The moral of the story — Is everything really useful?

Feb 26, 2021 5:53 AM

Offline

Feb 2021

Despite being a chill-out slice-of-life adventure, Sound of the Sky conveys a very strong message, which is quite implicit for those who only watch the series but very explicit for those who dare to dig a little deeper.
The moral of this story is: Nothing is useless — not even you!

The first trailer presents the series’ ethos with these words:
"In the world, not one thing is useless — not one thing is unneeded. Beautiful things, ugly things, sad things, happy things; that happiness, that sadness; it all makes up the shape of music called the world. Of course, you too are one of the notes that mustn't be broken off.
The world is not always full of fun and happiness. Rather, it may be a dark and lonely world. — But that depends on how you look at it. Beautiful things, ugly things, sad things, happy things… How it's decided depends solely on you."

The synopsis brought by Crunchyroll and Aniplex websites sums up this concept:
"There is no happiness in the world. There is no joy. If anything, it is a dark and needy world. However, that is just one state of the world… There are beautiful things, filthy things, harsh things, and even enjoyable things… How you take them will be up to you."

Finally, there is the insert song Servante du Feu, whose lyrics state that:
"There is nothing futile, you know… On one side [anything is] beautiful and sometimes prodigious. And on the other, ugly or poor and often monstrous. No matter what your heart will dictate you, remember that the difference arises in your eyes.
Sing all the colors of the world without missing a single note. Everything has its place here. Every emotion forms the symphony of our lives.
Savor the harmony of the sky. See that all is essential. And understand that you also write the melody."

I’d like to know what you, guys, think of this moral.

From my part, I can see where the argument is going, but in the end, I’d beg to disagree with it. I mean, I agree when it says that every person is valuable in their own right (i.e. You are useful). But to extend this reasoning to every aspect of the world (i.e. everything is useful) seems to be a bit problematic. I understand that this kind of thought is common in many Eastern religions and philosophies, and I respect those who believe in them. But I’d still prefer Felicia’s optimistic nihilist remarks as a life guideline: "There can't possibly be any meaning in this world. But isn't that wonderful in its own right? Because if there isn't any, we can find our own."

I also understand that good outcomes may arise from even the darkest tragedies. But mankind doesn’t need great tragedies to get better or learn an important lesson — in fact, most of the time we don’t learn any lesson from these tragedies. Like, ok, people started to care more about world peace and human dignity after witnessing the horrors of WWII. But is war and genocide really necessary to teach us something as basic as mutual respect? And if it is, why didn’t we learn the lesson right after WWI? In the end, I think we should not take a consolation prize as if it was the main one.

I’d like to conclude my reflections with a quote from Facing the Extreme by Tzvetan Todorov, a book I was reading at the time I watched the series:
"Even though I may not believe in the possibility of a world without evil or suffering, I do not agree that we should welcome every evil and every suffering as though they were fated to be, as though they were all part of cosmic harmony, providential design, or the cunning of reason. Of course, we must make room in life for death, but the deaths that took place in the [concentration and extermination] camps do not belong in the same category as those that come with old age or incurable illness. Hitler was not a natural disaster. The notion of a world without suffering may be utopian, but still I am grateful to those who have contrived to find ways so that people might suffer less and to those who are struggling to eliminate the causes of those evils that are not ineluctable. We needn't be utopians to oppose certain kinds of death and seek to mitigate certain kinds of suffering. Totalitarianism and the camps were not 'necessary' in any cosmic or historical sense. Evil is not only painful; very often it is also absurd and, for that very reason, unacceptable."

HelveciusFeb 26, 2021 5:59 AM

Feb 26, 2021 7:35 AM

Treeckosan

Offline

Oct 2012

It my help to look at the story from a more grounded less chill-out slice of life way. The main cast are all girls being sent to the edge of the world, a world breathing it's last breaths, they could in fact be one of the last generations. They never state it like they do in Girls Last Tour, but it's evident from their use of technology, the expansion of the desert, even the lengths the girls need to go to in order to get supplies and pay. While GLT is about accepting the loneliness of being the last ones and even taking solace and comfort from it, Sound of the Sky is about finding the usefulness and enjoying every last part of this world while it's still here, at least that's my take on it.

*edited for spelling

TreeckosanMar 1, 2021 5:26 AM

Mar 1, 2021 3:17 AM

the7thfloor

Offline

Jul 2012

A comedian and mental health advocate that I’m a fan of once remarked that if he hadn’t been deeply depressed, drug-addicted and suicidal in his 20’s that his career never would have taken off. The message I take from this is not that that period in his life was a blessing in disguise or that it was a necessary evil, but that its undeniable awfulness was not a bottomless pit. It shouldn’t have happened, but once it did, it was capable of spawning something beautiful that could help others in similar situations.

The message I take from the show is along those lines. Its world is one of unredeemable misery, trauma, and genocide, most characters, along with the physical world itself, embodying these things in some way. Everyone and everything is damaged. As each character finds redemption despite their pain, they manage to transcend it and benefit those around them, their metaphorical trumpets resounding from their newly built towers. Their efforts, though, never create a net positive in the grand scheme of things. They don’t bring back what’s been lost, and at best serve to heal some of the damage done by the initial tragedy. Felicia’s existentialism recognizes the inherent pointlessness of the entire process, while also admitting that one can find in it a unique beauty incapable of existing in an ideal world. This is the line of thinking that most resonates with me.

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The moral of the story — Is everything really useful?

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