As a European, I also find Kafka's Letters to My Father and Letters to Ottla (his younger sister) quite relatable; he basically described toxic masculinity one century ago and defended his sister against his family, his sensitive soul made him a visionary.
"telling someone Harry styles is your boyfriend is a fantasy; telling someone Franz Kafka is your boyfriend is a thesis statement" is a banger line, I'll have to go check out that article Very interesting video as always!
if it happens the coverage will 180 and feel like that sweatsuit guy who discovered perspective/became sentient on a beach since everything men do are profound but women just thirst and fangirl 🙄😭 i do hope those fellas would be cool & anxiously attached tho, bell jar lovers make some noise! there's fidget items and various energy drinks in the kitchen 🫡 (pos/affectionate)
Well I'm not young, but I love Sylvia's work, currently reading the unabridged journal... I never knew reading the bell jar in public was such a pick me dude move...but I just do me and be vibing
Just like in the days of boy bands,"fangirls" was used to imply that the interests of young girls were superficial and driven by teenage hormones and not a genuine appreciation for the art itself. Now as young women consume classic literature, regarded as "high-value content," their motives are still questioned. This alienation and misunderstanding from society is what makes Kafka's work relatable. As a fellow chronically online Kafka fan, I can confirm that the "Kafka is my boyfriend" meme is a playful way to express how much we feel a connection with Kafka's themes, almost as if we could be a couple.
That sounds reasonable but do u feel that the obsession with fictional romances is parasocial in an unhealthy way? It’s common for people to fall in love with characters in books, movies, videogames, boy bands or whatever else to the point where their fictional relationships feel realer & more fulfilling than genuine human connection. I don’t mean to be rude or to imply anything about u personally, I just worry that as people become more lonely they’ll drift away to more comforting false realities, do u feel that plays any role in a situation like this?
@@anthonytitone most of the time it's not, now that may be in some exceptional cases, maybe if the person is very isolated and lonely, but for the avarage person I don't believe that's a problem. At least from what I see in the real world around me.
@@anthonytitone I'm not the original thread-poster but I think people have always drifted into comforting false realities, even when they have a "genuine" human connection. Gender stereotypes were always a common problem in lasting relationships, with husbands thinking their wives would stay pretty for decades, or wives thinking their lack of education and career options in society will not be a problem if they found the right partner. People's ideas about another person will frequently get in the way of true understanding and connection-even when the other person is actually there to inform them. What I think fiction should do is clue in an exploration of the reader to get to know themselves. If I prefer the broody snarker type of romantic hero to the himbo golden retriever boyfriend then it's obviously not as simple as saying "I wish boyfriends were real"; instead it can mean something about my own sense of emotional coping or what needs psychological healing. I think it is better for people to work on that through a relationship with fiction, instead of wasting real people's time by relationships where they project whatever our psychological damage is on to another real person. When readers are ready for a real relationship with a real human being, they will probably start to want one.
Fifteen years ago there was a pop song about shooting up a school campus ("pumped-up kicks") and when I was a teenager the goth/emo suicide subcultures were far more prominent than they are now or during the ana-mia SadGirl 2010s. If Kafka is the "it boy" imaginary boyfriend of young people today, then I am not disturbed. Besides, people were already disturbed by happy consumerist teenyboppers-I think everything that young people do becomes trendy to think it's disturbing or concerning or wrong. People are dying this decade from plague and war! Are we really going to be disturbed by Kafka fans?
@@poe.and.theholograms I'd say this kafka theme is the tip of the iceberg, and those problems you discused, even though I've heard nothing about them, would also be a very good case studyof their origins. Guessing some internet bubble like tiktok as well?
I also feel bad for young people, who constantly got told that Colleen Hoover is bad and now some people (not you) make fun of them for liking Kafka, I for sure would feel so insecure if I still was a young girl starting to fall in love with reading. Hopefully younger people are more secure, than I was as a young teen
Colleen Hoover is bad, both her subject matter and her writing are atrocious. People would be better off reading nutritional labels than they are reading CoHo.
I'm sorry but Colleen Hoover and even a similar author, Penelope Douglas are both not great authors by many metrics. It is one thing to write literature that is easy to digest and enjoyable for many and it is a completely another thing to write sloppy literature that portrays ideals like women are dumb, incest or such. I understand their books can encourage someone to start reading but that doesn't mean they are good books.
@@a.h8169Especially because we aren't even making fun of the girls just the books and not because they like them but because their genuinely not well written and we criticize out of concern for the young girls that read them because most of her books romanticize and glorify abusive relationships and that's harmful to teach young girls that behavior from men to them is any way acceptable plus the amount of misogyny in Colleen Hoover's books is insane
It’s a constant cycle of “woman / girl makes joke > joke is perceived as sincere because of biased assumptions that woman / girl isn’t smart enough to REALLY understand the joke she’s making” like bro. Kafka hasn’t been around irl since the last century ofc this is a bit.
i don't know if i have an obsession but i have a great love for The Metamorphosis as someone who suffered severe health issues (cancer) that heavily impacted by ability to contribute to society and life in general, it's a very meaningful story that i relate to deeply.
I'm a girl in her 20s, i love kafka`s work and i'm also tired of seeing people criticizing every young women's interests. That being said, it does bother me a little how these tiktok girls idealize him so much because i don`t think they would if he was alive today. In some of his letters he talks about his big struggle with p*rn addiction, and as someone who's chronically online, i can imagine all the twitter threads calling him a pervert, a loser, etc. I think a lot of them just like the romanticization of a dead and tortured soul.
yes, well, the internet has a habit of taking the joke too far. I came across an attempt to cancel him for going to brothels not too long ago and was kind of embarrassed on behalf of the people trying to cancel him lmao
@@accordingtoalina the thing is, you can't cancel anyone who is dead.. you can criticise, but you can't cancel the dead. so it probably wouldn't be considered cancellation.. also that's a small minority of people! some girls who like kafka
Millennial's also had this obsession with Kafka, you only had to be on tumblr to see it, the irony and absurdity you describe was also present. It's so annoying seeing how people create sensation around teenager girls interest in him. It's especially frustrating how these people who criticise them want to seperate sexuality from genuine interest, as if sexuality completely undermines all deeper thought. It's a very ingrained (christian) view that sexuality can only be primal and mindless, and is not compatible with non sexual interest. It's as if the moment people see that someone's interest has a sexual thread to it then it must only be that, because sexuality touching something even in the smallest and most ironic of ways ruins it and makes it superficial. This particularly applies to womens sexuality, and teenage girls sexuality which is seen as wild, uncontrollable, mindless and terrifying. It seems people are so scared of it that when they see a teenage girl on tiktok make an ironic post about Kafka being her boyfriend with absolutely no mention of sexuality, they immediately pull out their crucifixes and panic! It's so stupid.
