Are Slendervlogs nowadays depressing?

I've just thought about this recently. It seems that a lot of Slender Man vlogs lately are just all about fear, depression, loneliness, and despair. Why can't there be some sort of happiness and contentness in these characters, something that shows that they believe that everything will be alright, even though it might not be?

For instance, the Angel's Game.



At this point, these kids have been through hell, yet they still laugh and joke and smile and have fun. This sort of thing makes me happy watching these people try and push through, while still being happy.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Honestly? It's a horror Mythos. Depressing, dark, and bleak is part and parcel of that.

Now granted, you can have some happy moments, sure. You can have moments that make you laugh. But at the end of the day the Mythos is a horror universe and stories set in it are more than likely gonna end with a depressing note, if not an uncertain note.

I don't mind it because I watch the series to watch these protagonists struggle and try to fight back or delve deeper, even if they know they'll inevitably lose. I think it speaks a lot about human curiosity, and how it can push us to want to know more... sometimes to our own detriment.

Well, I don't want to spoil anything for those that haven't watched it yet, but Tribe Twelve's more recent videos gave me some hope for Noah.

DarkShadows wrote:

Honestly? It's a horror Mythos. Depressing, dark, and bleak is part and parcel of that.

Now granted, you can have some happy moments, sure. You can have moments that make you laugh. But at the end of the day the Mythos is a horror universe and stories set in it are more than likely gonna end with a depressing note, if not an uncertain note.

I don't mind it because I watch the series to watch these protagonists struggle and try to fight back or delve deeper, even if they know they'll inevitably lose. I think it speaks a lot about human curiosity, and how it can push us to want to know more... sometimes to our own detriment.

I agree with you totally. That's basically what I meant by "happiness", the determination to keep pushing through.

My view on unhappy stories:

Tragedy is good, outright depressing is bad. Depression is a lack of sadness, of feeling, of motivation; it's crushing. Tragedy is poignant and follows the happy ending on the opposite spectrum.

I wouldn't mind happier episodes (for lack of a better term) if they had more of a point to them. Many of the upbeat videos I've watched were just 6+ minutes of characters fooling around, with maybe a few seconds at the end having anything to do with the plot.

Some might defend those videos by saying it's "character development," but there's no reason you can't develop characters and move the plot forward at the same time.

Hooligan Spirit wrote:

Some might defend those videos by saying it's "character development," but there's no reason you can't develop characters and move the plot forward at the same time.

THIS.

The only time that it's acceptable to have 6+ minutes of just nonsense is it's one of the starting videos of a vlog. For me, at least.

But Hooooooliiiigaaaaan~ writing compelling narrative and character development all at once is haaaaarrrrrrd~... :c

But seriously, yes. If you're gonna have filler vid I would at least appreciate it not ALL being filler vid. At least put some plot stuff sprinkled throughout. It doesn't have to be big, but at least have it there so we know the protagonists aren't just ignoring the happenings like they aren't there.

Hooligan Spirit wrote:

I wouldn't mind happier episodes (for lack of a better term) if they had more of a point to them. Many of the upbeat videos I've watched were just 6+ minutes of characters fooling around, with maybe a few seconds at the end having anything to do with the plot.

Some might defend those videos by saying it's "character development," but there's no reason you can't develop characters and move the plot forward at the same time.

Totes this. Running for your life is a great time to grow as a person, I feel.

Yeah, I believe there should always be some hope...even if it's a fool's hope (to quote Gandalf).
Characters are just more likeable to know they are gonna die and do their best IMO.

JosiahMiller wrote:

Yeah, I believe there should always be some hope...even if it's a fool's hope (to quote Gandalf).
Characters are just more likeable to know they are gonna die and do their best IMO.

Very nice reference.

sethlapod555 wrote:

I've just thought about this recently. It seems that a lot of Slender Man vlogs lately are just all about fear, depression, loneliness, and despair. Why can't there be some sort of happiness and contentness in these characters, something that shows that they believe that everything will be alright, even though it might not be?

For instance, the Angel's Game.



At this point, these kids have been through hell, yet they still laugh and joke and smile and have fun. This sort of thing makes me happy watching these people try and push through, while still being happy.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

well there was that one time in EVERYMANHYBRID A DAY with green feathers that was happy but apart from that and sorry i accidentally turned on CAPS LOCK

AlkerStay wrote:

sethlapod555 wrote:

I've just thought about this recently. It seems that a lot of Slender Man vlogs lately are just all about fear, depression, loneliness, and despair. Why can't there be some sort of happiness and contentness in these characters, something that shows that they believe that everything will be alright, even though it might not be?

For instance, the Angel's Game.



At this point, these kids have been through hell, yet they still laugh and joke and smile and have fun. This sort of thing makes me happy watching these people try and push through, while still being happy.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

well there was that one time in EVERYMANHYBRID A DAY with green feathers that was happy but apart from that and sorry i accidentally turned on CAPS LOCK

Yeah, EverymanHYBRID has a lot of those sorts of entries. (Well, used to.) And it's okay! You can edit your post and take the caps lock off if you want.

Two cents: If any video work leaves you with no feeling or questionless(unless in awe), then it hasn't done its job.

sethlapod555 wrote:

JosiahMiller wrote:

Yeah, I believe there should always be some hope...even if it's a fool's hope (to quote Gandalf).
Characters are just more likeable to know they are gonna die and do their best IMO.

Very nice reference.

Why, thank you

It all depends on the characters and how they react to things.
Some people scream and cry
Some hold the camera and hope
Some pull out a glock and pop a cap in Slenderman's ass...
Then again, Noah is amazing

Cokeysion wrote:

Some pull out a glock and pop a cap in Slenderman's ass...

Oh god, if Black Yoshi from Supermariologan were being stalked by Slenderman.

For anyone who has seen OctarineNight, Kyle and his friends usually seem happy. In fact, the only really sad moment was the "1/2" video.