Sexy Cthulhu: How Sex and Porn Saved Horrors Worst Author

fOx

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Lovecraft has always left critics like myself in a difficult position. While I have always considered him a poor writer, and an awful racist, his impact on science fiction and horror cannot be overstated. In the same way that Tolkien is the grandfather of Black Metal, Christian Metal, and Crust Punk, Lovecraft is the racist, inbred redneck stepfather of modern entertainment. Everyone knows he's there, but no one really wants to talk about him.

His work, after all, was little more then a masked metaphor for race mixing. Take The Shadow over Innsmouth, for instance. A story about a town the bred with a species of fish people, and birthed a generation of "sub human" monsters. The meaning of this work was obvious. Lovecraft was terrified of the idea of different races "inbreeding." The main character himself discovers, to his horror, that his distant ancestors were part fish, giving us a glimpse into lovecrafts fear that his own genes were perhaps inpure, or tainted. With innsmouth, lovecraft attempted to warn us of the dangers of race mixing and inbreeding. This leaves horror and sci fi in a very difficult position. Some people, such as myself, have suggested that we throw the genres out entirely. Yes, we would lose films like 2001 a space odyssey, solaris, and silent hill 2, but the drastic action may be necessary if we didn't find a way to redeem these genres from lovecrafts tainted influence. Who would step up to save these genres?

The answer, of course, was hentai artists. Far from being frightened by Lovecraft's warnings about race mixing and fish sex, hentai artists were inspired. Free from americas history of racism and division, the japanese porn artists were able to look at lovecrafts work, and imagine a world where a woman and a fish could copulate in peace. They sought out to retake the genre in the name of social justice, and they succeeded. Classic hentai masterpieces like Kuroki Irie no Shouka ni te, Aiyoku Gensou no Kai, and Fukakisha-Tachi showed us that the type of hate that lovecraft espoused could be inverted, deconstructed, and, ultimately, saved. This eventually led other creators to follow suit. Alan Moore wrote his own hentai book, Neonomicon, considered one of his strongest works. This, then, was adapted into 2017's Shape of Water, which took the idea mainstream, and later won an academy award for best picture in honor of saving the genres of both sci-fi and horror. Freed from their racist connotations, Jordan Peele was finally free to make his masterpiece Get Out, which released just a few months later, where it competed with The Shape of Water at the Academy Awards.

Truly, we cannot give enough thanks to the artists and writers who worked tirelessly to forward social justice, save lovecrafts legacy, and turn the horror genre into a vehicle for progress, instead of hate, and, frankly, made Cthulhu sexy again.
 

Dalisclock

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I don't have much to add to that, but I will say #MakeCthulhuSexyAgain is now my goto comeback to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain, so thank you for that.

Also, you know it's just a matter of time before the Sexy Fish .jpegs start flooding the thread, once Worgen notices.

*Hears guitar music*
 

Kae

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I mean are the legends of the sirens and mermaids not proof enough that fish fetish is but one of the most ancient fetishes?
And to reconcile the highly influential mad ramblings of a racist asshole with one of the most ancient fascinations of horny men throughout the globe is quite frankly genius, after all once they have learned to be enticed by it they will not fear it, outstanding work.
 
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Bedinsis

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I mean are the legends of the sirens and mermaids not proof enough that fish fetish is but one of the most ancient fetishes?
Could that not just be an extended metaphor for the allure of the ocean? Of being married to the sea?
 
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Kae

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Could that not just be an extended metaphor for the allure of the ocean? Of being married to the sea?
Yes it most definitely can, yet more proof that man has desired sex with fish for longer than it has desired freedom.
 

SilentPony

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I mean Rule34 artists will do anything for a buck, not sure its a noble endeavor meant to save the legacy of a man so afraid of black people he created an entire race of crazy space Gods to explain how black people can exist on a white planet. There is porn of Hitler, and I doubt it was an artists attempt to make Hitler seem better, 'cause the guy really did just want to make Germany great again.
 
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Breakdown

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It's a bit questionable saying that Japan doesn't have America's history of racism, they did kill quite a lot of Chinese civilians during the second world war.
 
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fOx

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Could that not just be an extended metaphor for the allure of the ocean? Of being married to the sea?
Yes it most definitely can, yet more proof that man has desired sex with fish for longer than it has desired freedom.
This is a good point. I wonder if lovecraftian hentai, then, could be interpreted as an extended metaphor for space exploration. A desire to explore a deep, frightening, but alluring mystery.

I mean Rule34 artists will do anything for a buck, not sure its a noble endeavor meant to save the legacy of a man so afraid of black people he created an entire race of crazy space Gods to explain how black people can exist on a white planet. There is porn of Hitler, and I doubt it was an artists attempt to make Hitler seem better, 'cause the guy really did just want to make Germany great again.
The relationship between artistic intent and commerce has always been a contentious one. That said, the works of art I mentioned were not commisions, but artistic endeavors that the creators hoped to publish and sell. They represent the full artistic intent of the artists. I don't believe they lose artistic merit just because they were created within a capitalistic system. I suppose the creators could have sought a government grant, but as many artists know, academic and government grants are difficult to come by, and often add unwanted difficulties to production. Simply put, I don't know why a work of art can't be a product, and a work of artistic expression. By your logic, you may as well say that schindlers list isn't art, because there was a commercial interest behind its creation.
 

fOx

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It's a bit questionable saying that Japan doesn't have America's history of racism, they did kill quite a lot of Chinese civilians during the second world war.
They don't have americas history of racism. They have a seperate, but equal history of racism. They have no colonialist involvement with africa that I am aware of.