Thanks for the video! As a German, this whole Kafka renaissance is extremely bizarre to me since when I was in school (and probably all decades before, judging from the experiences of my older colleagues), Kafka was always this one strange tool that teachers use to somehow punish pupils. I remember entire lists of recommended readings of his work, how it is so inconceivably complex that you might just as well give up on him. I myself didn't learn to appreciate him until long after school when I read "The Castle", which I loved, but it always felt that what it made ring in me was something too weird to talk about so I just accepted that I will keep these things for myself for the most of the time. And then, years later, I see Kafka all over the internet and it's just ... it's strange, really. Not bad, not something I'd make fun of, but strange. Because somehow it makes what I felt about "The Castle" even more alien and removed from other people than before.
I had no idea Kafka's diaries were published against his wishes... don't know how comfortable I feel reading them now. Oh well, one less book on my bountiful TBR is a blessing in disguise, I think lol. Insightful watch as always!
he left them with his friend and literary executor Max Brod, alongside a couple manuscripts and told him they should be destroyed after his death. But Brod, who was also a big fan of his work, thought that it would be a loss to humanity to destroy the texts, so he published them instead. He also at one point tries to argue that if Kafka really wanted them gone he would have given them to someone else because he knew Brod wouldn't have honoured that wish...
Okay fine I will read kafka, I recently started following a twitter account which posts his diary entries and learning from this video that metamorphosis is only 70 pages long has sparked my interest. Thanks for another banger Alina :)
I have always thought kafka was a wonderful writer but I am very surprised to find he is popular on TikTok I rarely go on it and for a long time I've just thought it was light entertainment for vacuous young people. The fact that he has been rediscovered by a new generation who are taking his work seriously has really made my day.⚛
I´m an old Gen Z person, since I´m german and our teachers love to use Kafkas work in german class (basically what enlgish class would be to US americans, brits, ...) I´ve known his writings for many years and while I didn´t want to fall in love with it (because of reading it for school and bad experiences with school literature prior), I absolutly fell in love with it (so much so, that I started reading more from him ages ago). So I can totally get, why others would fall in love with his work as well. Also Kafka was a lot in the news this year in Germany, because he died 100 years ago in june of this year, so journalists and literature critics started calling this year the Kafka Jahr = Kafka year, I think his rise in popularity has also to do with this very fact. Anyways him only halfway through the video, maybe this will be said
I’m interested that I’m literally rereading Kafka and Camus when this video comes out. I guess as gen z I never realized how my generation would be so hooked with these types of stories, I thought it was just me and very bookish people, but even as a guy and I relate to some of the things in his diaries just because of how social life feels because of the internet
One of the features if algorithms (for better or worse) is that it’s made it a bit more difficult to discover certain communities unless you know what to look for, specifically. As a result you have no idea that somewhere on the internet the relatively niche thing you enjoy is actually really popular - Kafka and Camus and their respective works are two of these things!
I'm amazed that Gen Z or Alpha would even read that type of work. Everything is vibes now and while Kafka has serious vibes, his work is a hell of a lot more involved than that.
This is a very pleasant change from the notorious Goodreads review that dismissed The Metamorphosis as "a rather pointless novel about a bug that dies" without considering how a disabled Jewish author might be feeling some kind of way that gets made into a story and goes on to influence the entire magical realism genre. That review got bandied about as evidence of the "they're mean and can't read" generation and the death knell of media literacy, sarcastically upheld as the words of "the most intellectually curious Goodreads reviewer". So if other young people are making up for that now in this way, then so far I think it's good. Next up, whoever called The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde "queerbait"... 13:55 "Boomer news articles in the style of Teens Want Beatles Not Jesus! or should i say beetle" haha! Best.
fate made it so i saw your upload right as i was about to have my dinner, which was perfect. i've seen a lot of the kafka jokes on twitter and i find them hilarious. there's an account that posts daily diary entries, matched by date, and people will quote these saying stuff like "if i ever think i'm having a bad day, i just read kafka's diary because i KNOW he was having a worse one", and i just think that's beautiful 😂 i think one interesting thing is how reading his diaries (or fragments thereof) seems to make people connect with him, a dude that lived a hundred years ago that you wouldn't necessarily expect to have a lot in common with, especially emotionally. whether we do or not, i don't know, and i reckon that isn't the point either. i find it quite cool :-) as always, loved the video (props for your singing, 10/10)!!
I saw someone share his July 6 diary entry on twitter (“july 6. Unhappy night”) with the caption “when will this bitch have a happy day” and it made me giggle
Easily one of the best book channels on here you’re able to concisely make (and defend) so many points without losing the main thesis. I look forward to your next video.
I've never read The Metamorphosis but from what I've heard, I see it as a message about diability and how it degrades people. The main character's inability to work and the guilt that comes with it, shines a light on how capitalism values humans based on their productivity, and a disabled person may be seen (or see themselves) as less valuable.
this is only kind of related but my god you reminded me of one of my comparative literature classes where we read the metamorphosis. i was the discussion leader in that class and EVERYONE except me was completely uninterested in the text. their answers were all prefaced with "well this is a stupid story that doesn't make any sense, but-". it was driving me insane. like this was a class of like 30 literature students and their take was "this absurdist story doesn't make sense because it is absurd and i hate it". i do think most of the kafka girlies understand his work though. maybe not on a deeper level, but even on a surface level there's a lot there. i think people are pretty morose and depressed and lonely and alienated these days and i guess so was kafka so it feels like that's one writer who really gets it.
