Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp was a very interesting read for me. From the start, I expected it to be really cynical and tragic, but it's like an adult, arthouse version of "Calvin and Hobbes". All the characters are portrayed in a slightly derogatory way, but very superficially. Once you get past the intentional misspellings of the words to read like an exaggerated accent, the characters are all pretty charming and likable. For some reason I was expecting it to be really ugly, bitter, and suicide inducing.

Honestly, the ending was kind of disappointing. With everything that had been put into the story, I kind of wished the message hadn't been so straightforward and, if i'm being honest, sophomoric. I think they disappointment I felt by seeing the characters get wasted in an asteroid impact was intentional, but even then, the concept and thesis feels uninspiring. I will admit that the way the piece was written certainly made me think pretty hard about what was being said. My first impressions of the story were written above.

Overall, I think I'm not terribly impressed with the message of this piece. I think, if a friend of mine made this, I would definitely be very impressed by the sophisticated visual style, and the effort put into making all of the characters really good and lovable. Framing this piece as a hitchcock-esque masterpiece makes me expect more form it I think. What I will say, though, is that where it falls short seems to open a different level of enjoyment for me. It definitely had a thesis and story arch, and the story seemed to focus on it, and that's good. What I like so much, though, is that the objective in writing this story, was to first construct a cast of very deep characters with interesting backgrounds and flaws. They all exist in a very pleasing story that ends with a meteor impact (spoilers).