After Animalia; or where do we go from here?

Prologue:
Glimpses of light through the mud and dirt; or why should we do things?

What does
furry mean? A standard question one may ask when they are confronted by the
term for the first time without much or any context. And depending who they
ask, the answer varies, but the consensus is simple:

Furry is a
subculture which concerns itself with the depiction of anthropomorphic animals
be they in visual, literary, musical or theatrical form. Simple. Concise.  

The next
usual question one may ask is:

“Is X a
furry?”

And by X we
mean any or all characters in any media which are animals with human
characteristics. Sometimes the answer is “Yes” and sometimes the answer is “No”,
again depending on who they ask.

The word
most associated with furry is “anthropomorphic”, i.e. human form.

A typical
furry character posses a human form mixed in with a specific animal and usually
the intelligence of a human equivalent to that age.

But
historically the word “anthropomorphic” has been used to ascribe any sort of
human characteristic to inhuman objects.

Would a cat
able to quote German poems be furry?

Would a
human acting like a dog be furry?

Would a
parrot imitating human speech be furry?

Depending
who you ask, the answer varies

“So furry
is subjective?”

An adequate
follow-up question. The definition of furry is an elephant test: “I know it
when I see it.”

The furry
culture is a culture with a lot of common ground on first glance, but when you
dig deeper ideas start to shatter.

In this work
I would like to find, if possible, an adequate definition for what furry is,
what it can be used for and what it can aspire to be in the realms of art and
philosophy. Why would I want to do this? For two reasons mostly:

1.       I believe that the potential of what
can be done in this community has barely been scratched

2.       An essential part of the furry
community, with which no one person will disagree, is having fun; and asking
big questions has been a favorite pastime to humanity

I do not
promise an answer, but I do promise to try and piece together  some form of a coherent statement from the
vast and kaleidoscopic puzzle that is this community.

Part
One: The forest of innocence and wisdom; or where does the beginning lie
exactly?

Before we truly
talk about furry, let’s venture to its prehistory.

Throughout
the existence of mankind, animals have always had a place in religion.

Totemic,
animal spirits and gods with animal characteristics are standards of many myths
and legends in all the corners of the world, all of which serve some divine
purpose in shaping the world and fate of humans, with the animal aspect adding
a certain layer of symbolism.

With time,
it can be observed that more and more cultures have discarded their animal gods
and have started to worship beings with a more human form.

Here we see
more of an emphasis on animals in folklore rather than religion, the symbolism
of an animal changing from an aspect of the creation and world building myth to
that of an ordinary human.

No longer
is the wolf the end of all things and the devourer of the planet, but rather
gluttony or stupidity personified.

The owl ceases
to be the all knowing and becomes the wise guide.

Eagles do
not rule the sky, but sore in it with courage and passion.

Fairy tales
and folk stories around campfires depicting animals as heroes and villains without
much nuance have been used to teach simple lessons about humility, sharp wit
and following rules.

And these
stories have been passed down from generation to generation being retold and
remolded to fit the zeitgeist, immortalizing these symbols in our heads as the
go-to archetypes whenever a conundrum appears in our everyday lives.

As
children, we enjoyed these stories. As adults, we retell them.

And with
the advent of technology, newer stories with the critters from so long ago
arise, changing the scenario, lesson and maybe adding or stripping key characteristics
in these archetypes. Either way they exist and will continue to exist as long
as humanity needs stories, bringing both wisdom and excitement with them.

But as
times goes on, the character of the animal changes as needed by society and the
individual. A new animal appears in the collective conscious, molding its
archetype for more defined character traits. It is no longer a personification
through an animal. It is the character, whose form happens to be that of an
animal. From here on out, we see the first ur-furry. The animal before it
became a furry.

The funny
animals. Animals with much more defined human characteristics. They wear
clothes. They walk on two legs. They eat on the table. They fall in love.  

Humanity
viewed through a distorted lens.

Characters
who slowly become symbols in themselves to much more grander concepts than that
an individual may possess.

They are not
the human aspect of comedy. They are comedy. And they can be considered the
start of what’s to come.

Part
Two: Ceiling-gazing; or why do we give dreams form?

The animal
in myths is the inception.

The animal
in fairy tales is the toddler years.

The animal
in cartoons is the childhood.