"...Excited over a stinky, ugly, uneducated man, while Kafka wrote..." So for two thirds it is about looks and social norms concerning selfcare/BO and only one third is about education or being articulate... I will give to her, that she uses negative adjectives to devaluate other human beings, just like Kafkas narrators did to the protagonists in his books "like a dog". However at least she could have used different adjectives to make it sound more kafkaesque. Something like: "She was out creeping along the dull city, crouching through the empty streets full of people, rejoicing at the fact that on an application for courtship behavior and human mating she has found a narrow-headed, rat-faced man, reeking of innerts, while Kafka wrote "Yadda yadda yadda, squibble squabble" to Milena." If you try to signal your emotional connectedness to an author who is dead for almost a century, and share it with the world, at least put some effort into it...
The #kafka 139 million views statistic from the Daily Mail might be skewed by the fact that there's a popular Hoyoverse (Genshin Impact or something) character named Kafka?
I was actually wondering about this! I saw some tiktoks but didn't have time to fall down the rabbit hole - but it makes so much sense, thanks for bringing it up xx
I think I actually disagree with the notion that fandom is basically uncritical enjoyment of something. I mean, look at fanfictions. They are a huge part of fandom, (and maybe one can differentiate between a fandom of literature and a fandom of real people, but Kafka is kind of ... both?) and especially in fandoms of literary works I'd say there's a lot of intrinsic criticism. People write fanfictions to change some of the plot, eg. to show a female character's perspective on a story that's been dominated by men, to discuss one aspect of the original story that's been sold too short and needs some more examination (often it's something to do with trauma). And of course there are stories that are written "just for fun" but even then it's done as a personal analysis of the original story, adding new thoughts, new layers to what's been there before, which is in itself a critical utilisation of the available material. It doesn't necessarily have to be a negative conclusion that's drawn to be critical engagement.
no, actually, there are quite a few scholars who write about Kafka's humour at length. check out this article if you want to get into that rabbit hole www.jstor.org/stable/2929148
using fangirls (as derogatory) is so wrong but also incorrect, i am a fanboy. im gen z but too old and busy for tiktok so i didnt even know this was a sub genre of tiktok and coincidentally got into kafka slightly before/around the same time this took off and i think it moreso just speaks to how his work can still be so relevant today, idk why people make a big deal about it tbh
I wonder if the Crime and Punishment fans are more in search of existential answers (ethics and religion), whereas Kafka dealt with societal pressures and expectations on the individual (in the Metamorphosis and the Trial especially).
1) it's weird to assume that people are consuming a non-visual medium just because they think the author was cute. Especially if the said author was dead before they were born. Also, they have a point about the responses they get from dates. Is it so wrong to wish men would actually tell you if they like you? 2) it's weird to assume that fangirls are giving so much in exchange for so little. Actually I think the reason why men are often so disdainful of young female fans liking male celebrities is that they realize the women are trying to tell them they should emulate these guys. Sure, I have met girls who get caught up in fandom culture purely because they think some guy is hot. But they're also the first to leave whenever there is trouble in a fandom. The people who do the most and stick around the longest, are the ones who appreciate the artist's work and often his public persona. Sure, it might be that his public persona is more manufactured than the fans realize, but nonetheless their appreciation is not skin deep. And more often than not in fact, the fangirls are right about identifying genuinely cool guys whom young men should be viewing as role models.
Saw this post on a video I honestly can’t figure out why it shows up for me but figured I like to engage in stuff I’m not particularly aware of , when you say that I’m curious does that mean young girls can’t find any men like the ones they are looking for in this specific scenario? Or they are just rare or something? I actually agree that for the most part it isn’t shallow even if it seems so on the outside however I do think it’s dangerous and unhealthy. That’s not a criticism strictly because they are young women I feel the same with men and idolizing game developers , comic writers , athletes, and other artist. I understand how there can be all kind of reasons for the connection or looking up to someone but there has to be a healthy balance. That’s exactly why they can sell nostalgia to us even if it lacks substance and people will buy, but complain as soon as it’s different and lacks nostalgia they can be critical all of a sudden . People cannot separate the product or person from their memories and feeling or wtv thing that makes them feel connected. Nothing wrong with appreciating art though of course or loving it even just tryin to be nuanced
@@rashawnwalker9398 yes, I'm saying that the girls do not feel appreciated by the boys they know from school and such. They might know one or two much older men who treat them with a degree of respect, but that's not the same thing as a person close to one's age. Granted that I am generalizing from my own experience and my mother's, but all the evidence also backs that point. Girls are raised on horror stories of what will happen if they give affection too easily: fairy tales and common children's books have a common theme of "be careful who you trust, who you care for" especially directed at girls. The idea that after all of that, after upwards of ten years of that, the majority of them would throw themselves away on a nice looking famous guy is just absurd. As it is, far too many girls end up in abusive relationships when they are that young: and that is people who aren't walking red flag bundles. Ryan Reynolds at least played a character who showed great respect for women, seems to have a good relationship with his mother, and treats women respectfully at least in public. Park Jimin is among a long list of Asian celebrities who have publicly humiliated tv hosts for their misogyny, among other examples of using his clout to stick up for women in a society where that is decidedly not the norm (granted: his fans are largely teenage girls, so it beehooves him to stick up for them). Pedro Pascal has a long history of activism for radical causes, and is from a radical family. Keanu Reeves, another of these heartthrobs, is well known for his charitable work and general humility. Idk about some of the others, but I would guess you would uncover similar things about them if you did some digging. Even going back to my mother's time: John Lennon might be problematic by today's standards, but he was a cut above most men in his era.
I guess I'm too old for tiktok but I've seen a few of those on instagram...Most memes are kind of funny but Kafka dancing like that is soo cringey...Y la canción en español... Nooo por favor!!!!:DD I don't think it's necessarily bad if some teens are obsessing over a writer.I remember very toxic communities in Tumblr with people declaring their love to serial killers. Yes, people like Richard Ramirez and Charles Manson with crowns of flowers on their heads...At least, with all his insecurity , fears and anxieties, Franz Kafka is a positive figure to be admired.
