressions of it, whether it is the fight to control or the fight against control, music is the default battleground, really. However, it's not the only one.
Yesterday, before I sat down to educate myself on what Beyonce was up to as well as catch up on all the culturally significant things that happened at the Super Bowl this year (such as Lady Gaga singing the National Anthem), I was watching an anime with my roommate and her friend. This anime seemed pretty basic on the surface. In fact, it was explained to me that way as well. I wasn't expecting much.
Then, the subject of reparations came up in the plotline, as the storyline involved military conflict. My roommate's friend had to stop and replay the scene twice just to understand what was going on. I eventually spoke up and explained what reparations were and in the context of the anime's plot, why they were important. In this case, it was a cross-dimensional conflict between the government of Japan and this fantasy world beyond a gate. The fantasy nation wanted reparations for damages done by the more highly advanced Japanese. It fit squarely into historical instances of reparations, fittingly, including those between the United States and Japan after the Second World War.
It kind of surprised me that such a complex topic came up in a comedic little anime that was more about otaku wish fulfillment than international politics on the surface, but lo and behold, there was a lot more international politics in this show than originally appeared.
And rather unsurprisingly, I was the only one of my friends who knew the subtext of what was going on. Ironically, it wasn't the first time I found myself mulling over how political issues were continuously popping up in the media around me lately either.
One of my favorite video game franchises is the Devil May Cry series. It's witty, fun, challenging and I could literally dive headfirst into the personalities of some of the characters many of them are so relatable. I tend to be partial to Devil May Cry 4 with its Pope-punching goodness and my degree of similarity to Nero, which has proven to be a major source of inspiration through the years. However, I picked up the reboot of the series on a whim, after being convinced how good it actually was and was blown away by its intensity, particularly on the political side. I won't spoil it, but both Dante and Virgil are basically anti-corporate terrorists and it's the best thing I've seen in a supernatural adventure game in years. This is John Constantine levels of not giving a damn.
Which brings me to my final and probably my most important point, as I shimmy into Limbo and bring this introduction home. I'm not just an activist formally trained in political science. I'm an occultist and a pagan. The most vital thing you need to take from either of those is this; political narratives and political mythology, whether on the cultural, religious or personal level, all have the capacity to shape your thoughts, values and actions in ways you might not fully realize. The practice of meta-magick and chaos magick tap into this, serving as a way for magicians to fully realize their potential to bend reality. Well, it's easier to rewrite the narrative when you know what the narrative is, which is exactly what I want to do here. Expose the narratives.
There are many forces trying to bend the collective consciousness to their will, many for foul ends. There are as many others trying to rip the collective consciousness free, many with their own agendas, very few others interested in letting people shape their own destinies.
I want to expose the stories, so we, as individuals, can rewrite them for ourselves.
Thank you for reading.
-Reinero.
Austin, Texas.