That said, hentai doujins are often bastions of progressive ideology. I could probably find some that critique the war crimes of nanking, for instance.
 

SilentPony

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This is a good point. I wonder if lovecraftian hentai, then, could be interpreted as an extended metaphor for space exploration. A desire to explore a deep, frightening, but alluring mystery.


The relationship between artistic intent and commerce has always been a contentious one. That said, the works of art I mentioned were not commisions, but artistic endeavors that the creators hoped to publish and sell. They represent the full artistic intent of the artists. I don't believe they lose artistic merit just because they were created within a capitalistic system. I suppose the creators could have sought a government grant, but as many artists know, academic and government grants are difficult to come by, and often add unwanted difficulties to production. Simply put, I don't know why a work of art can't be a product, and a work of artistic expression. By your logic, you may as well say that schindlers list isn't art, because there was a commercial interest behind its creation.
I would say any art created with the intent to sell was created to be a product to sell. Anyone will sell anything to anyone willing to buy it. Its not an expression of artists creativity to create something to sell. It can be, but its not inherently. Maybe some artists, porn or otherwise, is trying to reinvent the Lovecraft legacy to be one not about a crazy white loner in the North East of America so afraid of Jews that he invented rat sex cults to explain their noses. Or maybe some artists know some people will buy just about anything, and a paycheck is a paycheck.
And its funny you bring up Schindler's list, 'cause I was just watching Terry Gilliam talking about Schindler's List and not liking it because its a heroic story, and a triumph over evil, when the Holocaust was a failure of civilization.
Now I think you can do both, have an artistic expression and sell a product, but the art is always altered to make it a product worth buying. Schindler's List is not a 100% accurate story. It was changed to make it more movie friendly. In the same way you would change Lovecraft to make it more porn friendly.
 
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fOx

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I would say any art created with the intent to sell was created to be a product to sell. Anyone will sell anything to anyone willing to buy it. Its not an expression of artists creativity to create something to sell. It can be, but its not inherently.
I mean, sure. But in the cases I outlined, the chief motivator was clearly based on social justice. Furthermore, even art created with the purpose to sell tends to have atleast *some* message or theme. X-men, Captain Marvel, Mad Max, and Wild Strawberries may have been created with the chief purpose of making money, but they still had a political message. If even kitsch like that can have a thematic, or artistic purpose, then how much more so will the art that I mentioned earlier.

Maybe some artists, porn or otherwise, is trying to reinvent the Lovecraft legacy to be one not about a crazy white loner in the North East of America so afraid of Jews that he invented rat sex cults to explain their noses. Or maybe some artists know some people will buy just about anything, and a paycheck is a paycheck.
I do not think that lovecraftian horror porn is a large enough genre for profit to be the chief motivator. Lovecraftian horror is a pretty niche genre, even outside of the area of hentai. If profit were the main goal, then I think most hentai would revolve around superheroes or shonen. No, I think that the artists in question had story to tell, and they told it. Their work speaks for itself.


And its funny you bring up Schindler's list, 'cause I was just watching Terry Gilliam talking about Schindler's List and not liking it because its a heroic story, and a triumph over evil, when the Holocaust was a failure of civilization.
Now I think you can do both, have an artistic expression and sell a product, but the art is always altered to make it a product worth buying. Schindler's List is not a 100% accurate story. It was changed to make it more movie friendly. In the same way you would change Lovecraft to make it more porn friendly.
Terry Gilliam has always had a hate boner for Steven Spielberg, despite being a far worse director who makes films for troglodytes. As it stands, I'm not sure why you can't have a heroic story that takes place in a tragic situation that is caused by the failure of civilization. Surely that's the only time you can be heroic?
 

PointlessKnowledge

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So what I get from this is that it is not racist to jerk off to Cthulhu porn.

I'm glad to know that there is at least one form of porn out there for people who are concerned about this sort of thing.
 

fOx

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So what I get from this is that it is not racist to jerk off to Cthulhu porn.

I'm glad to know that there is at least one form of porn out there for people who are concerned about this sort of thing.
jerking off to cthulhu porn is the least racist thing you can do. It's more racist not to jerk off to cthulhu porn.
 
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TheMysteriousGX

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To be contrarian, non-consensual tentacle porn is merely reinforcing H.P. Lovecraft's racists tropes

Hence the only unproblematic tentacle porn being entirely consentacles
 
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PointlessKnowledge

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To be contrarian, non-consensual tentacle porn is merely reinforcing H.P. Lovecraft's racists tropes

Hence the only unproblematic tentacle porn being entirely consentacles
I think it shows a narrow worldview if you think all Lovecraft porn requires tentacles.

It can also involve fish people.
 

PointlessKnowledge

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Consensual monster porn is great too, hence my Twitter follows, I just didn't have a pun name
It isn't just any monster though. It has to break your mind while you break your dick and/or sexual organ of choice.

...time to spend time with my gr'n'fthb.
 

Thaluikhain

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I mean are the legends of the sirens and mermaids not proof enough that fish fetish is but one of the most ancient fetishes?
Mermaids, yes, but originally sirens were bird women (and also men), not fish women. The bird men later quite the sirening business, and the bird women were phased out by fish women. Quite some time ago, but I don't think fish women sirens count as most ancient.