Some art has the power to move us to our core, and transcend their respective genre boundaries, while containing kernels of deep truth. In this post, I want to catalogue all art or entertainment which has had this power on me.

I’ve always been interested in the “best” of pretty much every genre of art, rather than any given subject or genre itself. One of the intrinsic reasons for this was made apparent to me in Jordan Peterson’s Maps of Meaning lectures, where he hypothesizes that stories are exactly the way humans have been able to learn abstract concepts from time immemorial. Any really good story, teaches us something important about ourselves, or our environment which we can use to grow ourselves.

I want to stress that this list is highly subjective, as anything which touches someone deeply would be. I hope to keep it updated if I ever stumble upon more such works, even though they are very far and few between. At some point, I also hope to write a short summary of why I found a given piece important.

Art with Truth

Musicals

• Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert
• Les Misérables: 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
• The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

Movies

• The Dark Knight
• Grave of the Fireflies

Documentaries

• Jodrowsky’s Dune

Music performances

• Monsters of Rock - Moscow 91’
• X Japan - The Last Live
• Yanni Live! The Concert Event

TV Series

• Clannad: After Story
• Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Death Note
• Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

Books

Lectures

• Jordan Peterson: Maps of Meaning
• Richard Hamming - You and your research

Games

• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Thomas Was Alone