In Defense of Cozy Fiction

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Storytelling is often full of non-stop highs and lows. Let's take a moment to appreciate the quiet spaces in between.

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[TheTaleFoundry]

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[christopherduffy]

Job simulators are popular because modern work is very unlike our intuitive understanding of a job. In a cozy job simulator your tasks are well-defined and your labour brings about change. You demonstrate competence and are rewarded. For a lot of people actual work involves exhausting oneself trying to meet ever-shifting goals, via methods that are abstract and weird, for little tangible effect on the world, and for barely any reward.

[Shadbraw]

This is a hot take for a lot of people, but one of my favorite parts of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the tutorial part. You’re not an epic hero yet, you’re just a farm boy willing to help people, and there’s just something so nice and cozy about that.

[wordsofwinter]

What I love is that Isabel from Animal Crossing and Doom Guy are canonically friends (someone started it as a joke, and the two sets of game developers loved it)

[meredithsmakings]

I think the reason why I like cozy fantasy is because I’m so tired of the pain/trauma that most fictional characters have to deal with. Just recently I got into two separate fantasy shows and two of my favorite characters from them sacrificed themselves for the rest of the team. That hurts even worse because one of these fictional deaths came right after my own grandfather passed away, and somehow that made it hurt all the more. I’m tired of getting attached to these characters and worlds only for the worst to happen to them, like it does in our world. “Cozy fantasy” takes some of those super high stakes out and let’s you breathe, while also enjoying the ride. Maybe that’s why I’m gravitating more towards those books nowadays

[lubue]

I've always thought that stories are most enjoyable when they swap between tones.
Being always stuck in this grim, bloody and merciless world still gets boring. But watching plants grow all day also does.
Basically all of the big and famous stories told do that. So, having a constant dynamic of jumping from tension to relaxation, seriousness to comedy and drama to happiness just seems to be something humans want.

[joelleblanc]

People who say cozy fiction isn't "realistic" probably spend more time in real life doing "cozy things" like cooking, exercising, spending time with friends, etc. than they do killing zombies, dragons, or enemy soldiers.

[chaosbeam]

We were never made to take in this much bad news at once. Escapism can be a reset button, I think.

[spacecowboy]

The fact that this video was released the same day as James Tullos releases his video about how he hates cozy fantasy

[The-Autistic-Strategist]

“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? I don't know. Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.” (Gandalf)

[fordzn]

'Why save world if there's nothing worth saving' struck me so bad it make me rethink my life.

Why i have to do this? Why do i have to keep moving? Why do i have keep struggling? Because there's something worth it.

Thanks for the reminder

[avivbechor]

There is an anime equivilent to the "cozy games" genre called iyashikei. Its a subgenre of slice of life that is all about "healing the soul" with compy and cozy vibes

[HOLDENPOPE]

"Why save the world if there's nothing worth saving?"
This is the mentality I think births the best 'Save the World' plots. People can't wrap their heads around 'the world', so get them invested in characters, in locations and arcs and dynamics, and make it clear that it is those things that are at stake if the world ends. Bonus points if it's not the *only* world in the setting, and evacuation is not an option, so the audience can't just assume that everything will be alright.

[DarkPrinceOfClowns]

As an avid reader of fanfiction, I can absolutely vouch for the need for those quiet moments to let people breath.
I have read many a fanfic that has this amazing plot, and great writing, but they are so exhausting to read because there is no breaks in the action that I end up dropping them halfway, or reading them only once and then never again.

The same problem can be seen with very angry protagonists.
Their feelings are constantly so strong that you get exhausted reading about it.

A small break here and there, a cozy moment or two... it would improve those stories massively.
And make them easier to read.

[ivanbluecool]

It's actually more interesting when a hero is a hero now a days. Most just try to be complex but complex as a shallow pool

[mycointhetrees]

Deleting twitter was the best mental health decision i ever made back in 2021. i don’t even think about it anymore and i was way too obsessed before dropping it. do as you please mr. foundry, but twitter really ain’t it. stay safe :)

[TheAIKnowledgeHub]

11:20 the story sounds a lot like Frieren. There is a manga and an anime. Basically the world is saved by a normal RPG party. They plan to meet up man years after. The story follows the elf since her lifespan is so long she basically doesn't age. She has to deal with some of the members being dead or dying, seeing the land how it remembered them, remembering what happen (like one part it showed why they picked a given statue and it was the leader of their party kept picking different poses for the statue), and so on. It does have elements of demons coming back in some places, risk, etc. But it heavily focused on the after, the slow times, and relaxing points.

[ryanratchford]

I think the masses are in agreement. Cozy fantasy books like Legends and Lattes are on a massive uprise and anime’s like Frieren show that people are enjoying cozy fantasy.

[dreadthemadsmith]

"I finally broke down and made a Twitter Account"

My condolences.

[MeatbagSlayer]

"I finally made a Twitter account."