People forget that fan is short for fanatic and fanatic means to have excessive feelings for an ideal, political stance or person to the point of being unreasonable. People that are the excessive fans of Kafka, Taylor Swift, NSYNC etc (in my opinion) can be just as ridiculous as people that instantly and wholly hate them, just from the virtue of arbitrarily not wanting to be a sheep in the herd. I’ve never read Harry Potter. The films are OK for what they are, but you have people praising her as a wizarding goddess, and you’ll have people that will instantly call her the worst human and writer alive because of her political stances. I think that both just as love and hate are just 2 sides of the same coin when it comes to obsession and deep feelings for them. Having balance between what you love and hate is necessary to be able to learn from them both, and to be willing to see the flaws in them.
@@accordingtoalina it's funny because it still fits with what you're saying (even though swann arlaud isn't as popular he definitely had his fancam moments)
This is why I uninstalled tiktok😭 edit: Yes, I have seen the video, and despite the fact that this is basically a 'in defense of' style video I find myself disagreeing anyway. The way that people are "enjoying things" these days is by calling themselves "delusional" and "mentally ill" for reading Kafka's work, on top of treating it like a personality trait and making pink bow edits. I would certainly not want to die a renowned writer and then be fetichised and trivialised by an army of pubescent teenagers taking everything as a joke and romanticising serious or even fucked up things (like true crime for instance, I would love to tell people that the documentation of such crimes exists for education, not for you to obsess over and to romanticise other people's trauma and suffering). this is not exclusive to Kafka and his writing specifically - it happens with just about everything these days, just with whatever happens to be trending. It is difficult to explain but the way that the 2020s internet has a habit of ruining things this specific and particular way has soured me quite a bit.
@@GladysHunnam that's very fair. Honestly I was so done with short form low quality content that adds nothing but misery to this already desolate and difficult world, so I decided I was just going to be happier not knowing in what ways my favourite song or topic will be intensely ruined by a wave of misinformation, trivialisation and romanticisation where there clearly should be none and people are highly aware of that fact
If it’s ruined something for you, that’s a you problem. The majority of the world does not care about this lol. Also Kafka is dead, he doesn’t give a shit because he is dead.
Hi! I love your video, but my tiktok is shown on the right side of your thumbnail and I wouldn’t like to be associated with the Kafka sex machines. I am autistic and Kafka is my special interest, I’ve written multiple papers on him and I’ve spent over a year gathering as much information as possible about him, from biographies, articles, his own writing, etc. I do think he was an attractive man but he was also so much more as a person. And I am very lesbian. Could you remove my snapshot from the thumbnail please?
Hello you are so pretty I will still love you even if you wake up one morning from troubling dreams and find yourself changed in your bed unto a gigantic insect ❤
the timing of watching a video on gen z's attachment to kafka due to relating to feelings of inadequacy shame frustration and needing twenty minutes after talking myself down from 💀🛝 by recording my rambling and fractured thoughts on that infamous clock app feels kafkaesque. sorry 😔🪳
i loved it though as i do all ur videos. kafka's diaries really are just the 20th century spam account of a traumatized young adult in a distressing life and society. can't say i'd want my notes app published post mortem either
As a European, I also find Kafka's Letters to My Father and Letters to Ottla (his younger sister) quite relatable; he basically described toxic masculinity one century ago and defended his sister against his family, his sensitive soul made him a visionary.
letter to my father is truly touching. I haven't read the others
"Kafka is babygirl" isn't something I thought I would hear ever but, here I am and I'm not mad about that level of unhinged
"telling someone Harry styles is your boyfriend is a fantasy; telling someone Franz Kafka is your boyfriend is a thesis statement" is a banger line, I'll have to go check out that article
Very interesting video as always!
it's a great article!
Where are all the young men thirsting for Sylvia Plath?
if it happens the coverage will 180 and feel like that sweatsuit guy who discovered perspective/became sentient on a beach since everything men do are profound but women just thirst and fangirl 🙄😭 i do hope those fellas would be cool & anxiously attached tho, bell jar lovers make some noise! there's fidget items and various energy drinks in the kitchen 🫡 (pos/affectionate)
it's just young women as of now
Flannery O'Connor 😍 (minus the racy stuff)
you'll find them at any goth club
Well I'm not young, but I love Sylvia's work, currently reading the unabridged journal...
I never knew reading the bell jar in public was such a pick me dude move...but I just do me and be vibing
Just like in the days of boy bands,"fangirls" was used to imply that the interests of young girls were superficial and driven by teenage hormones and not a genuine appreciation for the art itself. Now as young women consume classic literature, regarded as "high-value content," their motives are still questioned. This alienation and misunderstanding from society is what makes Kafka's work relatable. As a fellow chronically online Kafka fan, I can confirm that the "Kafka is my boyfriend" meme is a playful way to express how much we feel a connection with Kafka's themes, almost as if we could be a couple.
That sounds reasonable but do u feel that the obsession with fictional romances is parasocial in an unhealthy way? It’s common for people to fall in love with characters in books, movies, videogames, boy bands or whatever else to the point where their fictional relationships feel realer & more fulfilling than genuine human connection. I don’t mean to be rude or to imply anything about u personally, I just worry that as people become more lonely they’ll drift away to more comforting false realities, do u feel that plays any role in a situation like this?
@@anthonytitone most of the time it's not, now that may be in some exceptional cases, maybe if the person is very isolated and lonely, but for the avarage person I don't believe that's a problem. At least from what I see in the real world around me.
The days of boy bands are here - k-pop and the same deprecation of them is happening as it did to the 90s western boy bands.
@@anthonytitonehappens in Japan all the time, people try to marry pillows and holograms and anime dolls for instance
@@anthonytitone I'm not the original thread-poster but I think people have always drifted into comforting false realities, even when they have a "genuine" human connection. Gender stereotypes were always a common problem in lasting relationships, with husbands thinking their wives would stay pretty for decades, or wives thinking their lack of education and career options in society will not be a problem if they found the right partner. People's ideas about another person will frequently get in the way of true understanding and connection-even when the other person is actually there to inform them.
