HOME | DD
Anti-puff — The Young Man
by-nc-nd
#corporal #lawrence #scpfoundation #scp106
Published: 2017-08-22 05:36:50 +0000 UTC; Views: 3792; Favourites: 100; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
"Nobody could like Corporal Lawrence. That's not to say that nobody tried, or that he was somehow unfriendly, merely that he was one of those few that seemed to be 'wired' differently."Related content
Comments: 18
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you, I'm flattered you like it! This was a very fun piece to work on. I had a blast figuring out how to express his character through his facial features
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is so good omg
this deserves much more attention , my guy :0
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Might I ask a question of you?
Have you ever heard about the Battle of Flers–Courcelette?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I thought as much. The photo used in the story ( www.histomania.org/static/phot… ) was taken at an aid-station during said battle.
I have always found it rather offensive that someone took a photo of a real person and attached a story about him being some inhuman monster.
In my eyes it turns the actual man, and the events he and thousands of other men endured, into something trivia. I find that appalling.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
I listen to Sabaton’s “price of a mile” ( music.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nt-… )
To try to grasp what my maternal grandfather went through in those trenches....
I ponder the not quite suppressed haunted look on his face as he later posed for his honorable discharge portrait following his medical diagnosis for “shell shock”.
I ponder how my mother told me that he couldn’t stand loud base music beats.
I would not be surprised if he had had this very look on his face at least once. The effect of starring into that abyss too long...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aye.
It is a shame most nowadays see this photo and think of ghosts or demons. Is there not enough horror in the original context? Why add such things to it?
Throughout history, can you name one horrible event caused by a ghoul? Of course not, nor will you ever. Demons, Ghosts, Goblins; They are nothing.
I find no fear in such childish things. Nor did my grandfather, a veteran of the Vietnam War, nor my grate-grandfather, a veteran of World War II.
It is my fellow man I fear. No more, no less. I believe Plautus said it best: Homo homini lupus. "Man is Wolf to Man".
Shame few see horror that way.
As for Puff's argument as to how something like this is somehow defendable, I reiterate the comment he hid word-for-word:
"Just because it is legal does not make it right. What requisite permissions? I am positive the surviving members of this man's family were not contacted."
"As for simply ignoring it, I turn to philosopher Edmund Burke and a certain quote about good men doing nothing."
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I don’t necessarily see shame in building up an archetypal association between that moment of manifest insanity and the symbolism of demons and the like, so long as it is not done so clumsily. In that regard, it just depends on how old fashioned you are willing to get in your symbolism. If you are accustomed only to more literal, day to day thinking, then I can see how you would think this childish, no matter how it is pulled off. Making a supernatural association with a suffering soldier is actually a very old troupe, as well as a lived myth.
My Grandfather came to sincerely believe that “Our Lady Of Fatima” saved him, as he later discovered that his discharge coincided with the Miracle said to have happened in Portugal at the same time, 100 years ago last September. That belief was a primal force that motivated him for the rest of his life, and, most importantly, “pulled him from the abyss”.
Humans have the capacity to fight an archetypal perceived nightmare of Hell on earth with an archetypal perceived miracle of Heaven on Earth.
What happens to be empirically real is irrelevant to such experiences. Empiricism has no alternative answer for such things. If a positive perceived reality can pull a man from a negative perceived reality, allowing him to then adapt and thrive where many others eventually ate their gun, THAT is real enough for me.
Which brings me back to what really bugs me about this drawing. It seems to go a shade to far. I have come to find it tragic that no one remembers the 1922 silent drama “The Man Who Laughs” when they think of the Joker. The Creator of Batman saw it as a kid, and never forgot about how the tragic hero APPEARED: A gibbering Maniac Of a unique caliber.
Now, if someone wants to write a story about a SIMILAR soldier, but entirely fictional, that would be less off putting. At least “The Man Who Laughs” was entirely fictional.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I see no problem with symbolism used in such a way, in fact, I quite like it. See Charles Beaumont's "The Howling Man" for example.
The fault lies in the fact that they used an actual photograph of a solider for the purpose of an entirely fictional "horror" story.
If someone did the same with a photograph of Hiroshima or the Holocaust, would that not be morally abhorrent? How would this be any different?
Making art based on the story is knowingly supporting such actions, that is just as bad as committing them.
If it simply had been set in the First World War, I would have less of a problem with it. Though it still has some glaring errors in that regard.
As for “The Man Who Laughs”
Being a fan of both German Expressionism and the works of Victor Hugo, I have seen the film.
-And yes, I too find it tragic that no one remembers it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I appreciate your sense of justice for this soldier. It's a valid concern to have. However, this particular image has been used in accordance with transformative works and the requisite permissions were acquired before its posting on the scp wiki mainsite. You might find it offensive, but its use is legal. It might help to remember that Lawrence's character isn't meant to literally be that particular soldier, and that most fanart of the character merely uses the photo as a jumping off point. If it bothers you badly, I'd recommend curating your experience by not seeking out fanart of Corporal Lawrence.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
So, it’s kind of like how “The Man Who Laughs” inspired the APPEARANCE of the Joker, even though their actual personalities are completely different.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
No comments on this, despite the fact that it:
Reinvents and augments the person in the photo to become a much more powerful fictional product
Paints eyebrows on a skull and fills sockets with burning coal
Creates something tangible and therefore threatening through the use of black and grayscale hatching
👍: 0 ⏩: 3
It’s not really the man, himself, we are looking at. His True Self has crawled into a DEEP hole of imaginary comfort, built of distant dreams of Home.
What we see here is a man shaped mirror, that is reflecting all the absurd chaos and insanity around it in a concentrated, personified way: The Abyss Incarnate.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I'm screaming too, despite your not commenting you still managed to give me the best review I've ever had of this piece. I'm happy I could communicate the unsettling nature of the subject.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I'm screaming.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0