Once again, the name says it all. I'm sorry to trouble you all with this, and warning! This is gonna be a long one.

So, I've recently been trying to figure out what 'art' means to me. This is in the wake of games like Danganronpa, Life is Strange, Inside, and (well, it's technically an anime) Sword Art Online. I've been a little confused as to why it exists at all. Why do we, as a society, have things that seek to change the way we feel? Why should we care about the message of these things (or, in the case of Inside, the lack of one (Creepy blob monster) . I don't really have an answer, but they all seem to point, more or less directly, to hope.

Allow me to have a non sequitur moment here, though I promise I'll get back to the point soon. (Warning: possible melancholy ideas ahead.) While I was shoveling some bark today, I thought of an idea for a book or short story or whatever that I know I'll never write (nor do I know if it already exists). The story is about basically a zombie apocalypse, but the virus can only be housed in a certain chemical in the brain, the one responsible for fear. If this chemical remains stagnant in the head for long enough (basically, if they're not afraid), the immune system can destroy it. In normal circumstances, it's not powerful enough to exert control over anyone. However, after the death of its host, it can reengage and reanimate the host, provided that enough of it exists. The point is, this zombie apocalypse consists only of those people who died afraid.

This got me thinking. Why would survivors in this situation (actually in any zombie apocalypse) keep going? The world is crashing down around them. I realized, though, that they have hope to change things. This can be expanded out farther. Why would a parent sacrifice themselves to save their child? Because they have hope for a future they could never see. Why would the kid in Inside always keep running forward, no matter how dangerous it was? In the hopes that the outside would be a better existence than what he lives in. It's all down to hope for a better world. This is why Morpheus won the demonic challenge in Sandman (A graphic novel), because there's always something to be hopeful for. Always something better to strive for.

But that has a limit, right? If the world was perfect and we lost that ability to hope, to aspire to something, we'd get bored. Life wouldn't have meaning. I like to think about the melancholy, dark part of life (case in point), but I never liked horror games. I believe that this is because I want to see a world like ours in my entertainment, where things go wrong but things go right too. I saved Kate without breaking a sweat in Life Is Strange because I'd experienced almost the same thing in real life. This world has problems, yeah, but I'd like to think that it's a more perfect world than anything else. There is balance. There's always hope for every moment of despair, freedom from every chain in your mind.

I'm stuggling to see the meaning of life, I suppose. I don't know anything about how I fit into this world, but I've got a drive to become great because I can still hope for a better tomorrow.

Man, I know that was a long one, and I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time. I know it's a cardinal sin to post an opinion on the Internet, but I'd like to think that this group consists of people who appreciate the importance of thought, and I just wanted to get it out there. If you want to comment on it, you can leave one in the post's comment box, the group's, or my profile's.
Thank you for listening, and sorry for rambling a little bit.