What I think fiction should do is clue in an exploration of the reader to get to know themselves. If I prefer the broody snarker type of romantic hero to the himbo golden retriever boyfriend then it's obviously not as simple as saying "I wish boyfriends were real"; instead it can mean something about my own sense of emotional coping or what needs psychological healing. I think it is better for people to work on that through a relationship with fiction, instead of wasting real people's time by relationships where they project whatever our psychological damage is on to another real person. When readers are ready for a real relationship with a real human being, they will probably start to want one.
Attacking people for enjoying Kafka on any level is why we can't have nice things.
literally people will be annoyed that teenagers read colleen hoover and then turn around and do this 2 seconds later
Say what you say, it is disturbing some of the things teenagers are saying, for instance "dating kafka" as Alaine was showing.
Aaaaand, what are you saying actually with "that is why we can't have nice things"?
Fifteen years ago there was a pop song about shooting up a school campus ("pumped-up kicks") and when I was a teenager the goth/emo suicide subcultures were far more prominent than they are now or during the ana-mia SadGirl 2010s. If Kafka is the "it boy" imaginary boyfriend of young people today, then I am not disturbed. Besides, people were already disturbed by happy consumerist teenyboppers-I think everything that young people do becomes trendy to think it's disturbing or concerning or wrong. People are dying this decade from plague and war! Are we really going to be disturbed by Kafka fans?
@@poe.and.theholograms I'd say this kafka theme is the tip of the iceberg, and those problems you discused, even though I've heard nothing about them, would also be a very good case studyof their origins. Guessing some internet bubble like tiktok as well?
I also feel bad for young people, who constantly got told that Colleen Hoover is bad and now some people (not you) make fun of them for liking Kafka, I for sure would feel so insecure if I still was a young girl starting to fall in love with reading. Hopefully younger people are more secure, than I was as a young teen
But the one who are making fun are gen Z themselves 🤷♀️
They re making fun and bullying everyone online.
Colleen Hoover is bad, both her subject matter and her writing are atrocious. People would be better off reading nutritional labels than they are reading CoHo.
I'm sorry but Colleen Hoover and even a similar author, Penelope Douglas are both not great authors by many metrics. It is one thing to write literature that is easy to digest and enjoyable for many and it is a completely another thing to write sloppy literature that portrays ideals like women are dumb, incest or such. I understand their books can encourage someone to start reading but that doesn't mean they are good books.
@@a.h8169Especially because we aren't even making fun of the girls just the books and not because they like them but because their genuinely not well written and we criticize out of concern for the young girls that read them because most of her books romanticize and glorify abusive relationships and that's harmful to teach young girls that behavior from men to them is any way acceptable plus the amount of misogyny in Colleen Hoover's books is insane
It’s a constant cycle of “woman / girl makes joke > joke is perceived as sincere because of biased assumptions that woman / girl isn’t smart enough to REALLY understand the joke she’s making” like bro. Kafka hasn’t been around irl since the last century ofc this is a bit.
"You don't understand! I'm thirsting after this dead guy *ironically*" yeah, I'm not convinced 🤷♂️
i don't know if i have an obsession but i have a great love for The Metamorphosis as someone who suffered severe health issues (cancer) that heavily impacted by ability to contribute to society and life in general, it's a very meaningful story that i relate to deeply.
It’s one of my favorite books.
so sorry you had to go through all of that. I'm happy you found some comfort in the text x
I'm a girl in her 20s, i love kafka`s work and i'm also tired of seeing people criticizing every young women's interests. That being said, it does bother me a little how these tiktok girls idealize him so much because i don`t think they would if he was alive today. In some of his letters he talks about his big struggle with p*rn addiction, and as someone who's chronically online, i can imagine all the twitter threads calling him a pervert, a loser, etc. I think a lot of them just like the romanticization of a dead and tortured soul.
yes, well, the internet has a habit of taking the joke too far. I came across an attempt to cancel him for going to brothels not too long ago and was kind of embarrassed on behalf of the people trying to cancel him lmao
@@accordingtoalina the thing is, you can't cancel anyone who is dead.. you can criticise, but you can't cancel the dead. so it probably wouldn't be considered cancellation.. also that's a small minority of people! some girls who like kafka
you singing the tiktok sounds to avoid the copyright claims may be the single greatest comedic act of this century
lmao I tried
Millennial's also had this obsession with Kafka, you only had to be on tumblr to see it, the irony and absurdity you describe was also present. It's so annoying seeing how people create sensation around teenager girls interest in him. It's especially frustrating how these people who criticise them want to seperate sexuality from genuine interest, as if sexuality completely undermines all deeper thought. It's a very ingrained (christian) view that sexuality can only be primal and mindless, and is not compatible with non sexual interest. It's as if the moment people see that someone's interest has a sexual thread to it then it must only be that, because sexuality touching something even in the smallest and most ironic of ways ruins it and makes it superficial. This particularly applies to womens sexuality, and teenage girls sexuality which is seen as wild, uncontrollable, mindless and terrifying. It seems people are so scared of it that when they see a teenage girl on tiktok make an ironic post about Kafka being her boyfriend with absolutely no mention of sexuality, they immediately pull out their crucifixes and panic! It's so stupid.
Amazing comment 😮
Amazing comment 😮
this video is so kafkaesque
Thanks for the video! As a German, this whole Kafka renaissance is extremely bizarre to me since when I was in school (and probably all decades before, judging from the experiences of my older colleagues), Kafka was always this one strange tool that teachers use to somehow punish pupils. I remember entire lists of recommended readings of his work, how it is so inconceivably complex that you might just as well give up on him. I myself didn't learn to appreciate him until long after school when I read "The Castle", which I loved, but it always felt that what it made ring in me was something too weird to talk about so I just accepted that I will keep these things for myself for the most of the time. And then, years later, I see Kafka all over the internet and it's just ... it's strange, really. Not bad, not something I'd make fun of, but strange. Because somehow it makes what I felt about "The Castle" even more alien and removed from other people than before.
