The novel it’s based on makes it clear that The Neverending Story is a psychic parasite that traps young readers in an escapist fantasy, never growing up, never facing your real fears, just endless running down an egocentric treadmill of main character syndrome.
I read the book (as a kid) and didn’t get that from it at all, but that sort of subtlety would have gone over my head. I’ll have to read it again if I can bring myself to do it.
I do remember seeing the movie after reading the book and being pretty annoyed as the movie only covers about the first half.
Well, do you recall how fulfilling the wishes demands a sacrifice of Bastian’s memories and self?
One might alternatively phrase that as wish fulfillment, if one was tricky writer sort.
One might also note that the Story demands Bastian pass it on to another child if he wants his own memories back. Once he realizes he is not willing to give up his last memories of his father.
Passing to a new host once it has drained Bastian of what it wants and his defenses prevent it from gaining more, as it were.
A successful parasite is not one that kills its host, after all, it’s one that spreads and grows.
And then it evolves and spreads to a new, American movie going population where that message isn’t profitable so it just becomes a standard chosen one story.
Honestly no I don’t recall any of that, but to be fair I read the book around 30 years ago. Yes I’m old. Your points have intrigued me though and I’m going to have to find my old copy and read it again.
The horse the audience has grown attached to becomes depressed, and allows himself to sink slowly beneath the mud. The boy understands what is happening and that the depression is going to kill his friend. He pleads and panics as the horse very graphically sinks out of sight with an incredibly disturbing practical effect that must have been real life animal cruelty. Then the boy is left alone in the swap. It’s a fucking brutal scene that symbolizes suicide.
No offence, but accusations like that add exactly nothing to the conversation if they’re correct, and are a fucking shitty thing to do to a person if they’re not. Unless you’ve got really solid receipts, and there’s some important outcome that it would actually affect if true, just don’t fucking do it.
I accept that your intent was not to offend (despite that, no offense, this reads like someone trying to get popped in the nose), but what your intent actually was escapes me.
Small clarification, he gets stuck in the swamp of despair basically. He only gets stuck and dies because he loses hope. Atreyu tries to cheer him up and give him hope, and it’s that scene that’s depressing AF. It’s like something out of old yeller.
Good news bad news, I loved that movie as a kid and have zero recollection of that scene. I’m guessing I didn’t get the implication. “Oh he lost his horse”.
I’d take that over my generation’s childhood trauma any day:
official canon
And Henry Blake paddled a liferaft onto the Tracy Ullman show.
Here’s some more trauma:
The novel it’s based on makes it clear that The Neverending Story is a psychic parasite that traps young readers in an escapist fantasy, never growing up, never facing your real fears, just endless running down an egocentric treadmill of main character syndrome.
I read the book (as a kid) and didn’t get that from it at all, but that sort of subtlety would have gone over my head. I’ll have to read it again if I can bring myself to do it.
I do remember seeing the movie after reading the book and being pretty annoyed as the movie only covers about the first half.
Well, do you recall how fulfilling the wishes demands a sacrifice of Bastian’s memories and self?
One might alternatively phrase that as wish fulfillment, if one was tricky writer sort.
One might also note that the Story demands Bastian pass it on to another child if he wants his own memories back. Once he realizes he is not willing to give up his last memories of his father.
Passing to a new host once it has drained Bastian of what it wants and his defenses prevent it from gaining more, as it were.
A successful parasite is not one that kills its host, after all, it’s one that spreads and grows.
And then it evolves and spreads to a new, American movie going population where that message isn’t profitable so it just becomes a standard chosen one story.
Honestly no I don’t recall any of that, but to be fair I read the book around 30 years ago. Yes I’m old. Your points have intrigued me though and I’m going to have to find my old copy and read it again.
Hey, I caught both of these! Yay?
Yeah this was way more traumatizing than anything Signs had.
And Signs had Mel Gibson, so that’s really saying something.
100% what I expected on the sign
indistinct yelling of mothers name
How did a guy like that ever end up married to a lady named Moon Child?
You’re gonna have to fill me in here. I don’t know this reference.
The horse the audience has grown attached to becomes depressed, and allows himself to sink slowly beneath the mud. The boy understands what is happening and that the depression is going to kill his friend. He pleads and panics as the horse very graphically sinks out of sight with an incredibly disturbing practical effect that must have been real life animal cruelty. Then the boy is left alone in the swap. It’s a fucking brutal scene that symbolizes suicide.
deleted by creator
No offence, but accusations like that add exactly nothing to the conversation if they’re correct, and are a fucking shitty thing to do to a person if they’re not. Unless you’ve got really solid receipts, and there’s some important outcome that it would actually affect if true, just don’t fucking do it.
To be fair, I assumed they cpy and pasted from an AI
But is that actually fair?
Oh, so this is your awkward way of asking? Then, no, it was not written by an LLM. This is what that would have looked like:
This thread got stupid fast.
I accept that your intent was not to offend (despite that, no offense, this reads like someone trying to get popped in the nose), but what your intent actually was escapes me.
yeah that’s cause we’re all autistic
THANK YOU
The Neverending Story. That’s the scene where Artax the horse gives up and let’s the bog of depression drown him
The Never Ending Story (1984)
Seems like the horses story ended
What a young movie!
Never ending story the horse is with the kid through thick and thin then gets stuck in a swamp and kid has to leave him behind.
Small clarification, he gets stuck in the swamp of despair basically. He only gets stuck and dies because he loses hope. Atreyu tries to cheer him up and give him hope, and it’s that scene that’s depressing AF. It’s like something out of old yeller.
A scene from The Never Ending Story. They travel through the Swamp of Sadness.
https://youtu.be/k6NjDg-Od84
Atreyuu
I know this one but not the one from the post. Is it slender man is something?
I think the OP is from the movie Signs?
Good news bad news, I loved that movie as a kid and have zero recollection of that scene. I’m guessing I didn’t get the implication. “Oh he lost his horse”.