Skip to content

The World Needs More Magic

2013-07-09 · MagicTurtle643 · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · reflection essay

Guest host MagicTurtle643, a Nerd Factor winner standing in for John, argues the world needs more make-believe: magical realism, Harry Potter and imagination show what humans do best, making amazing things happen where magic isn't possible.

What is said

00:00:00 — Guest host MagicTurtle643 introduces himself as a Nerd Factor winner filling in for John on paternity leave; his magical-realism lecture

  • ★★★ MagicTurtle643 introduces himself as one of the two Nerd Factor winners chosen to fill in for John during his paternity leave. — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★★ He says that like John he uses vlogs to put off his novel, and must give a lecture on magical realism in a week for a grad school requirement, not yet done. (playful) — 00:00:00 · John Green

00:00:29 — The world needs more make-believe; magical realism and Sarah Addison Allen's novels

  • ★★★ He thinks the world needs more magic and the supernatural: not that more people should believe in it, since it's all make-believe, but that more people should make-believe it. (hedged) — 00:00:29
  • ★★ He admires magical realism: a story works like a realistic novel but the author adds supernatural, law-breaking events at will for intrigue, originality and symbolic resonance. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ He says in Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon an ex-husband leaves black dust on all he touches, a physical symbol of the messes hurtful people leave behind. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Imagination over realism; demand more Harry Potter; he'd rather be a muggle

  • ★ He says in her book The Sugar Queen a girl named Chloe is magically chased around by self-help books trying to solve her problems. (playful) — 00:01:27
  • ★★ He isn't saying writers like John should ditch realism, just that you can never have too much imagination; books and movies can do anything because it's pretending. (hedged) — 00:01:27 · John Green
  • ★★ Since we can't decrease world suck with Harry Potter spells, he says all we can do is demand more Harry Potter, which still captivates people. (playful) — 00:01:52 · Harry Potter, world suck
  • ★ Given dark wizards and no electronics, he thinks he would rather be a muggle; love potions can't match his love for his Nintendo 3DS. (playful) (hedged) — 00:01:52
  • ★★★ He hopes we never stop obsessing over witches and superheroes, not for false hope but to exercise the power to make them come true through imagination, better than CGI. (hedged) — 00:01:52

00:02:28 — Imagination beats CGI; what Rowling got wrong about non-magic folk; magicians and making amazing things happen without magic

  • ★★ He thinks JK Rowling got one thing wrong: non-magic folk don't hate or deny magic; people love blaming lost keys on ghosts, gnomes or fairies because it's more fun. (hedged) — 00:02:28 · Harry Potter
  • ★★ He says he is not arguing we should believe in such things, just that it's healthy to fantasize about them. — 00:02:28
  • ★★★ Loving science like any nerdfighter, he says the pleasure of magicians is that they make something amazing happen where magic isn't possible, which is what humans are good at. (hedged) — 00:02:28

00:03:16 — A community that loves stories can decrease world suck; sign-off and channel plug

  • ★★ He says all it takes is a community of people who love reading about things that never happened and singing about magical teenagers to make things a little better: Nerdfighters. — 00:03:16 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★ He invites viewers who want more of him to follow the link in the doobly-doo. — 00:03:16 · doobly-doo

Humor (significant)

  • He says John probably only picked him because he loves gingers. — 00:00:00 > «That's right, kids, sometimes it pays to be soulless.»
  • Citing Sarah Addison Allen's magical-realism novels, he appends the vlogbrothers 'in your pants' suffix to their titles. — 00:00:58 > «The Girl Who Chased the Moon in Your Pants»
  • Praising imagination over CGI, he tries to generate a realistic face with his mind on camera. — 00:02:28 > «I think I need to update my brain software.»
  • Admitting he can't fix the world with a spell, he invents a mock Harry Potter incantation. — 00:03:16 > «I can't just say Decrecio World Succio and make everything better,»

Threads in this video

BR2_94dde2fda0