I had no idea Kafka's diaries were published against his wishes... don't know how comfortable I feel reading them now. Oh well, one less book on my bountiful TBR is a blessing in disguise, I think lol. Insightful watch as always!
he left them with his friend and literary executor Max Brod, alongside a couple manuscripts and told him they should be destroyed after his death. But Brod, who was also a big fan of his work, thought that it would be a loss to humanity to destroy the texts, so he published them instead. He also at one point tries to argue that if Kafka really wanted them gone he would have given them to someone else because he knew Brod wouldn't have honoured that wish...
Okay fine I will read kafka, I recently started following a twitter account which posts his diary entries and learning from this video that metamorphosis is only 70 pages long has sparked my interest. Thanks for another banger Alina :)
it's a great read, you won't regret it!
i’m gen z and i’ve recently got obsessed with kafka… i feel called out HELP
I’m calling you out to say keep doing what you’re doing
I have always thought kafka was a wonderful writer but I am very surprised to find he is popular on TikTok I rarely go on it and for a long time I've just thought it was light entertainment for vacuous young people. The fact that he has been rediscovered by a new generation who are taking his work seriously has really made my day.⚛
He wasn't rediscovered. He's always been quite popular among gen z and maybe millennials. A lot of us had him on our English class curriculum.
@@yessica5231 didn't know that but it's very good to hear⚛
He's also extremely popular on tumblr!
I´m an old Gen Z person, since I´m german and our teachers love to use Kafkas work in german class (basically what enlgish class would be to US americans, brits, ...) I´ve known his writings for many years and while I didn´t want to fall in love with it (because of reading it for school and bad experiences with school literature prior), I absolutly fell in love with it (so much so, that I started reading more from him ages ago). So I can totally get, why others would fall in love with his work as well. Also Kafka was a lot in the news this year in Germany, because he died 100 years ago in june of this year, so journalists and literature critics started calling this year the Kafka Jahr = Kafka year, I think his rise in popularity has also to do with this very fact. Anyways him only halfway through the video, maybe this will be said
I’m interested that I’m literally rereading Kafka and Camus when this video comes out. I guess as gen z I never realized how my generation would be so hooked with these types of stories, I thought it was just me and very bookish people, but even as a guy and I relate to some of the things in his diaries just because of how social life feels because of the internet
One of the features if algorithms (for better or worse) is that it’s made it a bit more difficult to discover certain communities unless you know what to look for, specifically. As a result you have no idea that somewhere on the internet the relatively niche thing you enjoy is actually really popular - Kafka and Camus and their respective works are two of these things!
I'm amazed that Gen Z or Alpha would even read that type of work. Everything is vibes now and while Kafka has serious vibes, his work is a hell of a lot more involved than that.
This is a very pleasant change from the notorious Goodreads review that dismissed The Metamorphosis as "a rather pointless novel about a bug that dies" without considering how a disabled Jewish author might be feeling some kind of way that gets made into a story and goes on to influence the entire magical realism genre. That review got bandied about as evidence of the "they're mean and can't read" generation and the death knell of media literacy, sarcastically upheld as the words of "the most intellectually curious Goodreads reviewer".
So if other young people are making up for that now in this way, then so far I think it's good. Next up, whoever called The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde "queerbait"...
13:55 "Boomer news articles in the style of Teens Want Beatles Not Jesus! or should i say beetle" haha! Best.
thank you for appreciating my dad jokes
That makes me so happy actually! His writing is such a huge inspiration to me
the 139 million views on the kafka hashtag probably has edits/videos of kakfa from the game hsr contributing to that 😭
Leave the kids alone. Kafkamania on Tiktok is still safer and more wholesome than another period of Goethe's Werther Syndrome.
yes, let's not revive that one...
fate made it so i saw your upload right as i was about to have my dinner, which was perfect. i've seen a lot of the kafka jokes on twitter and i find them hilarious. there's an account that posts daily diary entries, matched by date, and people will quote these saying stuff like "if i ever think i'm having a bad day, i just read kafka's diary because i KNOW he was having a worse one", and i just think that's beautiful 😂 i think one interesting thing is how reading his diaries (or fragments thereof) seems to make people connect with him, a dude that lived a hundred years ago that you wouldn't necessarily expect to have a lot in common with, especially emotionally. whether we do or not, i don't know, and i reckon that isn't the point either. i find it quite cool :-) as always, loved the video (props for your singing, 10/10)!!
I saw someone share his July 6 diary entry on twitter (“july 6. Unhappy night”) with the caption “when will this bitch have a happy day” and it made me giggle
Easily one of the best book channels on here you’re able to concisely make (and defend) so many points without losing the main thesis. I look forward to your next video.
ahhh thanks a lot, that's so kind x
Alina keeping me up to speed with modern cultural developments again. I like this one: it seems sophisticated and wry.
Why thank you ♥️
I came across these tiktoks and I found it so weird. Enjoyed this video, it really gave a new perspective.
I'm so glad!
Wait until the girlies rediscover Julio Cortázar. My mum told me they were already thirsting for him back in the 60s.
I've never read The Metamorphosis but from what I've heard, I see it as a message about diability and how it degrades people. The main character's inability to work and the guilt that comes with it, shines a light on how capitalism values humans based on their productivity, and a disabled person may be seen (or see themselves) as less valuable.
there are definitely readings of the Metamorphosis that give this interpretation, so you're not wrong!!
As much as I appreciate the man’s works and views, I still gotta have some decency and respect for him.
We got to get them reading James Joyce’s love letters next. Who do I contact to make this happen?
who's james joyce, when did he live and what do you like about his letters?
That shit is fucking disgusting if I recall correctly.
this is only kind of related but my god you reminded me of one of my comparative literature classes where we read the metamorphosis. i was the discussion leader in that class and EVERYONE except me was completely uninterested in the text. their answers were all prefaced with "well this is a stupid story that doesn't make any sense, but-". it was driving me insane. like this was a class of like 30 literature students and their take was "this absurdist story doesn't make sense because it is absurd and i hate it".
i do think most of the kafka girlies understand his work though. maybe not on a deeper level, but even on a surface level there's a lot there. i think people are pretty morose and depressed and lonely and alienated these days and i guess so was kafka so it feels like that's one writer who really gets it.