These three
sentences can apply to both the development of artistic depictions of the
animal and that of the individual infatuated by the animal form.

So what
comes next?

 Adolescence.

The current
state of furry.

And the age
most people get into furry.

The age of
sexualization.

A lone
teenager, sitting in his room, burning with the urges any teenager has faced.
Seeking relief of the flesh, choosing something they are familiar with. Why not
an animal with a human form?

There is something
perverse and yet comforting. So why not?

Sex and
sexualization is, after all, part of the human experience, so it is often
depicted in works of art.

Furry, I
would say, is the most expansive sphere in regards to its mediums which depicts
sexual acts without being specifically sexualized as a whole.

Some argue that
the point of furry is sex and the fetishization of the animal form. Others
argue differently.

In either
case, all parties can confirm that sex does play an important part in furry. Is
it because of the age one enters it and it leaves an imprint? Or is it because
sex is standardized and a teenager finds it fairly easily?

There
really is no right answer here.

But it does
offer an exceptional amount of wish fulfillment – imaginary, yet attractive,
partners, offering something out of the ordinary, without having to deal with
the meddling aspects courtship.

Truly sex
makes the world turn.

But with
time, we slowly change our course, not only seeking to fulfill our primal urges
but to expand our horizons one way or another.

The years
pass and we slowly enter adulthood and with it the animal should gain new
qualities to represent this time in our life.

Part three:
Stunted development; or why should we grow up?

The young
adult is now faced with many questions regarding their place in the world and
the place of the world in the universe. The human has grown. The animal hasn’t.

The animal
stays in its previous form – that of the sexual object and wish fulfillment. It
will not change. It refuses to change.

Two options
remain:

1.       The adult forsakes the furry

2.       The adult stays with the furry and
maybe tries to make slight changes

Furry is an
ill-defined art form, an umbrella term for vague concepts with the theme of sex
being an ever present constant. Why is that?

Supposedly
a psychological argument could be made most likely. Something along the lines
of most people get into furry in their teenage years and most of them were most
likely outcast in one way or another; offered a certain safe space on anonymous
sites, their fantasies are not shunned but rather encouraged, indulging their
sexual desires as much as they can; there is no need to change, if everything seems
fine – there is acceptance by the peers online; what more should there be?

So? What’s
the problem? There is nothing wrong with sex?

No, there isn’t.
But there can be more.

Furry is
art in its core. Low art perhaps, but never the less, it is art. And art can
grow. And should grow.

Sex is just
one aspect of the human condition, which can be represented by the animal and I
truly believe that furry should take the next step and aspire to be more than
the fetishization of the animal.

Sex can
always be aspect, but the artistic expression does not need to revolve around
sex. Sex can just be another aspect to help cement a grander idea.

The animal
can look up to the sky and ask: What should I be next?

Part four: Erotic
nihilism; or how to confuse cynicism with abyss-gazing?

A certain trend
can be found in any contemporary work, striving to be serious and I believe
that a point should be made before going any further.

Dark and
brooding is an easy go to when claiming that you’ve made a serious piece of
art. But rarely are those pieces truly worth the while when it comes to
artistic merit.

The animal
kills. The animal is killed. The animal rapes. The animal is raped. The animal
suffers.

More so
than not, the worlds depicted in pieces like these have nothing to them besides
misery, shock and a fetishistic fascination with the grotesque. No actual point
to make. No actual contrast to the darkness. A cynical and almost childish
belief in a land where only evil rules, without offering any meaningful
questions or answers regarding evil.

Evil is the
quintessential element. It is inescapable. There are shades of evil for sure,
but they offer nothing in the grander scheme of things.

I am not
advocating for purely hopeful and optimistic works, but I am advocating for
works of substance with a bit more to them than a bloody power trip and radical
sexual depravity.

Part five: Postfurry;
or how is aesthetica guised as technica?

Furry is
hard to define.

Postfurry
is harder.

A splinter
of the indefinable concept which in itself is indefinable.

But as with
furry, postfurry has some loose rules such as using a postmodernist toolkit as
well as using aspects and themes found in science fiction. Sounds fancy when it
put in those words.

One might
think that this is the point of this essay, the point of me rambling for almost
1800 words.

