First thing that came to mind reading this: are there any Lovecraft inspired Pokémon-crossover fangames? I'd love to have my Cthu-pin use psychokinesis (tm) or nightmare (tm) on some pitiful Pidgeys.
Second thought: there actually is one shortstory by Lovecraft, "A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson," that is sorta comedic but notably not at all Lovecraftian in terms of its thematic/narrative concerns (it was also written quite early into his career, long before Houellebecq's "big 5"). I guess this just goes to highlight what Aurélien already pointed out: Lovecraft himself didn't bring levity and (cosmic) dread into contact with one another. Even when, once in his life, he tried to be funny, this shift in tone was accompanied by a shift in content - apparently, tentacles were no laughing matter to him.
Third thought: this one is very underdeveloped (because I'm very uninformed), but I am interested in the details of how the transposition of Lovecraft to this particular context of manga production operates. Aurélien mentioned chibification, which I loved and ended up googling extensively. As far as I understand it, though, chibification seems to refer mostly to the visual "rendering cute". As the initial Pokémon question likely gave away, and Aurélien pointed this out as well, the transposition at play in Gyaru and Cthulhu transcends mere visuality and, I think, extends into certain types of manga genre-fiction. I am clueless about this, but aren't "teenagers with monster companions" a whole thing in manga? If so, I'd love to learn more about the ways in which Gyaru and Cthulhu constitutes... #1 a generic manifestation of genre tropes that looks to Lovecraft mainly in terms of superficial monster design and naming. #2 a subversion of genre tropes that is affected by having Lovecraftian concerns seep into its formulaic structure. Not sure if this question is at all productive here, but it is one I keep coming back to. Anyhow, thanks for the read, Max out
First thing that came to mind reading this: are there any Lovecraft inspired Pokémon-crossover fangames? I'd love to have my Cthu-pin use psychokinesis (tm) or nightmare (tm) on some pitiful Pidgeys.
Second thought: there actually is one shortstory by Lovecraft, "A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson," that is sorta comedic but notably not at all Lovecraftian in terms of its thematic/narrative concerns (it was also written quite early into his career, long before Houellebecq's "big 5"). I guess this just goes to highlight what Aurélien already pointed out: Lovecraft himself didn't bring levity and (cosmic) dread into contact with one another. Even when, once in his life, he tried to be funny, this shift in tone was accompanied by a shift in content - apparently, tentacles were no laughing matter to him.
Third thought: this one is very underdeveloped (because I'm very uninformed), but I am interested in the details of how the transposition of Lovecraft to this particular context of manga production operates. Aurélien mentioned chibification, which I loved and ended up googling extensively. As far as I understand it, though, chibification seems to refer mostly to the visual "rendering cute". As the initial Pokémon question likely gave away, and Aurélien pointed this out as well, the transposition at play in Gyaru and Cthulhu transcends mere visuality and, I think, extends into certain types of manga genre-fiction. I am clueless about this, but aren't "teenagers with monster companions" a whole thing in manga? If so, I'd love to learn more about the ways in which Gyaru and Cthulhu constitutes...
#1 a generic manifestation of genre tropes that looks to Lovecraft mainly in terms of superficial monster design and naming.
#2 a subversion of genre tropes that is affected by having Lovecraftian concerns seep into its formulaic structure.
Not sure if this question is at all productive here, but it is one I keep coming back to. Anyhow, thanks for the read, Max out