Great take on the topic! Thank you for your work
thank you sm for watching xx
I WAS WAITING FOR SOMEONE TALK ABOUT THIS !!!
"...Excited over a stinky, ugly, uneducated man, while Kafka wrote..."
So for two thirds it is about looks and social norms concerning selfcare/BO and only one third is about education or being articulate... I will give to her, that she uses negative adjectives to devaluate other human beings, just like Kafkas narrators did to the protagonists in his books "like a dog".
However at least she could have used different adjectives to make it sound more kafkaesque.
Something like: "She was out creeping along the dull city, crouching through the empty streets full of people, rejoicing at the fact that on an application for courtship behavior and human mating she has found a narrow-headed, rat-faced man, reeking of innerts, while Kafka wrote "Yadda yadda yadda, squibble squabble" to Milena."
If you try to signal your emotional connectedness to an author who is dead for almost a century, and share it with the world, at least put some effort into it...
The #kafka 139 million views statistic from the Daily Mail might be skewed by the fact that there's a popular Hoyoverse (Genshin Impact or something) character named Kafka?
I was actually wondering about this! I saw some tiktoks but didn't have time to fall down the rabbit hole - but it makes so much sense, thanks for bringing it up xx
That's from Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact's (more financially successful and popular) sister game.
I think I actually disagree with the notion that fandom is basically uncritical enjoyment of something. I mean, look at fanfictions. They are a huge part of fandom, (and maybe one can differentiate between a fandom of literature and a fandom of real people, but Kafka is kind of ... both?) and especially in fandoms of literary works I'd say there's a lot of intrinsic criticism. People write fanfictions to change some of the plot, eg. to show a female character's perspective on a story that's been dominated by men, to discuss one aspect of the original story that's been sold too short and needs some more examination (often it's something to do with trauma). And of course there are stories that are written "just for fun" but even then it's done as a personal analysis of the original story, adding new thoughts, new layers to what's been there before, which is in itself a critical utilisation of the available material. It doesn't necessarily have to be a negative conclusion that's drawn to be critical engagement.
I actually agree with you - when I make that point I'm talking about the stereotypes surrounding fandoms
I saw this coming when I saw that one tweet about his diaries got like over 100k likes from largely teens. Love this lmao.
rip Kafka, you would have loved the notes app
great video as always alina!
Someone show these kids a picture of Yeats.
Your content consistently rips 🤘🏼
don't turn kafka into a sex symbol, turn gregor samsa into one instead👅
Am I the only one that thinks Kafka wrote comedy
no, actually, there are quite a few scholars who write about Kafka's humour at length. check out this article if you want to get into that rabbit hole www.jstor.org/stable/2929148
There is a brilliant essay on it by David Foster Wallace.
Huh based on what you said about metamorphosis im gonna actually have to read it now its been on my shelf for i think 2 years now
using fangirls (as derogatory) is so wrong but also incorrect, i am a fanboy. im gen z but too old and busy for tiktok so i didnt even know this was a sub genre of tiktok and coincidentally got into kafka slightly before/around the same time this took off and i think it moreso just speaks to how his work can still be so relevant today, idk why people make a big deal about it tbh
Well i'm latina and here is very viral Pizarnik and i'm so happy for that cause she is amazing
it feels illegal to be this early 💀
It’s ok I’m no snitch
I felt that, whenever I'm early to a video I feel like a stalker
@@justwonder1404 i feel jobless whenever I do that 😂
@@timepasstubee not jobless lmaooo
Now if Dostoyevsky took a shave, he could get some love
funnily enough, there is a Dostoyevsky community too! Crime and Punishment is quite the TikTok favourite
I wonder if the Crime and Punishment fans are more in search of existential answers (ethics and religion), whereas Kafka dealt with societal pressures and expectations on the individual (in the Metamorphosis and the Trial especially).
1) it's weird to assume that people are consuming a non-visual medium just because they think the author was cute. Especially if the said author was dead before they were born. Also, they have a point about the responses they get from dates. Is it so wrong to wish men would actually tell you if they like you?
2) it's weird to assume that fangirls are giving so much in exchange for so little. Actually I think the reason why men are often so disdainful of young female fans liking male celebrities is that they realize the women are trying to tell them they should emulate these guys. Sure, I have met girls who get caught up in fandom culture purely because they think some guy is hot. But they're also the first to leave whenever there is trouble in a fandom. The people who do the most and stick around the longest, are the ones who appreciate the artist's work and often his public persona. Sure, it might be that his public persona is more manufactured than the fans realize, but nonetheless their appreciation is not skin deep. And more often than not in fact, the fangirls are right about identifying genuinely cool guys whom young men should be viewing as role models.
Saw this post on a video I honestly can’t figure out why it shows up for me but figured I like to engage in stuff I’m not particularly aware of , when you say that I’m curious does that mean young girls can’t find any men like the ones they are looking for in this specific scenario? Or they are just rare or something? I actually agree that for the most part it isn’t shallow even if it seems so on the outside however I do think it’s dangerous and unhealthy. That’s not a criticism strictly because they are young women I feel the same with men and idolizing game developers , comic writers , athletes, and other artist. I understand how there can be all kind of reasons for the connection or looking up to someone but there has to be a healthy balance. That’s exactly why they can sell nostalgia to us even if it lacks substance and people will buy, but complain as soon as it’s different and lacks nostalgia they can be critical all of a sudden . People cannot separate the product or person from their memories and feeling or wtv thing that makes them feel connected. Nothing wrong with appreciating art though of course or loving it even just tryin to be nuanced
@@rashawnwalker9398 yes, I'm saying that the girls do not feel appreciated by the boys they know from school and such. They might know one or two much older men who treat them with a degree of respect, but that's not the same thing as a person close to one's age. Granted that I am generalizing from my own experience and my mother's, but all the evidence also backs that point. Girls are raised on horror stories of what will happen if they give affection too easily: fairy tales and common children's books have a common theme of "be careful who you trust, who you care for" especially directed at girls. The idea that after all of that, after upwards of ten years of that, the majority of them would throw themselves away on a nice looking famous guy is just absurd. As it is, far too many girls end up in abusive relationships when they are that young: and that is people who aren't walking red flag bundles. Ryan Reynolds at least played a character who showed great respect for women, seems to have a good relationship with his mother, and treats women respectfully at least in public. Park Jimin is among a long list of Asian celebrities who have publicly humiliated tv hosts for their misogyny, among other examples of using his clout to stick up for women in a society where that is decidedly not the norm (granted: his fans are largely teenage girls, so it beehooves him to stick up for them). Pedro Pascal has a long history of activism for radical causes, and is from a radical family. Keanu Reeves, another of these heartthrobs, is well known for his charitable work and general humility. Idk about some of the others, but I would guess you would uncover similar things about them if you did some digging. Even going back to my mother's time: John Lennon might be problematic by today's standards, but he was a cut above most men in his era.