Sadly,
postfurry differs from furry only in its aesthetics, using the techniques it
has acquired to only change the setting of the animal and not its purpose.

Although
postfurry prides itself in its alternative concepts, it’s no more sublime than anything
put out by the standard furry community. Nothing more than a new paintjob.

So why did
I name this piece with allusions to this branch of furry. Simple. It has the
right idea, but the wrong execution.

Using ideas
and tropes beyond those found in pulp art is one of the things I strive to
convince anyone to do who might be reading this.

As a whole
there isn’t much to be said about postfurry.

But some
irony should be noted here.

It uses
tropes found in science fiction. And like the first ever science fiction
stories, they offer little change to what has been pre-established. Cowboys in
space. Animals in latex.

Keeping
that in mind another reference to sci-fi can be made. As with the golden age of
science fiction, maybe the golden age of furry is just around the corner.

Part six: Philosophizing;
or what is there to art?

The animal
is unbound. Chainless it roams to new fields, seeking out its new task.

“What do I
need to be?”

It saw the
peeks of Helicon and began climbing.

Furry is
art. If I’ve managed to hammer in something, I’m pretty sure that is it.

Art is the
expression of oneself - thoughts, ideas, emotions and so on.

What can we
do with that?

At this
point, anything really. But the goal, as I’ve stated before, is to aim high.
And as is natural for high art, we should aim to more clearly express the human
condition through the animal. What would be the point in doing something if
there was never any improvement?

Escapism is
an essential human need, yes. But the truest form of art has a certain spice to
its escapism.

Diversification
of themes and messages, struggling with big concepts and asking unanswerable
questions are just some of the things that an artist should strive to do as
they create.

The animal
itself is escapism, but don’t let its essence be its entire being.

Part seven: Chronodaimon;
or how to spend a night with the muses?

The animal
gazes from atop of the mountain, seeing all that the world has to offer. The
sights, smells and sounds of an ever-turning planet fill its skull,
intoxicating it completely. A magnificent metamorphosis occurs and there stands
the artist, ready to capture it all.

All we
think, all we see, all we say, all we do.

What can
furry be after it sheds its skin once more?

A
reflection of the times.

A peek
within the soul.

A
speculation of the future.

All that
and much more, as any other work of art can.

But if that’s
true, than what need is there for the animal?

The animal
is an aesthetic for sure, but the aesthetic can always be incorporated into the
work as something more. It only needs a reason to be. A return to the folk
tales as symbolic characters is the easiest tool that can be used.

But besides
the visual representation, the animal adds a certain lair of detachment. It is
not human, not truly, allowing the artist to do more with it, which might
otherwise seem un-human. It does not think purely like a human. It does not act
purely like a human. It does not feel purely like a human. A crooked mirror is
still a mirror and once the novelty has gone, it still reflects.

Part eight: Beastly
apocrypha; or what to do next?

And so the
animal rose up and on its back rode the artist.

What is
there to do? Create, explore, observe, analyze. The postfurry, the next step of
the animal, should be the thinking-man’s furry, not ruled by base instincts,
but by complex emotions and intricate thoughts.

As the dawn
shines upon us for a new day, so should our goals be renewed.  In the age of trash art, where one thing is so
easily discarded for another, hold tight to what you love and raise it above
the rest. Strive for greatness as it is your duty, or perish beneath the sands,
forgotten.

It’s only a
matter of time before the animal takes its new form.  The clock ticks.

Epilogue:
Liquid dreams and solid miracles; or why even bother?

Why bother
indeed?

If one is
happy and content, why even try to make any changes?

Truthfully?
I’ve never met an artist who was happy or content.

I am fully
aware that this is not an extensive essay, only touching slightly upon some
topics.

I am also
fully aware that some of the things I’ve mentioned have already been done. But
those are really just individual situations and not actual shifts in the entire
subculture.

I am aware
that it does not possess a fully coherent structure or statement.

This essay
was not a call to arms.

This essay
was not a full dissection of furry.

This essay was
not a manifesto.

You may not
agree with what I’ve said, how I’ve said it or why I’ve said it. But I hope you
found this essay at least slightly interesting, whether or not you agree with
any statements I’ve made.

But
regardless of anything, I’m sure that you can agree, that at the very least,
this essay is postfurry in nature.

This is After
Animalia.