I guess I'm too old for tiktok but I've seen a few of those on instagram...Most memes are kind of funny but Kafka dancing like that is soo cringey...Y la canción en español... Nooo por favor!!!!:DD
I don't think it's necessarily bad if some teens are obsessing over a writer.I remember very toxic communities in Tumblr with people declaring their love to serial killers. Yes, people like Richard Ramirez and Charles Manson with crowns of flowers on their heads...At least, with all his insecurity , fears and anxieties, Franz Kafka is a positive figure to be admired.
Love from a UnclitedAdvice and Vaush fan!
Reread the screenshots as if written by a sadistic psicopath, that is tje vibe I got when reading that. What the actual fuck.
People forget that fan is short for fanatic and fanatic means to have excessive feelings for an ideal, political stance or person to the point of being unreasonable. People that are the excessive fans of Kafka, Taylor Swift, NSYNC etc (in my opinion) can be just as ridiculous as people that instantly and wholly hate them, just from the virtue of arbitrarily not wanting to be a sheep in the herd.
I’ve never read Harry Potter. The films are OK for what they are, but you have people praising her as a wizarding goddess, and you’ll have people that will instantly call her the worst human and writer alive because of her political stances. I think that both just as love and hate are just 2 sides of the same coin when it comes to obsession and deep feelings for them.
Having balance between what you love and hate is necessary to be able to learn from them both, and to be willing to see the flaws in them.
I would love it if you made a video about the 2024 olympics inaguration
2:49 that middle picture is SWANN ARLAUD not cillian murphy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought he looked way too different but figured who am I to correct the fan cam girls
@@accordingtoalina it's funny because it still fits with what you're saying (even though swann arlaud isn't as popular he definitely had his fancam moments)
Kafka and Tesla. Hot stuff 🔥
you always make a hit but this video was truly made for me (kafka is my bf fr)
hahaha I'm glad
TikTokkers can read???!!
you're just on the wrong side
Um...👀...idk bungou stray dogs ? (Y'all here ?)
Hahahaha different Kafka
Anthony Perkins jumpscare :-0
This is why I uninstalled tiktok😭
edit: Yes, I have seen the video, and despite the fact that this is basically a 'in defense of' style video I find myself disagreeing anyway. The way that people are "enjoying things" these days is by calling themselves "delusional" and "mentally ill" for reading Kafka's work, on top of treating it like a personality trait and making pink bow edits. I would certainly not want to die a renowned writer and then be fetichised and trivialised by an army of pubescent teenagers taking everything as a joke and romanticising serious or even fucked up things (like true crime for instance, I would love to tell people that the documentation of such crimes exists for education, not for you to obsess over and to romanticise other people's trauma and suffering).
this is not exclusive to Kafka and his writing specifically - it happens with just about everything these days, just with whatever happens to be trending. It is difficult to explain but the way that the 2020s internet has a habit of ruining things this specific and particular way has soured me quite a bit.
same, I uninstalled the app at the beginning of the month, too much nonsense in general
did u watch the video..
@@juperlee yeah, i did
@@GladysHunnam that's very fair. Honestly I was so done with short form low quality content that adds nothing but misery to this already desolate and difficult world, so I decided I was just going to be happier not knowing in what ways my favourite song or topic will be intensely ruined by a wave of misinformation, trivialisation and romanticisation where there clearly should be none and people are highly aware of that fact
If it’s ruined something for you, that’s a you problem. The majority of the world does not care about this lol. Also Kafka is dead, he doesn’t give a shit because he is dead.
Hi! I love your video, but my tiktok is shown on the right side of your thumbnail and I wouldn’t like to be associated with the Kafka sex machines. I am autistic and Kafka is my special interest, I’ve written multiple papers on him and I’ve spent over a year gathering as much information as possible about him, from biographies, articles, his own writing, etc. I do think he was an attractive man but he was also so much more as a person. And I am very lesbian. Could you remove my snapshot from the thumbnail please?
I like his literature, but bro had a Zayn Malik vibe.
omg I can't unseen it
omg I love the Kafka girlies
Hello you are so pretty I will still love you even if you wake up one morning from troubling dreams and find yourself changed in your bed unto a gigantic insect ❤
that's reassuring xxxx
'People on TikTok'... you mean women.
hey, women are people too.
bro you're always in the comment section saying something vaguely misogynistic. she won't date you move on
@@JaceBlack-do2uy You don't know that for sure
@@JaceBlack-do2uy Vaguely misogynistic? lul. Gaslight king.
I didn't watch the video yet but i agree!! I feel so disgusted seeing those pins specially on albert camus and kafka and dostoevsky
lol watch the video
the timing of watching a video on gen z's attachment to kafka due to relating to feelings of inadequacy shame frustration and needing twenty minutes after talking myself down from 💀🛝 by recording my rambling and fractured thoughts on that infamous clock app feels
kafkaesque. sorry 😔🪳
i loved it though as i do all ur videos. kafka's diaries really are just the 20th century spam account of a traumatized young adult in a distressing life and society. can't say i'd want my notes app published post mortem either
glad you enjoyed and I hope you're doing well xxxx